11.01.2007
Long time, no see. Sorry for the delayed postings here on the Architorture website, but we have moved. Please click here archiculturefilm.com to go to the new website.

09.01.2007
We've got a substantial back log of interesting architectural articles and visuals to share.

First is an article by the LA Times discussing the push of "architects" into more powerful positions.

The Herald Tribune had an article discussing the rapidly approaching need for architects to be prepared for the increasingly urbanized planet. This following the recently revealed statistical research showing that over half the world's human population is now living in urban environments. Tipping point?

On a lighter note, we find an article by the New York Times showing the hunger and collaborative drive of a group of recent RISD grads in their first significant design commission. Of course this is by mom and pops but none the less this article explores the nature of design ownership versus collaboration and the necessity of post-grad exposure.

Last but not least is a collection of Charlie Rose (personally a bit obsessed with the man's work) interviews with prominent architects - Richard Meier, Frank Gehry, Thom Mayne, Santiago Calatrava, Peter Eisenman, Renzo Piano, Philip Johnson, Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, and many more.

08.22.2007
Caught up with Eric Corey Freed this past week to discuss the documentary film and some of our sustainable initiatives for the project. Eric is better known around these parts for his work as the organic architect and provided a very invigorating conversation for the project.

His work can be described from the caption on the organicARCHITECT's website:
"Promoting both an organic and individual approach to design, architect, author & educator Eric Corey Freed sculpts innovative buildings that embody ecological & social responsibility. organicARCHITECT creates designs to question, innovate and delight our clients."

We had a great discussion with many inspiring concepts bounced around. We shall see how they develop as we move towards full production. For more on the organic architect, check up on his blog to see more of his insightful findings.

08.13.2007
After listening through a bunch of the mixes on Designer Mixtapes, we have decided to make our own mix. A little different from what Mixtapes has constructed, we would like to post our top 10 "Architectural" songs... Our songs are everything from specific lines on architecture, as in The Hexx by Pavement, to figurative lyrics such as Squares by The Beta Band. OK so here they are:

Aesop Rock - How to be a Carpenter lyrics
The Beta Band - Squares lyrics
Bloc Party - Like Eating Glass lyrics
Erland Oye - Sheltered Life
I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness - Ghost lyrics
LCD Soundsystem - Yr City's A Sucker
Pavement - The Hexx lyrics
Pinback - Fortress lyrics
Postal Service - District Sleeps Alone Tonight lyrics
Shout Out Louds - Oh, Sweetheart lyrics

So there they are. Let us know what you think via our myspace comments or on our new forum thread. We want to hear your "architecture" favorites.

08.01.2007
A few interesting links we would like to post up.

A hysterical article published in PIDGIN, has been shooting around the architectural world of emails and blogs like wildfire. Here is a good link to the open letter by Annie Choi.

Here is a good music link to Designer Mixtapes, which has 7 song mixes of the most inspiring songs from designers around the world. Great range of inspiration.

For anyone who can name all 10 architects on our Starchitect tshirt you will receive a free tshirt through the competition going on at our myspace site. Please post your answers on our myspace comments so we can keep track of submissions. Good luck!

Many more exciting things happening behind the scenes on the film and will be posted soon...

07.22.2007
We have recently reorganized and added some new content to the site. We would like to invite you to check out the new buttons for info, merchandise and sponsors on the website. Briefly the info page provides the mission of the film, a synopsis of the story, where the concept originated and some of our initiatives/goals for the project. The merchandise page is an area were we can display some of the products for sale. Tshirts are available now, with more to come online in the near future. The sponsors page is the area were we accept and give support to the individuals and groups which are helping make this project a reality.

Look around and let us know what you think.

07.15.2007
Due to our rather large percentage of international viewers to the site, we have installed translation flags below. For now they are only available on our home page but will be located upon all pages with areas of translatable text in the near future. We hope you enjoy the new language possibilities and can now share the project with a larger range of your global friends.

Along these same lines, we would like to post up some of the recent blogging about the project.

Edgar Gonzalez
Arkitekturbloggen
Land + Living
A is for Architecture
Future Feeder
Rockitecture
Hippoblog
The Lighthouse Diaries
7dv
derive
Living Well in Westchester

Thanks to all for the interest and comments. It helps us stay energized when we see the architectural community react to the project.

07.01.2007
Jennifer Brooke is now up on our confessionals page. This interview brings a whole new level to the confessionals due to Jennifer's background as both a professor at the California College of Arts and practitioner through her design firm, Landscape Office. In this interview, the dynamics of the architectural studio setting are candidly discussed along with descriptions of the thesis process based upon her extensive professorial and academic experience. Give it a look and let us know how you respond.

06.28.2007
We have some new photos up from our all night shoot two weeks ago and from our trip down to L.A. to meet Carole Dean. We have decided to use this footage for a different short film than the original version for the Thinksync Competition. More details to follow.

On another note, a new confessional is close to being posted and should be showing up this weekend on the website. This interview showcases an architect who blurs the lines between the professional and academic sides of architecture daily. A very animated and thought provoking conversation which will add a new level of background to the confessionals.

06.16.2007
Our trip to LA has turned into a very intense injection of resolve for the project. The meeting with Carole Dean was a phenomenal asset to the current evolution our film and will prove to be invaluable as we move towards the shoot.

We also just finished shooting with our friends at Empty Kingdom Media, for a short film we are submitting to the ThinkSync Film Competition. "The premise behind the competition being to highlight and encourage the use of independent music within film and the resulting event an exciting, innovative fusion of independent music and film." Basically they provide 30+ songs to choose from for the shorts to utilize in their three to ten minute story submissions.

We are extremely excited with how our shots turned out and thrilled to see how the final cut turns out once we edit over the next two weeks. It due on June 30th, so keep a look out for it on our films page.

06.12.2007
We are driving down to LA tonight for a meeting with the amazingly talented and experienced Carole Dean tomorrow. "As president and CEO of From the Heart Productions, Carole (has) created the Roy W. Dean Grant Foundation in honor of her late father. To date Carole’s grant and mentorship programs have provided filmmakers with millions of dollars in goods and services and have played an instrumental role in establishing the careers of some of the industry’s most promising filmmakers."

Our purpose for meeting Carole is two fold, one is to get someone with such a depth of film experience to discuss the current and future development of our project, and secondly to discuss our submission to her LA Film grant which is due June 30th. We are extremely excited for this chance to evolve our project's funding strategies with someone of such achievements.

We will post comments and some new exciting footage shortly after we return.

06.01.2007
There are some new photos up from our recent shoot for the full length documentary Art Symphony No.1. This film being produced by our friends at Empty Kingdom Media "represents the first volume in a multi-part series of documentary anthologies taking an introspective look into the world of art & culture," specifically the L.A. and Bay areas. The film "follow(s) the lives of a variety of artists, from the most respected industry professionals with cult fan-followings to the classically struggling artists, and even the perspectives of students just entering the world of art. "

The shoot took place at both The Shooting Gallery and White Walls Gallery in San Francisco showcasing the talents of Shawn Barber and Kim Cogan respectively. All the photos were taken and credited to the talented Jane Kim.

05.29.2007
Another massive bit of news for the project, the film has been accepted by Film Arts and is now fiscally sponsored! This is big because we can now start to seek funds besides our own incomes to support this thing. Little paypal-esque shopping carts will soon pop up all over the site so you can donate at any moment. But joking aside, this is an extremely crucial step in the evolution of this project with our continued association and collaboration with such a respected foundation.

So check out the links and look forward to more posts regarding our new found friends in Film Arts.

05.15.2007
We are very excited to announce that our short film Released won a prize from the nice folks at Youthnoise.com for their Reducing Energy Consumption category. Check out the winners of the other categories: Conserving Resources, Reducing Toxic Chemical Consumption, and Reforestation. Congrats to all.

This is a little bitter sweet since the original competition on treehugger.com that we created this short had an upload error at the deadline and were unable to submit. Its always nice to receive any form of recognition for creative efforts. Check back often to see other creative vents as we evolve towards Architorture.

05.10.2007
Confessionals have arrived! We quickly realized that there needed to be a way to give others the chance to explain what Architecture is about. We decided short and simple interviews with Architects was the best way to communicate this complicated issue.
We have three of them up now on the films page. Give them a look.
The first interview is of a young architect on her pending return to grad school in the fall and her decision to continue pursuing the profession.
The second finds a young architect 5+ years into the profession reflecting upon the memories and aspirations of his student years while discussing his current career path.
The third follows a grad student on her journey from home to studio while discussing the origin of her interest for architecture, previous professional experience and her pending review the next day.

05.02.2007
So the confessionals are coming, I promise. They are edited and getting qued for the web. For now check out some of the bios of the team and other informational links we feel crucial to comprehending the thesis environment. The team will undoubtedly grow in the near future but from these few the concept has evolved. We continue to look for collaboration.

04.21.2007
Check out the image on the front of this month's Architect magazine. The cover is about an article called "The $34,000 Question" regarding the pay of young "interns" and comparisons to related fields. But please put trust into our profession for it does have the potential for future bags of cash! So where is the pay for the next generation? Is it worth it all. There is also an article related to an architectural salary survey. Bias? Check it out.

04.18.2007
Look Architects are happy! Rated 6th over such amazing professions as mechanics, special education teachers, and actors. We did lose out to #1 Clergy.

Just a little stimulation from the 2006 General Social Survey based on interviews with randomly selected people who collectively represent a cross section of Americans.

04.14.2007
Confessionals are coming!!! We are currently editing the first batch to post up hopefully next week. Keep an eye out for these intimate windows into the field.

We have also been shooting interviews and capturing footage for a short film regarding Landscape Architecture to be submitted for an event outside of this year's ASLA conference. A trailor will be up in May.

04.06.2007
Check out the discussion forum! We are attempting to make it a bit more user friendly, but at least now we have adapted it to our layout and linked it up. Give it a look and post away. We know you all are looking. Post something, anything. Vent if you like. We love the stories and as do others. Help us explain what the studio environment is/was like.

04.01.2007
Since the submission of our first short film Released a month ago, we have been hard at work on some crucial pre-production documents. From today forward we will be posting information regularly in this area of the website to keep our audience updated. A few things in the short future will be more graphics, a revamped discussions board and a confessionals page with interviews of undergrad and masters' students, and a wide range of professionals. We are extremely excited about the confessionals aspect of the website and have already shot a few with a bunch more scheduled.

We have also begun working on our next significant short film, Cultivated. This short film will attempt to bring clarity to the current state of the profession of landscape architecture. A more in depth description will be posted soon as will details of the event which this short will be showcased.

02.19.2007
In progress is a short film for the Convenient Truth Contest. By the time this short is submitted it will have been conceived, shot, and edited in one months time. Check back with us at the beginning of March to see its debut and if we meet the tight deadline.

We are actively seeking grant money to help assist with the pre-production phase of Architorture.

The team has recently expanded to include the musical talent of Mike Perry as well as technical writing support from Eric Krantz, Jacob Richardson and Linda Oeding.

11.11.2006
The original idea for architorture was conceived, by David as a student in the back of a classroom at Clemson University in 2005. The idea turned into a collaborative effort in January of 2006 when the two of us, David and Ian, met in an architectural office in San Francisco. The next big relationship occurred at a gallery opening in August of 2006, where we met Henry Kim of Empty Kingdom Media during a shoot for one of his many works. Since then, Henry has taken us under his wing and shed all of his film knowledge. Through the many shoots and time spent with the Empty Kingdom crew, illustrated in the images to the left, we have gained the experience to put our hands into the field of film. We are currently working on a hand full of short films to strengthen our knowledge and formalize our concepts. Look for them in the near future on the film page.