For the latest edition of the Working out of the Box series, Archinect featured Ioana Urma. Ioana has completed a number of (public) art projects – murals, installations and other media and also does freelance commissions, ranging from 2D to 3D: books, illustrations, interiors, art installations, paintings, murals, architectural renovations and exhibit designs.

KIRSCH Architecture also shared their redevelopment and extension of Stelzhamerschule in Linz Austria, for the latest edition of Archinect’s ShowCase series.

News
Recently  in The Architectural Review, Beatriz Colomina wrote about Radical Pedagogies in  Architectural Education. In the piece she argued that the discipline can best be changed by revolutionizing the way it is taught. Yet, toasteroven suggested "this look back to the 60s and 70s pedagogical experiments is in real danger of regression to paternalistic ‘functionalism’... I don't know where we're headed but i'd take empty and overly expensive technological formalism over an non-critical rehashing of that specific era" while Fred Scharmen continued "What's strange is that Colomina and the co-authors here are the pedagogical establishment, and they seem to be advocating for a student-led revolution? I'm missing something. It's hard to read this as anything other than: ‘back in my day, no kid would ever dream of listening to a person like me, so what's wrong with you all?".

Meanwhile Chris Teeter suggested "until investment bankers figure out how to chop up the profession into little valued packets of service that are profitable, not much will change (developers have almost done this). everything else like theory and pedagogy are for the most part superflous (as in not having an affect on anything besides ideological thinking, which for the most part is irrelevant to figuring out how to make 'spaces' and 'places')."

Last week Christopher Hawthorne reviewed Mels Crouwel’s new addition to Amsterdam's Museumplein Stedelijk. He found that  the $159-million extension marks the spot "where the aggressive formalism that characterized architecture's boom years finally went glub-glub". Eric Chavkin believed that it was "Not one of Hawthorne's best reviews. Reads like a first draft, a bit disjointed, as if banged out from notes" while position commented "At least Kahn, in his Yale University Art Gallery extension, pulled FOUR to FIVE lines from the existing context...These monolithic sculpture buildings (especially those with huge hovering canopies) brood over the space below, and the complete absence of connectivity between the interior and the street above the first floor compounds that effect".

Fred A. Bernstein provided a first look at Herzog & de Meuron’s Parrish Art Museum  for Architectural Record. Orhan Ayyüce felt that the building was a "Nice museum of art and a nice break from all the recent self conscious shape monkey museums exhausting the visitor before even seeing a single piece of art" and mfischer3387 added "The bench ledge at the base of the concrete exterior is a really nice touch. I bet the proportions are well executed for such a simple form".

On October 4th MVRDV’s Book Mountain and Library Quarter Spijkenisse project(s) was opened by Prinses Laurentien of the Netherlands. aphorismal commented "l can't emphasize enough how much I like this.  If every Border's looked like this, there might still be a few hanging around".

Firms/Blogs/Work Updates
Recently Eva Lansberry, let Archinectors know that  "Sparky the Cowfish inflateable had a great day at the beach" and Jay Young asked people to vote for his project which was a "ceiling installation designed with generative modeling".

In his post Materials ed. 1 - Basalt, Nicholas Cecchi contended "Effective solutions for continuing to move forward in the field of experimental architecture are all around us - basalt fibres present an opportunity for structural refinement through material exploration as well as embedding environmental solutions in new structures".

Schools/Blogs
John Tubles at Harvard’s GSD summarized his recent trip to China for his optional studio class called Common Frameworks: Rethinking the Developmental Cities. John wrote "So yeah China was surreal. It was not my first time but it might as well have been. After listening to all these people that are so knowledgeable in the ins and outs of China.. all I can say is that China is a whole different animal to deal with. It is a very challenging place to practice because not only the cultural differences but also the form of government and its policies. Moreover it is hard to even comprehend the amount of development that is going on in China. I am baffled with the idea of developing a city purely for speculative capital".

In response jla-x queried "We just can't possibly keep moving this fast without derailing sooner or later.  Do you get the feeling that things have slowed down?" John Tubles replied "that our group met a planning lady from shanghai while we were in the symposium.. she acknowledge the fact that Shanghai's growth is slowing down and it is a good thing because now it gives them (the planning department) some time to breathe and re-think what is happening to their city".

Christopher Sjoberg compiled his first post for the new school blog while sitting at LAX waiting for his departure to Tokyo, where he will be pursuing graduate study in at the University of Tokyo’s G30 Lab in Japan.

Martijn de Geus, used his first post as an introduction to the 'China Builds', EPMA, program at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

Discussions
Farleft asked for opinions on window manufacturer Jeld-Wen or some recommendations for affordable window manufacturers to replace over 20 windows in a 100 year old home in the NJ area. Rusty Shackleford wrote "Arch specifier here. I'm familiar with them, but would not recommend them for anything but low end (aka residential) projects. Pella is shit too. What kind of a climate are you in? I'd let them slide in a moderate climate, but anything too hot or too cold, they are not a great return on investment". gwharton chimed in "In the lower-price bracket, you can get good thermally-broken aluminum windows for not much money. I've had good results with the Milgard 920 series".

FuscoN is looking for suggested readings, tips and thoughts on  graffiti culture. The question pertains to FuscoN’s graduate thesis which will explore how to create a means of refuge through architecture.

metal argued "I grew up on the streets so understand your interest. But I've come to think this topic sounds much more provocative than it actually is.For example the cultural references in graffiti are very pop culture, stereotypical, sometimes dumb, and postmodern ironic. The most interesting research on graffiti that I've seen has been sociological. The architectural relationships are usually metaphorical" and doodle pointed out "First, in relation to Robert Smithson's concept of entropy, look at Bernard Tschumi's account of his visit to Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye in Architecture and Transgression (1976) in which he finds a sort of pleasure/transcendence in its state of decay: ‘Stinking of urine, smeared with excrement and covered with obscene graffiti...the Villa Savoye was never so moving as when the plaster fell off its concrete blocks’".

Finally, ovalle wanted to discuss the fact that the entry by Spanish team AV 62 Arquitectos was selected for the First Prize in the international architectural ideas competition for the new design for the National Museum of Afghanistan.

A number of commentators felt that the winning design too closely resembled Louis Kahn's Kimbell Art Museum, but as HandsumCa$hMoneyYo reminded them "Shit, it's not like anybody has a patent on barrel vaults.  And wasn't Kahn's borrowed from the shape of ancient roman warehouses?  That's really more what this resembles, an ancient warehouse". tammuz continued in this vein "i've seen many anonymous repeated barrel vaults buildings in the middle east region. while i don't feel comfortable with them generally (and i don't like the kimbell museum side elevations either), kahn needn't be the referent. there is a quasi vernacular feel to it and a 'mat building' logic underlying it" and Apurimac quipped "People, we're talking about Afghanistan here.  The fact their building a museum at all - even if its a ‘rip-off’ of Khan should be cause for celebration.  Baby steps people, I'm sure with all the USAID money we can expect a SANAA ‘Mermorial Museum’ to go up in the next 20 years to make us all happy, just watch".

Additionally
For those of you in the San Francisco area, on October 14 the Studio for Urban Projects will be presenting Exploring Mission Creek: a walking tour with Chris Carlsson, Leslie Golden, Megan Prelinger, and the Urbia Adventure League.