In the latest installment of Archinect’s Contours feature Get a Job!, Guy Horton wrote about the disconnect between those looking for work and those gainfully employed. "This is where the disconnect resides. There are those who have been through the worst our economic system has to offer and those that have not fallen through those trap doors. You don’t learn about them in school. You don’t even realize they are there until you fall through one. But there are many such trap doors and over the last thirty years policy changes have added even more."

The feature really struck a chord with a number of readers, generating almost 20 comments.

holz.box thought it was a great post and went on to share his own story "after high diving through the trap door last year - followed up by short term contract/temp work and collecting unemployment in between - i can readily identify. it was an experience, and it can definitely be a challenge finding your way back out." Member hooks disagreed though "i've experienced this trap door mr horton speaks of, and yet i DO NOT agree with many of his assessments."

News

The 2011 SCI-Arc Graduation Pavilion entitled Netscape, was designed by faculty members Dwayne Oyler and Jenny Wu of Oyler Wu Collaborative, along with their students. Earlier this week Archinect posted a video and some text detailing the construction process. In response Tima Bell, posted a couple  images from the 1997 SCI-Arc Graduation pavilion which he noted did not have "quite the budget of Oyler/Wu".

Reacting to the proposed "Delancey Underground"  park to be located under Delancey Street aka the Low Line, Micah McKelvey offered this critique "i don't think anyone is explicitly stating that it is, but this underground thing is hardly a new typology. ..in new york city, a 'bypass' for pedestrians and cyclists makes a lot of sense.  but a park?  even with the renderings attempting to make the terminal look airy and light, i'm having a hard time picturing myself leisurely using the space."

The Chicago Tribune reported that five teams including the firms: AECOM, Aedas Architects, James Corner Field Operations, the Xavier Vendrell Studio ( the only team headed by a Chicagoan) and a fifth team, known as !melk, which includes the large firm HOK, were picked to compete for the redesign of the Navy Pier’s public spaces. poop876 thinks that the Xavier Vendrell Studio would be a great pick because they "did a good job in Barcelona and the beach public space for the Olympics!".

Schools/School Blogs
Kurt Neiswender who is affiliated with Lawrence Technological University, reviewed the work of Alan Berger, P-REX and his book Systemic Design© Can Change the World.

Jia Gu, at UCLA amongst other updates shared a quote from Jeffrey Inaba which relates  to the following equation, scaling principles + architects = plumbing. "In a way, often when architects do masterplanning, we are like plumbers. There is a problem and we go fix it. Instead, we should understand the plumbing system as a whole." Jia goes on to suggest that "those ways of understanding how systems work at a macro level should be as important to architecture as the details of construction or material studies."

deli a 2nd year student at University of Tokyo’s G30 Architecture and Urbanism school, noted that this year, the form finding process assigned to 1st year students is harder than what he did last year. This is due to the fact that the first years "not only need to consider material properties but also have to design a 'material tectonic system or device' to produce 'difference' among each generation of the form." The result is a "generative mass production process".

Work Updates/Firm Updates/Blogs
As One Architecture, renovated a 1,400 square foot ranch house in Boulder. For the Cloverleaf project, As One acted as architect, general contractor, carpenter, and did all the finish wood working, , electrical, mechanical, plumbing, artwork on the project.

Chelsea Serrano-Piche, recently worked on the Texas Tech University Urban Design catalogue.

Collective Studio in Oudong, Cambodia, posted images of a community center project they completed for Habitat for Humanity.

Employment/Jobs/Events
The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York is hiring a  Senior Project Architect.

As part of a strategic inter-disciplinary initiative focused on marine coastal sustainability, the School of Architecture at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, invites applications for a full-time tenure-track research faculty position at the rank of assistant, associate, or full professor.

If you are going to be in Salerno, Italy on Friday Dec 02 make sure to check out Biocity. La città intelligente a workshop on bio-architecture and biobuilding. The main objective is to give a systematic view of the aspects that come into play in assessing the sustainability of the building and the workshop will consist of two phases, a practice accompanied by a technical study and a comparison with theoretical experts called to end the day’s work.

Discussion Threads
Gregory Walker, wanted to discuss the article "What They Don’t Teach Law Students: Lawyering" from last Sunday’s NYT, which examined the gulf between academia and professional ‘on the job’ training, in the legal profession. Greg wondered maybe we really are like the lawyers.... LayingOutTheDots* liked the lines "What they taught us at this law firm is how to be a lawyer" and "What they taught us at law school is how to graduate from law school." as it is "is very much true for architecture too".

However, Will Galloway contended "we often use all that useless 'design and theory bullshit' in my daily practice, and would find a technical oriented education to be a horror both as an employer and as an architect...given the choice i think i would prefer a young architect with brilliant ideas and no technical skills to someone who can build anything but has no idea why or what to build."

Simon Rastorguev, let us know that on May of 2012, from 1st till 9th, in Yaroslavl, there will be a competition and workshop centered around the theme Revolution of the Social Housing in Yaroslavl. For more click here

Finally, manoverde84 is thinking about getting an M.Arch or a M.LArch degree after they finish an urban planning degree. He is really interested in urban design and wants to know "which architecture program would couple a city  planning degree; M.Arch or M.LArch? Also, what do architecture firms think of urban planners? Are they looked down upon in the design world?" 

citizen had the first comment and clarified for manoverde84 "The most important thing to keep in mind at the outset is that urban design and urban planning are related but not the same thing.  (Search the forum.)  Don't use those terms interchangeably.  You're interested in urban design, and either an MArch or MLArch could get you there." Yet, Urbanist muddied the water by pointing out "Planning is a broader field than just urban design.  I am an urban designer with degrees in planning and architecture.   Many firms and people use the terms 'urban planning' and 'urban design' interchangeably, but this isn't exactly accurate.  I'm considered an "urban planner" in some countries and I also hold certification as a planner, but, really, what they means is that I'm an urban designer".

Additionally
Make sure to read the Open Letter by Bryan Bell, founder of Design Corps, which was sent in support of #OWS entitled PUBLIC SPACE FOR THE PUBLIC – OR 99% OF IT
In it he concluded "The message of the 99% movement is even more fundamental -- that the 99% should have representative voice in the decisions made for this country. I feel aligned with their message and ours. We support their message and their tactics 100%. As designers, we should respect the rights of the 99% to gather in public spaces. As Americans, we should respect the rights of the 99% to free speech."