Rid and rite

Congratulations to Luis Enrique Taffinder, Mario Eduardo Torres and Luis Felipe Romo; architecture students at ITESM campus Monterrey, who won 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in an essay contest about Latin American architecture called by the Unversity of Melbourne. Like Antonio Garza said: "to do quality architecture, one has to be critical, (read and) write and apply that analysis to one's work".

I agree, that students need to read and write more about what they do. That's why I find quite interesting Raul's idea of having his students to document their works in form of a blog. After just a couple of months they are more confortable writing about their creativity process and describing their works accurately and not just with youth slang like: "this is my project, it's kinda cool, osea, first, it was like: no way, and then I said: sweet, which is cool, and it has these cool kind'a stuff..."

Olga (a russian teacher and friend at ITESM campus Monterrey) learned to say in spanish "se la bañaron" (and use it in all appropriate circumstances) causing us to laugh until it hurts, because she used that phrase just as a natural regio. I really do have to include something about Gandhi bookstore's advertisment campaigns. Those are really hillarious... or sarcastic. I almost believe the idea of a complot against reading denounced by el peje... they say that there's a government control strategy to keep people ignorant. I met a student at Unitec (NZ) who said (as if it was something to be proud of) that he passed high-school without reading any book, not even text books... and he complained why would he has to start reading about design or ergonomics. And believe me, students like that, they do graduate eventually (and that's no april's fools' joke).

In other news, now that our friends Hugo and Astrid moved to Atlanta, here's a new product from Coca-cola company, it's called coca cola black. (via) It's not that the product is aimed at african-american consumers... their target public are night-owls, adults with a strong coffeine addiction. It contains half the sugar but double coca-cola syrup and real coffee... like drinking an expresso frappuchino, without having to run to the next starbucks to re-fuel. I guess it will be a success among stressed office workers, designers, architects, people who read (or write) books, and all other groovie coffee adicts. I prefered vanilla coke anyway, sad that it's been now withdrawn from the shelves.

ciao