Pool Issue No.2: RULES
UCLA Architecture and Urban Design Student Magazine

http://www.pool-la.com/home-4/

Is it a rule if it’s not written down somewhere? Of course, it could be, but rules do require some currency in order to be effective. This question suggests the importance of documentation, distribution, and enforcement to their functionality. Thus, to hazard a definition, “rules” are an apparatus for the systematic evaluation or production of phenomena.

In our general climate of instability, contemporary architectural practices have exhibited an interest in systems that reach beyond the individual narrative. Instead, the prescribed methods and rubrics for producing a status quo provide an expanded, even populist ground for analysis and creativity.

Off the top of our heads, these interests include:

REGULATION: labor, building codes, zoning variances, tax exemptions

PRACTICE: software, reality effects, fabrication methods, standard materials

DATA: file management, objectivity affects, catalogues, bias

INSTRUCTION: procedures, “starter packs,” norming, tutorials, pedagogy
DISCIPLINE: authorship, syllabus ownership, citation styles, rigor

Evidently, “rules” is a pliable word. Everyone knows what it means, but for something so pragmatic it escapes any particular association. Compared to “law” or “algorithm” it’s even hard to take seriously.

Pliable, but thus strategic: this issue seeks to establish a new spectrum of definitions that better describe our practice through prescription, evaluation, and their associated media. The fuzzy but potent legacy of “rules” in architecture invites us to reconsider both the smallest section details and the most pervasive professional associations. 

POOL eagerly invites the submission of communicative media surrounding the authorities that prescribe, the bodies that obey, and the administrators who implement rules.

Submission Deadline: February 20, 2017

1. All Submissions must be accompanied by a title.

2. We welcome essays and other content endemic to academic publishing, but also encourage unconventional media such as comics, experimental films, an syllabi.

3. Include a cover image or summary text (50 words maximum) to be used on the website as thumbnail linking to your piece. 

4. All body text should be 2500 words or less, and submitted in the form of editable Microsoft doc. All text, including footnotes, should be edited according to the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition. 

5. All images must be submitted as  Tiff or Jpeg in RGB or SRGB maximum acceptable files size is 20MB, and max Pixel width for display on Poll’s website is 1500 px. Contributors are responsible for procuring the rights to any image they want to use.

6 Videos and audio can be submitted through and external site such as Soundcloud or video. We can also include links to other elated documents. Accepted content will be published digitally on a rolling bases, as well as considered for the print issue. 

8. Submission are due February 20, 2017

9. All material should be submitted digital o pool@aud.ucla.edu

We are happy to answer questions, so feel free to get in touch with us at POOL@aud.ucla.edu.

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