For the latest edition of the Student Works: series Archinect featured the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) library pavilion, located on a sloping lawn on the temporary Dover Campus. The gridshell structure designed by City Form Lab had to accommodate three mature trees and forms a noise barrier toward the Ayer Raja Expressway in the north. Especially noteworthy we read "The pavilion is designed to be dismantled and recycled after two years". For his part TED liked what he saw writing "Nice stuff - well done"...

News
American Public Media’s Marketplace examined the resurgence of Midtown, a small pocket of Detroit that is thriving.

observant believed "There is such a dichotomy between Bloomfield Hills et. al. and the decaying part of the core...The city is probably more in need of urban designers, planners, sociologists, and economists at this point than it is starchitects producing concepts for individual buildings".

The NYT reported that the Pritzker Prize jury will not revisit its decision to exclude the architect Denise Scott Brown from the 1991 prize given to her design partner and husband, Robert Venturi, with whom she worked side by side.

nonarchitect lamented "As a relatively young, non-white, female architect, I feel saddened by this decision. but at the end of the day, old white men die sooner than architecture. Seriously, of all the women architects out there they chose to award zaha hadid". Gregory Walker drew on a historical parallel "keep thinking (maybe because of proximity) of what's happening with dsb to what's transpired at augusta national (the golf club). when martha burk began her assault on the 'males only' policy...i think the pritzker family heard - LOUDLY - what they should re-examine in the future: the roles of creative partnerships. and i'm personally optimistic they'll make that change going forward. ultimately, that will likely be the primary legacy of this campaign".

Will Galloway believed "The pritzker folks do have a point.  If they went around overturning previous committees decisions it wouldn't be much of a prize.  That shouldn't stop them from recognizing her contribution though....maybe the pritzker committee could offer some transparency and it would all make sense. unless its evolving and different every year, which is fair enough".

Meanwhile Kazy Varnelis opined, "Good riddance, Pritzker". Further he wrote "The sort of patronizing language used in the letter by Lord Palumbo is all too familiar. It is the voice of money and authority, the same sort of voice that spoke out against the rights of the women, the poor, and minorities. It is, alas, the voice of what Brown describes as the 'sad white men's award.' ...I see no way in which we can, in good conscience, think of the Pritzker as being anything but a detriment to the profession".

Vitra AG, let it be known that a  further element will be introduced on the Vitra Campus. On a hill between the VitraHaus and the Dome, the Italian architect Renzo Piano and the Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW) has developed 'Diogene', which to date is Vitra’s smallest building ― but largest product. taz felt the project had "Lovely detail!"

Firms/Blogs/Work Updates
In his most recent blog post, Bradley Gunn posted an explanation of Balloon, a collab between Aaron Trampush and himself. Therein they explain "We wanted to bring attention the un-visualized spatial implications of the new building’s height. We approached the project with the idea of delineating the height with a ceiling of balloons. In essence, we wanted to show the community the height of the proposed building in an impactful  and playful manner".

lawrencewspeck asked What role for architects in planning future cities? In the post Mr. Speck touches on a number of topics including; Building Technology, Contemporary Practices, Sustainability, Texas Architecture, and Urbanism. In response Thayer-D agreed "You're absolutely right about your criticism, but I'm afraid the whole discussion has become so politicized that one spends more time trading barbs with ideologues than actually tackling the problem head on".

Frøyland Orstad Church in Kverneland, Norway by Link Arkitektur and Island Complex in Paihia, New Zealand by Bossley Architects were just two of the projects featured recently in the latest post Ten Top Images on Archinect's "Architect Sure!" Pinterest Board.

In BuildingSatire’s post titled The Best Cover Letter Ever Written, the letter is prefixed with this explanation "sometimes the world reminds us of humbling experiences that have defined our youth and sculpted us into the fine human beings we are today. This week, I awoke to a most nostalgic email that oozed ambition, dripped desperation, and stunk with virginal entitlement". snooker-doodle-dandy quipped "I think he might be  the guy I compete against on Craig's List....Now wonder I loose all those big commissions.  I guess his overhead is less, living at home and using the high schools computers and up to date computer programs".

Monica Martinez recently worked on La Gorce at Miami Beach...

Schools/Blogs
Alexander Morley a current graduate student in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis,  was named the 2013 graduate level recipient of the Steedman Summer Traveling Fellowship this past spring. In the first blog post documenting his travels/research he explains he will be "spending the summer in China to investigate, document, and research traditional Chinese urban communities. Focusing specifically on the Hutongs in Beijing and the Longtangs of Shanghai". Given chimed in "Great post. I live in beijing and still much of this is interesting and new for me to hear haha...Something I did not realize until I lived in the hutongs and talked to  coworkers and friends who had grown up in them is how controversial they are amongst the locals. For many people (usually non-architects) who grew up in the overcrowded conditions without any privacy whatsoever, they are not necessarily sad to see them bulldozed to provide better housing. Winter is also a totally untenable situation in most of the buildings, where the interior temperature will be only slightly above what is outside....There are also plenty of people for whom the forced relocation was a tragic event for the family, but overall it is a much tougher debate then is often made out in western publications on the subject".

The ARCHIP (Architectural Institute in Prague) team, blogging the process of designing and building a pavilion for the 2013 Prague ReSITE Festival, kept readers updated as they put "together the final pieces". They also alerted would-be visitors that "Due to the recent floods in Prague, the MÖBIUS pavilion for REsite will be relocated to Karlovo Náměstí. See you all there on June 20!".

On the evening of June 12th, the students of design/buildLAB at Virginia Tech celebrated the completion of their Smith Creek pedestrian bridge project in Clifton Forge, VA.

Matthew Messner who will return to UIC this fall to finish his Masters of Art and Design Criticism, broke his recent silence to let us know he has moved to LA for the summer to work with a friend. Mr. Messner also shared a teaser image from his final project (it was actually a team project) for the past semester.

Discussions
ralimiror is a rookie in need of help. Specifically "I am a qualified architectural technologist, I found it quite hard to get employment but I have recently started at a consultant engineers as a CAD/ Building services technician. The director of the firm asked if I would work as an architect on a very small scale project and agreed as I felt capable. Little did I know that no one that works at the firm as any idea about architecture. Basically, I am doing this project and I have no one to look to for guidance, I have completed my preliminary drawings and they are pushing me for the technical drawings. I am hesitant to do them as I am scared Im going to do something wrong and it will all blowing up in my face"...

curtkram answered "to be an architect means you have a license to practice architecture in the state of the project...i suspect you were wrong when you said you were capable.  that's fine, it was a mistake.  i would say the right thing to do would be to back out.  i'm not sure the best way to do it, but asking an internet forum to bail you out is not the best solution". there is no there offered some personal experience "Something similar happened to me while I was working at a civil engineer's office while getting my architecture degree. He had ‘architecture’ projects and I was the in-house architect and none of knew the wiser, not me nor them nor the city nor the clients. He was a civil engineer though, so it didn't matter that I wasn't a licensed architect. My projects were permitted and built just fine". However, Miles Jaffe suggested "Your problem is lack of confidence. You're not going to get any from someone else, so stop asking. Sink, swim, or get out of the pool. Whatever you do, stop bitching about it. You got yourself into this, time to put on your big boy pants".

observant started a thread to ask for opinions re: Architecture school on semesters or quarters? observant wondered "Any Cal Poly SLO or Oregon grads ... or UMinn, Ohio State or Georgia Tech grads when they were still using quarters?  What was the ‘quantity’ of design done if on quarters?"

citizen noted "I did both.  And, yes, it's a big difference.  It changes the game in every course, not just studio.  If you don't start Week 2 running at full speed, you're in trouble --whether it's design, reading, writing, whichever. The huge upside: you get to take a lot more courses, and get a much wider range of material than in a semester system" while mfischer3387 shared "I'm a graduate of Oregon, so I never got to experience the semester system. Citizen is correct though. It's not really something that detracts or adds to a program. All the professors structure the studios appropriately”.
Plus citizen argued “In my opinion, while an interesting topic, it's about the lowest-ranking consideration one should use when comparing programs".

Finally, heterarch works at a limestone fabricator and needs some help deciding between a Plotter-Cutter vs Laser Cutter for pattern cutting. gruen initially wrote "I think plotter cutter is for vinyl sign cutting and is too weak for your application. You might need a CNC router. Wire cutter. EDM machine maybe?". Later after heterarch had provided some more information gruen added "1mm is very thin. If laser does not emit poison fumes then its a good option. The plotter cutter is probably cheaper to run if it can cut it".

Additionally
In response to the letter by Lord Peter Palumbo, letting it be known that Denise Scott Brown will not receive a retroactive Pritzker Prize, Michael Kimmelman tweeted "Truth is, scores of great women architects today make the star system and its prize culture seem absurdly creaky and clueless".

To which Mike Eliason replied "disagree. last 2 decades have seen explosion of talented women stepping out and getting [finally,deservedly] recognized". Mr. Eliason later collected the string of names (of talented women architects from last two decades) he tweeted, over at brute force collaborative and provided links to their work...