Lemonade – “it’s not a pink slip, it’s a blank page”

For those recently laid off – if you haven’t seen the 1/2 hour movie “Lemonade” it’s definitely worth your time. It focuses on layoffs in the advertising industry, but the overall message is inspirational for architects as well.
Whether or not you decide to stay within architecture (and I agree, we need [...]

The long(er) road to licensure

A recent article on the Design Intelligence blog (http://www.di.net/blog/2009/12/intern-to-architect/) analyzes historical data from Oregon, New York and Nebraska to show that the time it is taking architectural interns to achieve licensure is longer than anticipated, and appears to be increasing over time. Below are a few potential reasons.
1 – Intern Development Program (IDP)
The 2008 [...]

Sell your by-products

When you create the product that your business is known for, you are typically creating waste, or a by-product that is usually undervalued. Find a way to make that a revenue stream.

Soft ideas and hard lines

Get your fat pencils, pens and watercolors out again, have some fun and loosen up in your design explorations.

Humility: an unconventional job interview tactic

I was recently involved in an interview for a new project with a client with whom my firm has been working for the last 25 years. We have designed all their major buildings, overseen several modernizations, and our institutional knowledge of their processes is, I’m sure, more extensive than our competitors.
However, going into this [...]

Fly under the radar

Shortly after Thom Mayne was awarded the Pritzker prize, editor Chris Sullivan praised “Thom Mayne’s Radical Incrementalism”: “…he operates as a nexus of many ideas and inputs, deftly prioritizing and assimilating them per project needs.” I can hardly think of a better description of the kind of parameters any architect is expected to synthesize, or indeed, the goals of this site.

A Brief Rant and Manifesto

Too often in recent history architects have been sidelined, drawing pretty pictures and avoiding the risks of construction while contractors, legal professionals and construction managers increase their profitable slice of the project while leaving the long-term liability with the licensed professional – the architect.
Architecture in the public eye has become the realm of star designers [...]

Generalists, not specialists

“An architect is a generalist, not a specialist” …”An architect must know enough about each discipline to negotiate and synthesize competing demands while honoring the needs of the client and the integrity of the entire project.” -Matthew Frederick

Experience vs. Artifact – Round One

“Everything of value digitally is about the value of experience, not the value of the artifact.” -Ethan Kaplan , Vice President of Technology at at Warner Bros. Records.

Do you focus on the Experience or the Artifact? What is to be gained from either?