Princeton Architectural Press is looking for a full-time editor - remember you heard it here & then send me free books!

.:PA Press job opening->

Chinese companies have been caught illegally stretching steel re-bar, thus thinning the cross-section to unsafe diameters. Must be great when an earthquake hits. I mean, this is pretty terrible... (not that a US company wouldn't do the same)

.:full story->via WAN

Damn near everyone with an architecture blog that has been read by more than 5 people has been plagiarized - probably by another blog or site that is much larger and established. I won't name names of who has ripped off AMNP - but they were the kind of sites that could afford to pay me for my content, no doubt. Arch Record, however, has no qualms calling someone out...

.:News Notebook->

The LA Times' Christopher Hawthorne takes a look at the new Apple HQ by Foster + Partners - and finds it wanting.

.:critic's notebook-> LA Times

James Barilla reflects on what life in the Exurbs look like in the North East.

.:full article -> via DesignObserver

The symbolism of the skyscraper has changed very little - if at all - since 9/11, argues LA Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne. I would contend that in terms of the WTC it has changed somewhat, but in no way for the better.

.:full article->via LA Times

The September issue is Scientific American is devoted to cities - and has one of AMNP's favorite authors, William Gibson! I'm looking forward to the issue, but until then check out the features being released online - like this interview with the author of such novels as Neuromancer and Pattern Language.

.:read the interview->

Are you following AMNP on Twitter yet? The fun doesn't here on the site, and we do more than plug our own posts! Come check out our timeline.

.: @ArchitectureMNP ->

The next Bilbao - how a museum can regenerate an entire city, over at FastCompany.

.:full story->

Wow, I really hope to one day cool-out in a space hotel of some sort - but I hope that sometime in my lifetime they evolve into something iller / cheaper /need less training than what the Russians are planning. Still, this is pretty awesome - see what I'm talking about after the link.

.:via->Architizer

I basically think that these Ayn Rand followers are a bunch of crazies (and assholes, to a certain extent), but I actually wish Peter Thiel luck and success in his creating man-made, floating independent nation states. Then all these libertarians can go read Atlas Shrugged in their own country and leave us the F alone.

.:full story->via Details Magazine

AutoCAD 2012 for Mac OSX Lion is out, and can be downloaded in the App Store for a mere $899.

.:full story->via ArchDaily

Head over to Twitter and upload a photo your desk with the tag #architectsdesks and you could win (something) from BD Online. Plus, good fun.

While this article on Gaudi over at the Atlantic starts out with some typical BS about 'trends' in architecture in the 21st century (I don't think Gehry and the like are really 'trending', at least not as built projects), it is a nice little write up on Gaudi that reminds us he was ill.

.:full story->via The Atlantic

AIA Consensus Construction Forecast is predicting continued declines in spending for non-residential and commercial projects through the end of the year, with a possible modest recovery in 2012. Super - we might maybe see a little bit of improvement - which will probably actually simply get us back to where we are now - sometime next year. Something to look forward to.

.:more->via ArchDaily

Eh, maybe - there certainly aren't people lining up to save them. My question remains 'should the suburbs be saved'? At least, should they be saved in their current form? They seem like mostly a failed experiment - areas that actually embody what the suburbs are supposedly about are usually considered 'urban' (or at least semi-urban). I'm thinking Dorchester (Boston), for instance, as it's where I'm typing this post...

.:full story via-> The New Republic

Adobe is launching a preview of Edge - basically a tool allowing web designers to ditch Flash and move to an HTML 5 future. As much as I hate to agree with Steve Jobs being super evil, Flash is pretty terrible and has to go. Sure, it revolutionized the web in certain ways, but it's time is done - time for us to move on to something faster and less clunky. And something that actually functions properly on touch screens / handheld devices.

.:via->Fast Company

These ninjas were arrested for building an awesome monster - thing out of shipping pallets and skateboards on top of a Brooklyn warehouse? My ninjas, please - this is a sad sad world that we live in. And these guys are ninjas.

.:via->cofre77

When you sue an architect for problems with an unconventional / original design, are you stomping out innovation? MIT would probably say no, while Frankie G may disagree...

.:via->Bloomberg

We've all known for a minute now that the architecture and sculpture of ancient Greece wasn't left as natural stone, but was painted in technicolor - and ultraviolet light is know giving us a better idea of just what these familiar ruins and works of art really looked like. Makes our copies of Ancient Greece's architecture look like they're in need of a paint job, no?

.:via->Gizmodo

Foreign Policy visits the biggest city you've never heard of.

.:via->FP

In this Sunday's Boston Globe Robert Campbell discusses a new book tells how a Cambridge store spread modern design across America. The People's Republic would like to say "You're Welcome for all the dopeness".
.:via->Boston.com

What would you list as the best architecture - related books for students? For professionals? Head on over to Arch Daily and join the discussion.

.:Beginning an Archi-Library->

There is already an existing mosque less than a mile from Ground Zero - only 686 feet from the proposed Cordoba Center. Is this existing mosque insulting to the WTC site? Could Cordoba move the 686 feet and be okay? Oh no, wait - I'm trying to understand this from a rational standpoint, which is obviously naive of me...

.:more->via GOOD

Design Pepper explains why minimalism isn't the alpha and omega of design.

.:full post->

Anyone else think that Santiago Calatrava's design for the redevelopment of the Denver International Airport's South Terminal is a little ridiculous looking? I mean, definitely not his best work. The interiors look fine, I suppose - very 'Calatrava goes to the airport' with the white trusses. But from what the renderings show the exterior isn't looking so hot...

.:see the images-> via designboom

The Architecture League has a great series of recent programs [in podcast form] related to the The City We Imagined / The City We Made: New New York 2001-2010 exhibition that you should definitely check out - along with most of the other talks they have available on their site.

.:via->The Architecture League

I've been hating on fancy architectural renderings since before I even started AMNP - now people are asking if the actual buildings can ever live up to the photoshopped hype. For real? That we're so enamored with the imagery that we don't appreciate the final result suggests some pretty serious issues...

.:full article via->ArchDaily

I.M. Pei is being profiled for the PBS series American Masters - the show will air Wednesday, March 31st.

.:via->PBS

Everyone needs to head over to Archidose to check out the "Genetic Stair" by Caliper Studio, 2009. So so dope.

.:check it out->via Archidose