In the latest edition of the Working out of the Box series Archinect interviewed Brooklyn-based designer & artist Doug Johnston. His current profession is creating "objects by stitching rope together" and he explains "I guess sometime early on, I realized that my design work wouldn't be limited to buildings or objects, but would extend to the ‘design’ or planning of a functioning business and studio practice. This guided my choice to work in smaller offices so that I could have more exposure to the nuts and bolts of generating income managing workflow and cashflow, etc...Being able to apply design thinking to the business structure itself has been really exciting and helpful".

Thayer-D liked what he saw "Really beautiful stuff.  It makes me think it would be incredibly useful to have architecture students actually build things besides models during school.  If only to get a tactile understanding of what their drawings might be and what goes into realizing them".

News
Over at the Guardian, Jane Duncan (founder of Jane Duncan Architects) analyzed Why are so many women leaving architecture?

observant argued "From my graduating class of about 20 in a M.Arch I, only 7 became licensed architects, of whom 1 is a woman.  The class was about 50:50 male:female.  Only that 1 woman went into traditional practice so as to attain that goal.  None of the others even went to work in the field.  The men in the profession are not responsible for THAT.  At all". He went on "Those are piss poor stats for women entering the profession upon graduating".

b3tadine[sutures] was incensed "I don't give two fucks about your stats, or your EXPANSIVE 50:50 class of 20 grad students. What I do find repugnant is your analysis of why women are not in the profession, and why YOU think men have played zero role in affecting women joining the profession".

Samantha Farr, an Urban Planning Graduate Student at University of Michigan, has started a petition to block the plans by Andreas Apostolopoulos, CEO of Triple Properties, to demolish the historic Beaux-Arts-Style State Savings Bank in Detroit, to make room for a parking structure. Triple Properties purchased the building in 2012.

Thayer-D couldn’t understand "Why can't the city make these buildings historic?...wantonly tearing down these beauties will only make it harder for any comeback, and from what I've been reading, there are some kids who are making a go of it.  Who look beyond the ideological debates many architects enjoy and simply going to a place that feels better than the soulless office towers and socially alienating suburbs they know". EKE agreed "Bravo! Well said".

Meanwhile Michael Martin host of NPRs TELL ME MORE spoke with Dave Zirin (sports editor at The Nation), about Detroit’s ‘shameless’ plans for a new $450 million hockey arena - partially funded with public money.

won and don williams argued "Funding for the project is coming from state-issued bonds that must be repaid by the developer and tax increment financing that captures the tax increment from raised property values that come as a result of the development. No existing tax dollars are being used to fund the arena...Archinect should take a bit more responsibility before posting these ‘news’ articles".

The new North Atlanta High School opened its doors last week with an “eye-popping price tag” of $147 million. Given responded "The cost per sf on that school doesn't look that over the top... Just because the total tag was large doesn't mean anything. 50 million over budget? So they assumed a cost per square foot of $80/sf originally? Is construction really that cheap in the south?!"

Firms/Blogs/Work Updates
In Handheld in Omotesando, Jeremy Segal reflected on a recent photo expedition in Omotesando and provide some "reasons why it’s good to ditch the tripod occasionally  and do some ridin’ drrty" including; Location Scouting, Work On The Details, and Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable.

Hotel Indigo Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong by Aedas and Forman House in Auckland, New Zealand by Bossley Architects were just two of the projects featured recently on the Ten Top Images on Archinect's "Outdoors" Pinterest Board.

Alec Perkins an intern working for Tatiana Bilbao's office, had a chance to visit Santa Fé (once a massive landfill) a new suburb of Mexico City.

He summarizes the experience thus "Basically, I found manicured collection of hypermodern mirrored glass and steel towers containing luxury condos and office buildings, sprawling corporate campuses, and giant malls. Wealth and power live there, along with their bodyguards. Santa Fe does have an identity- it just happens to be awful".

homme_du_jura chimed in "It's funny that in the five years since I've been to Mexico City on business, your impression of its expanding western suburbs were similar to mine...I preferred much more the city's historic district, mostly because of its architectural variety even amidst a few of the post-war eyesores here and there.  But as you know, these districts like Santa Fe are becoming pretty much par for the course throughout the world- China, UAE, Moscow, etc".

Elliot Lazarus was recently at site today: (where) contractor used a skylight to winch a marble sink into place.

Schools/Blogs
Harold-Sprague Solie shared images and descriptions from A PLOT  one of the (9) thesis groups at Taubman College from earlier this year. The investigations focused "on specific plots of land in Detroit, exploring their material and atmospheric conditions as well as their immaterial circumstances (regulations, neglect, oddities). For the exhibit, Cross-Plotting: From Detroit to Windsor, material from selected plots were physically or conceptually lifted from the sites in Detroit, re-worked, and re-plotted in Windsor, exposing interests, realities and circumstantial agents".

amy.pinkston announced that "the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) has confirmed a full eight-year accreditation renewal for both the bachelor of architecture and master of architecture programs at the University of Oregon Department of Architecture".

Alex Gomez currently earning his BArch from Cal Poly Pomona, put up a post highlighting his Spring 2013 Case Study. He and his partner found the formal characteristics of the Visitor’s Center in Atapuerca, Spain (designed by Mata y Associados in collaboration with A3GM) far more interesting than the sustainable strategies...they were required to focus on. Although ironically they "discovered that the sustainable strategies are strongly integrated with the formal concepts".

Lian Chikako Chang was in Los Angeles for an ACSA board meeting and live-blogged Sylvia Lavin and Eric Owen Moss at SCI-Arc. sameolddoctor agreed with the thrust of one of Slyvia Lavin’s comment’s "why the fuck do they keep showing the same photos of the LA stars on venice beach again and again?".

Discussions
Adam J. French started a thread to discuss open windows. He starts off the thread "Now it seems like this is simply not allowed in some cases. Or is it? I see proposals which make use of various nascent gadgetry controlled with a smart phone which manipulate various mechanical contraptions...Architects are, as I understand, charged with the building envelope. The Butaro Hospital in Rwanda was rather nifty in the use of good old natural air. Why are we interested in such elaborate and costly technology when outside air is - free”.

Miles Jaffe offered up one explanation "Residential energy code: maximum air infiltration limit exceeds minimum fresh air requirements" and JonathanLivingston provided some further explanation "This isn't as easy an issue to solve as your making it out to be. There are a host of issues with operable windows...the biggest issue I commonly encounter is adjusting peoples expectations of thermal comfort...You have to sell operable windows via life cycle cost, health and lifestyle benefits".

BulgarBlogger wanted to talk about How to dress like an Architect. LITS4FormZ suggested "Your wardrobe should run the gamut of formal black suit and tie to jeans and a t-shirt based on your schedule for the day". New Archinector MeadeTek commented "I think in general in the architectural world wearing black pants and a nice shirt is generally the safe route".

Added BenC "I've always felt that a really good pair of well-fitted jeans (not ultra skinny, just well fitted) is the prime choice...I have a pair of black levi's that are dyed such a dark black that they actually look like dress pants - definitely my go-to  in the morning”.

Jack Spelling started Architecture is ... (cause we don't have enough fun threads)

Steven Ward believed Architecture is "...inspiring, exhilarating, and demoralizing. sometimes at the same time".
boy in a well believed Architecture "es las chupacabras. eso es amor".
awesomekeith believed Architecture is "SUPER ITS SUPER".

Finally, Nick Axel linked to a current gestating archival project of his 'What is Architecture?' wherein he "collected aphorisms, where people say ‘architecture is * ‘ from over 500 sources since ancient Greece. You can join in on twitter, using the hashtag #ArchitetureIs; directly on the website, www.what-is-architecture.net; or in person at the Lisbon Triennale".