A myriad of exciting projects has crossed my desk throughout this very productive week. Bubbling under the surface, we have been working on some filming opportunities which have arisen, as well as developing our Viewing Room player platform, which is currently in the design process. We're going to be building a database of films for the Viewing Room so invite you to send us any films, fly-throughs, timelapse footage, interviews or animated graphics that you would like to feature on our site, the more the merrier!
In the spirit of more being merrier, we also want to hear more about what is happening at your end - what new projects you have on the boards, what new offices or new areas you are expanding into, what new specialisms you have developed etc etc. We want the inside scoop and so from now on we will be offering US$10 as a thank you for any tip-off that we receive and use. You can contact us with any tip-offs or films at niki.young@wantoday.com
Will Alsop took some time out of his now very busy schedule this week to tell us about the shock
turn-around on his retirement plans to head up a new office for RMJM. This is the start of an exciting chapter for RMJM, their launch of the new office with Alsop as design champion shows a fresh direction for the 1000 strong firm as a leader in design, which will lead to an eclectic design range and no doubt many a prestigious project.
This week's News Review features the pick of truly delicious projects, not least of which, of course, is Richard Rogers' Maggie's Centre in west London, named as the RIBA Stirling Prize winner for 2009. It's the second year that a Richard Rogers project has come out on top in this very prestigious award, making Rogers the envy of the architecture community once more. The Maggie's Centre concept is one which I just can't help but love. The centres' designs, developed to be genuinely comfortable, recuperative, and uplifting, are like a breath of fresh air for healthcare design amidst the stuffy, clinical norm. So much so that the Danish have followed suit in their choice for the design of a cancer care centre in Copenhagen which employs the same positive vision.
I was forced to face my public speaking demon on Thursday as I joined four other speakers from the building press and marketing community in answering: 'How will the news be delivered?' At a discussion with around 70 industry professionals, the unavoidable conclusion was reached - 'not by the paperboy', and I spent my time in the spotlight unravelling the myths of online publications and talking of WAN's plans for the future.
Media convergence - the merging of technologies - circled around connectivity and the internet, has led to an inextricable necessity for news to be delivered via the internet. No mobile phone is complete without the internet, without a music player, email
access, film streaming or without skype. Similarly no tv is complete without the internet, radio or on-demand viewing. For the architecture industry the benefits of online are unparalleled by print - architecture is about vision and online offers unbeatable variety. While technology moves so quickly, here at WAN we like to be ahead of the crowd - which is why we have offered WAN On The Go for mobile phones from March 2008, and why we are now also developing a service to enable you to access WAN from your e-reader too. We hope our Viewing Room platform will also help to add depth to our news service, allowing you to view your news across the technological spectrum.
The burst of popularity for social media and the integration of services and the online community has shown that participation is essential to any online service. We hope that you enjoy the opportunity to add comments to every project, to use WAN's Backstage to upload your own projects, and the chance to take part in opinion polls which we regularly feature in News Review.
The whole discussion awakened my enthusiasm for online, and reminded me that there really isn't a better online service for architects than WAN, which would not be possible without your help, so thank you!
Editorial , London
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