Your firm can use the popular professional networking site LinkedIn for much more than your standard Facebook ‘like’ page. Facebook is casual and is viewable by all whom may be interested in your firm. LinkedIn provides a professional atmosphere online with many specific tools and resources to help your business and employees. Here are four tips [...]
As map-making software grows in popularity, more people than ever have cartography at their fingertips. In response to the growing trend, many mapping projects have begun distinguishing themselves as radical cartography, choosing to highlight, not hide, the process and politics associated with map-making decisions. At Rhode Island School of Design’s (RISD) Digital+Media graduate program, the [...]
In many ways, Michigan’s current economic climate is distressing to architects and urban designers. Our regional dependence on the automotive industry has left Detroit, Michigan with a major identity crisis, not to mention the visible fissures indicative of a shrinking city. Then again, these conditions also offer design students a unique landscape for urban study, [...]
I have been a writer for The Grid for over a year and this will be my last writing. I am grateful to Renee Van Staveren, Global Site Plans, and The Grid staff for this opportunity. A lot has been learned through my own research and also through the writings of my peers. The topics [...]
In light of recent coverage on the value of a design education, organizations across the country have begun to open up the field to a more unlikely population – middle and high school students. As the contemporary education system faces continued criticism, alternatives like Citizen Schools and Afterschool Alliance have developed student programs to supplement [...]
The economic recession has changed the job market dramatically. Rather than waiting idly for the resurgence of the architecture sector, design professionals should consider freelance blogging. Writing for The GRID provides value for future opportunities. From urban design related blogging opportunities with Grist and Planetizen, to media, news, and design correspondent positions in the NGO [...]
On June 4, 2012 we released the Top 20 International Urban Planning Websites 2012, now it’s architecture’s turn. We searched for your international architectural sources, using Alexa International Rankings, and found these to be your 2012 – Top 20 most popular architecture-related websites.* Whether serving you with visual inspiration through featured projects, providing opportunities for [...]
Once home to the innovations of the Burroughs Adding Machine Company, American Electrical Heater Company and General Motors, the New Center area breathes new life into Detroit, Michigans’s entrepreneurial spirit. In April 2004, the partially-renovated Chevy Creative Services building designed by architect Albert Kahn, opened its doors to Detroit’s start-up community as TechOne. The TechTown [...]
Oh, Global Site Plans – where did those 6 months go? After I graduated from New York University with a Bachelor’s in English & American Literature, I reached a revelation – I wished I had studied environmental science. During my long contemplation in finding a detour to reach that obscure goal, I realized that I [...]
Think about your audience when applying, was one of the first pieces of advice given by the American Planning Association Resume’s for Today’s Economy panel. Controlling your message, marketing yourself and establishing your ‘brand’ is a large part of standing out to hiring mangers. Bower suggested re-reading the job advertisement and contacting HR to find [...]
College lawns are not just for Frisbees anymore. The UMass Permaculture Initiative snagged top honors at the White House Campus Champions of Change Challenge this March 2012, beating out 1,400 applicants and 15 finalists in a social media voting campaign. The project, founded in October 2010, is just one of many efforts in a growing [...]
When the opportunity arose six months ago to blog for Global Site Plans, I jumped at the chance. At the time I had recently finished a Diploma in Architecture at a University in the United Kingdom and was brimming with enthusiasm and ideas about the world of architecture, but was desperately struggling to find a [...]
For my final post, I’d like to thank everyone for reading my blogs over the last six months, I hope they brought a new and Scottish perspective to Global Site Plans; I certainly enjoyed writing about issues I care about. Many thanks to Global Site Plans and especially Renée van Staveren for giving me this [...]
The American Planning Association (APA) 2012 National Conference: “Reinvent, Reinvigorate, Reimagine” in Los Angeles, CA provided opportunities for job seekers to “ReIMAGINE [their] Career(s).” The first of a series of presentations about job hunting was a session entitled Resumes for Today’s Economy led by three experienced hiring mangers. Having attended the session, I came away [...]
It is almost guaranteed that at some point every Architect across the United Kingdom has despaired at them. Building regulations regarding the access to and use of buildings, otherwise known as Approved Document M are more often than not, at the least, a minor annoyance, if not a full blown architectural headache. With a continuous [...]
According to Huffpost Detroit, Michigan’s unemployment rate has dropped slightly to 8.8%, while Detroit is hovering at 19% unemployment. Conditions are grim. Architects have been hard-hit by the recession, and unfortunately, our recovery is contingent on the vitality of other industries. When I returned to Michigan in fall 2011, my plan was to find work [...]
It is pretty well acknowledged that the Internet has changed the world, with easy, universal access to information and instant communication across the planet. But how has it impacted the daily life of an architect? Has it changed the way they work? And is the full potential of the Internet being utilised? Habits are changing. [...]
Times are hard. There are very few places in the world unaffected by the economic downturn. And nowhere has this impact been felt more harshly than the construction industry, which has left a generation of architecture graduates trapped in limbo, struggling to get a foothold in the industry. In the United Kingdom the Royal Institute [...]
Since ASU is in a desert environment that gets over 300 days of sun per year, it has made large strides in utilizing solar energy. Of course, the upfront cost of panels can be quite a burden. In comes the ingenious solution: A Solar Power Purchasing Agreement (SPPA). Essentially, a third party provider agrees to [...]
The Industrial Revolution was a time of great social, economic and political upheaval. It was a time of mass production, of transforming the manufacturing process into a repetitious system. Never before had the process been so streamlined, especially in the steel industry. A Darby Bridge could be easily constructed using a set of manufactured pieces [...]
