And, herewith, our inaugural “Ian and Eva Talk About Architecture in an Online Format” feature, in which Eva and Ian put aside their dislike for communication and talk to each other—via the internet, because intimacy, ew—about, well, mostly architecture. In today’s edition, we discuss last night’s ARCHDL.

Eva (12:26:00): HELLO FROM THE INTERNET

Ian (12:25:31): Hello, Future Boy!

Ian (12:26:34): Let’s get this row on the shoad.

Ian (12:26:40): Last night was…

Eva (12:27:44): So, Ian, What Did You Think Of The Duel?

Ian (12:26:50): Well, Eva, I was just about to say…

Ian (12:27:48): I was truly floored by the whole magnanimous human vibe of it all. I mean all those people, working together in harmony and living off the land, the way God intended.

Ian (12:28:19): Basically it was the limit! What did you think?

Eva (12:29:36): I had a similarly happy-dappy impression

Eva (12:29:47): I thought it was just great that people are all interested enough in making architecture

Eva (12:29:52): that they threw a party for it

Eva (12:29:59): Also, I used to be awesome at playing monopoly against myself

Eva (12:30:02): so that was cool

Ian (12:30:09): I think it’s a valid question whether, you know, they might have considered publicizing the event outside the architecture world. That sort of all-in design orgy should really have broad cultural appeal. Did you have the feeling most of the attendee were studio galley slaves and the like?

Eva (12:32:12): I imagine LVHRD did publicize it outside — they’re pretty cross-cultural sort of interdisciplinary people even though we have *NO IDEA* what thehappycorp actually does

Eva (12:32:29): But given Front Studio is just Yen and Michi

Eva (12:32:35): tough to have galley slaves where none exist

Eva (12:32:48): Probably a lot of Weiss/Manfredi support was from their bees

Ian (12:32:16): Doubtless, thought it had done them any good.

Eva (12:33:29): ha yeah!

Eva (12:33:31): front studio slammed it!

Ian (12:33:35): But the winning design seemed to me to be evidence of a fairly sophisticated crowd, design-wise: Front Studio came up with a compact, gem-like device with a lot of appeal, but less obvious panache than W/F proposal.

Ian (12:34:17): Dimes to donuts if there’d been more non-architects in the audience, W/F would have squeaked by.

Eva (12:35:24): I thought its being a croissant—particularly with their incredible elucidation—was highly panache-y

Eva (12:35:27): really???

Eva (12:35:34): I have to say, listen, I love Weiss/Manfredi to the ends of the earth

Eva (12:35:41): but I did not quite think that that was Architecture

Eva (12:36:16): but I’m obsessed lately with “where is the architecture?”

Ian (12:35:15): I’m with you. But it was bigger, and it looked more like an ensemble, which was what the competition called for.

Eva (12:36:33): not necessarily what it called for

Eva (12:36:39): maybe on way the brief could have been interpreted

Eva (12:36:53): I mean, Front Studio hit all the parts: the spaceport for spaceships to launch into space

Eva (12:36:59): it just happened to LOOK less ensemble-y

Eva (12:37:10): that’s what threw me with w/m

Eva (12:37:19): it was like a sarah sze sculpture

Ian (12:36:18): The addition of the Parachute Jump/beer pyrimad even gave it a sense of place, which was hard to pull off considering.

Eva (12:37:36): ah, yes, well that’s what i was about to get into — the whole place/space of it

Eva (12:37:42): i could imagine going into front’s

Eva (12:37:49): w/m i was like aaaah! where do I go???

Eva (12:37:55): but for sure parachute jump was hot

Ian (12:38:20): No question, FS did something that required some serious Fundamental Skills. W/F made a pile of objects; FS made an object.

Eva (12:39:48): yes

Eva (12:39:55): does a pile of objects, if it makes space, make architecture?

Eva (12:40:01): would danny l. have a career if it didn’t?

Eva (12:40:08): also, let’s bear in mind

Eva (12:40:12): yen and michi run their own firm

Eva (12:40:19): weiss/manfredi’s were much more inexperienced

Eva (12:41:00): so they should have kudos for playing ball

Ian (12:42:16): Absolutely-chutely. As for pile-of-objects v. object: if we’re talking about an architectural environment, than naturally there’s gonna be discrete components. (Forget the Lyrical Liebskind—would Franky G. have a career otherwise?) But for last night’s competition, the challenge was to make something coherent out of the materials, not just to stack the materials as given in a creative way. But yeah, those kids from W/M got serious chops, so bully for them!

Eva (12:44:08): I think that’s getting to the core of why I liked Front’s so much — that instead of being wacky “what can we stick together from a monopoly board and beer bottles??” they actually used the materials to make something OTHER THAN a pile of materials

Ian (12:43:44): It was a craft thing. Which is interesting—are we into crafts again in architecture, as they have been in art for the past couple years?

Eva (12:45:05): Oh you’re so RIGHT

Eva (12:45:17): but not are we into crafts, are we into craft?

Eva (12:45:18): you know

Eva (12:45:21): people always go apeshit about craft

Ian (12:44:23): ‘Zackly.

Eva (12:45:32): but I can’t get out of my head

Eva (12:45:35): this review I was on in school

Eva (12:45:53): this girl was like “well, you know, I’m into craft, and the hand”

Eva (12:46:12): and she had made this (stunning) plan

Eva (12:46:20): out of netting and little bits of plastic sort of sewn in

Eva (12:46:25): everyone else had big shiny autocad whatevs

Eva (12:46:30): and this professor, laura kurgan

Eva (12:46:42): was like “yes, superfly, it’s great-looking, but if you use the computer it’s still your hand”

Eva (12:46:47): (i paraphrase, of course)

Eva (12:46:55): and I feel like that’s relevant here

Eva (12:47:01): they were both CRAFT

Eva (12:47:06): even if one of them looked nicer than the other

Eva (12:47:37): so it’s back to your point about coherence

Ian (12:48:26): True ‘dat. I doubt, in any case, that the present FPEP economy is gonna incite some sudden retrenchment, as though drawing or foamboard had any inherent moral superiority over CAD.

Ian (12:49:43): And when the heat is on and time is short, Fundamental Skills have gotta count for something.

Eva (12:50:58): So what are those FS?

Eva (12:51:13): I liked what Michi said in our (uh, deleted, sorry!) interview

Eva (12:51:18): that of course you can make architecture in 1.5 hours

Ian (12:50:36): Front Studio: FS: Fundamental Skills! Gluing, cutting, drawing, the MacGyver stuff.

Eva (12:52:00): oh like knife skills but for architects!

Eva (12:52:06): W/M looked pretty killer with their glue gun

Ian (12:51:34): It was a terrible beauty that was born.

Ian (12:51:45): Any last thoughts?

Eva (12:53:10): In conclusion, therefore, to sum up?

Ian (12:52:56): It’s good fun, and anything that gets architects out of the studio should be considered worthwhile.

Eva (12:55:18): And anything that gets people to see that architecture is fun and neat and cool is ultra-worthwhile

Eva (12:55:25): Especially when it involves dressing up

Eva (12:55:35): for which extra gold stars to both teams

Ian (12:54:40): And anything within walking distance of Grimaldi’s is double-plus a-okay.

Ian (12:54:46): Done and done.