Beth Rosenthal penned an Op-Ed - Millennials and Opportunity: Embracing Intentional vs Spontaneous Change in the Workforce. In the piece she puts a challenge/question to her contemporaries; "What if rather than changing jobs or companies, you tried to change the system or culture within your existing work environment?...as our generation of millennials 'grows up' a little bit, and decides to potentially (just maybe?!) settle down a bit, how do we identify opportunities to yield change through a thoughtful investment of time and commitment?".

Steven Ward agreed with the gist but added "i think there is value in change at the beginning of your career…later on, stability is good…but don't just stick to stick. find a situation that you value, that makes you want to become rooted and engaged in a more committed way".

Plus, the latest edition of the Working out of the Box featured Liz von Hasseln, one part of the husband-and-wife team and 3D sugar-printing design firm, The Sugar Lab. The duo started The Sugar Lab (a micro-design firm for 3D printed sugar) out of our live/work loft in Silver Lake. In September, The Sugar Lab was acquired by 3D Systems, where they are now heading up a nascent 3D Systems food arm as Creative Directors Food Products.

News
Reacting to some US BLS data published by The Atlantic Online, Gregory Walker wrote "while my own experience doesn't fully bear this out, it's sadly not surprising to see us end up on a list like this...i'm not teaching on a full time basis any more - can people please give me some hope that the generations coming through reflect a little more color variation"?

For his part Darkman is tired of "critics and media outlets citing statistics to show how ‘racist’ or ‘sexist’ this or that profession is..What are you doing to try to solve the problem? Are you mentoring a black kid in design"?

Der Spiegel reported that the tiny Austrian village of Krumbach has commissioned 7 international architecture firms to build avant-garde bus stops. Instead of monetary compensation, the architects are to receive a week's vacation in the area located in the western state of Vorarlberg. Donna Sink loved the "image of a tiny rural town (I've been to Vorarlberg, years ago) with these nutty little structures scattered all through it.  Just a regular part of the townscape".

Los Angeles Confidential Magazine called attention to the 50th anniversary of the Welton Becket-designed Hollywood Cinerama Dome. observant learned something "This place looks as if time has stood still even today.  It's a great auditorium, too, and deceptively small on the outside while, inside, it's nicely sized...Had no clue a big firm did this theater.  I always assumed it was more of a niche firm or one of those prolific L.A. theater architects".

Amelia Taylor-Hochberg Editorial Manager for Archinect, reviewed Arquitectura Viva’s 162nd monograph, which focuses on the sheer volume and span of projects from Bjarke Ingels Group.

Therein she argues "By being extremely self-aware in its promotional style, BIG manages to expunge self-conscious authorship from the architectural creative process, and justify designs through deceptively simple ‘universal’ logic models...BIG is cultivating not only its own rationale, but its own philosophy of the urban environment, through which it sees every project as a natural response to a particular network of requirements".

Firms/Blogs/Work Updates

Lucia's Earth in Gongju, South Korea by Hyoungnam Lim, Eunjoo Roh + studio_GAON; and Apartment Ter Huivra in Joure, the Netherlands by Claus en Kaan Architecten were just two of the projects found in the post Ten Top Images on Archinect's "Outdoors" Pinterest Board.

Recently Michael Giannini worked on "Lumion Photomontage" while Kimberly V.K.H. Nguyen noted "GSAPP K.Rothstein's studio is traveling to Amman this week to research burial practices in highly dense urban environments. http://bit.ly/1crkaMu".

victoriapham started her new blog titled Arching Thoughts, with a post quoting from Theodore Baird emeritus professor of English at Amherst College, notably a client of Frank Lloyd Wright with the Theodore Baird Residence or the Baird House on Shays Street, Amherst, Massachusetts, US.

Schools/Blogs
Evan Chakroff announced that he will be joining 30 students and a handful of professors from his alma mater OSU, on a planned whirlwind tour of Japan (December 6th - Dec 30th).  He also set the expectations "some thoughts and impressions from the students, and from professor Gargus, and from the rest of our ‘leadship team’...While I can't promise a post every day, I do hope to use this space as a platform to discuss the tour as it proceeds, and offer brief impressions of the many cities and works of architecture we'll see. In addition, at some point I'll link to the interactive maps".

Meanwhile RMartz threw up a post recapping a recent lecture at Ohio State University by Doug Graf, Professor of Architecture and historian extraordinaire, "on the architecture of central Ohio... It really was more 1 part history lesson, 2 parts critique, and 1 part calls for change".

Paper Matters Press the new publishing dept. at the UVa School of Architecture, is currently seeking design proposals for a new logo.

Discussions
MasonDomino wondered if one can Transfer of plans/permits to a new owner? He explained "not pursuing construction, but instead selling the building permit (and presumably my drawings) with the property...The way my contract is written, ‘the instruments of service’ are mine and not his to sell".

geezertect advised "In theory, your liability shouldn't change since it is a function of whether or not you have committed malpractice.  Unfortunately, theory and real life are often two different things. ..There is case law precedent for holding the architect liable for deviations from drawings...You might want to bounce it off an attorney".

Peter Normand started a thread "experiences with temp to hire, good bad? seems like a growing trend in our field as well as others".

LITS4FormZ squared the difference "More bad(6 months and laid off) than good (6 months with an offer and pay bump) but it's certainly a way to get your foot in the door" but as chigurh  reminded us "if they are going to 1099 you (hire as independent contractor), make sure you send in 50% of your pay to the feds quarterly, otherwise you are going to get screwed". Xenaxis suggested "it's worth putting forth the extra effort it takes to impress the managers enough that they will convert you to direct".

Finally sindhu.d14 needed help "undergrad thesis on children's museum. please suggest few references and case studies (in india) for my project". After a few days of silence Thomas Carlson had some pity and opined "Nehru Children Museum in Kolkata is the best of all the museums in India".

Additionally
Last week Trevor Paglen gushed "William Gibson on my work! Whoa"!