News
The post announcing the opening of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, designed by Morphosis Architects and which opened this past Saturday in Dallas, featured some great photos by the photographer Iwan Baan. Cosmos commented "Everything about this building is great.  Function, construct-ability, massing, circulation, materials, contextual awareness, technology, aesthetics/ design sensibility, etc...” and b3tadine[sutures] concurred "i love it. that work of this complexity and beauty is being built in Dallas, let alone the US, is testament to Mayne and Morphosis being one of the premiere firms in the world”.

However, some like accesskb argued "beautiful forms and spaces... ugly and cold choice of materials and colours". Thayer-D also believed “This type of ‘throw it on the wall and see if it sticks’ type of builidng is so common that it makes me wonder why this one should elicit so much commentary...Some of their earlier work was truly sensuous and warm, but this building couldn't look more contrived.  Laying out the curtain wall escalator enclosure at the same angle of the excalator and put it on the outside like decoration.  Really?"

Quasimotor Productions is looking to share a 10-15 min short film Broad Minded City, with the public if anyone is interested in screening in their gallery space or movie venue. The hope is to make the documentary into a full-feature film (90 mins. or longer). The main characters of the film are regions of  Los Angeles and Frank Lloyd Wright’s urban model Broad Acre City.

Karen Trimbath reported in from Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic Paul Goldberger’s talk—'Architectural Criticism in the Age of Twitter'. Therein Goldberger explained "The most popular is not always the best. The new is not always easy to understand. And the last word will always be history’s. But this is always the critic’s challenge".

Vile Child snarked?  "No, Paul. What's most popular is best. Weren't you paying attention on the playground? And if you don't like it, we'll pipe sunshine where it dont".

Keith Zawistowski laid out why he felt Architect Magazine has finally found its voice. How the quality of the November 2012 issue blew him out of his chair, writing "Charting new territory is never easy but Ned Cramer and his staff have relentlessly pursued exactly that, boldly reinventing the format nearly every month. This month they have finally spoken loud and clear".                   
 

Firms/Blogs/Work Updates
Bilyana Dimitrova of Bilyana Dimitrova Photography posted images she took in 2004 of Little Tesseract House by Steven Holl Architects.

Recently a parametric climbing wall system developed by ONL [Oosterhuis_Lénárd] in cooperation with climbing specialists Mountain Network and engineering firm Arcadis won the Wood Innovation Award 2012.

Paul Petrunia let Archinectors who might have been worrying know that "the Archinect iPhone app has been crashing for some users outside of the USA region format. A fix has been submitted to Apple and should be available in the next 7 days".

Mitch McEwen founder of SUPERFRONT started a blog to document her time during a 2012-2013 fellowship at Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, Germany. She began the blog with a post exploring Modernity and ideology as related phenomena, starting with the work of Frederick Kiesler and his laboratory research model in the 1930s.

Plus, Gregory Walker analyzed the equation skills vs need vs fees, which he believes for anyone 'looking for a job', will almost certainly drive the decision about how much pay will be offered. curtkram chimed in "it seems to me architects are pushing more responsibility onto consultants and passing the costs to the client...what's left for the architect?  a specialty in rhino script form generating? the article is about 'skilled' labor, which i think is different than just somebody going to college for a long time".
 

Schools/Blogs

McLain Clutter, Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Kyle Reynolds, Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee School of Architecture and Urban Planning, along with a team of students from the University of Michigan, have constructed the Empty Pavilion in a vacant lot in Detroit. The Empty Pavilion is a meditation on Detroit’s evacuated urban context and an experiment in architecture’s ability to activate a latent public in the city.

hsolie at University of Michigan Taubman School of Architecture, along 7 other graduate students are collaborating with the artist-led interdisciplinary collective Broken City Lab, as well as the Creative Rights legal team. All for their yearlong thesis studio under the leadership of advisor, Catie Newell of Alibi Studio. The first half of the year-long thesis research is currently on exhibit in Cross-plotting: Detroit to Windsor at Broken City Lab's Civic Space: 411 Pelissier Street in downtown Windsor.

Discussions
okaydee started a thread looking for assistance with "sliding or rotating architectural louver systems?..Or if not both, one of these as a mechanized facade system?” similarily piero1910 wanted to know What is the type of glass the Steven Holl used on the Nelson-Atkins Museum? Referring to the opaque glass.

juan moment advises "Bendheim Wall Systems/ Okalux” and dmfoxe added "Keep in mind it is part of a much thicker wall section with two layers and much more conventional construction inside". The thread even warranted a visit from Marc Fink Sales & Marketing Manager at Bendheim Wall Systems, distributors of Lamberts channel glass.

Referencing a recent editorial Frontier Learning: The Future of Architectural Education by Professor Stanislav Roudavski werh5774 let it be known "I am interested to know if anyone has encountered programs that frame their content in terms future roles of architecture rather than in relationship to already-outdated current needs of the profession. For example by looking at how architecture will have to be in 25-35 years". accesskb though argued "Similar to how one can't write books without first learning alphabets, or run without first learning how to walk, you need to master the 'outdated' and 'established rules' before you try breaking rules and thinking about future roles of architecture".

Finally luckymini wanted to confirm "I heard every year there are some students from West coast arch school joining Hollywood industry for film scene production. I am wondering is it true? for those who really switch their profession, do you know if they are earning more than being architect?" mdler confirmed "it is. they are probably making more $$$ depending on how much they are working. it is extremely difficult to get a job in the industry however” but Xenaxis pointed out "Try video games - I was an environment 3D artist for Rockstar Games for 11 1/2 years and made twice what I am making in architecture”.