How could a building that combined the genius of Buckminister Fuller and the power of the Union Tank Car Company become obsolete in little more than ten years?
Federal contracting officers will no longer be required to withhold 10 percent of fees for architectural and engineering services, following a four-year effort spearheaded by the AIA. The new rule change—published in March by the Federal Acquisition Regulation Council (FAR), which is made of up the DOD, GSA, and NASA—classifies retainage as discretionary. If contracting officers choose to require retainage, it can be set it at a rate below 10 percent. The new rule also clarifies that “any amounts retained should not be held over beyond the satisfactory completion of the instant contract.” Previously, retainage could be held until construction
Smart phone applications that relate to architecture are on the rise, but they're not always easy to track down Apps for Architects Here is a sampling of apps that architects might find useful. 1. Project Photo $2.99, plus purchase of related application Archives photos taken with an iPhone. Each photo is tagged with its GPS point. Photos can then be linked to construction drawings and plans. Offered by Cosential http://www.cosential.com/iphone-apps/projectphoto.cfm 2. Concrete Calc 99 cents Figures the cubic yards of concrete needed for a job. Offered by Jeremy Breaux N/A 3. Smart Thermostat Free, with purchase of a thermostat Remotely
Photo courtesy Margo Warnecke Merck John Carl Warnecke, c. 1975 John Carl (“Jack”) Warnecke, FAIA, died of pancreatic cancer at his ranch in Healdsburg, CA, on April 17. Warnecke, considered by those who knew him as a “larger than life” figure, was a tall, burly architect, known for his ebullient personality and his ability to win clients and friends. One of his best known works was the redesign of the Lafayette Square area in Washington, D.C. [RECORD, April 1968, page 147]. This urban development near the White House included not only the preservation of historic houses, but the construction of
Since its start, in 2001, A+D Architecture and Design Museum has been a vagabond, migrating from one donated (i.e.: rent-free) space to another, staying for as long as three years and, once, unexpectedly, a single night. But the museum will finally wrap up that nomadic journey, on April 27, with the opening of its first permanent home, at 6032 Wilshire Boulevard, in Los Angeles. Image courtesy A+D Architecture and Design Museum A+D Architecture and Design Museum A+D was the brainchild of Stephen Kanner, FAIA, and Joe Addo, AIA, inspired by a design museum in Finland and their volunteer experience, under
Recognizing the ever-expanding role that designers play in today’s world, a program that will launch this fall at Parsons aims to train students to be well-rounded problem solvers capable of applying design thinking to a wide range of issues. Photo courtesy Matthew Sussman/The New School The Urban and Transdisciplinary Design program, as it’s called, will be housed in the Manhattan-based university’s School of Design Strategies. It will offer a Master of Fine Arts in Transdisciplinary Design—the first degree of its kind in the country. “The word transdisciplinary is often off-putting, because it sounds a little pretentious,” acknowledges Jamer Hunt, the
Photo courtesy AIA Christine McEntee The American Institute of Architects announced today that its executive vice president and CEO Christine McEntee is stepping down as of July 23, 2010. She is to become executive director of the American Geophysical Union, a non-profit organization of geophysicists. The group has 50,000 members from over 135 countries. An executive recruiting firm will work with a search committee to be formed by the AIA Board¹s Executive Committee to find a new chief executive. "Over the past four years, Chris McEntee significantly enhanced recognition by policy makers, the media, and others that design matters, especially
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