Archive for the ‘Ninjas on the ‘net’ Category

Ninjas on the Webs

[3D compositions (concepts for Iron Man 2) by Prologuevia]

Monday Monday Monday…well, Sunday night for me actually. I like to use these ninjas on the net posts to vent a little sometimes, and was considering losing my mind over this whole Islamic Cultural Center in the general region we will forever know as Ground Zero – but it seems played out. That, and I guess I don’t have much to say about it. Haters gonna hate, I suppose – and bigots even more so. I would like to point everyone in the direction of this great little map over at C-Monster’s Tumblr site and put this out there, tho – which basically just illustrates the fact that while Ground Zero itself may be hallowed ground, the surrounding area is just NYC. We’re not turning all of Manhattan into an extended memorial – it just ain’t happening.

Anyways, I’m always looking for links! If you come across something on the net that you think should appear on AMNP, or that readers should be made aware of, drop me an email [architecture@myninjaplease.com], hit me up on google talk [same email], contact me via Twitter, or simply leave a comment here on the site. And as I said last week – I’d really like to get the Ninja Arithmetic posts going again, and they relied mostly on reader submissions.

Have a good week.

Turf issue of ArchitectureBoston

Blink, a great slideshow of landscapes in process [ArchitectureBoston]

– urban China + the largest exodus in human history [eVolo]

– Hawking says we should start moving… to another world [Treehugger]

– winners of the ‘All That Glitters…’ competition announced [Bustler]

Slum Tourism, which many architects are guilty-of [NY Times]

LEGO models of famous buildings! [Washington Post]

– Kapoor told to try again on Olympic tower [The Independent]

– Strata tower, looking like an electric razor, wins 2010 Carbuncle Cup [bd online]

– a vanishing mosque wins for RUX [archiCentral]

high speed rail in the US! yay! Welcome to the late 20th century… [Inrastructurist]

– loud paper on the death of John Chase [loud paper]

– architecture + Byzantine Art [TNR]

– read Ayn Rand from space (don’t know why, but people love that crazy fool) [TNR]

– Sun Ra lectures at UC Berkeley 1971 (not architecture, but dope) [FREE DÉFENDU]

Posted: August 16th, 2010
at 5:00am by orangemenace


Categories: Ninjas on the 'net

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Ninjas on the ‘Net

Alright, so I’m still getting back into the swing of things over here – hence the week showing for this list-o-links. Really tho, if you’re looking to see what ninjas are reading/watching/listening to/whatever then you should follow me on Twitter [@architecturemnp]. I’m hoping to keep the Twitter feed updated on the regular and then to pick selected links for this weekly round-up.

With that in mind – I’m always looking for links! If you come across something on the net that you think should appear on AMNP, or that readers should be made aware of, drop me an email [architecture@myninjaplease.com], hit me up on google talk [same email], contact me via Twitter, or simply leave a comment here on the site. In particular I would love to get Ninja Arithmetic going again, which was really made possible by reader submissions. Hope  to hear from you – and enjoy the week ahead.

– looking for a dope metal facade for a project? turn to Bill Zahner [WIRED]

– we should run a competition for designs for some kind of outpost for the giant chunk of ice that broke of of Greenland… [Boston Globe]

– low-E windows might melt your neighbor’s vinyl siding [Architect’s Newspaper]

– will we start staying in one home for life, and stop worrying about re-sale value? [NY Times]

– how to hustle for work [Small at Large]

– convert Delhi’s stormwater channels, called ‘nullahs’, into recreational waterways and cycle paths? [Business Standard]

– Camden to close all its libraries, permanently? I wonder what will happen to the buildings…and the children [NPR]

– Mexican ‘Cave of Swallows’ reproduced life-sized on side of Manhattan skyscraper as ad for tourism

– John, the ninja running Archidose, is a week in to ‘31 in 31‘, his series documenting 31 projects in 31 days. don’t miss it.

Posted: August 9th, 2010
at 6:00am by orangemenace


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Ninjas on the ‘Net

[US Population and Growth Trends, via]

Here’s a question for those of you readers fortunate enough to be employed: are you more or less busy than you were before the economy fell apart? By which I mean – after your firm shed employees, how much slack did you have to pick up? I haven’t personally encountered much more workload since returning to work, but I know others who are expected to do the same work as before the crash, in the same timeframe, with half [at best] the staff. For starters, these aren’t the greatest of working conditions – even longer days, probably a pay cut, basically more responsibility with no benefits – but more importantly, how will this affect the value of our profession’s work in the future? I’d be interested to know how / if previous economic downturns have affected clients [developers in particular] willingness to pay for services. I know I’ve brought this up before, in terms of the future affect of working for free – but what I’m wondering now is if clients will pay a larger staff for what a smaller team is producing during the economic slump.

Per usual – on to the links. If you come across something on the interwebs that you think should appear on AMNP – as a post, as part of Ninjas on the ‘Net, or as a quick sidebar link – drop me an email at architecture@myninjaplease.com – or hit me up on Twitter(twitter.com/ArchitectureMNP).

– UN meets on Haiti, doesn’t bring in citizen input? [Toronto Star]

– housing Haitians in used tires? (my ninjas, please) [Treehugger]

– what parts of the US survived the housing bubble? [WSJ]

– Geithner promises more infrastructure money [WSJ]

– what PBS left out of Pei documentary [Washington Post]

– Gehry’s Brain Health center [Las Vegas Sun]

– your unpaid internship is probably illegal [NY Times]

- extracts of local distance (wicked cool) [Archidose]

– Shannon Rankin manipulates maps [BLDGBLOG]

– why Ouroussoff isn’t good enough [design observer]

- construction halted on Toyo Ito’s Relaxation Park [design boom]

– 9 year old tower to be demolished [the Seattle Times]

- taking back Detroit [Time]

– ‘bloated’ Eisenhower memorial? [Washington Post]

– and oh yeah, I’m in love with Heatherwick’s UK pavilion

Posted: April 12th, 2010
at 10:51pm by orangemenace


Categories: Ninjas on the 'net

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Ninjas on the ‘Net

[image: % of US land devoted to corn (gold), wheat (green), soybeans (pink), cotton (blue), hay (yellow), and fruits/nuts/veggies (red) – via]

Alright, so first thing first – working full time again is exhausting. No joke. Not so much the work itself, but the trying to do any of the things I was used to doing during the day AND working? Damn. I don’t know how I did it before. So please excuse AMNP for being even less attended-to than usual.

That said, I have a totally unrelated rant this week. Let’s begin with a question: would you post a fake job opening, say on Craigslist, for a job that you yourself would normally apply – as a means to get your hands on your “competitions'” resumes and portfolio samples? Because this guy here suggests that he might, and that you might think about it if you’re jobless. I mean, wow. My ninja, feckin’ PLEASE. For starters, you are most definitely not a ninja – ninjas, like most architects actually, are far too secure with themselves to fall to these kinds of immoral depths. Consider this: if this clown actually did post a fake job – and people responded – any serious respondents would have crafted a specific letter, resume, etc etc to meet the listed needs/demands. But not only was their time wasted, but this is a serious breach of assumed trust.

Long story short – dude, you’re a dick for even suggesting this, AND I hope that anyone who tries this BS gets accosted by an angry applicant with a T-square.

Lastly, if you come across something on the interwebs that you think should appear on AMNP – as a post, as part of Ninjas on the ‘Net, or as a quick sidebar link – drop me an email at architecture@myninjaplease.com – or hit me up on Twitter(twitter.com/ArchitectureMNP). Now on to the linkage.

–  developers want more from the government for, well, developing? [Washington Post]

– sprawl is big government [The American Conservative]

– Israel announces new West Bank settlements while Biden visits (why not just spit in his face?) [NY Times]

burning out? don’t let CAD keep you down [ENR.com]

– mapping Toronto’s sound ecology [FastCompany]

– turn a quarter of Detroit into semi-rural farms? [boingboing]

– Kahn’s Trenton bath house gets a face lift [Architects’ Newspaper]

– incredible aerial photography by David Maisel [loud dreams]

– mini 56 Leonard Street [Archidose]

– super-creepy ‘empty Paris‘ [BLDGBLOG]

– saving Yamasaki’s legacy [The Atlantic]

Posted: March 15th, 2010
at 11:36pm by orangemenace


Categories: Ninjas on the 'net

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Ninjas on the ‘Net

[map of 8 major fast food hamburger chains in the US – via]

Well, my ninjas, the sun is shining and the weather is sweet, as the man said. My triumphant return to the land of the living [so, the workplace] has been met with sunny skies and mild temperatures here in the Bean, which I’ll go ahead and take as a good sign. And that’s about all I’ve got to say this week – except for a quick ‘f$*k you’ to Tom DeLay for accusing those of us who were [or are still, in many cases] unemployed of not actually searching for work – of “being unemployed because they want to be“. What a dick. Didn’t he step down because of money laundering? And aren’t prominent politricks from the Bush years [both parties] largely responsible for the unemployment numbers? And now he wants to talk shit? I hope DeLay can hide out for a while, because some unemployed factory worker with kids to feed and a little ninja in her/him is going to mush him in the mouth for that mess. Well, I hope so at least.

On a happier note, if you come across something on the interwebs that you think should appear on AMNP – as a post, as part of Ninjas on the ‘Net, or as a quick sidebar link – drop me an email at architecture@myninjaplease.com – or hit me up on Twitter(twitter.com/ArchitectureMNP).

– a graffiti battle  in the making? [WSJ]

– Kotkin & the virtues of suburbia? [Next American City]

interview with Kermit Baker, chief economist for the AIA [BSA Chapter Letter]

– Shauna Gillies-Smith & Mark Pasnik talk livable streets [BSA Chapter Letter]

personal infrastructures competition [Bustler]

– more Steven Holl in China [Bustler]

– will LA cap its freeways with parks, a-la Big Dig? [Architect’s Newspaper]

– RIP Raimund Abraham, 1933-2010 [Architect’s Newspaper]

– ‘bottom-up planning‘ [City of Sound]

– young designers, recycled [Architecture Boston]

- 15 mind-blowing moon base designs [DVICE]

Syria’s Stonehenge? [The Independent]

Smout Allen’s proposal for the Grand Egyptian Museum [mammoth]

- complexity and contradiction in infrastructure [varnelis]

Posted: March 8th, 2010
at 5:00am by orangemenace


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Ninjas on the ‘Net

[United States of Facebook - via archiCULTURE]

Happy March! With any luck, Spring is rapidly approaching, and things will start turning green again (Boston has been a lovely shade of overcast grey for months – as has most of the North East, I imagine).

Interesting news (for me, at least) to kick off the month: I’ve been asked to return to the firm that had to lay me off last year. Just over a year after cutting me loose (I’m estimating 54 weeks), they’ve contacted me about returning to help on some current projects. Now I say this is interesting not because I’m about to be employed full-time again, but because this is (I think) a telling example of how things are moving in architecture. Some work is picking up for this firm – in early design phases – but they’re still cautious about their immediate future, as everyone is unsure how far the projects will progress. I, for instance, am being brought back for a period of 3 months – after which I may be out again.

After meeting with my old co-workers and seeing what I’d be working on, I was struck by the fact that only one project (for now) was in the US – not because this is surprising in our current economy, but because for some reason it suddenly occurred to me that we may have hit a kind of critical density here. I know expansion is as American as apple pie and xenophobia, but it seems as if we’ve reached a point where the only way to populate a new community is to syphon population away from another area – essentially moving people simply for the sake of ‘progress’ and profit. There was so much talk last year about the end of the so-called “architecture of excess” (as if Thom Mayne should never work again because Wall Street and the Banks screwed us all), but I wonder if that isn’t missing the point. We’ll always need a certain number of new buildings, obviously – but what if the economic collapse means the death of New Urbanism and expansion for expansions sake? There’s a positive here, which is that this would create increased interest in our current urban/suburban areas – but how does the profession of architecture adapt to a change from the abundant growth from post WWII to the turn of the century to a more refined, perhaps more surgical, approach to dealing with what is already built / existing?

Maybe we all simply work for the UAE and China and don’t bother losing sleep over it.

Moving along, it’s time for this week’s link round-up. If you come across something on the interwebs that you think should appear on AMNP – as a post, as part of Ninjas on the ‘Net, or as a quick sidebar link – drop me an email at architecture@myninjaplease.com – or hit me up on Twitter (twitter.com/ArchitectureMNP).

Have a good week.

– the timeless work of I.M. Pei [the Guardian]

– “I’m a Western Architect” – interview with I.M. Pei [Financial Times]

– Ole Scheeren leaving OMA? [Archinect]

learning from “Learning From…” [Archinect]

– feds looking for suggestions for greener communities [Denver Post]

container city approved for Haiti relief [Inhabitat]

– architecture billings index drops in January [Building Online]

– the Architectures of Atelier Bow-Wow: Behaviorology [Dexigner]

– photog takes (beautiful) subjective look at homes [LA Times]

– how’s the environment doing? Ask the buildings [CNN]

educational agriculture [BLDGBLOG]

- Vitus Bering Innovation Park | C. F. Møller Architects [+MOOD]

interview with studiometrico [Archi-Ninja]

Posted: March 1st, 2010
at 12:00pm by orangemenace


Categories: Ninjas on the 'net

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Ninjas on the ‘Net

[AMNP’s mouse path, Feb. 16th 2010]

I had seen images generated by these ‘mouse path’ programs, but had never actually used one – it’s pretty cool. I’m not sure what it is you can use them for, but it’s fascinating to see a visual representation of your movements on-screen.

With that in mind [what?] – here’s this week’s link roundup.

– Vancouver tops list of livable cities [Planetizen]

- why are you in architecture? [gray matter(s)]

- Blueprint America: Beyond the Motor City (video) [PBS]

– a sit down with Shigeru Ban [Wall Street Journal]

– an aquarium in Times Square? [WSJ]

– Mass Pike Air Rights project struggles [Boston.com]

– Haiti + disaster zone architecture [the Guardian]

- Architecture, Violence, Renewal [Design Observer]

– SOM reaches for the sky [Independent]

– Burj Khalifa closes doors to public? [unbeige]

Saarinen on display at Yale [Yale Daily News]

– Shepard Fairey + architecture, in particular the CAC [cincinnati.com]

- 57th annual P/A Awards [Architect]

- exploded city [Archinect]

- China as a ‘green‘ example to US? [Next American City]

- Palestinians petition U.N. to stop ‘Tolerance Museum’ from being built on Muslim cemetery [Haaretz]

– painting your walls is for suckers [Gizmodo]

– new V-Ray for SketchUp [Digital Architecture]

As always, if you see anything on the web that you believe should be linked-to from AMNP [as part of Ninjas on the ‘Net, the news sidebar, or as a full post] feel free to drop me an email at architecture@myninjaplease.com.

Posted: February 16th, 2010
at 8:56pm by orangemenace


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Ninjas on the ‘Net

[image: Slate’s interactive unemployment map – watch out, it’s pretty depressing]

Happy Monday, and MLK Day, my ninjas!

Now, right to business: everyone reading this should stop – right now – and go donate some money to disaster relief efforts in Haiti. I’m not really sure that it matters who you give the money to, so long as you give it – but since this is an architecture site, I’ll suggest you head over to Architecture for Humanity. When things settle down and this tragic natural disaster starts to fade from the 24 hour cable news channels, I trust that AfH will be in Haiti, hard at work trying to rebuild.

– Frankie G withdraws from Museum of Tolerance project, for financial issues [NY Times]

– the graphics of fear + hate [NY Times]

– Our Bauhaus: why Modernism matters [The New Republic]

– the recovery of Detroit [The New Republic]

blind architects rely on other senses [LA Times]

Architect to replace Arch Record [Architect’s Newspaper]

Sim City Baghdad [The Atlantic]

– 7 tips to start your own architecture firm [modative]

– living surfaces, bichromatic floor tiles [Transmaterial]

– Die Hard, John McClane, Israeli Troop movements, and architecture [BLDGBLOG]

A New Infrastructure book giveaway [Archinect]

– getting steamy in the city [Urban Omnibus]

– architecture one of top 9 professions hit during recession[MSNBC]

– Micronesia fights the Czech attempt to build power plant [Scientific American]

– Wallpaper* announces Design Awards 2010 winners [Bustler]

– lastly, don’t miss myninjaplease.com’s two newest features :A Dozen, and The Industry. Our ninja Kookiecrumbles has been hard at work interviewing artists and featuring their work as well as speaking to industry insider – coming up with some great content that should not be slept on.

Posted: January 18th, 2010
at 3:29pm by orangemenace


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Ninjas on the ‘Net

HAPPY [wicked cold] NEW YEAR!

I’ve obviously not been particularly attentive to AMNP as of late, but my singular new year’s resolution is to cut the crap and get back to work – hopefully I’ll manage to keep that goal alive for more than the 2 weeks that my resolutions typically last…

And to start the new year off, a quick round-up of some links worth checking out as you try to adjust to being back in the office now that the holidays are finally over.

2009 in review, a decade in retrospect, and the decade ahead [varnelis.net]

Burj Dubai opens amid financial crisis [Boston.com]

– Boston’s beautiful brutalism [Boston.com]

– Ouroussoff on the Novartis campus [NY Times]

– the year in architecture [NY Times]

– living in a tiny plastic bunk [NY Times]

– view from Los Angeles City Hall, then and now [LA Times]

architects and chapter 11 [Archidose]

– ‘Landscape Architect’ one of best 50 careers for 2010? [USNews+World Report]

– SF Chinatown tourists don’t see [RaceWire]

– housing bubble threatening China’s boom? [Globe and Mail]

futuristic trailer learning [atelier a+d]

spiral icon + the blobwall and the bomb [BLDGBLOG]

Sumare House [COOLBOOM]

– imaginary subway maps [COOL HUNTING]

Posted: January 5th, 2010
at 1:02pm by orangemenace


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Ninjas on the ‘Net

4178423071_854704156c_o

[image: map of the world as a near-continuous coastline, via BLDGBLOG]

I’m back, my ninjas! I wish there was some explanation worthy of my being absent from posting here for the past few weeks, but unfortunately I’ve got nothing. I suppose I’ve been ‘busy’ – or at least more so than I’ve been for the past few months – and that has kept me from the site. But the hiatus has come to an end, and the ninjas are back.

That said, I’ve got some interesting [to me, at least] news: in January I will start a 3 year term as a member of the editorial board of Architecture Boston. I’m not completely sure of how much influence that will grant me over the magazine, but I promise you this: something about ninjas will find its way into AB by 2013, so be on the lookout.

ANd this brings us to this week’s collection of links. As always, if you see anything on the web that you believe should be linked-to from AMNP [as part of Ninjas on the ‘Net, the news sidebar, or as a full post] feel free to drop me an email at architecture@myninjaplease.com.

– a look at the Macallen Building in South Boston, by Office dA [A Daily Dose of Architecture]

– cracked-earth maps, flattening the globe [BLDGBLOG]

– parametric modeling vs sustainability in the schools? [Design Observer]

adaptive fritting [Transmaterial]

– should the cul-de-sac be banned? (yes!) [NY Times Magazine]

– Beijing Watercube design copied for casino in Macau [Architecture&Design]

Foreign Office Architects closing after partners split [bd online]

– minaret built in protest of new Swiss law [AFP]

British pavilion for Shanghai Expo 2010 [designboom]

– architects trying to save Cuban architecture [LA Times]

BIG at the Architecture League [Architecture League]

building & the arts while the economy slumps [NY Times]

– St Albans shows the importance of the design of our schools [Washington Post]

– ACSA announces 2009-10 Arch Education Award winners [Architect]

– Lebbeus Woods on architect Balthasar Holz [Lebbeus Woods]

Posted: December 15th, 2009
at 2:35pm by orangemenace


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