China’s World Expo pavilions embrace the “weird architecture” it is spurning at home

By Anne Quito
January 26, 2015, QUARTZ

For six months starting on May 1st, Milan is hosting the World Expo, which has been held every five years since 1851 as a showcase for human progress. The Expo is also prime venue for some incredible architecture-gazing, with grand displays of engineering and soft power on display.

Of the 53 countries constructing pavilions, China is building not one, but five. Aside from its monumental national pavilion—the second largest after Germany’s—the country is represented in four of the five corporate pavilions, mostly co-conceived with foreign architects.

Like many pavilions in the Expo, the designs of the Chinese-sponsored buildings are nothing if not adventurous—even though president Xi Jinping has called for an end to “weird architecture”  like the infamous “Giant Trousers” of Beijing, designed by Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren.

These cutting-edge World Expo designs could be a sign that China may still yet swing back toward radical architecture—or maybe these designers just didn’t get the memo in time. Read more…

CERN Wants Artists and Architects Working Alongside Its Physicists

By Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan
January 26, 2015, GIZMODO

What do art and high-energy physics have in common? Quite a bit, if you think about it: Space, time, and the structure of the visible and invisible world, for starters. That’s why CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, has spent the past four years inviting artists into its headquarters, and why, for the first time, it’s now inviting an architect to stay.

Back in 2011, CERN set up a program called Collide@CERN that allowed artists to apply for a residency at its Swiss headquarters. “We believe that particle physics and the arts are inextricably linked: both are ways to explore our existence – what it is to be human and our place in the universe,” explained the program’s director, Ariane Koek, at the time. “The two fields are natural creative partners for innovation in the 21st century.”

The program’s first participant was the artist Julius von Bismarck, who CERN paired with the theoretical physicist James Wells—who studies everything from dark matter to the notion of extra dimensions. Together, the pair made some incredible installation art—and carried out projects that even involved other CERN scientists, including, in CERN’s words, “locking 30 physicists underground and asking them what they saw in the dark.” One work that came out of the collaboration was an installation in which a group of lamps swing out of unison for dozens of revolutions, but then, at the 78th turn, come back into a matching rotation. Read more…

Homeowner Protection Office: Building Excellence Research & Education Grants Program

The Homeowner Protection Office’s (HPO) would like to invite you to apply for their Building Excellence Research & Education Grants program.

This grants program provides a streamlined approach and enhanced framework to support and encourage externally generated research and education projects that align with their HPO mandate.

This is an opportunity for industry and consumer organizations, education providers and independent researchers to apply for funding for projects that improve the quality of residential construction and enhance consumer protection for buyers of new homes in British Columbia. Eligible projects may receive up to a maximum of $40,000 annually.

For more information, please visit www.hpo.bc.ca/building-excellence where you will find:

• Frequently Asked Questions
• Step-by-Step Guide to Completing Your Application
• Application Form

The deadline to apply is 4:00 pm on March 16, 2015. Apply early as funding decisions are made throughout the application period. If you have questions please contact them toll free at 1-844-648-6400 or email  BuildingExcellence@hpo.bc.ca.

Role Call: City of Vancouver – First Shaughnessy Advisory Design Panel

The AIBC invites applications from architects interested in serving on the City of Vancouver – First Shaughnessy Advisory Design Panel.

The role of an advisory design panel member is to give impartial, professional advice directly on any proposal or policy affecting the community’s physical environment in the public interest.

To learn more about the procedures for serving on a panel, please refer to the following documents:

• AIBC Bulletin 65: Advisory Design Panels – Standards for Procedures and Conduct
• ADP Frequently Asked Questions

Please fill out an interactive application form and forward your submissions to the attention of Professional Services Coordinator Alexandra Kokol by email (akokol@aibc.ca).

Role Call: Consensual Resolution Review Panel

The AIBC is seeking one or more architects for the consensual resolution review panel. The panel reviews and considers whether to approve agreements under the AIBC’s consensual resolution process as established under the Architects Act and AIBC Bylaws. Consensual resolution is an alternative approach to resolving disciplinary matters that would otherwise proceed to a formal disciplinary inquiry. The panel meets as is necessary for the performance of its functions, including meetings by teleconference, videoconference or otherwise electronically.  The general qualifications and experience criteria for ‘architect’ appointments to the panel are as follows:

• Member (Architect AIBC) in good standing (mandatory);
• Understanding and appreciation of AIBC’s core regulatory mandate, including disciplinary and consensual resolution provisions in the Architects Act and bylaws;
• Ability to review and consider proposed consensual resolution agreements in the context of confidentiality expectations; objective professionalism; and the public interest in the regulation of the profession of architecture; and
• AIBC or related experience (i.e., committee, board, panel, council) in the areas of investigations, discipline, consensual resolution or professional conduct/discipline generally.

Those interested are invited to forward a letter of interest, with a brief summary of professional background or c.v., to Illegal Practice, Professional Conduct and FOI Officer, Jackie Buchan at jbuchan@aibc.ca.