Scaffolds - call for proposals

Call for contributions

Participants are invited to submit an abstract (max 300 words) addressed to one of the three proposed tracks for scholarly, scientific and artistic contributions (please see instructions at the end of the section). 

OPEN TRACKS.

1. When Tools become Instruments: Masterful Articulations in Architecture and the Arts

Chair: Michael Doyle, ATTP, TU Wien; Diana Alvarez-Marin, CAAD, ETH Zürich.

There is something about invention in architecture and art that cannot be properly willed, cannot be reduced to a minimum effort for a maximum effect. Almost counter-intuitively, it is through repeated practice that suddenly something that was not possible suddenly becomes so.  Whether it is addressed in education, practice or research, this poses a particular challenge, because it precludes recourse to any single normative and prescriptive design methodology. If future architects and artists are no longer simply to emulate unquestionably the ‘Geniuses’, how can educators, practitioners or researchers work with the technics

Charrette

Charrette (ISSN 2054-6718) is the journal of the Association of Architectural Educators (AAE), publishing contributions academics and practitioners engaged in innovative and significant architectural education and research. Today we are announcing a new call for Guest Editors to assume responsibility for volume 6 issue 2, to be published in autumn 2019.

Charrette is structured to encompass a range of work from current research, polemic, critique, speculation and experimentation. Charrette is an open-access peer-reviewed journal. It's available to read and download from http://www.architecturaleducators.org/ and IngentaConnect at http://ingentaconnect.com/content/arched/char

The aims of the journal are to:

- Provide a shared medium for the dissemination of both academic peer-reviewed writing and research generated through the architectural design studio.
- Articulate contemporary architectural pedagogies.
- Demonstrate the breadth and quality of the discourse, actions and outcomes of architectural education.

The aims of the AAE are to:

- To develop, support and represent communities of practice and learning in architectural education in the U.K. and Ireland.
- To foster inclusive dialogues between the AAE community, students and employers, and educational and professional bodies.
- To encourage research and scholarship of teaching and learning in architectural education through critical and reflective discourse.
- To promote the value, richness, quality, and diversity inherent in architectural education.

The journal is published bi-annually online. The journal structure is as follows:

- Editorial by the issue’s Guest Editor
- Essays: 5,000 – 8,000 words (including all references and endnotes). Essays must demonstrate their intellectual and theoretical context, method and data, and have a clear conclusion.
- Projects: 3,000 – 5,000 words (including all references and endnotes). Submissions to the Projects section will substitute traditional “academic” data with project work, so they are expected to include more images, diagrams, and illustrations.
- Freespace (optional): 3,000 – 5,000 words. The Freespace allows for authors to develop accessible, provocative, and/or polemical work which may be written or illustrated.

Individuals or parties interested in proposing a theme for volume 6 issue 2 are invited to contact the Charrette Editorial Board at this email address no later than Friday 3 August with a brief initial expression of interest (< 500 words) explaining their idea for a thematic issue. Shortlisted proposals will be reviewed by the Editorial Board. The Guest Editor(s) will be responsible (with the support of the Editor and Editorial Board) for drafting and refining a
call for papers, conducting editorial review, providing critical and constructive feedback in addition to our own double-blind peer review, and contributing an Editorial.

Please note the themes of past or upcoming issues when proposing your idea. We are particularly keen to receive proposals that focus on areas or themes not previously addressed by Charrette.

1(1) 2014: Inaugural issue (selected articles developed from papers delivered at the 2013 aae conference) - Edited by Ruth Morrow & James Benedict Brown
2(1) 2015: Uncommon Currency (selected articles developed from papers delivered at the 2014 aae conference) - Edited by Rosie Parnell
3(1) spring 2016: Architectural Education in Scotland - Edited by Andrew Agapiou 
3(2) autumn 2016: Zero Hours - Edited by Gem Barton
4(1) spring 2017: Research Based Education (selected articles developed from papers delivered at the 2016 aae conference) - Edited by James Benedict Brown
4(2) autumn 2017: Global Practices, Transnational Pedagogies - Edited by Mónica Pacheco
5(1) spring 2018: From the Global South: Pedagogical Encounters in Architecture Edited by Ashraf Salama
5(2) autumn 2018: Architecture Connects: Strategies for the Co-Production of Architectural Knowledge (selected articles developed from papers delivered at the 2017 aae conference) - Edited by Jane Anderson
6(1) spring 2019: Flipping the Script: Foregrounding the Architecture Student - Edited by James Thompson
6(2) autumn 2019: TBC
7(1) spring 2020: Architecture+ : the consideration of architectural education beyond signature traditions (selected articles developed from papers delivered at the 2019 aae conference)

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me at this email address. We look forward to receiving your proposals.

James Benedict Brown
Editor, Charrette

AIGA Eye on Design - Ginzburg and Lubalin's radical ’60s magazines archived online

The archive sites for Avant Garde, Eros, and Fact were launched in 2016-2017 by Mindy Seu in partnership with the Lubalin Center archives.

Unlike other archive sites that favor PDFs and clunky plug-ins, the Lubalin-Ginzburg digital archive is a thoughtful, technically savvy example of how to translate printed publications and ephemera to the web.

Read the whole article in AIGA Eye on Design.

Dialectic - July 2018

Deadline for submissions: 27 July 2018

Authors are invited to submit works for the FIFTH issue (volume 3, issue 1)of Dialectic, a biannual journal devoted to the critical and creative examination of issues that affect design education, research, and inquiry.

Dialectic’s fifth issue seeks papers and visual narratives that critically examine, interrogate or reveal how and why design processes informed by various aspects of making have affected (or should affect) the workings of complex systems wherein people “actively participate in generating the content and quality of [their] experiences.” (excerpted from Armstrong, H., Blume, M., Chochinov, A., Davis, M. et al “The AIGA Designer of 2025,” published by AIGA, NY, NY, USA, 2017). Papers and visual narratives that explore design’s evolution from being rooted in the making of artifacts and messages to its expansion into making more human-centered endeavors rooted in experiences, services, interactions and even public policies are welcomed. Submissions are also encouraged that effectively document how design processes can or should affect collaborations that involve broadly informed, egalitarian conversations-cum-collaborations.

Dialectic’s Editorial Board hopes that AIGA DEC “MAKE” conference attendees will consider

Architectural Theory Review Special Issue: 'Architecture and Crowds'

Architectural Theory Review

In 1961, Elias Canetti published Crowds and Power. In this book, Canetti suggests that in essence there are two categories of crowds: the open and the closed crowd. The “open” crowd is a natural crowd: it gathers spontaneously, it exists as long as it grows, and it disintegrates as soon as it stops growing. On the other side of the spectrum is the “closed” crowd. This type renounces growth and emphasizes permanence. It has a boundary and creates a space for itself, which it fills. Canetti writes: “The building is waiting for them [the crowd]; it exists for their sake and, so long as it is there, they will be able to meet in the same manner. The space is theirs, even during the ebb, and in its emptiness it reminds them of the flood.”

Although crowd historiography experienced a heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, concomitant research in architectural history, theory, urban planning and urban design remained largely absent. This is surprising given that the concept of the crowd is intricately bound to these disciplines. The organisation of space can both shape and obstruct the formation of crowds. The most celebrated examples of planning in the grand manner—think of Haussmann’s Paris—are often interpreted as projections of state or imperial power, designed to suppress or control crowd formation. Yet architecture and urban design is not always utilised in the service of state power and some public projects have a radical or democratic intent. Lina Bo Bardi’s MASP in São Paolo, for instance, is suspended from two massive portal frames, deliberately creating a large open area at street level to facilitate crowd formation along the Avenida Paulista, a longstanding site of protest.

Certain building types are specifically designed for the assembly of “closed” crowds. Their design not only determines the size and organisation of the crowd, as well as its flows and

Artifact: Journal of Design Practice

Artifact: Journal of Design Practice is a scholarly peer-reviewed journal that publishes double-blind peer-reviewed design research broadly concerned with examining the nature of, developments in, and understandings of design practices. Design research is rapidly becoming a knowledge-intensive field characterized by an overwhelming scholarly interest in design’s many interfaces. These range from the role of design in solving complex societal problems to enhancing the sustainability and profitability of businesses across industries and geographies.

This trajectory in many ways focuses attention on processes and social construction of meanings rather than design process outcomes. Against this backdrop, the journal provides an outlet for researchers across disciplines and research approaches and encourages contributions from diverse perspectives that examine practices related to traditional and novel: activities of design, professions of design, and organizational uses of design. Moreover, the journal aims to reflect recent decades’ substantial transformation of the field of design research with contributions that touch on design practices from a broad spectrum of scientific fields such as semiotics, design semantics, critical

TECHNOLOGY | ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN (TAD): Urbanizing

Submission Deadline: 30 June 2018

Urbanizing is an active process.  More than half of the world’s population now lives in cities, and by the year 2050 greater than two-thirds will be urban dwellers due to migration and increased birth rates.[1]  Meanwhile, our urban footprint comprises only 3% of the earth’s surface, establishing a density that imbues the effects of past decision-making, and underscores the importance of future ones.[2]   We find ourselves now accelerating into global urbanization with neither the certainty of past slowness nor the benefit of applicable precedents.  As the rate of urbanization outpaces its research outcomes, a groundswell of problem-oriented research is needed.

While cities are shaped by differentiated forces in context-specific combinations, their respective urban dwellers experience many similar problems.  Housing shortages, supply chains and lifeline infrastructure systems warrant assessment and demand solutions.  Acute shocks and chronic stresses prompt resilience, and environmental impacts compel drawdown.  The sharing economy elicits new policies, and autonomous technologies await testing in the urban realm. At the same time, municipal leaders are desperate for civic

The Plan Journal: 'The Shared Project'

The Plan Journal, vol. 3 [2018], no. 2 [Fall]

The Shared Project

How modes of operation, design strategies and public engagement are being redefined by new technologies for the architectural project of “the sharing society”

“… to restore architecture and planning to a position where they can have a real positive

impact on society may even demand destroying the mythology of the architect as visionary.”

(Wouter Vantisphout)

“…today, not letting others use your work can mean irrelevance.”

(Cathy Casserly, former CEO at Creative Commons)

The “sharing economy” and the “sharing society,” made possible by the new technologies of the last decades, have significantly changed our culture. Architecture and the other design fields have not been immune from this epochal change and, in some instances, have in fact tried to embrace it and leveraged it to their own advantage. New communications technologies, shared design platforms, interactive ways of engaging the wider public of design projects, as well as the explosion of social media itself, have triggered a series of changes that have gone beyond superficial fashion trends to really transform the way the project is conceived, developed, assessed, constructed and used.

Increasingly collaborative and cross-disciplinary modes of practice are shaping up the landscape of the design professions by exploiting, as well as demanding, new technologies