Pharrell Williams is Keynote Speaker at 2014 AIA Convention in Chicago.

I just heard that Pharrell will be one of the keynote speakers at the 2014 AIA National Convention in Chicago. Until now, I must admit, I have never had any interest in attending an AIA National Convention but I am going to register for this one immediately. The stage is now being set for a cultural innovation a "Hip Hop Inspired Architecture" which was the title of my graduate thesis at The University of Detroit Mercy, and has been the primary focused of both my academic and professional careers.

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How Architects and Urban Planners Played a Role In Trayvon Martin's Death

"Walk at Your Own Risk" published in Architect Magazine, is very interesting to me, because I constantly speak about architects and planners developing more than the simple physical environments people attribute to our profession. As a whole, we unintentionally shape the subconsciousness and cultural incubators of the inhibitors of our spaces. I challenge all designers, planners, architects etc to make conscious strides towards considering the social implications of their architectural designs and plans on the intended users.

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Ball State University - Architectural Competition meets Hip Hop

Chris Baker, a student at Ball State University and fellow member of NOMA, National Organization of Minority Architects teamed with Kyle Edwards and received an honorable mention in the Queens Way Connection: Elevating the Public Realm Competition. His inspiration for the design concept and programming organizing principles was hip hop, more specifically Nas' song "One Mic". The program was organized based on the a sonic investigation of "One Mic", and the lyrical content, which preaches positive rebellion against suppressive systems, rather cultural, social or economical. In Chris' case the limiting system was the physical site for the architectural competition. He describes it as rigid, nauseatingly rhythmic,  and linear.

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Disco + Architecture = Discotecture

"Discotecture is an original series by VICE featuring David Byrne, Andre Balazs, Peter Gatien, Kenny Scharf, Eric Goode, Michael Musto, Amy Sacco, Steve Lewis, and other icons of New York nightlife. The series follows five young designers from different disciplines as they come together to create their vision of the nightclub of the future. "

For more information visit Vice.com

THE CHIEF ARCHITECT OF GANGSTA RAP

Image Source: http://www.aceshowbiz.com

Its always been rumored that Dr. Dre studied architecture, I wish I knew if this rumor was true or not. Dr. Dre has taken over the music industry yet again with the design of Beats by Dre, which has redefined the way that music is to be heard. Check out the video below which ties Dr Dre's music career to architecture.

Ilja Karilampi’s video The Chief Architect of Gangsta Rap (2009) makes the conjecture that Andre Young, better known as Dr. Dre (b. 1965), studied architecture before becoming famous as a hip-hop producer and rapper. The Berlin-based artist describes Dre’s rise in the music industry, from his early techno-influenced records, to his role in the controversial group N.W.A., and finally to Dre’s solo albums and major collaborations with fellow rappers.Throughout the video, the artist proposes Dre’s connections to and opinions of the work of Modernist architects like Le Corbusier (1887–1965). Karilampi also incorporates his own biography into the video, speaking about how his life has intersected with Dre’s music. Though Karilampi offers no proof to his assertions, the video presents its own, nearly convincing logic. Although imagining of the types of buildings the music producer would design may seem far reaching, Karilampi’s suggestion that urban planning—in this particular case, it is that of Los Angeles’s Compton neighborhood—significantly helps in shaping the culture of a region contains more fact than fiction.

Video Description Originally Posted Here