The first life-size Barbie Dreamhouse opened in Berlin on Thursday and is being guarded by police after feminist groups and left-wing activists said they would picket the plastic villa. — globalpost.com

Opinion seemed to be divided along generational lines. Simon, FAIA, shared Berman’s sentiment. Simon founded San Francisco-based SMWM, once the region’s most successful woman-owned firm. (SMWM has since joined Perkins + Will where the formidable Simon is now a design principal.) She thinks “Architect Barbie” trivializes the profession and objectifies its female practitioners. — metropolismag.com

It's fun to design – even when you have to work for free ! In fact, a freebie “conceptual design” is what two Harvard-educated women produced for Barbie’s new home in a competition to build a dream home for the Mattel doll, sponsored by the American Institute of Architects. — Globe & Mail

The winning design has been selected in the AIA Architect Barbie Dream House competition, hosted by the American Institute of Architects. The entry submitted by New York architects Ting Li, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP and Maja Paklar, Assoc. AIA, received the most public votes, out of the 8,470 votes registered. — bustler.net

The AIA received nearly 30 submissions for the AIA Barbie® Dream House™ Design Competition. The AIA and its panel of jurors have selected their finalists, with input from Mattel’s own team of Barbie® experts. Now it’s your turn to help select the winning design. — info.aia.org

Architect Barbie has a whole team of experts vying to design her Dream House—anyone from the American Institute of Architects who wants to enter the AIA's new competition, which kicks off today at the AIA 2011 National Convention in New Orleans. The winning design will be voted on by the public and announced in August. — curbed.com