McCollough appointed to Al. Board for Registration of Architects

On July 24, 2019, Sted McCollough, president and owner of McCollough Architecture in Orange Beach, was appointed by Governor Kay Ivey to the Alabama Board for Registration of Architects. Established in 1931, the Alabama Board of Architectsis charged with protecting the health, safety, and welfare of the public by registering and regulating architects.It is a great honor to serve in this capacity and I commit to do so with the utmost integrity and honesty, said McCollough.McCollough (pictured) graduated from the University of Alabama with a B.S. Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies in Architecture and continued with an additional Bachelor of Architecture degree from Mississippi State. Upon graduation, McCollough joined an architectural firm in Montgomery, and several years later was appointed Director of the Alabama Building Commission. The Building Commission serves as the building code official and contract administrator for all state-funded construction (approximately $350 million in construction annually). During his tenure as Director, McCollough was elected President of the Southeast Region of the National Association of State Facility Administrators. McCollough fulfill ed his dream of starting his own practice at the Alabama Gulf Coast in 1999.McCollough Architecture is located at The Wharf. The firms work can be seen throughout the Gulf Coast in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi. Some of the most notable works include: Columbia Southern University, Visitors Center for Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Tourism; Foley Pedestrian Bridge and Clock Tower, the new Gulf Coast Zoo; Kaiser Reality Building, The Hang-Out in Gulf Shores, The McCollough Institute and numerous custom homes, including a home design featured on ABCs televisions show, Extreme Makeover Home Edition in 2010.McCollough serves on the Executive Board for the South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce, Foley Rotary Club, and the Baldwin County Architectural Preservation Board.McColloughs diverse experience should serve him well on the Alabama Board for Registration of Architects. He looks forward to working with the Board to continue to expand our communities for future generations and further safe and healthy economic growth.McCollough and his wife, Rebecca, reside in Bon Secour and have four children; Ryan, Brent, Shelton and Charli. For more information McCollough Architecture, info, visit mccollougharchitecture.com.

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McCollough appointed to Al. Board for Registration of Architects - Mulletwrapper

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Flad Architects is hiring a Project Manager in Madison, WI, US - Archinect

The most innate quality of genius is its eternal life. It never gets replaced or outshone; once you attain that status, its yours to keep forever. Workstead, a design studio based in New York City, recently launched a new lighting collection named Archetype to celebrate the architectural genius of Philip Johnson, Marcel Breuer, Mies van der Rohe, and other Modernist icons.

When the principals of Workstead were pondering the best setting for their new fixtures, they instantly thought of Philip Johnsons former Glass House property in New Canaan, Connecticut. A Bauhaus-inspired design constructed in the late 1940s, the home has long been hailed as an epicenter of Modernist architecture, packed with multiple remarkable structures accenting Johnsons incredible selections of art. Since the site seemed to fit right in with the theme of Archetype, the Workstead team chose to debut the collection there, installing each fixture in a different part of the house as part of a day-long display.

Robert Highsmith, who co-founded Workstead in 2009 with Stefanie Brechbuehler and Ryan Mahoney, adds: With Archetype, we were inspired to create a lighting collection through an architects lens. I love the idea that Johnson and other Modernists were approaching a lighting fixture as they would a building. Our fixtures embody the same architectural references and proportions a structure that is fundamentally refined and functional.

To ensure the Archetype project embodied the best and most unique qualities of each architect and designer, Highsmith personally embarked on a research quest. He began with the epochal floor lamps that Philip Johnson had envisioned for the Glass House. He fondly remembers poring over the conversion of signature shapes and proportions from building to lighting fixtures and lamps, stating that he could see the lineage between their designs of buildings and of lighting. So, when you see a concept like Vault, you should imagine Louis Kahn distilling his geometry and grandeur to the scale of a light fixture.

Story continues

Vault, one of the collections three unique fixtures, makes specific mention of Kahns Kimbell Art Museum. Block and Gable round out the bunch, the latter of which astute viewers will easily be able to trace back to Johnsons work. The intertwined volumes of Block have many influencers, despite the fact that Highsmith has previously articulated fondness for Alvar Aaltos kind, ornamental move toward simplicity. The fixture also employs the exact fabrication found in the atypical table lamps of Marcel Breuer. To add even more variety to the mix, all three fixtures are available in sconce, pendant, and floor-lamp styles, each with your choices of a brass, nickel, or bronze finish.

The Archetype project marks the end of a very big year for Workstead. In November 2018, husband and wife Highsmith and Brechbuehler moved their permanent home to a Hudson Valley residence they bought in 2010. Two months later, in January 2019, the company opened a fully-staffed showroom in a refurbished historic building in the city of Hudson to showcase its furniture and lighting designs. Mahoney steers the architecture and interiors business from Brooklyn, while Highsmith and Brechbuehler tackle products and special projects, respectively.

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Fresh Lighting Collection by Workstead Illuminates Genius of Modernist Architects - Yahoo News

A minimalist and discreet addition to some exuberant older houses.

The OASRN, or Ordem dos Arquitectos Seco Regional Norte, regulates and promotes architecture in the northern region of Portugal, centered on Porto. In a gutsy move back in 2002 they bought a pair of run-down matching townhouses that had been built for two sisters in what was then a really sketchy part of town. A few years ago they were renovated by NPS Arquitectos, and it is a great demonstration of how you can integrate the new and old.

The two old houses had a laneway between, which you walk down to get to the new entrance in the addition.

There is an exhibition area on the ground floor and a multipurpose room on the second in the addition.

I did not take nearly enough photos, but that is me doing a lecture on the second floor, one of the two I did in Porto.

Corridors then feed back to the front, to the meticulously restored old houses, which are used for administrative functions. You can see the transition from old to new in the materials.

I particularly liked this room, which is made available to any member of the association, free of charge. What a wonderful service for young architects who don't have a decent meeting room or place to impress clients. The new spaces are so simple and minimalist, in complete contrast to the beautifully restored old houses. From Dezeen:

"The image of the new building would be simple and discreet, in contrast with the exuberance of the existing buildings," the architects added. "We wanted to create a new composition unit between the different constructions."

In Toronto where I live, the Ontario Association of Architects sold its urban architectural gem of a headquarters and moved out to the suburbs. It was such a contrast to see this wonderful example of urban revitalization, such a sensitive restoration, such thoughtful work by both the architects and the Association.

For more and better photos see Dezeen.

Offices for the Architects Association for Northern Portugal are a wonderful mix of old and new

A minimalist and discreet addition to some exuberant older houses.

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Offices for the Architects Association for Northern Portugal are a wonderful mix of old and new - Treehugger

House in the Landscape / Niko Architect

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Text description provided by the architects. The metabolism of organic architecture. As a result of the inexpressive environment, the fundamental concept base was the integration of the building into an artificially created landscape and the inextricable connection of architecture with the open courtyard site structure. This is a dialogue with the natural order context. The project was created taking into account the living moving space for human life as a creation and a component of this nature. It is a union of biological images, engineering and architecture.

The architectural composition of the building develops from the outside to the inside .It is interconnected with the environment, being an organic architecture with a philosophy of metabolism. Temporary and permanent components are clearly traced: the framework and the changing essence of the surrounding world organism, the biology of architecture, the unity of architectural and natural design.

The visual structure as a natural extension is combined into a single form of interaction of opposites with the futuristic base of architecture, which does not conflict with it. At the same time the functional zones are simultaneously distinguished and make up a single whole, blurring the boundaries between the external space and the interior. The composition of architecture is developing freely. The idea of functional expediency, based on the harmonious "adaptation" of the project to the conditions of its existence and purpose, prevails. The idea was implemented taking into account the limitations of visual contact from the external development of the village and the construction of a private zone with a formed terrace, landscape and adjacent body of water due to the enclosed volume of the building in the plan.

Everything is balanced as in a living organism: the external space of the object is interwoven with the interior of the living room, bedroom and other rooms. The continuity of the mutual landscape flow into the building and the building into the landscape is enhanced by the green roof, on which a garden with woody and herbaceous plants and an artificial relief is organized. An additional connection with the outer space is organized due to roof lamps oriented to the movement of the sun and adding free air and a subtle play of black and white nuances to the interiors.

Futuristic architecture as a natural extension of nature. The base interior solutions are the principle of the home gallery integration into the living space. The building frame is the backdrop for decor and art, sculptures, decorative elements with hidden Japanese themes, symbolic forms. Each piece of furniture is interpreted as an art work. The panoramic molded windows do not prevent the focus from the site on the "history" that occurs in the house and do not destroy a single architectural field, which includes the exterior-interior and landscape solutions. Art objects are also zone elements of residential and non-residential spaces, and are the tracers of the movement direction.

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House in the Landscape / Niko Architect - ArchDaily

CLEMSON, S.C. An architect from Florence is one of two distinguished alumni who will be awarded Clemson Universitys highest honor, the Clemson Medallion.

Allen Price Wood, a trustee emeritus who designed some of the buildings on Clemsons campus, and professor emeritus Beverly Ben Skardon will be honored at a presentation ceremony in February.

Wood was the chairman of Moseley, Wilkins and Wood Architects of Florence before retiring in 2004.

Skardon, 102, is a survivor of the Bataan Death March during World War II in the Pacific.

The Clemson Medallion is presented to individuals who have rendered notable and significant service and support to Clemson University and who exemplify the dedication and foresight of university founder Thomas Green Clemson.

The Clemson Medallion is the highest honor bestowed by the Clemson board of trustees, and Col. Skardon and Trustee Emeritus Wood embody the spirit of Thomas Green Clemsons ongoing legacy to Clemson University, said Smyth McKissick, the board chairman. Our university is better because of their commitment and service, and our board is grateful for the opportunity to recognize their contributions.

Clemson University President James P. Clements said he is proud that the university is honoring Skardon and Wood for their leadership and contributions to the university.

Both of these men have helped shaped the university in important ways, said Clements. Col. Skardon made a lasting impact by teaching countless students during his career on the faculty, and students are being educated every day in buildings that Allen Wood designed. It is safe to say that our university would not be what it is today without these two outstanding leaders.

Wood, who graduated from Clemson in 1975 with a bachelor of science in architecture, served on the board of trustees from 1988 to 2003, during which time he chaired the Agriculture and Natural Resources and Student Affairs committees. He also served as vice chairman of the board of trustees from 1995 to 1997.

Earlier in his career, Wood was the president and managing partner of Wilkins, Wood, Mace Associates and Wilkins, Wood, Goforth Associates Architects and Planners. From 1977 to 1981, he was president of Wilkins and Wood Associates Architects and Planners.

He designed or was the architect of record for Lehotsky Hall, the CCIT Information Technology Center and the Pee Dee Research and Education Center in Florence.

He was also a strong advocate for architecture at Clemson University during the academic reorganization in 1994 and saw a chance to move architecture from the sidelines to the center of the university, build bridges between disciplines and strengthen the relationship between architectural education and practice, according to Trustee Emeritus Bill Hendrix, who nominated Wood for the medallion.

During the reorganization, the School of Architecture became part of the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities, and its project-oriented, problem-solving, studio approach to learning has been adopted and adapted campus-wide.

Wood was an early proponent and supporter of the Charles E. Daniel Center for Building Research and Urban Studies, which opened in 1972 in Genoa, Italy. He and his wife, Josie, endowed a fellowship to support architecture graduate students to spend a semester in Genoa or at the architectural program in Barcelona, Spain.

While serving on the board of the Clemson Architectural Foundation, Wood nominated Dean James F. Barker to become the 14th president of Clemson University.

Wood also was a member of the Presidents Advisory Council and the Clemson Board of Visitors, among many other university committees, and now serves on the Historic Properties Alumni Advisory Committee and the Conference Center and Inn Advisory Board.

He has been an active supporter of the Emerging Scholars program and played an important role in the creation of Clemsons Wood Utilization + Design Institute.

He served his profession as a member and chairman of the South Carolina Board of Architectural Examiners and pushed the state to punish unlicensed architects, an issue of public safety across the nation.

He was honored for his service to the state when then-Gov. David Beasley awarded Wood the Order of the Palmetto, the states highest honor, in 1995.

He received the universitys Alumni Distinguished Service Award in 1996.

Skardon is a 1938 Clemson graduate and veteran of the U.S. Army. He fought in the Philippines in World War II, earning two Silver Stars and a Bronze Star for valor before becoming a prisoner of war when American troops were forced to surrender to the Japanese on April 9, 1942.

Skardon lived through one of the most infamous ordeals of World War II, the Bataan Death March, and survived for more than three years in Japanese prison camps despite becoming deathly ill. Two fellow Clemson alumni, Henry Leitner and Otis Morgan, kept him alive by spoon-feeding him and eventually trading his gold Clemson ring which he had managed to keep hidden for food. It is a story now told at every Clemson ring ceremony, when Clemson seniors receive their class rings.

Leitner and Morgan did not survive the war. Skardon honors them every year by walking in the Bataan Memorial Death March at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. He is the only survivor of the real march who walks in the memorial march. Last year, at 101, he walked more than three miles through the desert to honor his friends.

Skardon went on to serve in Korea in 1951-52 and retired from the Army at the rank of colonel in 1962. He joined the Clemson faculty in the department of English in 1964 and was named Alumni Master Teacher in 1977. He taught at Clemson until his retirement in 1983.

Skardon has received several honors from the university, including the Alumni Distinguished Service Award. In 2013 the university established the Skardon Clemson Ring Endowment, which helps fund the ring ceremony, and in 2016 the Memorial Stadium flagpole was dedicated in his honor.

On Skardons 100th birthday, August 11, 2017, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster presented him with the Order of the Palmetto, South Carolinas highest honor. In March 2018, Skardon received the Congressional Gold Medal honoring Filipino and American Veterans of World War II, which is one of the highest civilian awards in the United States.

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Architect from Florence will receive Clemsons highest honor - SCNow

This fall, SB Architects, an international architecture firm renowned for localizing the look and feel of its hospitality, residential and commercial projects, co-sponsored and participated in the 8th Annual Bike to Hope cycle, an event benefitting City of Hope, which was recently named the leading cancer center in the West by US News & World Report and is supported by the Northern California Real Estate and Construction Council. For the fifth consecutive year, SB Architects assembled a team of riders from its Miami and San Francisco offices to complete the Bike to Hope cycle, helping to raise $271,000 dollars to support the centers research and treatment of cancer, diabetes, and other life-threatening diseases, surpassing the annual fundraising goal of $200,000. Reflecting on the success of this charity event, which forged new community relationships, unified teams, and aligned with the firms core values of health and wellness, SB Architects will continue to direct both its design ethos and philanthropic efforts toward addressing the broader social and cultural needs of communities in 2020.

Just as compassion is at the heart of City of Hopes approach and the driving force behind their research, SB Architects carries the empathy behind human-centric design to areas where we can make a significant impact in bettering lives, said Bruce Wright, Vice President and Principal. We believe in better-connecting architects to their communities and extending our passion as designers of experience into supporting crucial causes related to wellness, education, and environmental concerns.

Over the 60 years that SB Architects has been in practice, its portfolio has reflected the integration of sustainable design with wellness amenities for the overall health of the user, project, and environment, and is largely focused on connecting guests with nature, whether designing resort rooms that give each guest an ocean view, or arrival experiences and spaces that blur lines between inside and outside.

Experienced in creating bonds between properties and the natural environment, and connecting properties and people through authentic experiences, SB Architects is sensitive to the impact that natural disasters have on land and communities. When Hurricane Dorian devastated the Bahamas, wiping out communities and displacing thousands in an area near the firms renovation of Malliouhana Resort in Anguilla, and Baha Mar, a large-scale resort where the firm designed three restaurants, including the Costa Restaurant at the Rosewood Baha Mar, the firm supported the efforts of boots on the ground charities such as World Central Kitchen, which in the two weeks following the hurricane served more than 250,000 meals to survivors, and All Hands and Hearts Response, an organization dedicated to re-building and constructing new communities after disaster strikes. In addition to donating to these organizations, members of SB Architects Miami office donated items to those affected by the hurricanes ongoing devastation.

We are committed to helping to protect the natural beauty, culture and people in areas that have granted us such incredible opportunities, said SB Architects President and Principal Scott Lee. The root of the word philanthropy, means love of mankind, and SB Architects has great concern and care for both the surrounding communities and natural environs of our projects.

In response to the recent Kincade Fire, which impacted members of the Healdsburg community where SB Architects is designing the experience-driven mixed-use project, Mill District, the design firms San Francisco office members joined a Unity and Community ride, which raised recovery funds for those displaced by the California wildfires. At Mill District, SB Architects is transforming the former Nu Forest lumber mill site into a destination paying homage to Healdsburgs renowned, culinary and wellness features. The firms participation in the cycle reflects how its hands-on approach in site-sensitive projects and focus on integrating wellness elements into them align with its community-based recovery efforts.

In designing and planning urban mixed-use communities from a pedestrian-friendly district at the seminal San Jose project Santana Row, to the urban mixed-use destination Miami Design District and FATVillage in Fort Lauderdale, SB Architects has helped to make work, living, shopping, transportation and green spaces more integrated and easily accessible; this practice of district stewardship has instilled in the firm a heightened sensitivity to local values and awareness of the socio-economic shifts that impact master planning and design. With a dually local and global perspective, the firm supports causes such as Habitat for Humanity, a world-wide organization acting locally to ensure that people have a safe, affordable place to live and access to things they need to thrive.

In addition to its active participation in charity events and relief efforts, SB Architects has integrated pro-bono work into its practice, creating visions for new builds and restoration projects that reflect its values of innovation, cultural enrichment and environmental conservation. One such project involves the restoration of a wellness-focused center destroyed by wildfires in 2017. Slated to open in 2020, the new center is being designed by SB Architects to reflect the simplicity and untouched beauty of nature. Such pro-bono projects create places of sanctuary that positively impact visitors, and also strengthen the firms expertise in capturing the history and future of a place; in promoting community and wellness through design; and in creating design supportive of the surrounding landscape and nurturing and enriching to the guest experience.

SB Architects San Francisco and Miami offices support the architects of the future through long-term relationships with schools and community organizations. For 13 years, SB Architects San Francisco office has hosted the Town School for Boys third-grade class for discussions and hands-on activities that engage them in the design process. For the 6th consecutive year, SB Architects Miami office has partnered with KAPOW (Kids and the power of work) to host a group of curious students for a morning of architecture and discovery. This past year, Southside Elementary School 5th graders learned how to use materials that would otherwise be considered refuse to build a model of their dream playhouse. Teaching youth how to explore opportunities, identify problems, and find solutions for them by collaborating with others, SB Architects shares its passion for human-centric design and inspires a new generation of architects to help transform communities, contribute to their well-being, and heal the environment.

About SB Architects

With nearly 60 years of continuous practice, SB Architects has established a world-wide reputation for excellence in the planning and design of large-scale hotels, resorts, destination resort communities, and all associated resort amenities, as well as large-scale multi-family residential and urban mixed-use projects. The dedicated staff in the firms San Francisco, Miami, Hong Kong and Ho Chi Minh offices successfully merge six decades of experience with the energy, drive and dedication of a second generation of partners. For more information about SB Architects, visit http://www.sb-architects.com.

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SB Architects Celebrates Successful Bike to Hope Cycle and Year of Giving - Buzz.travel | eTurboNews | Travel News

On the rare occasions when owners of vacant lots in historic districts decide to construct new buildings, there are a couple workable design strategies to choose from.

Their architect can create a contemporary building that contrasts with the surrounding properties or replicate a building that stood on the site in the past.

Architect Gerald Caliendo chose the latter course of action when drawing up plans for a brand-new rowhouse at 324 Macon St., a 17-foot-wide lot now used to park cars. The city Landmarks Preservation Commission unanimously approved his design on Tuesday.

Related: Rare new construction planned in the Brooklyn Heights Historic District

The lot had been empty since the 1960s, when a home constructed around 1889 was demolished, the commissions designation report about the Bedford Stuyvesant/Expanded Stuyvesant Heights Historic District says. Inspired by a 1940s photo of the house that had stood on the site, he drew up a design for a three-story brownstone with a bay window thats two stories tall.

A contractor will custom-make historically accurate facade elements such as window surrounds for the two-family home. Caliendo told the commissioners he will do highly detailed drawings for the contractor to work from.

Commissioner Frederick Bland cautioned Caliendo to work with LPC staff members to get the details just right.

Wrong moves could make this into a mishmash, Bland said.

LPC Chairperson Sarah Carroll also advised Caliendo to work with the preservation agencys staff members.

And Carroll said its acceptable for the architect to use brownstone-colored cast stone for 324 Macon St.s facade. This construction material is precast concrete thats made to look like natural stone.

The owner of the lot at 324 Macon St. is developer Sharon Hakmon, who bought the land through an entity called 132 NY Realty Corp. for $120,000 in 2013, city Finance Department records show.

Follow reporter Lore Croghan on Twitter.

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Architect designs a building of the past to fill a vacant lot in Bed-Stuy - Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Dear Sir,

I have just discovered that a rare miracle has occurred, as the Council of Architecture (CoA) India has now a practising architect at the helm!!

It is almost an anomaly for to see things going right for architects since a while now, but as this queer twist of fate has occurred, that too at an hour of crisis, I cant help myself sending you an SOS as a citizen who is suffering a lawless real estate and construction sector.

If I summarise the current state of affairs, architecture that was once conceived as a profession by Indian parliament through the enactment of Architects Act, 1972 has now become a business that can be done by any Amar, Akbar and Anthony. The net result is, the nation has lost its only moral guardian who was statutorily designed (and expected) to stand up for the greater good using this empowerment in a sector that has huge social importance.

Thanks to various litigations, the architect that the parliamentarians who had enacted Architects Act must have hoped for is now almost dead, and that is got me worried as a citizen of a nation that is on the verge of building like never before.

As I want my architect back at this hour of catharsis of India, to ensure that builders and developers are forced to build well-designed buildings that arent just constructed to make money but are also aligned to societal and human needs.

I want my architect back and empowered, to stop the lawlessness in construction that has turned our cities into chaotic nightmares that rob millions of people a quality of life they deserve as human beings.

And I think you can do it if you try. And if you want, we will be blamed by coming generations to have constructed a third world country instead of a first-world nation.

As there is a way forward that I want you to consider.

Sir, the first, foremost but toughest task for a president of CoA should be to bring architects together to stand up for themselves, but I am not too optimistic for that as architects, probably by the very nature of their training, are unable to herd together and be a united front that can stand up, so I would leave that in a wish list (as an optimist) and suggest some simple and executable ideas for your kind consideration.

I suggest that first thing you must do is to ensure that CoA starts engaging meaningfully and directly with the engineers to resolve a completely unnecessary war that CoA has initiated through the Conditions of Engagement and Scale of charges since ages.

If there is one single reason behind self-destruction CoA has brought upon the profession of architecture, it is a completely unsustainable claim that architects can render engineering services, especially structural engineering.

Various litigations (that have undermined the profession now to a level that all that architects are left with is a meaningless right to use the word architect and nothing more) have happened because CoA, probably blinded by self-imagined empowerment due to having Architects Act (while engineers are still without Engineers Act), has tried usurping the turf from engineers.

If you want to save the profession of architecture and also have the world looking at your claim to exclusivity seriously, you need to approach the engineers (and courts if need be) with a clean hand by purging out the claims about architects having the competence to provide engineering services from the Conditions of Engagement and Scale of charges from the CoAs manual of professional practice.

Though it may be a bit too late now, as a person who is watching India making some dramatic changes, I still feel that it is possible to sit with engineers and find an amicable division of scope, and hence I have one more suggestion for you to consider.

As the first requirement for resolving the conflict is to define architectural services in a manner that architects dont trade on the toes of engineers, I propose a division in scope for both that can also be practically tested even by a court of law if need be.

The simplest division can be proposed from a reasonable claim that Architecture is Integration of Human Needs with a building, while Engineering is Integration of Technologies with a building.

It is possible to verify this claim by looking at the focus of curriculums of both branches, as architects are primarily trained to understand human and social needs, while engineers are primarily trained to understand technologies and their applications.

With this definition in mind, if CoA accepts the idea of team based approached as proposed (mostly by engineers) in National Building Code, it is still possible to get a first amongst the equals status for architects due to a fair claim that humans are more important in a building than technologies and hence, any decision where architects and engineers have a conflict, architect must have a right to prevail upon the engineers decision (ps: only in a building or parts therein that is used by humans).

If we take a simple example of such a conflict where a structural engineer may find that the most efficient structural design of a staircase is when the headroom under the stair is 1.5 meters, it must be overruled by the architect who would have to stand up for the human need of having a headroom exceeding 1.8 meters.

So, in a situation where engineering optimisation is not suitable for human use, humans must get priority through their representative in a team that is designing a building, i.e. the architect.

If you start a discourse with engineers on these lines and start building confidence on both ends, it is possible for both the brothers in arms to come together and fight a common battle on behalf of the citizens of India who need to have resurrection of empowered professionals from both the branches to curb the rising market forces driven by the greed of builders and contractors who are not interested in anything but the profit they can make.

Sir, if you can start this much-needed process of peace-making with engineers, a lot more issues (eg. Liability sticking to architects in case of the collapse of a building thanks to CoA-claimed ability to design structures) will get resolved and India can have both the professions working in cohesion for building a better future.

We need our architect and we need our engineer too, and this would be possible only when both of you stop fighting and come together for the sake of building a better, safer and more habitable India.

A citizen who just has a simple wish to live in a safer home and a safer city

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

Excerpt from:
Open letter, or rather SOS to the incoming president of Council of Architecture - Economic Times

A group of Dalhousie architecture students is pushing for better green-design education from their faculty and the greater architecture community.

It's been four months since an informal meeting about environmental design principles (not previously covered in the university curriculum) led to the creation of the Supernatural Design Collective.

The summer's 36-person study group has now grown to include just over a hundred other classmates, academics and professionals within Dalhousie's School of Architecture, all promoting environmentally responsible architecture in study and practice through workshops, lectures and inter-university networking.

According to the United Nations, human-built structures account for about 40 percent of global energy use, while Canada's Environment and Sustainable Development Committee reports buildings emit 12 percent of the country's greenhouse gases. That's more than agriculture or waste.

Dalhousie architecture student and organizer Laure Nolte says she and her colleagues feel they aren't being prepared to design environmentally responsible buildings in order to combat their field's significant impact on the growing climate crisis.

In the current course content "sustainability seems like an optional choice instead of being integrated from the very beginning of the design process. I don't think we have an option to choose whether we want to be sustainable or not. We need to be demanding and advocating for architectural projects that weave regeneration and ecological design into projects from the beginning," says Nolte.

In just one semester the collective has drafted a manifesto which outlines its goals. It wants the architectural community to not only focus on sustainability, but to design buildings that actually involve and restore nature, and it wants to ensure that the character and health of neighbourhoods, and the needs of marginalized communities are taken into account in all design.

Nolte adds that the design principles the collective wants to see aren't just theoreticalthey already exist.

In Dartmouth, for instance, NSCC's Centre for Built Environment was designed to positively participate with surrounding ecosystems. Interior and exterior living walls and green roofs use vegetation to naturally ventilate the building and help regulate temperature, while rain-capturing systems irrigate them and the surrounding grounds.

Buildings that weren't designed with the environment in mind can also be improved. Across the harbour the Ecology Action Centre recently used an office renovation to retrofit their north end headquarters. Alongside retaining the building character and improving efficiency, Solterre Design, the firm that worked on the project, estimates about 40 tonnes of wood were saved by opting not to rebuild. Unlike cement, wood and other natural materials suck up carbon, much like a forest, keeping it out of the atmosphere.

But Nolte says these are the exceptions; most existing buildings and developments in HRM don't do enough to minimize their environmental impact.

Halifax principle planner Kasia Tota says most of that choice is currently up to developers. "We've done some policy around green roofs and open spaces that will create better buildings, but in terms of actual sustainability of buildings themselves, we're limited in what we can require under the Land Use Bylaw." The city must work within the framework of the province's building code, which doesn't regulate building sustainability. The recently approved Centre Plan Package A encourages sustainable development, but doesn't incentivize it. Tota says there could be incentives included in Package B, which is still being drafted, for developers who design greener buildings.

Last week, the collective has met with Joseli Macedo, Dalhousie's dean of architecture and planning, who said she was she's pleased students are taking an active role in working to combat the climate crisis through their field. Not bad for a study group.

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The Supernatural Design Collective wants architects to play a bigger role in curbing climate change. - The Coast Halifax