Blogs

Architect Barbie Adventures: I Can Be A Fellow Here

By A. Lira V. Luis posted 08-12-2011
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Taliesin, where a woman can be a fellow here. As Architect Barbie, the doll from " BARBIE® I CAN BE...™ ” series hits stores on August 15th, I can’t help but think about a girl, whose story of wanting the doll upon seeing an image of it from the internet earlier this year. When Catherine Lorraine Johnson requested her grandfather for an Architect Barbie, it struck a chord and gave me an a-ha-moment. I sensed an imaginary bond that connected that four-year-old girl with the grandpa, who happens to be the respected architectural designer, Michael P. Johnson . Architect Barbie trying on Frank Lloyd Wright's original drafting table for size. ...
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Architect Barbie Adventures: Meeting Mr. Wright

By A. Lira V. Luis posted 07-26-2011
3 people recommend this.
One of the first things people do when they decide to become a homeowner is to go see houses in which they would want to live. We all have dreams about what would that ideal house be like. It is probably the single most expensive purchase one will make in a lifetime, and as such, carefully thought-out designs need to be made. photo by Elizabeth Melas The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and Mattel understood the importance of good and responsible ...
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An Introduction into the Similarities of Architecture and Fashion Design

By Brenda Nelson AIA posted 12-08-2011
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Design is a part of every person’s daily activities. Most of us wake up inside a building which was designed by an architect or builder. Our morning rituals often include interactions with bed linens, personal products, kitchen dishes and utensils, and clothing, all simply or elaborately designed and selected by us to complement our personal style, mood and use. It’s possible to study how all aspects of design affect our lives, but I would like to compare architecture and fashion as I believe that have an equal impact on our lives. With either discipline, the term “design” may bring to mind the image of an expensive item. Perhaps it is unique and possibly ...
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How you can build a Passive house using a prefabricated panel system

By David F. Herron FAIA posted 12-19-2016
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Slideshow: Constructing a Passive House with a pre-fabricated panel system The Mission Clifs project used a Build SMART prefabricated panel system to pursue a Passive House. Cross-section of the pre-fabricated panels The foundation has two layers of Expanded Polystyrene Foam insulation laid in a staggered formation below the entire slab. Any penetrations in the insulation are sealed with spray foam. Four inches of insulation rated to 40PSI was used. The insulation separates the slab from the foundation wall, allowing for thermal expansion and/or movement. A 15 millimeter vapor barrier is installed ...
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New Overtime Rules: What to Know and How to Prepare

By ANGLE Staff posted 05-26-2016
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Earlier this year we highlighted a proposed rule that would expand the pool of workers who qualify for overtime pay, and discussed its wide-reaching impact on American businesses . Finally, a fter months of deliberation , the Department of Labor has released the final version of its long-awaited overtime rule. Below w e’ll tell you everything you need to know about wha t to expect, as well as how to prepare for the changes. How i s overtime currently mandated? The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of ...
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Housing finance – How does it keep up with modern architecture

By Rick Murphy posted 11-22-2012
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Nowadays, it is mainly modern architecture which inspires the design of most of the buildings. So, if you are thinking of how to finance your modern architecture, you can take out a construction loan, which is going to help you with getting the required money which you will be required to use towards the construction of the building. The construction loans, just as any of the other kind of mortgages are a part of housing finance. Housing finance now Housing finance has the power to bring together all of the different housing issues together. Like, it can handle the single family home issues, and also the complex and the multi-sector issues ...
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New Code Provision for Gender-Neutral Restrooms

By ANGLE Staff posted 06-29-2016
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A recent Architectural Record article (" Architects Propose Design Solutions for Equitable Restrooms ") highlighted some of the challenges that architects face when designing gender-neutral bathrooms .Stephen Cassell, AIA, a principal of the firm Architecture Research Office (ARO), noted that ARO’s gender-neutral restroom design for Congregation Beit Simchat Torah required a special review by the New York City Department of Buildings because it deviated from the 2014 NYC Construction Codes. According to Mr. Cassell, ARO’s request for a variance ultimately was approved by the city inspector but the process was time consuming. Good news: the 2018 International ...
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What Is The Significance of Customer Services in Higher Education?

By Jeff Homes posted 06-20-2016
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In any business scenario, customer support service bears great significance. At the moment, various conventional higher education institutions are not able to generate enough revenues and they are constantly in search of ways that can help them to do more with less resources. The best possible way of achieving this is to concentrate more focus on fulfilling the expectations & needs of the customers, namely their students. Seeing the rapid rise in the student enrollment at the for-profit institutions are proving to be a lesson for the traditional colleges that the students are more interested in gaining education which are more focused towards customer ...
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Pin It to Win It: Pinterest for Architects

By Ann Novakowski posted 06-05-2012
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From client requests to notes on vendors, your online bookmarks are getting out of control and your Evernote notebooks are a fierce hot mess . Hundreds of design ideas and inspirational stylings zip through your mind and your inbox on a daily basis. A new social bookmarking / photo sharing / shopping gallery website is changing the way brands engage potential customers and it can help you get organized, attract clients, and connect with like-minded designers. Pinterest is an "online virtual pinboard" that "lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web." ( from their website ) The invitation-only service has surpassed ...
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Understanding the New Overtime Rule

By ANGLE Staff posted 08-17-2016
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By now most readers have likely heard about the Department of Labor’s new overtime rules, which are set to go into effect this December. We’ve covered this topic in the past ( here and here , for example), but given the amount of convoluted and complex materials out there (look no further than DOL’s own fact sheet ), it’s no surprise that there’s still some confusion surrounding these changes. To simplify things, we’ve put together a brief outline of what AIA members can expect come December. By no means is this a comprehensive planning document; architects and firms alike will still have to determine how exactly the overtime rule will impact them, and the ...
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Member Dues & Renewals

By Jack Charlton posted 03-27-2018
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Member dues for joining & renewals Members can renew their existing membership several ways: Online at aia.org/renew By phone at (800) 242 3837, option 2 By mail: The American Institute of Architects PO Box 64185 Baltimore, MD 21264-4185 Individuals who have never been members or who were formerly members but have been terminated may join online at aia.org/join Membership cycles The membership cycle is based on the calendar year. Renewals: The renewals for the following year start in September and continue throughout the year. Member dues are not prorated for renewing members. Joins: National, state, and local ...
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Design Manager? What’s a Design Manager?

By Jim L. Whitaker FAIA posted 08-09-2016
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All species of alternative project delivery have radically changed the working environment of architects. Just name one variety: design-build (DB), engineer-procure-construct (EPC), integrated project delivery (IPD), alliance contracting, or public-private partnership (P3) projects. Plus hybrids of each. By some counts there are 30 varieties of design-build, alone. Any of these contracting methodologies will most likely subscribe to additional process improvement techniques, whether lean design and construction principles (Lean) derived from the Toyota automobile manufacturing business or Six Sigma™ principles adopted from Motorola’s manufacturing business, or ...
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Standards and Guidelines for Correctional Health Care Facilities

By Kerry Feeney Intl. Assoc. AIA posted 12-16-2016
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By Laurence E. Hartman, AIA, CCHP; Gregory Cook, AIA, CCHP; Erin Persky, Assoc. AIA, CCHP This article begins with a discussion of existing standards for correctional health care facilities, including strengths, weakness, and their applicability to modern correctional environments. Following this discussion is a description of an initiative by the National Commission on Correctional Healthcare (NCCHC) and the authors toward the development of correctional health care facility design guidelines that will be made available to architects and planners. Existing Standards By Laurence E. Hartman, AIA, CCHP Correctional agencies are dealing with ...
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KAPSARC and Satellier

By Arvind bhandari Sr posted 11-08-2012
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King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC) is located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital and largest city. Riyadh, located in the center of the Arabian Peninsula on a large plateau, has experienced very high rates of population growth, from 150,000 inhabitants in the 1960s to approximately 5 million people today. The project is located on 200 hectares between the outskirts of Riyadh and King Khalid International Airport (KKIA), just north of the proposed Princess Nora Bin Adulrahman University. Designed by Zaha Hadid with all aesthetically parameters of Modern and Muslim Architecture. KAPSARC consists of five major buildings interconnected ...
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Bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus: a model of collaboration in post-Paris reality

By Thomas Jacobs AIA posted 06-20-2017
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It is hard to imagine a more anachronistic action than the recent US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement . Never in history has it been more clear that what sets humanity apart is our ability to collaborate, and never has it been more urgent that we meet the global and complex challenges of our time by connecting and coordinating. Politically, we no longer collaborate because of the deep, seemingly irreconcilable partisan divide, the breeding ground for science denial. However, in this context, one political development stands out: the Climate Solutions Caucus of the US House of Representatives. The caucus was founded in February 2016 by South-Florida ...
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How Does the NDSA Work?

By ANGLE Staff posted 06-20-2016
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This is the second of a series of guest posts by members of the AIA's NDSA Coalition. Stay tuned each week in June for more! So you have graduated from college, and now you are saddled with $26,450 in student loans. As as aspiring architect, you now know you have a few options: you can continue onto graduate school, work for a few years and then return to school, or meet your state’s licensing laws by working for a certain number of years without attending graduate school. In the 2015-2016 school year, ACSA saw an increase in graduate M.Arch applications and enrollment. So you, like many other graduates, choose to pursue a Masters of Architecture from ...
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15 Must See Historic Architecture Around Connecticut Which Might Surprise You

By Jeff Homes posted 07-28-2014
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Styles and building materials -- whether brownstone from Portland or brick from Windsor -- tell only part of the story of Connecticut's architectural heritage , which stretches back even before the country was born. The structures erected, those torn down and replaced and those still standing reflect the evolving social and economic fabric of the state , from buildings clustered around a town green in Colonial times to bringing back pedestrian-friendly downtowns in the 21st century. From dozens of the suggestions, structures in this gallery were selected, with the help of an architect Michael J. Crosbie, a professor of architecture at the University ...
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30+ Most Creative And Stylish Wall Decor Ideas For Modernistic Homes

By Jeff Homes posted 06-12-2015
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A hectic way of life always requires a cheering surrounding at the end of an exhausting day. The home is rapidly becoming as an important interior designer's centerpiece. A contemporary interior design trend defines that innovative home decor is all about building a comforting ambiance along with the efficiency and simplicity. Just the once the idea of formal interior design comes into our mind, we reluctantly pass on to classic dwellings. To fashion proper surroundings, always keep the concept of appearance in your mind. The furnishings should be in a straight line within the room. Fabric is generally employed on the walls. The exterior of flooring, mirrors ...
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When did Architecture begin?

By Deborah T. Ogunnowo Assoc. AIA posted 06-30-2011
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Architecture may be said to have been there from the beginning, in raw form, in the arragement of nature. For only if we conceive the earth as a vast and featureless plain stretching in all directions, we would have the total absence of Architecture . Once there are ridges and rivers to divide this expanse, hills to punctuate it, and caves to gouge it, the business of Architecture has already begun.That is what Architecture provides, regardless of its complexity. It marks off one area to distinguish it from others. It raises solid masses that blot out as much space as their bulk. And it rears about our heads barriers to contain sheltered space. We ...
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Thomas Vonier - Candidate for 2017 AIA President - Building a Greater America

By Bardhyl Rama posted 03-18-2015
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I truly believe that the Institute and architects community would benefit from Mr.Thomas Vonier
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