Scott MacTavish explored how architecture firms can Attract and Retain Staff in a Post-Pandemic World? To davincenzi the answer is obvious "Provide a competitive and respectable salary. Offer benefits and family leave. Prioritize a healthy balance between work and life with clear boundaries between the two. Trust your employees to manage their own time and work from home, communicate with them, and treat them like adults."
Plus, Alexander Walter interviewed James Garland, founding principal of Fluidity Design Consultants, a Los Angeles-based practice specializing in the design and engineering of water features.
Robert Ivy, FAIA, Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer for the AIA, will be retiring at the end of 2021. Judging by the comments, folks are eager for his replacement. Many seem to prefer the next CEO be a practicing architecture or leader from a large firm, yet midlander believes it is "silly that so many people resent having a politician represent them in what is essentially a political job". That being said, "more pertinent are the criticisms of his particular political views, which indicate something the search committee should do a better job vetting to suitably represent the views of architects and maybe even help lead them".
Folks are not digging OMA's Greenpoint Landing towers. At best, randomised prefers "the negative space between the buildings more than the buildings themselves" while david "was hoping that this would get more interesting as it developed, but it's not improving. This is a shockingly dull project."
MAD Architects unveiled their design for Jiaxing Civic Center. Contra Miles Jaffe kikkidy argued MAD has surpassed ZHA "Straight up comparing opera houses...Guangzhou is a hot mess...In contrast, MAD's take in Harbin is ri-goddamn-diculous-ly well executed."
A consortium including UNStudio has won a competition for the design of the Elysion Congress Center (ECC). monosierra spoke for many, "Rather inelegant looking, based on the images. UNS is well capable of delivering complex curvey geometries on a large scale so this is a bit surprising".
Business conditions continued to rebound at a strong clip in April, with the AIA’s Architecture Billings Index (ABI) score rising to 57.9, which is the highest ABI score since prior to the Great Recession.
Katherine Guimapang highlighted 22 projects shortlisted for the Don't Move, Improve 2021 awards. In response richmon lamented, "I wish there was more of this in the U.S. The 'masses' and 'flippers' convert decent old houses into boxes wrapped in vinyl siding or simply tear them down with excavators in wild abandon. <sigh> it's all about the money of course."
A proposal for a 66-story mixed-use tower in downtown Toronto has been released. 55 Yonge is the product of a collaboration between Canadian groups PARTISANS and Quadrangle. archanonymous liked most of what he saw "A+ for how it touches the ground and the pedestrian arcade. A bit Yamasaki if you ask me - very elegant. I don't love the rest of the form, but that doesn't really matter. Partisans is definitely doing some interesting work!"
Folly Cabin in Joshua Tree, CA by Cohesion and Meinel Optical Sciences Research Lab at the University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ by Richärd Kennedy Architects are just two of the top images (in no particular order) from the Archinect Pinterest board Metal.
R.I.P. The architecture and design world lost a number of heavyweights in May including; Art Gensler, Helmut Jahn, Paulo Mendes da Rocha and Charles Cassell.
As randomised noted, truly "The end of an era…" and ICYMI, Donna Sink started a short little thread memorializing Jahn "A true wunderkid who achieved national fame at such a young age, and whose style has evolved into the new century even though his heyday in the 80s was an unsurpassed peak."
Kayla Castro, kicked off May by publishing what unwabarosemary believed is "a very good article about architecture in history". I particularly liked the following graph "Architecture curriculum is not inaccurate to include figures like Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Adolf Loos, but it fails to mention the other half of that exact story: Eileen Gray, Marion Mahony Griffin, and Josephine Baker."
Later, June Lee shared why he chose to study architecture.
"My dream is to build my own house by myself in beautiful nature and live with my family till I die. It could sound a little bit silly for most people, but this is the reason".
Meanwhile Abbi Naylor reported in from a jobsite, "Framing is moving along at our Hollywood Hills Project".
If you are looking for work, consider the following open positions for;
Or if you are looking for something fully remote, studio LOVEISENOUGH is hiring a mid-level designer and tobylongdesign is seeking architects, designers, and project managers to work on "progressive and innovative prefab projects across California and the US".
Clemson University School of Architecture held an event where current and former students talked about regularly feeling out of place, as a person of color, in a predominantly white university. Yet returning alumna were also encouraged "To hear there’s now a support system for students of color...that Clemson is now acknowledging its history...by what I’m hearing and what I’m seeing."
Columbia University professor Malo A. Hutson will become dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia, effective July 1st. Although some wanted to get into credentialism, Marc Miller was intrigued
"I can't recall when/if a planner served as the Dean, and can only think of two landscape architects...Some very interesting opportunities for different perspectives...campus-wide collaborations...Urban + Environmental Planning is one of the three key programs in the SCHOOL."
You still have over a month to catch Building Productions by Zach Cohen, on view in the Banvard Gallery, at the Knowlton School at The Ohio State University. The "piling" works featured "offer an alternative vision of the future of architectural labor—one in which architects orchestrate digital fabrication processes that seek to work with, rather than overcome, messy material realities."
JLC-1 was curious whether everyone else was experiencing the Cost of construction skyrocketing? tduds hasn’t been professionally impacted much but did push back plans "to rebuild a deck + pergola on our house until next year. Prices are absurd right now." Similarly Wood Guy confirmed "I figured $80-100K. Nope: $180K. It's insane" and gibbost is "consistently seeing projects come-in 20-30% higher than proformas built just a year ago."
After "seeing posts with fabulous portfolios from young students" midlander was inspired "to go back and look at my student portfolio and reflect...what i saw in the reflection was total shit." joseffischer agreed with the idea that there is not necessarily "a close correlation between portfolio and long term achievement". Others also pointed out as you advance up the ranks, the interview/Q+A grows in importance and images may just be "photos or marketing renderings". Or as archanonymous put it, it becomes less about a portfolio, more "a killer CV and contacts list with a 10-page work sample of money shots."
The general consensus seems to be that a great portfolio isn’t necessarily predictive or key to landing a/that first job. Rather they serve as "a baseline weeder requirement".
Finally, chris-chitect wanted to know "What's a design detail that frustrates you on a daily basis?". Almosthip shared a pic of a "surface mounted receptacle" that "really grinds my gears." For Everyday Architect it’s a terrible "FDC stub out" in Seattle. bowling_ball’s example actually got some love including from the owner, while tduds recently "Encountered some - uhm - creative ceiling work".
No Comments
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.