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10 Tips Every Architecture Student Should Know

10 Tips Every Architecture Student Should Know

Survival of the Fittest ... In architecture school, my brutally honest Design III Professor would always say to us, "Many are called, but few will survive." As I found out years later, she was right. Out of the 425 students that applied to my school's competitive program, only 40 students were accepted. Out of those 40 fresh-faces from the first day of architecture school, only 18 graduated "on time." 5 years later, only 12 were practicing in the field of architecture. Thanks

Top 7 Backpacks for Designers and Architecture Students

Top 7 Backpacks for Designers and Architecture Students

Back to School Vibes are Here... To combat some of that back-to-school stress, The DesignBloc is presenting a list of the "Top 7 Backpacks for Designers and Architecture Students" Top 7 Backpacks for Designers and Architecture Students: Below is what made the list. You can click on the pictures for more styles, colors, and even buy right on the spot! Some are linked to Amazon, and I even brought some of our favorites into the DesignBloc Shop because I loved them so much. Ok!

What We Saw // Chicago Edition

Prince Charles the Urban Designer?

“Reconnect with Traditional Approaches” touts the Prince of Wales. Some have accused him of wanting to return to some Golden Age, but Prince Charles assures that his concern is on the future. He has recently set out Ten Principles for urban master planning that he hopes will combine the best of the old and the new. Prince Charles' 10 Principles for Masterplanning 1. Developments must respect the land. They should not be intrusive; they should be designed to fit within the lan

ARCHICULTURE: A Documentary About Architecture School

ARCHICULTURE: A Documentary About Architecture School

Finally! Archiculture: A Documentary About Architecture School has just been released. It's been in the making for about 6 years and was originally called: "ArchiTorture" (for rightful reasons). Now it's here to show all of the hardship of architecture school for those that are familiar with it, and those that haven't gone through it, will get a sneak peak of what it's all about. Enjoy! #architecture #architectureanddesign #art #designer #design #environment #experiment #furn

14 Things Every Designer Should Do in 2015

14 Things Every Designer Should Do in 2015

Welcome to 2015! Here's a little motivation to help make this year even better than last year. Read, share, be inspired! 1. Draw More. A drawing a day keeps the doctor away. Studies have shown that drawing is a form of active meditation---which can help lower blood pressure, anxiety, and stress! So grab a pen or pencil the next time you're talking on the phone or you have time to kill a little. You'll be doing more good than you think! 2. Be Patient Things don't just happen o

Algerian Parliament Gets a New Design

Algerian Parliament Gets a New Design

Bureau Architecture Mediterranee unveiled the design for the new Parliament of Algeria which houses the People's National Assembly The National Council, The Chamber, and a residence for legislators. The design is organized around a central plaza as a symbolic gathering place for the people that give the republic its authority. Placed with a backdrop of the historic city, the design is meant as a joiner of the old and new. The National Council and The Chamber buildings are var

The DesignBloc Feature // PLAY: The Documentary

The DesignBloc Feature // PLAY: The Documentary

PLAY: The Documentary play (plā/) verb : engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose. All work and no play, is just no fun! People from all over the world are working themselves too hard, and leaving no time to enjoy the little moments in life. However, our friends at The Urban Conga are making a difference to change that. The Urban Conga, is a non-profit community that activates social interaction through the act of "PLAY." Thei

Unleash the Designs!

Unleash the Designs!

That's right kids... The designs for the Guggenheim Helsinki project have been revealed! Stage One involved submissions from 77 countries. Each submission is presented on the Guggenheim Helsinki Design Competition online gallery and allowed just two images and a brief concept summary provided by each competitor. However, don't expect to vote just for your favorite design big wigs. Each design is only listed by its registration number. Bit brief, yes, but the competitors were

The Situation Room

The Situation Room

What happens when you combine the minds of Marc Fornes and Jana Winderen? You get The Situation Room. But do not fear, this has nothing to do with Jersey Shore. A commission by the Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York City, a self-supporting, bright pink structure is born. The form was designed by Fornes and Winderen engineered the sounds making one question their surroundings and built environment. The design is testing what it is one knows about sound and the bui

New Home for FC BATE Borisov

New Home for FC BATE Borisov

The Reigning Belarusian Premier League Champions have a new home. OFIS Arhitekti has just completed a stadium for FC BATE Borisov. Basically, it is a domed shaped structure clad with aluminum panels and then punctured with an assortment of ovoid windows. The rounded shape was engineered to improve the acoustics on the pitch (that's soccer field for Americans) and an orientation north to south to ensure that sunlight is evenly distributed for both teams. No more running into t

Not your Grandfather’s Great Outdoors Experience

Not your Grandfather’s Great Outdoors Experience

Import.Export Architecture is updating our ideas of what we consider “roughing it” in the great outdoors. They want to look up, way up. Their creation is a 5-story platform that completely changes the camping experience. Each platform can be reached with an attached ladder and the alternating design of the levels allows people to be able to interact with those on other levels. The idea was to create a design that would allow the benefit of a cheap camping option while still b

From Paper to Screen - The Moleskin

From Paper to Screen - The Moleskin

Moleskine is a name recognized widely by designers and at some point all have probably carried these notebooks shoved into our back pockets. Now they are taking to turning notes and drawings into digital files. Welcome the Moleskine Livescribe Notebook Designed to work with the Livescribe 3 smartpen, it uses motion sensors in the pen to record the position and movements made by the user which is then translated into digital images allowing each page to be viewed on smartphone

So What’s This Buzz About A Bench?

So What’s This Buzz About A Bench?

The world is being left confused and perplexed as to the recent and mysterious decline in the wild bee populations. The up side? This has opened a new forum for designers to try their hands at tackling the problem. One artist, AnneMarie van Splunter has undertaken this charge with her design of the Buzzbench. A sculptural bee habitat that also doubles as a bench is constructed of digitally cut local bamboo and reed. Currently, it is up to the masses to get this built so if yo

Coit’s Restoration

Coit’s Restoration

San Francisco’s Coit Tower recently finished the $1.7 million restoration and has re-opened its doors after 6 months. The main focus of the restoration was the repair of the tower’s 25 water-damaged fresco murals. If you aren’t familiar with this icon in San Francisco atop of Telegraph Hill, it was designed by architects Arthur Brown Jr. and Henry Howard. It was named for San Francisco socialite Lillie Hitchcock Coit who wanted to the tower to be a memorial to the city’s fire

All Rise, Court is Now in Session

All Rise, Court is Now in Session

Zaha Hadid is suing the New York Review of Books over an article that was published claiming that Hadid was “showing no concern” for the deaths of migrant construction workers currently working on her design for a football stadium (that’s soccer) for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. That’s right, we have a good, old fashioned defamation suit on our hands. Now I will present the arguments and allow you to come to your own conclusions. The complaint centers on an article by Fil

The NOMA Convention is Near! Lecture Highlight: "Design & Technology - MoBE" - October 4th

The NOMA Convention is Near! Lecture Highlight: "Design & Technology - MoBE" - October 4th

*Update: The date of thie event has changed to October 4th (October 3rd was reported in the post last week) The NOMA {National Organization of Minority Architects} annual convention is in Philadelphia this year, and there will be lots to do and see. One event we would like to highlight is a presentation by Architect, Pascale Sablan, AIA, NOMA, LEED of FXFOWLE in New York. The lecture hosted Sablan titled, Design & Technology, will focus on the design process and technologies

Top 5 New Apps for Designers and Urban Planners...You want it? There's an App for That.

Who doesn’t love a good app? Well, Urban Planners and Designers today is your day with the arrival of 5 new APPS. Check out the brief descriptions below: 1. StreetMix Giving you the ability to redesign a street instantly without the hassle of political channels, community meetings or extensive planning and devising hunched over maps. Don’t fret yet, it’s not an actual data-driven planning tool. 2. WideNoise Allows users the ability to track noise pollution across an entire

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