Josh Niland reached out to both emerging and established firms founded by architects who are partners (in both business and life) and asked them to reflect on the benefits and practice of such a "total" partnership.

Some noted an "About" page, "crafted" language and reallynotmyname felt like "This would be so much more useful if things like how these folks deal finances and childcare were talked about."

Meanwhile, as part of Archinect's Studio Snapshot series, Katherine Guimapang spoke with Elizbeth Leber, Managing Partner at Beyer Blinder Belle, who closed with this advice

"Lastly, take your headphones off. When you're working in the studio or for a firm, it's easy to escape into your own bubble behind headphones. When I was an intern, there was a wealth of knowledge I picked up in the studio by listening to what was around me."

News

archanonymous for one, loved HyperTent the new ticketing booth completed by Bernard Tschumi Architects at Parc de la Villette. Apparently it is "officially" the smallest project ever realized by the firm!

Reflecting on a list of NYC’s 10 most active architects in 2021 (SLCE Architects took top place), monosierra took the opportunity to praise ODA

"Even though their aesthetic is best described as BIG/MVRDV/Acronym-lite, ODA has done a fantastic job working with developers in NYC…Mid range multifamily used to be un-cool before ODA came along to give them a Euro sheen."

Donna Sink highly recommends "an excellent article" on burnout, which also offers up a few coping strategies, from BBC’s Science Focus magazine.

Folks reacted to the withdrawal of SHoP's unionization effort.

While some agreed with Everyday Architect's "nuanced take on implicit power imbalances and a union's potential to put employees on an equal footing" others suggested "that at least some folks working at bigwig firms did sign up for poor working conditions" or "if you don't like the the workload and hours, then work for a firm where can keep banker's hours. I worked for a major firm, doing major projects that took a major amount of my time - but it was my choice".

All of it, got midlander wondering if trade unions might be "a better model for what architects should be doing."

In one of their latest profiles of Kim Kardashian, Vogue dropped news about two projects in the works; a Tadao Ando designed home in Palm Springs home and Kengo Kuma designed "glass-and-wood lake house for her in an undisclosed location, where Kim travels every Fourth of July."

At least a couple of readers, gave her kudos and believed she "is as deserving of good architecture as anyone else, knows what's good, and has the money to pay for it." As for any distaste or shock around taking her on as a client, both sillybilly and homme_du_jura argued "The good majority of starchitects or high-end architecture that we all admire at a superficial level, do not care if the client is a Kardashian, or CCP, or Saudi Arabia, or UAE, or insert any other controversial client" ie., "we architects are mere hand-maidens to capital".

In early February, we lost both Prescott Reavis and Paul Willen.

R.I.P.

Blogs/Firms/Work Updates

Lea Cortbawi was working on some "urban mapping", while Abhinav Gupta on more "natural building" aka "mud homes".

If you are looking for work, GGLO has 5 open positions in Boise, 3 in LA and others in Seattle. Or consider, Brooks + Scarpa who are hiring both a Senior Architect and Junior Designer, for their Florida studio.

School/Blogs

The winners of the Archinect Get Lectured series, for 2021 terms, were announced. Of note, Woodbury School of Architecture managed to claim both third (for Spring term poster) and fourth (for Fall term poster) places.

alamdararastu agreed with at least some of the results "Boston College…definitely deserves the first place."

The University of Texas at Austin’s School of Architecture received a $1 million donation honoring John S. Chase, the first Black graduate of the school, the first Black licensed architect in the state of Texas and a cofounder of NOMA. The donation will create two new permanent endowments.

Discussion/Threads

After laying dormant since August of 2019, Show us your caulk! awakened. With posts covering both the bad, "sealant the window installers tried to get away" and the good, "terrazzo floor repair". Anybody got some Ugly?

Similarly, shellarchitect revisited a thread from 2015 on Buying in to a firm. Their current firm was asking them "to buy-in, owner financing so no upfront cash needed." TIQM advised "Best thing I ever did in business was buying into ownership of my firm.  Best investment possible…Make sure you have a third-party law firm with experience in ownership transition to structure the deal."

Finally, Gregory Walker started the annual Pritzker Prize thread, with his contention that the BANP is still Steven Holl even though his final vote was Williams Tsien.

Then Archinect upped the ante by putting up "5lbs of Brutal coffee beans for anyone who picks the 2022 Pritzker selection".

Right after The_Crow made the case that "a lot of the previous names mentioned have too much commercial success at this point. 100+ person offices don't win the Pritzker" archidose somehow slipped in a winning post "Francis Kéré", right before the cutoff.

Many were ultimately, pleased with how the pick double-downed on "the non-starchitect direction the Pritzker is going in now" though some pointed out this unfortunately likely means Holl’s time has passed. With reallynotmyname sharing "Having visited a few Holl buildings recently, I think the firm's work isn't good enough for a Pritzker at this point”.

Additionally

Debbie Chachra on "infrastructure, technology, what I’m optimistic about" and the challenge of anthropogenic climate change. aka Bodies, agency and infrastructure in Comment Magazine. Therein Chachra writes

"we can begin to transform our technological systems into systems of compassion, care, and resource-sharing at all scales, from the individual level, through the level of cities and nations, all the way up to the global."