Back in August, Archinect connected with Robert M. Calvani, FAIA, NCARB and Alfred Vidaurri Jr., FAIA, NCARB, AICP, the 2020 President and 2021 President-Elect, respectively, of NCARB and discussed; their plans for the next two years, how NCARB is aiming to support diversity initiatives, and how the profession might move forward during this time of tumult, questioning, and change.
thisisnotmyname lamented "It's amazing how an non-governmental organization like NCARB has assumed de facto control over government agencies (state boards) across the USA". Similarly gwharton acknowledged that "NCARB exists because licensure in the USA is a matter of state law, so some sort of clearinghouse entity is necessary" but admitted that wasn’t necessary "probably should be a federal org". Further, ctrlaltdes argued "NCARB can't have it both ways. NCARB can't remove the barriers to licensure for BIPOC designers and maintain the status quo...The exam itself is a minimum of $1,410 + the cost of an NCARB record. Then there's the giant and predatory test prep industry that has formed around the ARE."
Later, both sameolddoctor and citizen responded positively to the work of Faulkner Architects, featured in a recent Studio Snapshot.
They commented "Wow, beautiful and refreshing work" plus "After seeing so much bad, hack stuff all the time, it's easy to get discouraged. This work is really good, and lifts the morale."
Amy Bunszel, senior vice president of Design and Creation Products at Autodesk, issued a second response to a previously published open letter from leading architectural practices speaking out about design, development, and cost issues associated with Revit software.
alexmccumber seemed to speak for many "i dont think any ‘customer’ espec. small and medium sized firms have been better served by a subscription based software model...subscription based models only benefit the software developer and the shareholders - full stop" chriscasariego added "The subscription is helpful in concept because it is is less of a big payment when we bring on additional employees" but "I think the subscription is over priced and the lack of meaningful improvements is disappointing."
MAD Architects, released the design of their Wormhole Library, which will sit on the coast in Haikou, Hainan Province in China. citizen couldn’t help themself "some of these renderings had me going, they're so realistic looking...Then... pysch! Just nice drawings, no building yet. (The nice lady going to the bathroom gave it away.)..So we're back to the troublesome roof/wall, no-difference-between-horizontal-and-vertical question. Especially in off-white. Easy to draw, possible to build, unlikely to satisfy."
The majority of architecture firms continued to report a decline in their firm’s billings in July, with an ABI score for the month, of 40.0. In more good news, 52% of responding firms expect to have to take actions related to staffing (including; layoffs, reductions in hours or salries, furloughs et al.) as the initial PPP loan period winds down.
Planned, since 2007, British-Italian architect Richard Rogers will finally retire from his namesake architecture firm, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP). lower.case.yao doesn’t "think the younger stars are able to match the influence these old guys gave to the profession" but SneakyPete believes it is actually "less about whether younger architects CAN match the influence and more about whether they will be ALLOWED to by the people with the power."
R.I.P. Jean-Marc Bonfils, a noted French-Lebanese architect who helped lead the reconstruction of Beirut's war-torn downtown after the country's civil war, as a result of the massive ammonium nitrate-fueled explosion.
Hoke House in Portland, OR by Skylab Architecture and House in Ashiya, Japan by Kazunori Fujimoto are just two of the latest top images (in no particular order) found on the Archinect Pinterest board Houses.
Last month, Virginia Melnyk was working on "Explorations in Knitted Tesegrity" while Diastika Lokesworo, a Laundromat Store Front in Jakarta.
Looking for work?
Mitch McEwen tackled the recently completed Rose Garden renovation writing "This is now the Hamptons-esque Shrub Garden. This landscape design, like so much of the televisual imagery, reflects the Trumpist shrinking of governance to personal interest, private wealth, and images of whiteness."
The post generated a lot of commentary. While most wasn’t all that helpful, Dangermouse at least referenced the publicly available Rose Garden Landscape Report from Oehme, Van Sweeden "an excellent and well regarded outfit from D.C. with an extensive catalog of public and private works" which clocks "in just under 2050 pages" to clarify/counter a number of details from the post.
Pratt Institute School of Architecture announced in late July the launch of the Kathryn and Kenneth Chenault Scholarship and selected three incoming undergraduate students to receive funding from the initiative, launched with an initial $1 million endowment. square. supports the move as
"maybe, just maybe, widening the pool of thought and background would remove the hegemonic control that (trigger warning!!) economically privileged white males have on this profession, fostering an environment of cooperation instead of competition and fair pay instead of exploitation".
Tuskegee University's Department of Architecture received a gift of $100,000 to increase access to the architecture profession for African American students.
SCI-Arc issued a public statement highlighting the school's efforts to begin to address structural and racial inequalities within the field of architecture.
Nizar Abou Ezzeh, a student at Boston Architectural College, shares his perspective after the devastating explosion in his hometown of Beirut.
Thread Central debated whether whores and clients was a good metaphor for the profession aka "Cash the check and take a shower". Meanwhile gwharton has become a "digital nomad in the era of shutdowns and germophobia". Even though the new normal does have many ‘Nectors re-examining where they call home, most mentioned more affordability or space as the main goal, not #vanlife.
BulgarBlogger was "Thinking of moving to Texas- specifically Corpus Christie" and looking for help identifying "reputable firms in Corpus and Texas in general?...PS- can someone please explain me why/how architects allow themselves to have shitty McMansions on their website/portfolios? I’d be embarrassed." midlander questioned/pointed out why "corpus christie specifically? firms serve their markets. if you're not impressed by the firms you're not going to like the market." gibbost agreed "Corpus Christi is a nice town off the coast, but I think you'll have to get closer to one of the major hubs for better design content."
anthonymadia wanted to talk about any firms that "either specialize in Baroque architecture design or would have the aesthetic mindset for it?" archanonymous dropped a few names including; Ronald Rael and Emerging Objects, Matsys Design, Mark Foster Gage, Mark Fornes and TVM to name a few. Then wondered "who are the current successors to the Baroque style? Seems like digital ornament is an obvious place to look, but there's also plan geometry to consider…"
Finally, Volunteer started a thread about the Yellowstone Club, fake Disney pastiche and "mountain modern" as an authentic/meaningful architectural descriptor/style. Dangermouse insisted mountain modern isn't a thing/is just a marketing term. Based on some personal experience not_NOT_an_architect provided their
"YC report card: Design: C...Craftmanship/Build Quality: A...Income inequality: F".
Over at PLATFORM, Skye Niles and Shawhin Roudbari explore "how design can be politicized and depoliticized by examining how designers have engaged with refugee camps, the border wall, and detention facilities. We urge designers to examine how they may contest and re-politicize their engagement with these sites of institutionalized immobility, violence, and injustice."
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