Why We Look at Architecture

By Guy Horton, Metropolis

January 18, 2011

I’m drawn to John Berger’s essay “Why Look at Animals” for many reasons but primarily because it takes something obvious and turns it inside-out to reveal dimensions that were completely unexpected. The way he describes our cultural and personal engagement with animals got me thinking about how we look at architecture and why we look at it. What are we trying to see there? And is there a there there? More … http://www.metropolismag.com/pov/20110118/why-we-look-at-architecture.

 

A Difficult Character: When a leadership consultant reviewed the Myers-Briggs tests of 100 architects, he discovered there really is an “architect type”—and it’s not always an easy one.

By Amanda Kolson Hurley, Architect Magazine

January 3, 2011

Imagine that you are the coach of a kids’ sports team. The team has a great season and makes it to the championship playoffs, held in a town a plane ride away. There is enough money to send some team members to the playoffs, but not all of them. So how do you decide who can go? More … http://www.architectmagazine.com/architects/a-difficult-character.aspx.

 

Surrey’s New Library Designed For The People by The People

Architects went online for public opinion to speed up consultation, building process

By Jenny Lee, Vancouver Sun

January 15, 2011

Architect Michael Heeney was under the gun. His Surrey City Centre Library project had to be designed and built at warp speed or it would lose its financing. His firm, Bing Thom Architects, won the job in November 2009. By February, construction workers were breaking ground. More … http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Surrey+library+designed+people+people/4113752/story.html.

 

Another Award for VCC

The Vancouver Convention Centre – West is one of 11 projects to receive a 2011 Institute Honor Award for Interior Architecture from the American Institute of Architects. These awards acknowledge outstanding building interiors created by architects licensed in the United States. The VCC-West was a joint project involving Vancouver’s DA Architects + Planners and Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership, and Seattle-based LMN Architects. The awards program draws attention to the broad diversity of interior architecture. For more, go to http://www.aia.org/practicing/awards/2011/interior-architecture/index.htm.