Links

Interesting stuff on the Internet

Interesting stuff on the internet is an article sharing my favourite recent online inspiration and distractions.

Johnnyantra: Dispatches from war and culture has a wonderful article on architect and artist Marco Casagrande, described by Mr. Christian Narkiewicz-Laine as “a model for today’s young design professional of what an architect should be: visionary, aesthetic, intellectual, and socially responsible”. Yet something is missing….Johnnyanta depicts Casagrande’s participation in the Bosnian war and the period between 1993 to 1997 that seem to be completely wiped out from Casagrande’s CV and portfolio. Full article can be found here. 

Imagine a video game in which winning has little to do with manual dexterity, hand-eye coordination, or even strategy. Instead, you survive or die, based on the beat of your heart. A video game that knows when you are afraid: Nevermind is an immersive adventure-horror game, in which players are hooked up to heart monitors and must learn to control their fear in order to succeed.

I first came across Wunderkammer at the 2012 Architecture Biennale in Venice whereby architects Todd Williams and Billie Tsien invited 42 architects and designers from around the world to create and photograph their own cabinets of curiosities. Wunderkammer is now a book highlighting the differences and similarities between architects and their inspiration, providing an insight about the collection of items that architects chose to keep and be surrounded by. Williams writes “Objects are our ballast, they help to keep us grounded. They make us feel secure in our own histories. They are chosen by intuition and curated and ordered in ways that answer only to our own wandering logic.”

The power of the hoodie wearing CEO: While people generally adhere to group norms for fear of disapproval or reprimand, anecdotal evidence and the occasional study suggest that high-status folk feel free to break rules. Deviance can signal status, the link between accomplishment and informality.

California Surfing and Climbing in the fifties: “The ’50s were the easy years in California,” recalls Chouinard, a participant in both cultures. With gas at 25 cents a gallon and free campsites across the state, the land was essentially free for the taking. This limitless mentality lead to a shift in the climbing community unlike any seen before. “The decade of the 1950s in Yosemite climbing history is a classic example of a sea change in style, equipment and attitudes towards “impossible” walls, the one the Thirties pioneers had shunned. ”

Dwell rounds up the most popular homes of 2013. Quite simply some beautiful places representing the place where families grow and contract. Part 1 here, part 2 here.

Kelly Hayes-Mcalonie, collaborator on the design and launch of architect Barbie. Women once required to wear dresses were banned from the construction site. Kelly discusses the role of the dress with relation to women in architecture. You can view her TEDX talk here.

“Women earn less than 10% of the worlds wages but do more than two thirds of the work.” womenmovingmillions.org takes a statistical look at women across industries around globe.

ArchDaily sums up their 10 most read articles of 2013 with an article written by me entitled 10 lessons when searching for a job in architecture; by a recent graduate, for recent graduates, making no. 6. ArchDaily also sums up the 20 best articles of 2013 (staff selections). Don’t miss Carlo Corroto’s article entitled when will architects speak up for women’s rights?

I don’t see eye to eye with Dillon Bailey’s love of Kanye’s music, however here’s an interesting take on how Kanye exposed architecture’s bias and here’s Kanye’s talk at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design that instigated the debate.

Apparently the smartest book about our digital age was published in 1929: How José Ortega y Gasset’s The Revolt of the Masses helps us understand everything from YouTube to Duck Dynasty.