In the latest installment of Archinect’s Contours feature EDD DE 1101 I,  Guy Horton cops a David Wallace and his writing takes a biographically satiric turn from recent Contours.
"Hello! Author here. Just interjecting at the onset of this article to make it clear that, yes, I am indeed biased and this is not intended to be purely objective in any sense. I’m also blatantly stealing this device from David Foster Wallace, who used this little tactic in his posthumous novel, The Pale King." He concludes, promising that next week he "shall describe hilarious behavioral changes brought about by long-term unemployment and how that forever altered my understanding of the profession."

Archinect’s latest Showcase, feature highlights the newly built Administrative Building of the Croatian Bishops' Conference in Zagreb Croatia. After reviewing the project Derek Kaplan asks "wait -- the 'University of Zagreb, The Faculty of Architecture, Institute for Architectural Design' functions as a professional architectural office?  this building is by the university architecture department...?" Apurimac seconds the question...

Meanwhile, have you checked out Derek’s recent published feature which explores the connections between historic Safavid Surfaces and Parametricism?

News
The New York Observer published a long article on how [AIA NY] has been quietly raising its profile, politically, professionally and culturally, all in the interest of furthering its interests within the corridors of power, in NYC. Archinect member 10 comments "ABOUT TIME".

A number of projects by Neenan Co., a design/build firm and major builder of rural Colorado schools, are coming under scrutiny due to mistakes made. archaalto feels that "this is a huge local fiasco.  the battle between the structural engineer and the contractor will rage on, but it sounds like it ultimately comes down to the contractor overstepping the bounds of liability with the structural design... it not only gives a bad name to the local construction industry, but also puts a black eye on the pre-fab approach and design/build delivery system.  such a sham[e]..."

Orhan Ayyüce, posted news story about Luxury 360, the FT's new online hub for creative and commercial coverage of the luxury goods industry and included a photo from a Louis Vuitton - Ad Campaign and now Archinect has a nudity news tag...

FRaC digs the work but thinks 10 million is a lot of money to pay for Michael Heizer’s new huge granite sculpture called "Levitated Mass".

Schools/School Blogs
brex started a blog for the two year old Department of Architecture at South Dakota State University which currently has 100 students, 5 faculty, & 1 staff. The first post includes this passage “We are committed to teaching our students both to "MAKE things" and to "MAKE things that MAKE things".  Our  growing sense of a new artisanry in architecture is founded in our amazing shop and the contemporary understanding of architecture as the allographic art embedded and wallowing in notational drawing and modeling” and concludes sith what one supposes might become a school motto of sorts "We are a Small School training professionals for Small Practices in Small Places".

Work Updates/Firm Updates/Blogs
Nicole Fichera, published an interview with Nic Granleese who ‘coined’ the term ['Para-architect'].

Justin Park, built an Underground Tree House which is designed to explore the idea of what it feels like to be ten feet underground.

Long time Members Donna Sink and b3tadine[sutures] start a dance party.

Javier Arbona, argues that the logic behind the Los Angeles mayor’s decision to remove the Occupy La camp while preserving the camp’s mural, "can make the head spin in circles with its absurd logic" he concludes "there is no better way to disarm a culture than to put it inside a vitrine".

Discussion Threads
ohnokono wanted to know how one can explain the fact that "Frank Gehry who is the most famous architect in the world yet he writes no theory and doesn't teach". elinor responded "how scary is it that someone who expresses himself IN THE MEDIUM OF HIS OWN FIELD is such an anomaly among architects?" and CitizenWalker opined "If you take the number of architects out there in the world who bother justifying what they build or what the impact of architecture is on social/political/economic scene is, I'm sure it would be a small number."

For his part trace™ relates "I recall when Mayne was showing us Diamond Ranch and the school board was asking about what this huge, cantilevered piece of metal, 20+ feet of the ground, serving no ‘real’ function.  His answer to them ‘that's architecture’."

Transparence started compiling a list of the worst architectural disasters and Rasa queries "What types of stationery do you use for work e.g pens, sketching pencils, markers,sketching paper etc? Any favorites of your tools of the trade or anything works? Any particular brands?".

Finally, toasteroven has recently "got word from a couple local arch programs that enrollment has dropped this past year" and asks if anyone else has heard the same? To which jordans99 replies "Based on what I've heard, I expect that applications will be stagnant if not decrease. Much like the decrease in law school applicants, prospective students are coming to the realization that going back to school in a field where compensation is not commensurate with time and money spent is a poor decision. As an M.Arch 1 applicant who has thoroughly looked at the likely debt to income ratio, been through the summer intro course and some additional design courses, I am going into this with the complete understanding that I would be significantly wealthier in my current job in five years."

Additionally

Michael Van Valkenburgh and Stephen Noone from Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Ted Zoli from HNTB Corporation and Don Lavender from Landscape Forms have put together a detailed presentation/white-sheet, which was previewed at the 2011 ASLA annual meeting. The paper is titled Black Locust Lumber: A Sustainable Alternative. The report argues that Black Locust is a more sustainable alternative to the wide-spread use of Ipe, a tropical hardwood typically harvested from rainforest, on architecture and landscape architecture projects. Particularly, since Black Locust can not only be sourced domestically, but also offers new opportunities for local sustainable forestry businesses. Via ASLA’s the DIRT