Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Fall 2017 Archinect's Get Lectured is an ongoing series where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. Check back regularly to keep track of any upcoming lectures you don't want to miss. Want to... View full entry
In San Francisco, autonomous crime-fighting robots that are used to patrol parking lots, sports arenas, and tech company campuses are now being deployed to keep away homeless people. [...]
Last week, the City of San Francisco ordered the SF SPCA to keep its robot off the streets or be fined up to $1,000 per day for operating on sidewalks without a permit [...]
— Business Insider
When you're in Silicon Valley, everything looks like a tech solution. The same logic has been increasingly applied to San Francisco's overwhelming homelessness crisis where a growing legion of security robots — armed with lasers, sensors, cameras, and GPS — have been autonomously patrolling... View full entry
Airbnb announced today (Dec.11) that it’s experimenting with augmented- and virtual-reality technologies to enhance customers’ travel experiences. The company showed off some simple prototype ideas in a blog post, detailing how VR could be used to explore apartments that customers may want to rent, from the comfort of their own homes. Hosts could scan apartments or houses to create 360-degree images that potential customers could view on smartphones or VR headsets. — qz.com
Airbnb's vision for their new augmented and virtual reality app would also include a way for hosts to leave notes in certain locations as a guest moves through the space. This would make instructions more clear to guests, especially to those who do not speak the same language. View full entry
Established in 1975, Compac, The Surfaces Company was the first Spanish company to specialize in the manufacturing and distribution of marble and quartz surface coverings that can stand the test of time. To this day, Compac, The Surfaces Company imbues timeless innovation, durability, and... View full entry
Traveling to and from work should be easy, efficient, and allow you to focus on what matters: your job. While hunting for the next opportunity, take commute into account and start searching in the US's top cities with the best transportation. Scoring is based on The AllTransit Performance Score... View full entry
The Aarhus School of Architecture has announced the results of its annual Drawing of the Year competition. Architecture students from around the world were invited to submit drawings under this year's theme Everyday Utopia, and the resulting artworks are as wide-ranging as the tools used to create... View full entry
What if you could start over and take the career path most different from the one you’re on? Let us help you.
The Labor Department keeps detailed and at times delightfully odd records on the skills and tasks required for each job. Some of them are physical: trunk strength, speed of limb movement, the ability to stay upright. Others are more knowledge-based: economics and accounting, physics, programming. Together, they capture the essence of what makes a job distinctive.
— The New York Times
The New York Times has used job-specific records to find the polar opposite of each job. Determining skills used either the most or the least, this tool has helped in understanding more clearly what it is people actually do at their job beyond the initial understanding of the title or position. ... View full entry
Everyday, The New York Times brings its readers a new 360-degree video with their series, The Daily 360. In one of their recent videos for the project, Times journalists give us a behind the scenes look at Thomas Heatherwick's ongoing public project in New York City’s Hudson Yards... View full entry
The future of brick-and-mortar bookstores has been in peril for at least a decade. But whether you’re actually shopping for a book or not, you might actually find yourself wandering into a bookstore by accident. Because fashion brands, from French icon Sonia Rykiel to New York City-based Warby Parker, are curating books not as objects to read but as objects of décor. — Quartzy
More and more trendy retailers that used to be exclusively online (think Warby Parker, Glossier, or Everlane) are beginning to open brick-and-mortar concept shops & flagship stores in major cities, and books appear to be front and center in store design — sometimes as mere decoration but... View full entry
“We’re bullish on the outlook for 2018,” Kevin Walker, Indeed’s senior director of field marketing, said in an interview this week. “Assuming employers will do what they say they’re going to do, 2018 should be a banner year for the U.S. economy.” — stamfordadvocate.com
The forecast goes on to predict the job sectors where most of the growth is expected: "Architecture and engineering represent the most active sectors: 82 percent of firms in those fields plan to hire more next year." Currently looking for new employment in architecture? Good for you — the job... View full entry
Kengo Kuma is one of Japan’s most significant living architects, thanks to his sophisticated integrations of traditional architecture with up-to-the-minute technologies. Unusually sensitive to materiality and technique, Kuma’s designs are irresistibly tactile, often resembling hand-woven... View full entry
This isn’t a new phenomenon for 2017–see Tiananmen Square, North Korea’s totalitarian buildings, Nazi architect Albert Speer. But this year we were reminded of architecture’s enduring power to be used as political propaganda thanks to Trump’s proposed border wall. — Fast Co Design
Architecture has played a fundamental role in the propagandized rhetoric of the Trump Administration. The aim of any kind of propaganda is to promote an idea or an ideology, and Trump and his administration have used architecture to promote their own program and ideology with an... View full entry
In January, tenants will move into a six-storey Vancouver apartment building designed to be so energy efficient, you could heat each bedroom with a 100-watt light bulb. [...] Others are under construction and many more are at the rezoning stage, including a residence that will house 750 students at the University of Toronto's Scarborough campus and two 40-plus highrise towers in Vancouver that aim be the tallest passive house buildings in the world. — cbc.ca
Until now most passive houses have been single-family homes, but Canada is changing that. With several projects underway, architects are tackling the issues of scaling up this sustainable technology for larger buildings. Without using furnaces and air conditioners, these green buildings are... View full entry
During extreme storms, it's common for city infrastructure — from roads to subways to parking garages — to flood.
Architects from Danish firm Third Nature want to build garages that can cope with future storms. They designed a garage that could automatically move up and down as its water reservoir fills with and empties floodwater.
— Business Insider
Third Nature's conceptual garage structure, Pop-Up, consists of an underground water reservoir, five parking levels, and a pedestrian space on top. Most of this 30,460-square-foot structure could exist underground on dry days. On wet days, the structure would automatically pop up using hydraulics... View full entry
This post is brought to you by BQE Core. Generally speaking, no one’s thrilled to receive a bill. Your clients are no exception. However, there are techniques you can use with your invoices that both highlight your architecture firm’s value and make the process more convenient for clients. The... View full entry
