Archinect's newest Showcase features the House in Geumsan. The project is located in South Korea and designed by Hyungnam Lim, Eunjoo Roh + studio_GAON. With the project the designers tried to highlight the element of Korean architecture that distinguishes it from Japanese or Chinese architecture. What is this distinguishing characteristic?

"the fact that, in Korean architecture, space moves and flows; that is, a space in Korean architecture is not one frozen frame, but rather, different spaces that interact and change. The rooms of this house follow that flow with ease, and both light and wind leave traces of their presence."

Orhan Ayyüce comments "as simple as it is, one of the most beautiful houses i have seen in this age of dwell magazine and ikea type of joint business deals which tend to glorify form and materiality to boredom.."

News
The announcement that Chicago firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture is designing Kingdom Tower, which will be the world’s tallest building, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia generated quite a lot of commentary. metathustra noted "this is old news and will probably never be built. every firm from here to shanghai has worked on this tower and the design has been pretty much the same in each iteration.." While ****melt asked "So how much of that building do you think would remain empty? Always wondered about these tall buildings myself."

Douglas Garofalo (1958-2011) passed away for which TED offered up the following "Doug was the only practitioner in Chicago with a strong ethos and when archinect post group him with other 'young guns' in Chicago they were wrong - Doug was miles above them all - His work was grounded with ethical principal that no other firm, NO FIRM IN CHICAGO begins to engage no matter what marketing they put forth. He lived that life in the fullest"

One Cal Poly-Pomona architecture student's, John Barlow, class of 2010, project is used by Escondido city to define it's Future. When the project fell into the hands of an interested member of the Escondido City Council. Liebchen hopes that "someone saw fit to give the kid a job..."

The winning design has been selected in the AIA Architect Barbie Dream House competition, hosted by the American Institute of Architects. The entry submitted by New York architects Ting Li, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP and Maja Paklar, Assoc. AIA, received the most public votes, out of the 8,470 votes registered. Frustrated member Holz.box asks if "anyone else bothered by an 4,900 sf house w/ little regard to solar gain/orientation is considered 'sustainable'? thanks, USGBC... thanks."

Schools/School Blogs
jump at Keio University posted some images taken by Erez Golani in Tohoku. Erez is a partner in jump's design office and also a professor at Bezalel university in Israel and at Waseda University in Tokyo. He writes that the process of cleaning up is still ongoing and will likely continue for some time.

Matthew at University of Chicago shared a letter sent out by letter sent out by our Director Robert Somol on the occasion of Doug Garofalo’s passing. "In all of his academic and professional endeavors, Doug had often been the most visible Chicago representative—and at certain dark moments in the city’s history, the only representative—for any viable claim to the larger historical legacy of architectural experimentation in the city and region."

Roberto Costa from the University of Edinburgh is back home, in Rio, and has made an architectonic-cinematographic collaboration with filmmaker Rogerio Boettger. He writes, "The first film of the series was shot in Favela Santa Marta. This is a symbolic community in the heart of the Rio's affluent South Side...The favela was 'pacified' by the military police in 2008 (UPP) and is now free of drug lords and thus open for tourism."

Firms/Work Updates
Donna Sink, is thrilled to be serving as local architect of record for Chop Stick by Swedish architects VisionDivision, at the IMA's 100 Acres park!

Michael Villegas, has completed his first built work, which also happens to be the 1st Philly Parklet, with DIGSAU Architecture, PC, as Junior Designer. For more check out this article by the Philadelphia Enquirer.

Ken Roberts, has almost finished a painting of the Denver Skyline and Tima Bell, recently worked on the interior for a cosmetics store.

William Huchting, was promoted to Associate Professor.

Discussion Threads
Sazerac wants to have a discussion about Leaving Big Market Cities for Smaller, More attainable Cities. MixmasterFestus believes "the typical career path is school > big city > smaller market where you see an opportunity to provide services.  This is particularly true if you're starting your own firm someday (or maybe 'carpetbagging' in), and if you already have connections in the city you're in." Although, bucks07 has a problem with the idea that "these smaller markets are not devoid of progressive architecture but they lack it because they don't have the money.  That's often the problem I have with much of the architecture profession and many others have.  We are under this perception that money allows you to be progressive and if you don't have it, you simply can't be.  For me, there is more pleasure in coming up with a progressive solution at an affordable price...allowing good design to be accessible to a broader audience" and beccabec argues "Personally, I think the small and mid-size cities and even small towns are the next frontier. There is plenty of untapped potential out there for people that bother to venture outside of what they understand to to be acceptable (hip) places to live."

In response to the recent announcement of the winners for the inaugural Gowanus Lowline Competition, J. James R. writes

Dear Working Architects,

CUT IT OUT.

Thanks,
Urbanism

James then goes on to write "Fishing, farming, picnicing? Perhaps when it gets its Superfund status downgraded in 2026. This is one of the few places left in New York where sewer sludge (in a rainfall event) gets directly discharged into surface water and also dealing the possible millions of gallons of petroleum that have seeped into the surrounding soil from tank leakages and oil spills. This is literally one of the few instances where this entire area needs to be razed, covered in a few feet of chalk and then cemented over."

Ryan002 asked "What is Superfund status James?" Relatedly, Donna Sink noted
"Mojdeh Baratloo - who I loved having as a professor - has been studying the Gowanus for ages. Her book Angst: Cartography, about the canal, is a sweet bit of early-90s architectural poetry."

poop876 starts a thread titled RIP Douglas Garofalo! suggesting that "If you have any memories of him, please leave it below." guppy offers this remembrance "He was my teacher.  In that rare sense that I can say about very few individuals whose influence persists, grows and deepens over time - over years.  I'm still learning from Doug, and am now feeling even more grateful for having had the opportunity to study with him through several studios, seminars, informal discussions.  He was a deeply gifted and generous human being.  A great loss."

A New Mexico Mayor admitted he was drunk when he signed $1 million contracts. To which elinor quipped "one million doesn't sound like much...what did he agree to--bathroom renovations of the municipal office building? " To which el jeffe (gene parmesan) countered "obviously, you've never practiced in new mexico. rfp's for construction of that amount would bring out 20 firms..."

Finally, Ryan002 alerted us to some images of a miniature castle made from hair.

Additionally
Check out the WikiHouse project which will be shared via a Creative Commons license for anyone to adapt and improve. A WikiHouse is fabricated from locally sourced plywood cut on a CNC mill from openly shared template files, and assembled with minimal skill by local people...The first WikiHouse will be constructed in South Korea at the Gwangju Design Biennale 2011. As bruce sterling noted "*I see my share of off-the-wall schemes like this, but this is the first one I’ve seen that I could quite likely build and inhabit, personally. Getting it legally approved and zoned might be problematic, but the assembly instructions are simpler than most IKEA gear."