Miranda Brackett

The work of Ehrlich Architects includes residential, commercial, institutional, and educational projects. The firm is renowned for melding classic California Modernist style with multicultural and vernacular design elements and for using a rich palette of materials and textures.

Steven Ehrlich, FAIA, founded the firm in 1979 after spending time working with the Peace Corps in Africa. Through these experiences, he gained an appreciation for simple, natural materials and vernacular solutions to energy, sustainability, and building performance challenges. In his practice, Ehrlich had the opportunity to renovate properties designed by well-known California Modernists, such as Richard Neutra.

Today Ehrlich Architects is led by four diverse partners: Steven Ehrlich, FAIA; Takashi Yanai, AIA; Patricia Rhee, AIA; and Mathew Chaney, AIA. They see themselves as architectural anthropologists exploring ancient, developing-world building traditions and featuressuch as Japanese-style courtyards, Middle Eastern lattice screens, and vernacular mud constructionand implementing them in contemporary buildings.

Partners (LR): Mathew Chaney, AIA; Takashi Yanai, AIA; Steven Ehrlich, FAIA; and Patricia Rhee, AIA. Photo credit: Miranda Brackett.

The marriage of the particular with the universal is one of the great virtues of the firms design approach, where connections between culture, climate, people, and place are woven together in a distinct humanistic architecture shaped by circumstance, wrote Steve Dumez, FAIA in a letter of recommendation.

The Federal National Council Parliament Building Complex in Abu Dhabi, UAE, is a symbol for a burgeoning democracy in the Middle East. Photo credit: bioLINIA.

Read the original post:
Ehrlich Architects Receives 2015 AIA Architecture Firm Award

A five-year report on CIA torture released by the Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday revealed that two psychologists signed a contract worth $180 million with the Bush administration to come up with torture tactics.

However, the psychologists were only paid $81 million after their contract was canceled by the Obama administration in 2009.

RT.com notes that the 525-page CIA torture report says the psychologists were supposed "to develop, operate, and assess its interrogation operations" even though "neither psychologist had any experience as an interrogator, nor did either have specialized knowledge of al-Qaida, a background in counterterrorism, or any relevant cultural or linguistic expertise."

The psychologists, James Elmer Mitchell and Dr. John "Bruce" Jessen, used to run a company called Mitchell, Jessen & Associates in Spokane, Washington, noted NBC News.

However, Mitchell refuted the CIA report.

"I completely understand why the human rights organizations in the United States are upset by the Senate report," Mitchell told the Associated Press. "I would be upset by it too, if it were true."

"What they are asking you to believe is that multiple directors of the CIA and analysts who made their living for years doing this lied to the federal government, or were too stupid to know that the intelligence they were getting wasn't useful," claimed Mitchell.

However, Naomi Klein wrote in The Nation in 2002 that the main purpose of torture was to induce terror in individuals and groups.

The National Journal noted that Sen. Mark Udall (R-Colo.) said today on the Senate floor, "The refusal to provide the full Panetta Review and the refusal to acknowledge facts detailed in both the committee study and the Panetta Review lead to one disturbing finding: Director Brennan and the CIA today are continuing to willfully provide inaccurate information and misrepresent the efficacy of torture. In other words: The CIA is lying."

Mitchell signed a non-disclosure agreement with the CIA and wouldn't talk about his specific role, but appeared to offer some excuses to VICE reporter Kaj Larsen for foreign and domestic torture (video below).

See the original post here:
Architects of CIA Torture Paid $81 Million by U.S. (Video)

Lithuania's Do Architects have developed a cool modular housing concept, for glass-sided cylindrical dwellings they call "Rolling Homes." To be clear, these things aren't meant to actually roll. They are pretty neat though!

The wood-clad outsized pipe sections are planned for a seaside development in Svencel, Lithuania, to add to a kiteboarding and windsurfing center designed by the firm. Per a project description, the transparent facades were designed to "allow for uninterrupted views of the surrounding canals and ensure a strong connection, both visual and physical, between the occupant and nature," while the canals allow for surf-in, surf-out capabilities.

The inset front entryways give each home a covered porch. The second floors combine living room, dining room, and kitchen functions, while the top floors are partitioned "sleeping lofts." Here's what they look like in miniature:

Image via Do Architects

Also on the docket is a marina and yacht club, and a number of apartments, plus rows of homes with different design schemes. According to the firm, construction is expected to begin next year.

Image via Do Architects

Image via Do Architects

Do Architects develop a new rolling home concept [Design Boom]

See the article here:
Radical Housing Concepts: Lithuania's Surf-In, Surf-Out 'Rolling Homes' Look Pretty Fun

Architects live at Underbelly

By: Cameron Nunez

The rest is here:
Architects live at Underbelly - Video

Platform TV architects interview: videointervista a Plasma Studio

By: Platform Architecture and Design

Original post:
Platform TV architects interview: videointervista a Plasma Studio - Video

The Naked Truth with Architects
Get your exclusive Architects merchandise here: http://smarturl.it/ARCHITECTS_merch.

By: Impericon

View post:
The Naked Truth with Architects - Video

Karen Callahan ASU Architects of Change Honoree Video
Congratulations, Karen Callahan! Karen was honored as an Architect of Change for her commitment to fostering a future of understanding, diversity, and equality. Karen was recognized by Arizona...

By: Genesis City

Follow this link:
Karen Callahan ASU Architects of Change Honoree Video - Video

Architects - Gravedigger live in Chicago, Concord Music Hall
The show was siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick. My favorite part starts at 3:25 12/7/14 Concord Music Hall Architects on tour with: The ghost inside Every time I die Hunderoath Backtrack.

By: sobecmackofil

Read more from the original source:
Architects - Gravedigger live in Chicago, Concord Music Hall - Video

Architects - Naysayer - Live in Chicago - Concord Music Hall (HD)
Architects! Preforming naysayer, live in Chicago at the concord music hall, 12-7-14. Violent gentlemen tour 2014 Subscribe for more live videos! I do not own this, all rights go to their respectiv...

By: Miles Minter

Read the original post:
Architects - Naysayer - Live in Chicago - Concord Music Hall (HD) - Video

Visual Architects x Street Dreams Mag
Visual Architects: A Social Photography Exhibit showcasing the work of over 20 talented visionary artists from the best of mobile photography. Thanks to all those that came out and special...

By: iZZi GADGETS

See the article here:
Visual Architects x Street Dreams Mag - Video