Surely many of us this weekend ran across GOOD Magazine’s article, “Why Architecture’s Identity Problem Should Matter to the Rest of Us,” covering an issue that writer John Cary believes is harming the profession of architecture. It’s a well thought out piece and well worth a read. In short, the article argues that the process of becoming a licensed architect takes away from our ability as a profession to contribute in a valuable way to society. Mr. Cary explains that the system requires us to work for years as interns before becoming licensed (which is true), and goes on to suggest that it is this purgatory of sorts that prevents us as professionals from contributing …

Introduction to Turenscape

Last week in Seattle I had the pleasure of attending the “Next Eco-City” symposium hosted by the University of Washington. The symposium, which took place downtown in Rem Koolhaus’ Seattle Public Library, was a daylong event broken into three sessions – Emergent Ecologies, Emergent Cities, and Emergent Tactics – and was kicked off the evening before with three presentations and a panel discussion centered on the ecological implications of urbanization. Each of the symposium speakers maintains a sturdy balance between academia and practice and each are using their unique positions in this regard to invoke change in the built environment across the realms of academia, policy, and …

Once a week, desirably more, realistically less, I peruse the digital catacombs of Architizer like a pirate on the high seas in search of hidden treasures of thought and inspiration. Alas I have found one (and by no means the only one), a bounty rich enough to share with others.

And so I share this thought project by the German based firm of architects and urban intellectuals, N2M. It begins with a quote whereby, “at each stage of history, we tend to be convinced that our present reality is the one that is ‘really’ real. Now we’ve got it figured out! Now we stand at the end of history!” The arrogance by which we …