May 26, 2021 by Marcelo Pontes, Head of Architecture, CACTUS
From
time
to
time,
my
mother
asks
me,
“what
do
you
do
for
work?”
I've
been
practicing
both
architecture
and
design
for
a
long
time,
and
it's
still
curious
to
me
how
she
continuously
asks
me
this
question.
I
think
this
has
a
lot
to
do
with
the
hybrid
approach
I’ve
taken
on
projects
in
this
‘digital
revolution''
that
we
are
all
experiencing
and
navigating
today.CACTUS,
Oath
PediatricsI
prefer
to
see
the
so-called
“digital
world”
as
a
twin
to
the
analog
world.
Like
the
unique
structure
of
DNA,
two
lines
intertwined,
similar
yet
different,
the
two
live
side
by
...
Apr 29, 2021 by Robert Finger, Founding Partner, Fogarty Finger
What
does
a
rustic,
century-old
cottage
on
the
Cape
that
has
been
in
my
family
for
four
generations
have
in
common
with
my
professional
life,
which
revolves
around
the
design
of
urban
office
space?
Though
they
may
seem
like
antithetical
places,
the
cottage
is
where
I
find
inspiration
and
a
deep
connection
with
nature
that
in
turn
informs
my
urban
work.The
cottage—without
air
conditioning
or
heating
save
for
a
fireplace—is
a
primitive
setting,
but
it’s
also
the
most
healing
place
I
know.
The
question
is
how
can
we
create
healing
environments
in
the
urban
context,
and
particularly
in
the
modern
...
Apr 22, 2021 by Katie Weeks, LEED Green Associate Managing Director, Communications and Development, Institute for Market Transformation
A
few
weeks
ago
on
an
early
March
morning,
I
logged
on
to
my
laptop
and
saw
something
I
never
thought
I’d
see:
There,
front
and
center
on
the
New
York
Times
homepage,
was
an
animation
of
building
ventilation.
The
focus?
“Why
Opening
Windows
Is
a
Key
to
Reopening
Schools.”
I
did
a
double
take.
Most
often,
discussions
about
building
science
are
buried
in
a
design
magazine’s
technology
or
products
column
or
discussed
under
the
context
of
LEED
certification,
perhaps.
Yet
here
it
was,
on
a
major
paper’s
homepage,
showcasing
a
larger
opportunity
for
interiors
professionals.The
ongoing
COVID-19
pandemic
has
...
Mar 23, 2021 by Joey N. Shimoda FAIA, FIIDA, Chief Creative Officer, Shimoda Design Group
I
am
old
enough,
and
geeky
enough,
to
know
that
the
third
episode
of
the
Star
Wars
trilogy,
the
“Return
of
the
Jedi''
was
originally
named
the
“Revenge
of
the
Jedi.”
It
was
changed
right
before
the
release
because
the
fan
culture
pointed
out
that
Jedi’s
do
not
get
revenge.
This
arrangement
of
words
popped
into
my
head
while
my
studio
was
discussing
/
debating
the
“Return
to
the
Workplace.”
Undoubtedly,
the
tremendous
emotional
and
physical
strain
that
the
world
has
experienced
will
exact
its
revenge
on
the
workplace
of
the
future.No
one
has
a
clear
picture
of
...
It
wasn’t
too
long
ago
that
we
believed
that
design
teams
had
to
actually
sit
next
to
each
other
in
the
same
room
to
be
able
to
do
their
work.
Our
firm
even
had
a
few
offices
that
would
rearrange
the
studio
to
make
sure
that
all
teammates
were
within
arm’s
length
of
each
other—all
based
on
the
ebb
and
flow
of
project
work.
Boy,
have
times
changed.
I
am
hesitant
to
imply
that
anything
good
has
come
out
of
our
journey
through
the
pandemic,
but
I
do
wonder
if,
in
the
end,
the
forced
remote
work
that
happened
in
...
We’ve
spent
the
better
part
of
the
past
six
months
in
conversation—conversations
to
hear
and
learn,
not
to
tell,
conversations
with
our
clients,
conversations
with
academics,
conversations
with
creatives,
conversations
with
conversationalists.
You
name
it,
we’ve
conversed
with
it! Over
that
time
we’ve
seen
an
evolution
of
concern
from
“HOW
can
we
work
this
way?”
to
“WILL
we
ever
need
to
work
all
together
again?”
All
this
set
against
a
growing
media
narrative
around
the
success
of
work-from-home.
Sure,
there
are
the
typical
criticisms
about
Zoom
glitches,
but
with
the
big
tech
companies
leading
the
way—Shopify
boldly
stating
the
era
of
...
Aug 19, 2020 by Tanya Paz, Principal at TAP Studio
As
a
nation
we
are
fighting
for
air.
We
have
spent
that
last
several
months
being
engulfed
by
a
contagious
virus
that
starves
our
bodies
of
air,
a
virus
that
quite
literally
prevents
the
air,
we
work
so
hard
to
pump
into
our
buildings,
from
fueling
our
bodies.
A
virus
which
travels
silently
through
this
same
air.
At
the
same
time,
we
spend
an
average
of
87%
of
our
time
inside
buildings.
Designing
for
air
is
fundamental
to
Architecture
and
Interior
Design.
We
too
often
ignore
this
key
aspect
of
our
spaces,
especially
when
relying
on
mechanical
ventilation.
While
this
...
Aug 03, 2020 by Kay Sargent, ASID, IIDA, CID, LEED® AP, MCR/w, WELL AP
For
the
past
several
years
we
have
watched
as
industry
after
industry
has
disrupted
and
forced
to
evolve.
The
retail
sector
has
been
rocked
by
Amazon,
the
hotel
sector
by
Airbnb,
and
the
taxi
service
by
Uber
and
Lyft.
But
there
has
also
been
disruption
in
the
commercial
real
estate
industry,
thanks
to
coworking
and
now
COVID-19.
The
whole
world
is
asking
a
fundamental
question
“what
is
the
future
of
work?”
If
we
are
myopic
and
focused
too
narrowly
on
addressing
only
the
challenge
COVID
has
presented
us
with
regarding
how
and
where
people
work,
we
will
miss
the
bigger
...
At
ThinkLab,
our
passion
exists
at
the
intersection
of
specification
and
design,
where
we
use
research
to
improve
communications
between
designers
and
manufacturers.
Over
the
past
15
weeks,
we
have
been
tracking
the
impact
of
the
COVID-19
pandemic
on
the
design
industry—looking
at
metrics
like
bid
activity,
employment,
and
project
continuation.
These
results
have
been
shared
freely
with
anyone
who
participates
in
our
weekly
Industry
Impact
Survey—which
we
invite
you
to
take!While
the
feedback
to
this
type
of
data
was
positive,
the
response
was
crystal
clear:
“This
is
great,
but
we
want
MORE.”
As
a
result,
our
most
recent
deep
...
Healthy
People/Healthy
Planet
Like
most
architects,
planners
and
urbanist
in
general,
we
have
been
thinking
about
the
lasting
effect
COVID-19
will
have
on
the
built
environment...especially
cities.
Until
March,
it
seemed
that
the
21st
century
was
going
to
be
an
age
lead
not
by
empires
or
countries
but
by
powerful
cities.
Rapidly
growing
urban
areas
produced
over
80%
of
the
World’s
Gross
Economic
Product
and
housed
over
50%
of
its
population.
People
living
together
inspire
each
other.
Along
with
density
comes
intellectual
innovation
and
economic
energy.
And
now
just
a
few
short
months
later,
we
are
being
forced
to
rethink
...
Do you have any industry insights or an original thought piece you would like to share with the greater NeoCon audience? Email us to submit it for potential inclusion.