The design community has collaborated to create BIPOC Studios, a living, Google Doc spreadsheet listing architecture, engineering, and planning firms founded and owned by professionals who are black, indigenous, and people of color. Launched on June 5, the list aims to "make it easier to find a job at these studios," according to an Instagram post by Food New York founder Dong Ping-Wong, who co-signed the post with Off-White founder Virgil Abloh, Agency—Agency founder Tei Carpenter, artist Hassan Rahim, architectural designer Naïla Opiangah, Leong Leong co-founder Dominic Leong, architect Aimee Chang, Morpholio community director Joey Swerdlin, artist and architectural historian Esther Choi, Clocks co-founder Mahfuz Sultan, and architect Oana Stănescu. The spreadsheet currently lists more than 125 studios worldwide and includes each studio's contact information, market, and hiring status. [BIPOC Studios]
Bergamo, Italy–based RebelArchitette has launched an interactive world map of female architects to provide "both a source of inspiration for young professionals and a directory available to anyone who is interested in a fairer representation of the work of women in architecture (such as journalists, professional bodies, event organizers, academics, jury panel organizers, etc.)." The Women Architects World Map currently lists 732 individuals leading firms and studios, double its initial list of 365 designers that the organization first published in its e-book Architette = Women Architects: Here We Are, which debuted at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale. The site homepage notes, "Yes, we started with gender disparities, but we are definitely going further." [RebelArchitette]
The American Institute of Architects has released a set of strategies and 3D models created to assist employers and businesses reopen more safely during the COVID-19 pandemic. "Mitigation strategies were developed by a team of architects, public health experts, engineers, and facility managers as part of the AIA’s 'Reopening America: Strategies for Safer Buildings' initiative," according to AIA's press release. [ARCHITECT]
The European Commission has named two winners for its 2020 STARTS Prize, which its website states as recognizing "innovative projects at the nexus of science, technology, and the arts that have what it takes to make a significant impact on economic and social innovation." Canadian architect, installation artist, and DesignGuild co-founder Andrea Ling was recognized for "Design by Decay, Decay by Design," a collection of artifacts that exhibit "designed decay." Her "base material system included biocomposites of chitin, cellulose, and pectin, derived from the exoskeletons of shrimp, tree pulp waste, and fruit skins," noted Ling, a former research assistant and designer for MIT Media Lab's Mediated Matter Group, in her project statement. Russian artist Olga Kisseleva also won for her project "Bio-art: When a Tree became a Partner." Each winner will receive €20,000 (approximately $23,000). [Ars Electronica]
"The heartbreaking crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic brings with it a rare opportunity for the architecture, planning, and building community," writes Architecture 2030 founder and CEO Edward Mazria, FAIA, in his most recent column for ARCHITECT [ARCHITECT].
Researchers at Cornell University and Ryerson University, in Toronto, have developed a new "smart parking software" that factors in walking distance, cruising time, parking facility occupancy, and driver wait time, in addition to prioritizing those willing to pay more for a spot. Existing parking apps that rely on sensors can become inefficient because parking spots can be taken quickly, causing "an uncongested route to become highly congested," the study authors claim. [Cornell University]
WeWork co-founder Miguel McKelvey will be stepping away from his coworking startup at the end of June. McKelvey, who served as the company's chief culture officer and was one of the few remaining original executives, publicly announced his departure on social media, calling it "one of the most difficult decisions of my life." [ARCHITECT]
Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have found inspiration in the iridescence of opals and color-changing abilities of chameleons to modify the 3D printing process and expand the material palette. In their paper "Tunable structural color of bottlebrush block copolymers through direct-write 3D printing from solution," the researchers explain how they meticulously printed photonic crystals, a nanostructure that affects photon movement, which reflect different colors based on the speed at which they were printed. "In this work, we leverage the core advantage of 3D printing—the high level of hardware/software integration—to precisely direct materials assembly during the nonequilibrium printing process and to generate patterned PCs with tunable domain size and color," the researchers write. [Science Advances]
The number of COVID-19 cases is still rising around the world, but CannonDesign hopes to help flatten the curve with the launch of its COVID Shield, a modular testing facility that enables individuals to get checked without having direct physical contact with the health care staff administering the tests. [ARCHITECT]
BMW i Ventures, the automobile manufacturer's tech-focused venture capital fund, has announced an investment in Prometheus Fuels, an energy startup in Santa Cruz, Calif., that is developing a net-zero gasoline generated by removing carbon dioxide from the air. Created by Rob McGinnis, the company hopes to replace "all fuels made from oil and gas with zero-net-carbon fuels," lowering global carbon emissions by around 25%. "By creating carbon-neutral gasoline from CO2 captured from the air, Prometheus Fuels allows the climate impact of today’s internal combustion engines to be massively reduced immediately," BMW i Ventures partner Greg Smithies said in a release. [BMW i Ventures]
Jim. W. Sealy, FAIA, an architect remembered for shaping inclusive national building codes and standards that made buildings more accessible, has died at the age of 82. [ARCHITECT]
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