It's that time of the year again, so we continued taking a look back at the year 2013 on Archinect by sharing the most trafficked and popular pages in Archinect's diverse online ecosystem, with a list of 13 top 13 lists for '13.

News

Some of the Top 13 Architectural Issues for '13 included; 3D Printing, Flint’s Flat Lot Competition results, and the issue of render vs reality, MoMA's decision to demolish American Folk Art Musuem #FolkMoMA and Gender equality and women's rights/recognition in architecture to name a few.

flemingr2002 thought a couple of issues were missing "Good list but i am surprised to see gender issues highlighted but the lack of ethnic diversity, especially in design schools, ignored. It would seem that the real issue is white male privilege. -- Also, CO2 has hit 400 parts per million but sustainability is missing from the list. I know its not hip to be into sustainability but at some point, probably too late, architects will finally mobilize to address this very real threat".

WBUR’s Sacha Pfeiffer talked with Ruth Graham (writer and author of 'Can Buildings Be Too Young To Save?') and David Fixler (architect with the Boston firm EYP / co-founder and president of DOCOMOMO New England,) about whether Today’s Ugly (will) Buildings Be Tomorrow’s Historic Architecture?

HandsumCa$hMoneyYo commented "Although I like the Boston city hall, the plaza surrounding it had too much brick for my taste.  Could have used some trees.  But maybe it's changed since I was last there 20 odd years ago".

On a related note LOS ANGELES CONFIDENTIAL MAGAZINE pondered Preserving Our Architectural Masterpieces. Eric Chavkin was perplexed "So.....? My first reaction to this piece is so what?...Hollywood money rarely invests in new talent, or the avant-garde. it 's a good thing for Los Angeles architectural preservation that the Hollywood business model is saving LA history".

Plus, The Atlantic Cities reviewed the demolished, Important Buildings We Lost in 2013.

During a conversation with students from Woodbury School of Architecture, Kengo Kuma said "material is not the surface...nature is not consistent...I don’t want to fix nature...anything between human and nature can be defined as architecture"

Firms/Blogs/Work Updates

Orhan Ayyüce, a senior editor for Archinect, chronicled Words, Images and impressions from the Shenzhen Biennale. He attended a panel on architectural education moderated by Mr. Ole Bouman with Mark Wigley of Studio X and GSAPP,  Alexander D'Hooghe of MIT and Nanne de Ru , Director of the Berlage participating. He felt, four quotes by Mr. Wigley. were particularly noteworthy.

"students should be more interesting than their teachers"
"architecture schools pretend to have answers"
"architecture schools are now unstable and because of that, they are interesting"
"each school should be at least good at one thing"

William Wheeler recently worked on "A nonprofit Shakespearean acting troupe located in Asheville, NC, looking to upgrade the infrastructure of their aging outdoor amphitheater to enhance accessibility and comfort standards for their audience’s experience, asked for a comprehensive master plan to be implemented in phases" while Christopher Schulte shared Work Sample – Graduate Thesis Work.

House in Comporta, Portugal by Martim Melo and Arc House in East Hampton, NY by Maziar Behrooz Architecture were two of the projects recently featured in the post Ten Top Images on Archinect's "Architect Sure!" Pinterest Board.

In a post titled Mumbai Anthropocene, Mitch McEwen principal of McEwen Studio, informed us "[This last post of 2013 ends the chapter of  this blog as a chronicle of research, theory, and travel.  I am picking this up in 2014 as a more frequent update from the perspective of a practitioner, mostly based in Brooklyn".

School/Blogs
Evan Chakroff continued reporting in from the Knowlton School of Architecture’s December 2013 of the architecture/urbanism of Japan. Day twelve saw the group in Kyoto, where they visited Kyoto International Conference Hall designed by Savhio Otani.

Mr. Chakroff writes "the hall is a mix, about 50% over-scale riff on traditional architecture, 50% sci-fi set design...The building is incredible: one of the unexpected highlights of the trip. ..The complex circulation network, the concrete materiality, and the reference to traditional architecture all mark this building as a prime example of Japanese Brutalism...The result is, to my eyes, an appealing regionalist version of the style".

During days 15-17, the group traveled to Kanazawa (and back) to Tokyo.

In a final post titled Constructing Modernity (KSA Japan Wrap-Up), Mr. Chakroff reflects "Japan, I think, may be unique in its development of a contemporary style that draws equally on traditional culture and global movements – and an architectural culture that continues to have a global impact perhaps because it remains somewhat isolated, free to develop in interesting and innovative ways – perhaps the best example of Frampton’s “critical regionalism”. I’m struck by the absence of foreign designers in Japan: key commissions seem to have gone to Japanese designers, nearly every time"...

Will Galloway added some local perspective as an expat architect "there are foreigners here. in tokyo i guess there are a dozen offices at least.  but we don't have access to the important projects and tend to be small. It seems to be slightly changing, but only slowly.  Nothing like China though. Being a foreigner has no extra value for Japanese clients. We have to compete at the same level. I find that refreshing personally".

Over at the ACSA’s (The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture) blog Miachael Monti provided a rebuttal to the recent Fast Co. Design regarding What Architecture Schools Get Wrong. He explained "Architecture school design/build programs, in which students both design and construct a project at full scale, can provide a tremendous learning experience. This is why over 70% of accredited architecture programs in North America have them (data here)".

Will Galloway agreed "way true. we do design build as a matter of course and have been for decades. its not exactly common but even in japan its fairly normalized as pedagogy goes". On the other-hand Steven Ward countered "virginia tech's program is doing some great work, and others (more than suggested?) are also doing things along similar lines..but it's not the only way to teach architecture...maybe not always the best. different strokes"...

Suffering from Blogger's Guilt (yet) again Susan Surface surfaced, to announce "I graduated from Yale over a year ago! Anyway, this will be my last post on my Yale Student blog. Perhaps I'll begin a new one describing my new life at Columbia GSAPP's C-Lab, where I've ended up and am extremely, extremely happy”...

For those looking for a career in academia, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is hiring for a Director of Industry Partnerships. Working for the Advanced Urbanism (CAU), the applicant will provide strategic and operational leadership of revenue generation, working closely with the director and research director to develop and execute a plan to secure funds from corporations, foundations, and individuals.

Or, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) invites applications for a full-time tenure-track appointment in the fields of Urban Design and Infrastructure Planning at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor.

Discussions
BulgarBlogger started a thread with the question "What's the deal with all the bitching and moaning about" AIA & NCARB ? 

Responding to some of those complaining stone advised "AIA - like any volunteer organization the world over - does nothing more than represent the collective wishes of its dues paying members. If you're not a dues paying member, I can't see that you have any real basis for complaint. If you are a dues paying member, then you are wholly entitled to lobby internally for changes that you think might be desirable. AIA always is looking for members who wish to exercise their leadership skills".

stone continued "The AIA can help us by providing information, tools and knowledge -- but it's up to each of us to grab hold of that that stuff and do something worthwhile with it".

curtkram countered "instead of aia having a product manufacturer provide continuing ed credits, let's get some good firm management seminars for ceu credit.  that's a good idea...my aia chapter doesn't seem to have much for committees, except a committee who chooses who to give awards to, and where to have the party where it is handed out...having said that, the administrative staff at my local aia does a very good job of organizing what does get organized, and they are very nice people.  i don't want to sound too hard on them".

quizzical then informed curtkram "if your local component is not actively promoting Practice Management programs, you should check into the National AIA"s Practice Management Knowledge Community, which is very prominent in providing very high quality programs and free webinars on the topics you seek...see: http://network.aia.org/practicemanagement/home/pmdigestarchives".

Gang Chen wanted to talk about Aaron Betsky’s editorial regarding the male-dominated world’s uproar over Zaha Hadid's Qatar World Cup Stadium.

tammuz suggested "I suspect that behind all the historical avant garde, the reasons why Zaha does not want people calling her buildings a vagina are owing to a sensibility that the prominent part of the west/ western media might not, largely, share... I sense there is a different sensibility there and thats all there might be to it. Trying to bash her for that discloses narrow mindedness on the part of the basher".

Either way Nice didn’t see what the big deal was "I just think it's funny that she cannot laugh off a few comments made by comedians. Instead of just ignoring it or making a joke about it, she tried to turn it into a sexism issue. The building does resemble a vagina, what's the big deal?"

Finally, Saint in the City wondered Design Develop Own, "Anyone else here doing anything similar with new construction or rehab, plus owning and leasing?”

curtkram was "sincerely curious to know how you got the financing end to work".

gruen chimed in to report "I'm living in a duplex now and renting half to a tenant. It helps pay the mortgage. This is house number three" and wurdan freo added "I've owned three rental units and am down to two. Looking to dump those two this spring as I'm relocating to another part of the country. 50% rule has been spot on in my experience".