ARCHITECT

Jose Sanchez is an associate professor at the University of Southern California’s School of Architecture, in Los Angeles, an independent game developer, and director of the Plethora Project, a research initiative that explores the connection between architecture and gaming. His latest project is Block’hood, a neighborhood-building simulation game based on the idea of resource scarcity—so don't even think about using a "cheat code." We chatted with Jose about new opportunities for gamification in architectural practice.

Charlie Klecha is a senior designer at Dpop! Design, in Detroit. Before that, he was the American Institute of Architecture Students 2014–2015 president. During his tenure there, Klecha took all seven sections of the Architect Registration Exam in a week. He passed, and we talked with him about what we learned from the experience and how established architects and firms can support emerging practitioners before, during, and after they take the test.

Chicago-based artists and designers Amanda Williams and Andres Hernandez are the joint winners of the 2016 PXSTL Design-Build Competition, through the Pulitzer Arts Foundation and The Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University, in St. Louis. We talked with the pair about their plan for the site and their call-to-response design concept of "unbuilding."

Amelia Baxter and Roald Gundersen, AIA, are the co-founders of WholeTrees Architecture and Structures, in Madison, Wis. In this episode, they sit down with ARCHITECT associate editor Hallie Busta in our Washington, D.C., office to talk about how they're giving architects a fresh take on a not-so-new structural material: trees.