Disparate Magazine

Yesterday saw the launch of issue_03 of Disp on this site with great work done by Marten Dashorst, graduate of TU Delf.

But at Disp we have come accustomed to bursts of activity, so today we can announce the for issue_04 Michael Thorp will be editor-in-chief.  Michael brings with him a wealth of experience from his role within BlankMediaCollective as visual editor for blankpages.

Michael is also a pretty spankingly good graphic designer in his own right, as you’ll see over at his web site.  So it’s our guess that following a text heavy issue disp might zag once again.

But enough of Michael, what about issue_04?  Well Michael has brought with him the theme of ADAPTATION.

In his words

“I’d be really interested in the possible responses to the theme of the perversion, misuse and personal/natural transformation of the built environment.”

Over the next few days we’ll be posting some news things on here to inspire, and Michael assures me he will be hitting the twitter trail and facebook staging post with all sorts of influential media tid-bits.  But to get you started, have a look at this.

It seems that with every issue of Disparate Magazine it is some kind of first, which is great of course, but issue_03 really does mark a major step for disp – the first issue 100% user generated!  That is we here at disparatemagazine.com didn’t even see it until last night, all submitted work and all editing happened somewhere far far away.

A huge debt of thank to Marten Dashorst for his editing wizardry and to all submitters as per usual.

We here at disp are never happy, no, well we are, but we are never ready to rest on what we have.  So please print this issue and distribute it out in the world, where it was intended to be.  Take some photos too, why don’t you, send them to us and we’ll add them to the gallery.

Stay tuned because issue_04 will be launched really s.o.o.n.

I’ve always tried to be clear that Disparate is a changing and evolving beast; since its inception I’ve never wanted to pin it down into being a particular thing, especially in terms of polemic.  Due to this I’ve always wanted to keep a hands off approach to the content of the magazine and the site, which thus far hasn’t always been so easy as the magazine is still finding its following.

I am delighted to say though that following some discussions with some interesting international type people the next few issues of the magazine will have fully signed up editors, who will in turn have more social media to back them up.

First up is Marten Dashorst, a graduate of the fabled Delft School of Architecture in the Netherlands.  Marten will be taking the hot seat for the delayed issue_03 Boom or Bust.

You will now be able to follow Disparate on Facebook and Twitter @disparatemag.

Marten will be in control of the output from these sources and will be available at editor@disparatemagazine.com until the 12 May, at which point the announcement for the guest editor for issue_04 will be made.

I’m really excited by all this, the next 12 months should really build on the work put in so far by so many diverse people.

The last few months have been pretty hectic as I have been zooming around the country meeting people and putting together a PhD proposal.  It’s all been going pretty well, but once again disparate magazine has taken a back seat, leading inevitably to the postponement of issue_03 until May 11 2011.

As mentioned on this site yesterday, from now on news will form into two streams, online contents will be linked to over at Spatial Propaganda devoid of comment or opinion.  The reasons for this could well be self evident, but will nether the less be subject to an article at some point.  Here at the home of Disparate Magazine the news feed will be saved for comment and news on upcoming issues.

Pretty straight forward, so after one day it seems appropriate to prove the new system by linking to some interesting news stories right here.

Last year we linked to a story when Karl Sharro of Blueprint magazine responded to an article by Rowan Moore in the Guardian calling for architects to stand up for themselves – here.

At the time we stated:

“Disparate wasn’t established to provoke revolution, or even to grab the coat tails of the first one to pass by, but I do strongly agree with the sentiment that people should speak out about their opinions.”

and while that still holds true, another three interesting and related news snippets caught our attention.

First, Simon Lucas, head of education and children’s services at cost consultant EC Harris:

“This is terribly provocative but if there’s not an increasing role for architects – well, OK. After the invention of the internal combustion engine there was no longer a role for oxen-pulled ploughs. No one said, ‘Should we keep on as we are because we’ve got lots of oxen?’ That’s an incredibly unkind analogy.”

BD online subscription required.

Then we saw that education secretary Michael Gove said: “We won’t be getting Richard Rogers to design your school. We won’t be getting any ‘award-winning architects’ to design it, because no one … is here to make architects richer.” link

Fortunately Sarah Wigglesworth had a platform (as well as the inclination and fortitude) to respond.

Stating “In the hands of talented architects and good clients, design can make places more pleasant to be in, improve absenteeism and ill-health and most importantly, make communities proud.” Sarah seems to hark back to week one of undergraduate studies – but is there a shame in this when the schism between the course of modern Britain and the importance of design seems at its widest?

Well aware that a backing of architects in a general debate on their essential merits can be construed as a backing of all architecture over and above anything else we would also like to draw your attention to this blog (a blog in the true sense).  A blog by a man who thinks some buildings are good, but most are bad.

Disparate is not here to find a polemic or to generate a cause, we are here to fertilise debate.  Architecture, both as a career and as a practice, has a lot of problems.  Many of the problems come from the outside world and are exacerbated by the profession’s inability to coherently explain and validate itself.  Architecture effects every single person in the world, there is no getting away from that.  Building could be cheaper without architects, but it would be even worse – no really it would.

In order for architecture to be as fulfilling to the built environment as it should it needs to respond to the its problems, but it wont be able to do this in an environment where any analysis of these problems is seen as an admission of endemic failings.  The challenge ahead is to support architecture as a profession while identifying the stifling issues that distort and marginalise it’s practice.

In support of www.disparatemagazine.com we have launched a sister blog which can be found over at http://spatialpropaganda.tumblr.com/

Spatial Propaganda is a blog in form and in name but, as often as possible, will be devoid of opinion and comment.  In stead SP will act as a notice board for articles that are relevant or interesting (hopefully both at the same time) to Disparate Magazine.

The news board here at DM will continue as usual.

In the last issue of DisparateMagazine included a piece by, among others, Donnachadha Gallagher.  This month Donnachadha was back in touch with us to draw our attention to a piece of work by a colleague of his to survey the cost of an Architectural Education.

To do this an online questionnaire has been put together which can be found here.

Handily, the form only takes a few minutes to complete and with enough contributors could form the basis of some priceless findings.

issue_02 was published, after a short festive delay, on 11-01-11 you can check it out, download it, print it and pass it from the issues tab.

Once you’ve digested the contents it will be time to turn your attention to issue_03 boom or bust.  As ever we’re looking for content and editors.  Content can range from an image, to an essay, a photographic study to an opinionated tirade.

I am delighted to announce that I started a new architecture based job this week, which is great for me, but it brings with it a lot more demand on my time.  The job is pretty high pressured as it is based around deadlines for a large development that have to be met over the next few months, this means early starts and late nights.

With issue_01 I decided to press on with the release of the issue during easa010, which would have been fine but for the late drama that surrounded that event from an organisers point of view, a decision that I believe impacted on the quality of the issue.  So to avoid that possibility, with Christmas on the horizon, I have taken the decision to push back the release of issue_02 identity for one month.

Issue_02 will be released on 11-01-11, which is a better looking date anyway.

Last month Karl Sharro of Blueprint magazine responded to an article by Rowan Moore in the Guardian and, more relevantly, to the furore it provoked.

The synopsis of the discussion is that Moore criticised CABE who are sometimes dubbed as super planners, while Sharro went further to suggest that CABE be dissolved completely.  Now, for me, interesting as it is, the issue of CABE is one for another day, instead I want to pick up on a side point made by Sharro:

“… a storm in a teacup is what passes for genuine dissent in architecture these days. Some people are wetting their pants with the prospect of this mild rebuke turning into a revolution, which is indicative of how lame architectural discourse has become.”

He goes on to ask:

“Where are the great characters like Cedric Price who would revolt against this over-scrutiny and infinite official meddling?”

Disparate wasn’t established to provoke revolution, or even to grab the coat tails of the first one to pass by, but I do strongly agree with the sentiment that people should speak out about their opinions.  We’re all part of the system, we all live with and in the results, we all have a vested interest.

For those interested:

Blueprint here
Guardian here