Fifty-six years after her death, the Board of Directors of the AIA voted today to honor the AIA Gold Medal to Julia Morgan, FAIA (1872-1957) — the first woman to ever receive the award. Morgan will be honored at the AIA 2014 National Convention and Design Exposition in Chicago.

Steven Ward admitted feeling ambivalent "Could they not find a living woman architect worthy of the honor - they had to comb through the history books?...I can see the flip side. If they had created a different award, they would have gotten criticism for that…Ah, well. Progress nonetheless!". Responding to some critical commentators Donna Sink pointed out "you realize she was one of the first architects to use reinforced concrete, right? The first woman admitted to the Ecole? Working in one of the most revered styles in our history when it was brand new?".

Erin Lani continued in this vein "the work of Julia Morgan stands as one thorough exercise of an Architect's thesis, regardless of gender. She gathered her ideas and practiced them daily. I, for one, am inspired to do so myself...Yes, next time, give the award to a living woman - can't wait to see who it is".

Mike Riggs a staff writer at The Atlantic Cities reported that starting January 1, 2014, architects who apply for an occupational license in Texas will have to share their fingerprints with the state. The requirement applies not just to new applicants, but also to licensed architects seeking to have their registrations renewed. Violators face a fine of up to $5,000 per day in which they are not in compliance with the new law.

cncguy quipped "Well just paid $47.00 usd for fingerprints to comply....the body cavity search was free...I would of fought something like this, but didn't even see this on the radar. Got my letter 3 days ago”. jla-x wanted to focus on the bigger picture "the state had no reason to assume that you are guilty of fraud so therefore has no right to subject you to a process of proving your innocence.  This issue pisses me off because occupational licensing in and of itself is nothing more than a form of protectionism".

On reading about the unexpected passing of Allen Eskew a founding principal with Eskew+Dumez+Ripple, Gregory Walker wrote "My personal interactions with Allen, although limited, made a deep impression on not only myself but our young office. My office and I were proud to team with Allen and EDR in the pursuit of the Center for Civil and Human Rights museum here in Atlanta. Though our team was not selected, Allen's humor, wit, and razor sharp perception throughout the process were infectious and inspiring". HandsumCa$hMoneyYo added "Always terrible to see a young architect pass away.  So much potential yet! Rest in peace, Mr. Eskew".

The new Maritime Museum and Exploratorium in Porsgrunn Harbor in Norway designed by Danish firms COBE and Transform collaborated once again to design, opened its doors to the public last week.

davvid lamented "It looks great. I wish small sleepy towns in the US had this kind of chutzpah".

Firms/Blogs/Work Updates
Orhan Ayyüce a senior editor for Archinect started a blog Sleepless in Shenzen to document a four day visit to China as part of the Shenzhen Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture.

In the first post he described the Biennale's main venue in Shenzhen the Value Factory "a defunct plate glass factory in the urban border zone called Shekou. It is the center of the Biennale's ambitions to turn it into a cultural zone of preservation and perhaps leave it as the living history of the industrial past with a newly energized use, co-existing with the vicinity's inevitable gentrification into a high end residential development, an omnipresent transformation pattern in the world's developing cities as it's towering chimney looking over one of the most familiar sceneries of global trade, a shipping container port and other supporting warehouses, not too far away from a creeping shopping mall, a 7-Eleven, a Sea World© and a Wal Mart".

Chicago Women in Architecture [CWA] a not-for-profit, volunteer organization that exists as a forum for women in Architecture and related professions, announced it is accepting applicants for it’s 2014 - 2015 CWA Scholarship. The submission deadline is January 31, 2014.

V' House in Maastricht, the Netherlands by Wiel Arets Architects and Støperiet ”The iron foundry” in Bergen, Norway by Link Arkitektur are just two of the recent projects highlighted in the recent post Ten Top Images on Archinect's (brand new) "Old+New" Pinterest Board.

Schools/Blogs
Last Friday the students in Virginia Tech’s design/buildLAB presented the single design of the fieldhouse and master plan they have been working in their studio, to the Clifton Forge Little League Board.

Evan Chakroff continued to provide updates on the Knowlton School of Architecture’s Winter 2013 multi-week tour of the architecture/urbanism of Japan. Days 2-3 the group remained in Tokyo, where stops included Yoshiro Taniguchi's Gallery of Eastern Antiquities, 1935’s Tsukiji Honganji Temple and he took a side-trip to the artificial islands Odaiba and  Kenzo Tange's Fuji TV Headquarters. By day five the group was in Yokohama.

Over at the blog affiliated with the EPMA at Tsinghua University’s  School of Architecture, Reva Watson had a recent chance to visit the Phoenix International Media Center (designed by Beijing Institute for Architecture Design) with architecture students from other universities in Beijing.

Discussions
Everyday Intern joined the conversation at Archinect’s Thread Central to inquire "How do all of you handle specs? Full time spec writers, write them yourself, rely on product reps and manufacturers, MasterSpec, …"?

SneakyPete weighed in "It seems the bestest way is to put it off until the week before the documents are due, then toss the hot potato to an intern or a Designer I...Full time spec writers are good in theory, but I have yet to meet one. I think they're the Architectural Unicorn...I write them myself when tasked to, and think that even if they don't write them, it behooves a PM to keep a hard eye on them".

vado retro commented "judith chafee ‘lectured’ at unm circa 1997. she showed all these great deset houses but said nothing. she had a soundtrack of southern arizona songbirds accompanying the slide show...many spec writers were born that night" and Brian Henry was surprised "I had no idea I was transforming into a unicorn".

vflash778 is looking for some suggestions "I haven't had a great first semester at architecture school but i made it through ... WInter break is coming up and i was wondering if there are any classes i could go to , or maybe even a camp...the model making and the 3-d problem solving were so new to me, it took me longer to understand and do my assignment than my classmates"?

bklyntotfc  advised "Practice, practice, practice...Don't let your discomfort cause you to pull back, that will only delay your development.  Jump into the deep end and learn to swim".

Los Angeles agreed and added "Model making is a craft, and like many works of craft, they need practice. You need to consistently make models...SECTION, SECTION, SECTION...LASTLY, if you want some real extra help, GO TO THE ARCHITECTURE AND ART LIBRARY”.

Finally wurdan freo wanted opions on the Market in Denver. there is no there wrote "I'm not involved in arch/construction much so I'm not in the loop, but am in Denver. The economy is pretty strong, perhaps the best in the US". However, based on personal experience DeTwan believed "I just left a job in Denver, it paid $17 an hour. Once you factored in living expenses(high), and most of the necessities to live, it doesn't pan out to much...If you want a job in Denver it is either take peanut shells and work at a small firm on AutoCAD, or work for the peanut at a large firm, but you better know Revit like the back of your hand".

Meanwhile Beepbeep argued "You also should look at Salt Lake City, Utah / Park City area too. Good economy and and even closers to the mountains and not as much traffic. Denver is like 1.5-2 hours from skiing and the traffic on 70 gets crazy".