A dandy bedecked in flashy all-white outfits and a pince-nez, chain-smoking custom-made cigarettes that he ordered from a New York manufacturer in lots of 10,000... an early devotee of the motorcar, president of the local Automobile Club, and a notably fast and reckless driver... He paid his rent in gold coins, before moving to an opulently furnished, Oriental-themed downtown Kansas City apartment/studio building of his own design. — Places Journal

We’ve received emails from people just starting out or thinking of going into architecture asking for advice. It gets heavy sometimes. People who have been laid off in the recession have also written to share their stories. One architect I know told me without irony that he wishes he had read it before starting out on this path. — metropolismag.com

I would like to tell a short story—or perhaps not such a short story—about the reasons why I chose to become an architect. Exactly why this blog’s readers should be interested in my recollections about such a matter I cannot say, and perhaps I am mistaken in spinning out such a story here. Still, I feel compelled to do so and can only hope for the readers’ tolerance. — lebbeuswoods.wordpress.com

Scott Timberg wrote a piece for Salon examining how "One of the coolest creative-class careers has cratered with the economy". spaceman was surprised by some of the architects quoted and wrote "One successful architect feels ‘Very much like an immigrant worker,’ and another says, ‘We are making less than a cleaning lady.’ This seems a little over the top.”

Some architects swear by Stanley Tigerman. Others, especially those who’ve been wounded by Tigerman’s biting criticisms, prefer to swear at him. In a disarmingly honest moment, the 81-year-old Chicago design maven tells a film interviewer: “There’ll be a lot of people, when I pass away, that’ll say, ‘He’s gone. Thank God!’ — featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com

One of the coolest creative-class careers has cratered with the economy. Where does architecture go from here? — salon.com

The AIA New York Chapter recently announced seven promising and pioneering new architecture and design firms from the New York area to receive the New Practices New York 2012 awards. The seven selected firms are: Holler Architecture; The Living; Abruzzo Bodziak; SLO Architecture; formlessfinder; Marc Fornes & THEVERYMANY; Christian Wassman. — bustler.net

...will re-examine the built environment of the arid and semi-arid west as a vast field of opportunities for design innovation at a range of scales, from building systems to infrastructure and landscape spaces. The conference will present and debate a portfolio of design strategies generated in response to the challenges set forth in ALI's Drylands Design Initiative... — Arid Lands Institute

The 2012 Alvar Aalto Medal was awarded to Portuguese architect Paulo David last night at the World Design Capital Gala in Lahti, Finland. In the view of the jury, David’s architecture forms a convincing synthesis of contemporary and traditional architecture. — bustler.net

About three-quarters of the people who spoke favored renovating the existing pier or picking a "Mediterranean-style" design for a replacement. The ultra-modern design of "The Lens" did not draw support from most of the people who spoke.

"We are paying for $50 million for a sidewalk over the water," one commenter said.

"I wanted Mediterranean style. (I) feel we are being locked into (a design) that doesn't have any local flavor." — oldnortheast.patch.com

In a way, my influences are eclectic. Music doesn’t make me want to go and design a house, in a way it’s a more physical pleasure. It’s maybe a break for me or a tunnel to something else. I’ve never had a lot of music in the office. To me music is to be listened to and art is to be looked at. I never understood that thing of using art as decoration. It has to mean something to me otherwise I wouldn’t have it. And I can’t work with music. I find it too stimulating in a way. — John Pawson, phaidon.com

Lindal Cedar Homes has just launched their Lindal Architects Collaborative, an innovative new prefab home collection featuring designs from the world's leading architects. The line, which will feature prefab systems designed by 12 architects, will not only make modern design more accessible, but will make architecture previously reserved for the more affluent financially accessible to the masses. — www.Inhabitat.com

Within the parameters of the building art there cannot be artists like Saul Bellow and Philip Roth or like Sidney Lumet and Woody Allen, who in books and movies probe the excruciating details of the Jewish encounter with American capitalism and lifestyle. Architecture cannot tell stories about one’s Jewish mother or one’s Jewish nose. Especially in the era of high modernism, architecture possessed limited expressive resources for detailed cultural critique. — Places Journal

The board's long-range planning committee chose Holl, based in New York City and Beijing, after reviewing site-specific concepts from three internationally known architecture firms, including Snøhetta and Morphosis, according to a statement from board chair Cornelia Long. — chron.com

"You can have a grand dome and grand minaret, but if it doesn't really serve the purpose, if it only has a large prayer space and nothing else, then you're not really fulfilling the needs of the community," he says. — BBC News