Ebook: Notes for Those Beginning the Discipline of Architecture: Alternate Ending 1 : the Glimmering Noise

Architecture is a discipline plagued by its own insecurities, a curious mixture of optimism and pessimism, momentary successes and, more commonly, deep frustrations. In this new publication, Michael Meredith, Assistant Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, tackles the problems facing the discipline head-on, interrogating its internal dynamics and searching for a mode of practice that can survive amid the confusing, conflicting demands of contemporary culture. Nominally addressed to students entering the field, “Notes for those beginning the discipline of architecture” is a scathing take on the profession from one of its emerging young practitioners, outlining its pitfalls, its excruciating failures, and – in spite of it all – its undeniable potentials. The accompanying DVD, “Alternate Ending 1: The Glimmering Noise,” is a hilarious and sobering mock debate (inspired by a morbid fascination with William Buckley, Jr.'s “Firing Line”) that dissects the curious position of the architect amid the fickle, shifting forces of the 21st century market economy. An insider's unflinching look at the problems facing current architectural practice, Meredith's work is of interest to anyone who cares about the potentials of design today.