In the latest edition of the Working out of the Box feature, Archinect talked with architect-turned-public-design-instigator Bryan Boyer. Will Galloway commented "very good article and very interesting career path. Very inspiring, Bryan".

Meanwhile the newest edition of the Student Works, showcased a project completed in 2011, "Reticulated Form: Full Scale Prototyping" aka Saltworks an innovative outdoor installation designed, fabricated, and assembled by students in Joe MacDonald’s and Arash Adel’s Option Studio at Washington University in St. Louis. 3tk was curious "about how this fits ergonomically.  Nice sculptural quality to it - hope it's still around when I finally get back there some time!"...

News
Earlier this week AIA President Mickey Jacob, FAIA, issued the following statement regarding the partial federal government shutdown "The AIA is a non-partisan professional association; we work with members of both political parties. And like most Americans, AIA members are extremely disillusioned with the current state of affairs in the nation’s capital. The design and construction industry is slowly recovering from one of the worst economic crises in modern history. The last thing we need is the self-inflicted wound that can potentially further damage the economy. We urge both political parties to set aside political divisions and put the ‘common good’ of the American public first"

A special shoutout to long-time Archinectors John Jourden, Aaron Plewke, and Quilian Riano, three among the 1,350 people who attended this year's Beaux Arts Ball at the 69th Regiment Armory in New York City on Sept. 28. Aaron Plewke reported "The overall environmental effect created for this year's ball was quite successful. The white tarp-like canopies created an intimate space at the center of the dark and voluminous armory hall. The sound installation built from a dream-like drone steadily toward a beat-heavy dance party. Large Mylar puppets marched rhythmically through the space, adding spectacle, and pushing vertically into the dark void above".

In response to A Famous Person’s 5-Step Guide to Becoming an Architect, Quilian Riano was curious if "Becoming an architect is the new luxury product...are celebrities ready to downgrade their lives?" samuelallen couldn’t help wondering "maybe it takes someone with the ego of Kayne/Brad to even try to publicly engage with a profession that exhibits as much collective narcissism as our own".

Justine Testado pointed out that Docomomo US, began its 7th annual national Tour Day program at the First Presbyterian Church (aka Fish Church built by architect Wallace K. Harrison) on Oct. 5 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Stamford, Connecticut. Although boy in a well thought it "kinda looks like a carwreck" thisisnotmyname "loves" the building.

Firms/Blogs/Work Updates
AGi architects announced their proposal for the Cardiac Research and Rehabilitation Center in Kuwait "is now becoming a reality after the laying of the foundation stone and start of the construction works".

Aria in Tijuana, Mexico by T38studio; Photo: Pablo Casals-Aguirre and Carcass Creek Cabin in Grover, UT by Imbue Design were just two of the projects found in the recent post Ten Top Images on Archinect's "Architect Sure!" Pinterest Board.

Alec Perkins who just finished a stint as an intern working for Tatiana Bilbao's office, posted a templated professional reference letter, written with the Utmost Sincerity.

Schools/Blogs
NewSchool of Architecture and Design (NSAD) students are offering a comprehensive vision for the San Diego County transportation corridor from La Jolla to the Mexican border. The project, completed during a special studio course offered in collaboration with the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), offers a model for cities around the world to redevelop suburban areas to become high quality sustainable urban areas. An online book is also available: NSAD-BIG Studio: String Theory.

Christopher Perrodin continues to document his MArch design research and degree project, "After the tepid presentation,  I accepted what my professor had been telling me for three weeks --embrace the political.  Embrace the direction of my inquiry.  Allow myself to critique".

ACSA National has launched their Career Outcomes Data Effort, an ACSA-wide survey for schools to use on a voluntary basis with their graduating students. Lian Chang, ACSA Director of Research and Information, put out a call for feedback "What questions would you like to see on this survey? Do you have anything to ask the ACSA about this initiative, or ideas for us? Has your school asked you to complete a survey about your experiences at school and work? Would you like your school to be part of this effort?"...

Discussions
Gregory Walker started a thread by asking is anyone's office being impacted by the gov't shutdown? Mr. Walker shared "We have a small GSA project that will be put on hold; it's impact on our overall firm will be negligible. My brother's engineering firm is going to be highly impacted, as a lot of their work is for the feds".

LITS4FormZ wasn’t worried "Some former classmates have been bitching on social media for a while now. They have been in government services throughout the recession (with yearly raises and generous bonuses) while we were all scrambling for work...Pretty much sums up my experience with government". However, Fred Scharmen wrote "I do have a client I've been working with on and off over three years who is paid by the military, and was going to rely on access to some of their loan programs to fund his renovation/addition. Because this nonsense about the debt ceiling has been going on for almost that much time, he's been unable to hit *go* on the project, because the status of those loan programs has been in doubt this whole time. We call each other about once every six months or so".

tagalong wanted to know "Does anyone put wall tags on their exterior walls of a ground up construction and then draw the assemblies on a wall/partition types page?
I just had a contractor...try and lecture me about where information should be in a drawing set...My understanding has always been that interior walls get tags and drawn on a wall type page and all of the exterior walls are detailed through the wall and section details".

Jeremy Miller answered affirmatively "Yes, both interior & exterior walls need wall tags.  No excuse for him missing it on the section.  but it is a wall, and therefore should have a wall type".

gruen chimed in "I tag my exterior walls and detail the critical areas. Exterior wall types are not poor practice, but a way of reducing errors, and reducing the number of notes required on wall sections and details". For his part Steven Ward believed "if you're going to have specific details for exterior wall conditions, ALSO having a wall type assigned to the same wall is dangerous. it suggests uniformity where you need to be explicit about specificity...we don't build, we communicate. how you communicate most clearly is your responsibility".

Finally, Jack Spelling tried to get people talking about SIDE JOBS and MAKING MONEY. To start things off Non Sequitur suggested "check with your local licensing organization and your employer before moonlighting. Depending on how you bill yourself, they may not take kindly to working outside of certificate of practice or your office", while Kevin W advised "I've done them in the past, never again....not worth the stress, time, etc....I could never put the amount of time, energy or interest in the side gig, after a full day or week of the day job. Too many other important things suffer".

 Lee Robert also offered up his own experience "It's certainly possible. I'm typically working on 2-3 side (architecture) projects at any given time on top of my full-time job. For me, it all comes down to time management, knowing how I work, and developing a work flow to optimize my output".