News
Amy Worden explained that the 14-year battle over the fate of the modern structure at the heart of Gettysburg National Military Park is over, as the National Park Service will begin demolishing the Richard Neutra designed Cyclorama building as soon as February.

A disappointed Donna Sink argued "I've said this elsewhere but I want to say it here too: Detractors claim that this building is insensitive because it was built on the actual battlefield where soldiers died.  I can't disagree completely with that sentiment...How can destroying what is truly a unique piece of art while allowing KFC to be visible from the battleground furthering our appreciation of the tragedy of this battle?".         

Bustler.net reported the young Slovak firm, Nice Architects, has won the first prize in the architectural/urban design competition "Parkhill" aiming to transform the area of a former open air amphitheater in Bratislava, Slovakia. Nice Architects' winning entry is a collaboration with landscape designers 2ka landscape architects. bluesidd was impressed "..nice!"

DesignBuild Source let it be known that researchers at Stanford University announced they have succeeded in developing the world’s first peel-and-stick thin-film solar cells. Importantly their solution has been achieved without modifying any existing processes, facilities or materials, making them viable commercially. Orhan Ayyüce commented "finally a great development"

Dean Michael Woo of Cal Poly Pomona Architecture Department - College of Environmental Design was happy to announce Associate Professor Sarah Lorenzen as the new Chair of the Architecture Department. spark88 was glad to hear it "Great!! It's time to take Pomona in a new direction.  The program needs to come out of the woodwork and better connect with the goings on in Los Angeles.  I have full confidence that she can achieve this".

Firms/Blogs/Work Updates

January 7th, 2013 was the 50th Anniversary of the architectural career of Richard Meier’s architecture career. To go along with this celebration Richard Meier & Partners in collaboration with a number of very distinguished institutions will be organizing several projects and events to honor this significant anniversary.

Mountain Retreat in Kerhonkson, NY by Resolution: 4 Architecture and Chelsea Roof Terrace in New York, NY by James Cleary Architecture, with Landscape Design by Rumsey Farber Landscape Architecture, were two of the recent Ten Top Images on Archinect's "Outdoors" Pinterest Board.

Nicholas Cecchi and Demiurge LLC "just received the processed material for fabrication of Volkan Alkanoglu’s sculpture for the Convention Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa”. Nicholas added "The integration of Grasshopper and other script into production processes is potentially more beneficial than using GH on the design and form-generation side".

Schools/Blogs
Martijn de Geus started a series of posts about the student experience of studying architecture in China at the English Program for a Master's in Architecture at Tsinghua, China's first and only such an accredited program. The post featured quotes and thoughts from current students and Martijn closed "I'll ad some more next week.. If you have some questions, please let me know!"

New York City College of Technology is looking for spring semester 2013 mentors for design studios and technical courses.

The University of Kentucky College of Design will host a design symposium in conjunction with Lexington's Downtown Development Authority's Town Branch Commons Design Competition, on January 31st at 4pm at the Lexington Children's Theatre. The symposium to be moderated by Dean Michael Speaks will feature a professionals from a range of national and international firms including; Inside Outside, Coen + Partners, JDS Architects, Civitas and SCAPE / LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE, as well as Aaron Betsky, director of the Cincinnati Art Museum, and Bradford McKee, editor of Landscape Architecture magazine.

Lee III, the 55,000-square-foot addition to Clemson’s Lee Hall, won the Honor Award for Design Achievement from the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Clemson alumnus Thomas Phifer (’75, ‘77) and Partners of New York designed Lee III in collaboration with McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture of Greenville and Holder Construction of Atlanta. John Stephenson AIA NCARB another Clemson alumnus was pleased "A well deserved award.  Once again the Lee complex of buildings explores pedagogical and environmental concepts as a way to engage and discuss architecture".

Kongsgaarden at Harvard GSD started a school blog Designing the Public Realm. Kongsgaarden proposed the blog "as a forum to hone the casual post-lecture discussion in the trays into a record of the most exciting and ephemeral aspects of an architectural education". In the first post Kongsgaarden reflected on the work of Gunther Vogt and the possibilities of Region as Design Medium.

The post started an exchange between Thayer-D and tammuz which Kongsgaarden deftly skirted continuing, "Vogt points to regional distinctions within the landscape in terms of its identity, inhabitation and use. His take on globalization reflects his disciplinary stance as a landscape architect...    The topic, of course, is also prevalent in architecture. In the first few minutes of his 2011 interview with Charlie Rose, Rem Koolhaas also mentions the particularities of Swiss and Italian landscapes...Some big players have weighed in. There are precedents historically for this line of thought (Frampton, et. al) and the subject is rich for discussion".                 

Discussions
existentialist had some questions about the same firms repeatedly posting similar jobs on the job board? "are these legit positions?  seems fishy.  if so, their turnaround would be frighteningly high". Plus vytautas asked "or has anyone even been hired solely thru archinect? Seems like a huge waste of time to even apply without any type of inside contact".

Lee Robert chimed in "I found my first job from the job board. New city, no connections, just clicked with the owner. I do think the positions that repeat often are legit, but that the turn around at those places are pretty high" while Noah Walker noted "I hired two people in the past year based only on postings on Archinect.  Neither had an inside contact.  So yes, the job board does work".

This past week Arch7777 discovered three of his past groupmate's portfolios and is now asking "Is it acceptable to use a teammates work in your portfolio without credit? And should I call these people out? I appreciate any blunt advice from the crowd".

b3tadine[sutures] thinks Arch7777 should "call them out, then beat their ass" but distant cautioned "Team dynamics - especially school team dynamics - often are a bit dicey. It's always interesting to observe how such teams organize themselves to get the work done and how various individuals later apportion relative contribution to the results. From the way you describe the situation, it's perhaps not all that surprising the others declined to acknowledge your existence”.

won and done williams concluded "I agree with distant and larslarson on this. Throughout your career you will find yourself doing ‘group work’ both as a member of a firm and as a member of a larger consultant team. Feeling self-righteous or indignant about your own contribution or the contributions of others will not serve you well”.

Finally, krviger is interested in hearing from any students or colleagues of Jekabs Zvilna a Prof of Architecture at U of Waterloo during the 1970's -80's, for possible interview related to a short video documentary about his (krviger’s grandfather) photography.