Earlier this month, the Obama Administration under the USAID (United States Agency for International Development) launched the advisory committee on voluntary foriegn aid (ACVFA). On that list advisors was none other than Cameron Sinclair, a person who has revolutionized the way we think and speak about people and architectural spaces, and actually acts and implements these thoughts and words into reality. — triplepundit.com

The magic of cities comes from their people, but those people must be well served by the bricks and mortar that surround them. Cities need roads and buildings that enable people to live well and to connect easily with one another ... in the most desirable cities, whether they're on the Hudson River or the Arabian Sea, height is the best way to keep prices affordable and living standards high. — grist.org

To combat the relentless move toward electronic technologies, many schools are integrating such analog technologies as pencils, pens, water colors, pastels, in addition to teaching the manipulation of the latest computer software. — metropolismag.com

The past 12 months have seen a remarkable number of humanitarian crises with earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand and deadly tornadoes in the southern US being among the most recent.

Among new innovations which could help relief efforts is a fabric shelter that, when sprayed with water, turns to concrete within 24 hours. — BBC News

Co-editor Mark Foster Gage will present Composites, Surfaces, and Software: High Performance Architecture. Composites, Surfaces, and Software: High Performance Architecture explores how computer technologies and digital fabrication techniques give architects unprecedented tools for crafting performance and aesthetics through cross-disciplinary collaboration. — AIA Website

There is beautiful architecture but it was bombed down by the allies in the war. This is a nice city but I cannot shoot in modern architecture, my camera don't like it. My camera wants to kill your mama. — Aki Kaurismaki

A point of view-Herman Miller has one about people and design, architecture and quality, materials and problem-solving. Architects also have a special point of view. Visit Herman Miller POV to discover some of the leading architects' points of view on designing for the home. — Herman Miller

The Montreal UNESCO City of Design initiative aims at creating opportunities for designers in Montreal so as to give vital and tangible expression to Montréal’s status as a UNESCO City of Design.

First launched throught an investment of $1.2 million over three years (2007-2011), the initiative aims to fund design and architecture competitions as well as promote made-in-Montréal design initiatives via various digital communication tools. — Montreal UNESCO City of Design

As much as the blogosphere often turns crucial issues into soap-operatic fodder, it also keeps us honest to a degree that didn’t exist before. What has emerged is an architecture criticism less contemplative, perhaps, but more nimble — and better attuned to its audience, in ways good and bad. Martin Pawley might not recognize this new criticism right away, but even he, I think, would have to admit its heartbeat is plenty strong. — Christopher Hawthorne, Architectural Record

Most ills in this world (and we know there isn’t a shortage of them) require massive change on systematic and ideological levels. Indeed, it is a capacity—and many say, a responsibility—of design to address the many pressing problems facing the world today.

But is this the only role for design? Is design solely a form of crisis management and problem solving? Or can design also offer a different perspective on a problem, without having the aim of solving the problem entirely? — openhouse2011.com

Place: Living Room Studio
Time: 12:18 PM

Photos from the final! — Columbia University GSAPP (Anthony)

I had never pronounced the word 'preservation' until eight years ago," said world-renowned architect and outspoken urban theorist Rem Koolhaas at a recent media preview of his exhibition Cronocaos at the New Museum (through June 5). "Now preservation is outpacing us." — The L Magazine

The first phase of this zero-carbon Gulf city is up and running. But behind the futuristic facade of driverless pods, medieval streets twist and turn back the clock to traditional design — guardian.co.uk

Nearly half a century after Habitat 67, I worked five days a week in a cubicle in Safdie's latest high-profile creation, the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C. And as I stared at a computer screen in my small slice of Safdie-dom, I wondered: What good has visionary architecture ever done for working plebes? — theawl.com