the recent october 12, 2012 installation at sci-arc with zaha hadid partner patrik schumacher, demonstrated trying to emulate thin shell construction with sticks. it can be done, but not like what was built in the sci-arc museum demonstration space recently.
thin shell depends upon significant warpage of surfaces. the ambitious shapes sought were a confused mess, reduced to sculpture with no inherent structure. in one instant relying on connecting into the museum space wall to brace itself. — small@large

The winners of the 2012 RIBA President’s Medals were announced this week at a special ceremony at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London. Dating back to 1836, the prestigious RIBA President's Medals reward talent and excellence in the study of architecture. — bustler.net

The university believes this to be the first design-build competition for an art museum in this country.

Each team gets four months to design a museum and prepare a bid for the museum. — bizjournals.com

There is a growing movement afoot in design. It has assumed many names over the years, all of which emphasize the public good and the engagement of too-often marginalized voices. Of late, we've seen life-saving products, more dignifying environments, and more efficient systems, all designed for the betterment of all. — PublicInterestDesign.org

b3tadine[sutures] concurred "i love it. that work of this complexity and beauty is being built in Dallas, let alone the US, is testament to Mayne and Morphosis being one of the premiere firms in the world”. However, some like accesskb argued "beautiful forms and spaces... ugly and cold choice of materials and colours".

After several years of planning, design and construction, a team of students from The New School and Stevens Institute of Technology who participated in the 2011 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon celebrated the completion of Empowerhouse, an innovative model for affordable, energy efficient green housing located in the Deanwood neighborhood of Washington. — The New School

Twelve students barricaded themselves inside an eighth-floor room at the top of the Cooper Union Foundation Building at noon on Monday to urge the school not to begin charging tuition to undergraduates.

The school has not made a decision on charging tuition for undergraduates. But in April, it decided to begin charging tuition to graduate students for the first time in its 110-year history. — cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com

From Friday evening to Saturday afternoon, 180 alumnae and current female students alike will gather at the school to discuss issues such as evolving design practices and the intersection of architecture and activism, School of Architecture Dean Robert A.M. Stern said. But the symposium’s larger goal is to allow graduates to share their experiences as women architects, he explained. — yaledailynews.com

The very first edition of the international ISARCH Awards for architecture students and young architects has announced its winners. [...] The jury was composed of Ivan Harbour (Rogers, Stirk Harbour + Partners), Benedetta Tagliabue, Tomislav Dushanov (Associate at Herzog & de Meuron), Koji Tsutsui, and Fernando Marquez Cecilia. — bustler.net

Fifty years later, Westminster has brought the boys back home, awarding drummer Nick Mason an Honorary Doctor of Letters for his contributions to music, officially completing his architecture degree.

Mason said of the honor, “Not only did studying architecture teach us some useful stuff, but it also gave us an opportunity to develop and put us in touch with some fantastic mentors and industry contacts that have helped us along the way.” All in all, we’re just bricks in the wall. — blog.archpaper.com

Designed in the late 1960s by one of the most inventive architects in American history, Paul Rudolph, the campus is a powerful, muscular pile of raw concrete. It’s an example of an architectural style that’s known, for better or worse, as Brutalism.

Now one of the major chunks of UMass Dartmouth is being transformed. That’s the Claire T. Carney Library, which is being renovated and enlarged — redesigned, really, in many ways — by a talented Boston architecture firm that calls itself designLAB. — bostonglobe.com

McRae, together with Chris King, adjunct faculty member, taught the special studio course where an interdisciplinary team of nineteen students created the designs for the school. McRae attended the school’s grand opening in September along with Jeremy Mefford, a recent UT graduate in civil engineering who was in the class that worked on the school design. — utk.edu

The Herald was granted a first look at a mock-up of the facade on Thursday. It will be built brick by brick, rather than using a cheaper "brick curtain" method, which would have detracted from the fluid, undulating design, Professor Milbourne said.

It is due to be completed in mid-2014. Construction will be a "bespoke", at times slow process, said the managing director of Lend Lease's project management and construction business, Murray Coleman. — smh.com.au