For the fifth installment in Screen/Print (an experimentation in translation across media) Archinect features Portal 9's Fiction: Contemporary Arabic and Russian Pursuits. Portal 9 is a biannual publication out of Beirut, Lebanon, which puts out a mix of creative and critical urbanism writing.

Eric Chavkin comments "Nice to read this, it is a  Portal. My collection of Arabic  literature is tiny but what I have has this in common: they tend to small personal narratives".

News

The architecture design community lost Madeline Arakawa Gins, a poet-turned-painter-turned-architect who publicly forswore mortality — and whose buildings by her own account were designed to pre-empt death for those living in them, on Jan. 8 in Manhattan. She was 72.

We also lost British architect Kathryn Findlay, Co-Founder and Principal Director of London-based Ushida Findlay Architects. She had been suffering from a brain tumor. In the same week she was announced winner of the 2014 Jane Drew Prize by The Architects' Journal.

In related news The Independent’s Chloe Hamilton reported on research showing that two-thirds of female architects believe the construction industry hasn’t fully accepted the authority of women.

Meanwhile, Randy Gragg tried to answer whether Michael Graves Portland Building should be overhauled (at an estimated cost of $95-million) or demolished.

Donna Sink pointed out that her favorite architecture critic Charles Mudede had already addressed this issue.

She wrote "Even though I disagree with him about whether it should be demolished, this zinger makes me giddy";

'The building does have this virtue: Its substance and appearance are one. Meaning, Graves' building is at once a bad idea and badly built...’

EKE argued "The building as executed is pretty awful, and a pale shadow of what Graves designed.  If I were king, I'd fix its deficiencies and problems, and I'd hire Graves' office to un-value-engineer it to be everything he originally intended. If you can't do that, then I say tear the thing down if that's what the city wants.  It's much more important as an idea, beautifully described in Graves drawings and models".

Oliver Wainwright offered up some trend spotting - looking around the world for buildings with holes right through them. In response vado retro pulled out an old quote

"The Instant Shiny Icon With A Hole In It Artistically Considered. The spectacle is the Decorated Duck. Buildings need not carry any more meaning than getting one’s picture taken in front of it. If it is shiny enough, If it is big enough, If it has a hole in it then it has instant cultural meaning. The ISIWAH (Instant Shiny Icon With A Hole) building is…"

Bustler.net the Washington D.C. Metro noted, the rail system designed by architect Harry Weese was deemed the recipient of the AIA's Twenty-five Year Award. The award will be presented at the AIA National Convention this June in Chicago.

Firms/Blogs/Work Updates

Recently Scott M B Gustafson (principal of MAISON ORION) worked on A trio of weekend retreats and Rigoberto Almaguer Nava recently worked on Magenta H.

Amangiri Resort and Spa located in southern Utah, was a unique collaboration between three established individual architects : Marwan Al-Sayed, Wendell Burnette and Rick Joy. It and Houses at Sagaponac are just two of the projects that can be found on the Archinect profile of Marwan Al-Sayed Architects.

School/Blogs

BenC kicked made his first post on the new school blog for Carleton University. The blog will be used for on-going documentation of the work happening in Carleton University's semester-long (January-April 2014) work for the Directed Studio Abroad to Helsinki, Finland in the joint studies program with Aalto University.

Therein he writes "This study-abroad trip was a rare opportunity to discover a new way of thinking about Critical Regionalism in an environment that is in many ways similar to Canada's east coast, but in a culture completely removed...I've been researching lately the implications of parametric design in contemporary design practice and have started to look into how critical regionalist theories (humanitarian) can coexist and thrive with new parametric processes (techniques), and I believe this will be a large part of my work and research throughout my time in Finland".

Cameron Rodman had a chance to interview Peter Walker, currently a partner at PWP Landscape Architecture, on his recent visit to University of Tennessee - Knoxville.

New York City College of Technology released a call for mentors and (needed for design studios ad technical courses) for the 2 0 1 4  Spring semester. One upside - up to 80 service hours would be applicable towards IDP’s Professional and Community Service requirement.

The University of Buffallo school blog published an abstract for Architectural Practice in Small Towns: A Study of the Architect-Client Relationship in the Western Erie Canal Region a M.Arch. Thesis by Megan Basnak. 

Peyton Westlake believed this was a "Great topic. Mainstream thought should be more focused on the small town practices. My first interaction with architecture was through a small town architect who did great work, additions for houses. He drew everything by hand, great proportions and rich work, was a true professional"..

Discussions
Gang Chen, AIA, LEED AP BD+C started a thread to discuss the news that Michael Graves's Portland Building Faces Demolition Threat.

jla-x admitted "I would not design anything like this, but I think it is an important structure.  Probably the most significant post modern building.  I hate the idea of trend and style".  daniele scarpa kos was adamant "shame! I adore the formal coherence of the project-drawings, ideal example of POMO imaginary".

Sarah Hamilton started a thread for folks to share their Favourite word from Architecture School.

Responses included; "Fenestration, interstitial, Architectonic (because It can mean anything you want it to mean), Phenomenology and Archibabble" amongst others.

Sarah also shared that she has "always hated the word datum"...

Finally, following Sarah Hamilton’s example, Miles Jaffe asked Archinector’s to share their Favorite Expression from Professional Practice.

He offered up "Shake and bake" while Donna Sink distinguished between her favorite word from *teaching* Professional Practice vs. when she was a student - "ethics" vs  "shit flows downhill" (referencing plumbing, of course) respectively. LITS4FormZ added "What's your change order batting percentage?".