Amelia Taylor-Hochberg Editorial Manager for Archinect announced Screen/Print, an experimentat in translation across media, featuring a close-up digital look at printed architectural writing. For it's first run, Screen/Print featured SOILED magazine’s fourth issue, Windowscrapers.

Plus, in the latest edition of the Working out of the Box series Archinect spoke with the architect-turned-fashion designer (andProject Runway season 12 finalist) Justin LeBlanc. Mr. LeBlanc received his BA in Architecture at North Carolina State University from 2004-2009 and is "currently an Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University...in the Art and Design Department with a concentration in Fashion...also the Faculty Advisor for NCState’s Art2Wear program"

News

Buffalo Rising called Archinectors attention to the fact that on Nov 6, 2013 the Buffalo City Planning Board will meet to review plans submitted by Norstar Development that will demolish five buildings of the Paul Rudolph-designed Shoreline Apartments to make room for eight new residential buildings.

Over at Fast Company they examined the growing experimentation with "Competency-based education" programs, including an upcoming "Flex-Option" pilot at the University of Wisconsin. Orhan Ayyüce suggested the "Real big truck approaching is that community colleges are gearing up to offer BA and BArch degrees perhaps within a decade. There is a lot of work being done behind the scenes...How would you like to get a virtually free degree rather than owing $150,000 for it? Federal and State Governments are behind CC's for community reaching higher ed. Politicians love the idea. Whether or not ACSA and NAAB like it, there is a political will for it and the bureaucrats usually follow the orders...Real changes at the door".

For his part Max Bemberg wanted to know "once people start graduating with these new ‘flex’ degrees, I'm curious how employers will look at their ‘education’. These are all really interesting ideas but they seem to be shifting the focus away from ‘learning’ and towards ‘getting a piece of paper’ (sorry for all the quote marks)".

Justine Testado highlighted an upcoming free evening event that will acknowledge the 50th anniversary of the demolition of NYC's Pennsylvania Station on Nov. 6 at the AIA | NY Center for Architecture. Hosted by AIA | NY, the program will begin with a live reading of selected scenes from The Eternal Space, a two-man stage play set during the Penn Station's demolition, which began on Oct. 28, 1963.

TaxiManSteve despaired "This and the destruction of New York City papers in the 60s heralded for me the end of dignity in our modern era... These have been getting worse and worse" while Miles Jaffe reminded folks that his father had been very active in preservation efforts.

Firms/Blogs/Work Updates

Lian Chikako Chang blogging for ACSA posted a link to some initial data visualizations resulting from the ACSA Atlas Project . Particularly eye-opening was a depiction of Gender in Architecture School Leadership. Donna Sink was disappointed "This graphic is a really terrible indictment of the education of our profession...I'd like to also see one of faculty, as I imagine it's much more equitable - though...Not good", Fred Scharmen agreed "This is unfortunate and frustrating, documentation like this is very important. Nice work".

Recently Eric Barch worked on Mechanical systems for an apartment complex in Milwaukee while Emma Matecki worked on Building Homes in Kentucky (The previous home after a landslide).

For Aditya Ghosh of the blog Insane Cities, bricolage was the New Old Word, it'll have to do. He then posted a picture of NYC’s Times Square, featuring men driving rickshaws.

Presented for the first time at the Maker Faire Rome, St Horto by OFL Architecture. The project is both an interactive garden and sonic installation.

Schools/Blogs
Despite being "horrifically, mind numbingly busy" in their first semester of a graduate program in UIC’s School of Architecture, cfearo2 managed to start a blog, the first post reflected on The End of Midterms and All That Jazz. 

Writing about a recent lecture by Jose Oubrerie, cfearo2 noted "Unfortunately I was sitting near the back and can sometimes be bad with accents, but luckily for me I'd seen him lecture over the same subject in my undergrad.  Also, bonus points for using a slide projector.  The man's got style.  His work is absolutely fascinating, but my favorite he showed was the Miller House, lauded by critics across the spectrum".

In a post titled Fail Hard, Christopher Perrodin whom as you might remember has already graduated but is chronicling the conceptual development/process of his MArch degree project at Washington University, wrote "It's my belief that if I have to spend most of my presentation time confronting and overcoming the ingrained beliefs of my critiques, then I should find another avenue to achieve the same result.  Switching the way I presented also, I think, helped me in the semester to keep a more open mind about the project's development".

Discussions
andres.villegas was looking for advice on on removing himself "from being the Architect of Record of a project that I stamped and submitted for a building permit and was approved as well..trying to resign from being the architect of record because the client does not want to pay me for being in the Construction Administration phase"?

gruen answered "I don't think it's that strange that the architect of record might have very little to do with the construction process. This happens all the time...You want to make a scene because of something that went awry with your contract with your various employers. ... The advice you have been given by the other posters is good in terms of liability". mislabeled pointed out "many permits contain conditions which require the architect to certify certain aspects of the work . if so, and it wasn't included in your orginal contract - you have an opportunity to negotiate additional services and to oversee critical portions of the work".

el jeffe added "contact your prof liability insurer. I've found they can be tremendously helpful in these situations".

JsBach  started a thread with a brick ledge question. Specifically, "I see lots of detail drawings where a steel angle brick ledge is used...The brick is laid right on the angle with no mortar. What holds the first couple of courses in place till you get up to a row with a brick tie"? 

curtkram helpfully replied "you have brick ties.  they're like wire things that screw into the substrate and embed in the mortar (a row or 2 up)". JonathanLivingston continued "The bricks get mortared together, steel, brick, mortar next brick, mortar….The tie is secondary structural reinforcement and actually if well constructed takes no force".

Finally, have you checked out/contributed to the You might be a redneck architect when  thread? Xenaxis offered up "designing rigid frame tool sheds an truck washes in Bakersfield...than ah did some work on Buck Owen's Crystal Palace" and cncguy wrote "You might be a redneck architect if duct tape is both an indoor and outdoor finish material".