CLOG: The Latest Architecture and News

Head shops, born during the counterculture movement of the 1960s, were legally mandated to only sell products for use with legal substances. This influenced a tradition of delightfully surreptitious shop names and bright, far-out signage welcoming potential customers to a safe space, while staying within the law. From the cartoon apple with marijuana leaves as stems gracing the sign at Adam’s Apple in Chicago, to the simple block-lettered neon sign at The Fitter in Boulder, the tradition of odd, cool, freeform, blocky, colorful lettering spelling out fun and hardly clandestine shop names has offered sanctuary for those searching for the sub- and counterculture for half a century.

Marijuana, pot, weed, dope, Mary Jane, grass, ganja. After being criminalized for decades and contributing to surging prison populations, today a wave of legalization is sweeping the United States and the world. Advocates point to medical benefits of marijuana and the legal availability of substances such as alcohol. Opponents often cite pot’s reputation as being a gateway drug, its addictive nature, as well as associated long and short-term mental and behavior problems. The fact remains that research into the drug and its effects has largely been stifled due to its legality. With an estimated 200 million current users worldwide, an industry projected to be worth $31 billion by 2021, an established culture full of symbolism and cultural references, celebrity CBD endorsements and widespread availability, it is time to discuss the full breadth of cannabis.

The U.S. Department of State has selected Storefront for Art and Architecture and PRAXIS Journal to organize the US Pavilion at the 2014 Venice Architectural Biennale, “Fundamentals,” curated by Rem Koolhaas.

The US exhibition, titled, OfficeUS: Criticism by Remaking, will be curated by Eva Franch i Gilabert, Ana Miljački and Ashley Schafer. 

More info on the US Pavilion, after the break...

Brutalism. It’s the architecture movement that the public loves to hate, and architects dare to love. It’s also the latest topic tackled by CLOG, the quirky publication that takes a long slow look at what’s important in architecture now. 

While Brutalism, a movement that reached its height in the 60s, may not seem a timely topic, nothing could be further from the truth. With Brutalism’s monolithic beasts reaching their not-so-golden golden years, the question to re-model (often prohibitively expensive, considering these projects’ complexity) or just demolish (as the public often begs for) is an urgent one - as the recent preservation debates over Paul Rudolph’s Orange County Building (successful) and Bertrand Goldberg's Prentice Women’s Hospital (not) reveal.

However, while this edition of CLOG of course mentions these debates, Brutalism shines in exploring the bigger questions these debates provoke: Why is Brutalism so loathed? What is it, really? And - can Brutalism be saved? Should it be?

Nearly a million people crowded the National Mall yesterday to witness the second swearing-in of President Barack Obama. The Mall was transformed - from the oft-trampled, dusty track of land separating the Capitol from the Lincoln Memorial - into a space of civic pride and participation. It’s moments like these that reveal to us the latent potential of the National Mall, and it’s important symbolic value as our Nation’s “backyard.”

The National Mall has suffered decades of over-use and under-funding, but has recently come back on the National agenda. With many projects underway - and soon to be underway - now is the time to consider: What is the National Mall? What is its value? And how should it be designed for the future? With informative graphics, varied insights, and interesting case studies, CLOG: National Mall a

Read our review of CLOG: National Mall, after the break...

The folks behind CLOG, the publication that "slows things down" and takes a good, long look at the issues facing architecture today, launched their latest edition - National Mall - today with an event at MoMA PS1. The event, called "THE FUTURE OF THE MEMORIAL," was a part of MoMA PS1's Sunday Sessions and included a conversation, hosted by CLOG, between Friedrich St. Florian, Nicholas Benson and Lucia Allais.

Every month, the publication CLOG takes on “a single subject particularly relevant to architecture now.” It’s not a quick look at something trendy, but rather an in-depth look, from multiple perspectives, at the issues that are affecting - and will continue to affect (and even alter) - architecture as we know it today.

CLOG: Rendering is, in my opinion, the best issue yet. Through dozens of fascinating, concise articles and a handful of illustrative, quirky images, it takes on an enormous question often over-looked in the architectural world: what is a rendering? An alluring device to win over a jury or public? A realistic depiction? Or perhaps it’s an entity unto itself...

Rendering examines how the rendering has become a means of deception - not just for the public, but for ourselves - becoming an aesthetic end-product rather than the representation of an idea in-progress. But at the same time, the rendering is our best tool for entering into the “real” world, for communicating what we do to the public at large. 

Is there a way to marry these opposing characteristics? What should the future of rendering be? CLOG takes these questions head-on. More after the break...