The latest recipients of the OAA’s Public Awareness Sponsorship program, held twice a year, have been announced. Under its five-year strategic plan, the OAA has identified public education as a key pillar with the goal to advance the public’s understanding and recognition that architecture is integral to the quality of life and well-being of society. As a result, the OAA offers Public Awareness Funding in amounts from $500 to $10,000 to applicants working to expand an awareness of the value of architecture in their communities. The Communications and Public Education Committee (CPEC) has agreed to fund the following applicants. Toronto Public Space Committee and Cyan Station – To the Loo! Toronto Toilet Design Challenge The “To the Loo! Toronto Toilet Design Challenge” is a global call to reimagine public washrooms as vital elements of the urban landscape. A joint effort by the Toronto Public Space Committee and Cyan Station, the initiative emphasizes accessibility, public health, and innovative design. Featuring a summer 2025 public event and exhibition, the challenge invites architects, designers, and engaged citizens to explore creative solutions that transform how we experience these essential public spaces. Heritage Ottawa – 2025 Heritage Ottawa Walking Tours Heritage Ottawa is an advocate for the preservation and appreciation of Ottawa’s built heritage. For more than 50 years, its signature guided Walking Tours, offered in both English and French, have attracted diverse audiences and have highlighted the city’s architectural and cultural history. Kelvin Kung – Designing Dignity: Community-Driven Insights for Better Palliative and Long-Term Care Spaces “Designing Dignity: Community-Driven Insights for Better Palliative and Long-Term Care Spaces” focuses on enhancing the quality of life for aging populations by reimagining care spaces through thoughtful architectural design. By leveraging online engagement tools, AI-driven analysis, and stakeholder input, this initiative will develop data-driven reports and recommendations for the public, policymakers, and design professionals. The project aims to raise awareness about architecture’s crucial role in shaping compassionate care spaces, empowering communities to advocate for better design and influence future policies and practices. McEwen School of Architecture, Laurentian University – Archi-North Summer Camp Archi·North Summer Camp, offered by Laurentian University’s McEwen School of Architecture, is a bilingual and tricultural program designed for Northern Ontario high school students entering Grades 11 and 12. The week-long, immersive camp aims to provide an affordable introduction to architectural design through hands-on experience in drafting, model-making, and digital tools with an emphasis on sustainable materials. Led by faculty and recent graduates, the Sudbury-based camp encourages youth to be agents of change and reimagine their own communities. Moses Structural Engineers Inc. – TimberFever 2025 Now in its 11th year, TimberFever 2025, presented by Moses Structural Engineers, is a hands-on design-build competition that brings together architecture and engineering students from Canadian and U.S. universities to collaborate, create, and innovate. Under the guidance of professional mentors, carpenters, and industry leaders, participants tackle real-world challenges like affordable housing and climate resilience while refining both design and construction skills. RAW Design – Architectural and Design Summer Camp, “Diversity in Design” RAW Design’s “Diversity in Design” Summer Camp introduces underrepresented high school students to the architecture profession through an immersive, hands-on experience. Now in its fifth year, this free week-long mentorship program fosters creativity, critical thinking, and teamwork with activities like model-making, workshops, and urban exploration led by architects and volunteers. Urban Minds – 1UP Fellowship 2025-2026 Urban Minds’ 1UP Fellowship 2025-2026 aims to empower high school students across Ontario to become urban changemakers through mentorship and hands-on projects. The Fellowship features two streams: the Design-Builders Stream, where students launch school chapters to tackle community design challenges, and the Learners Stream, which introduces students to city-building topics through structured learning activities. The next deadline for submissions is September 15, 2025. For more information, click here. The post Recipients of Public Awareness Sponsorship Program announced appeared first on Canadian Architect.

Like a good pair of Basquiat Crocs, there are innumerable bad ways to license an artist’s work. So when Airstream looked to partner up on a project with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, the aluminum-clad trailer brand could have just printed one of the architect’s famous patterns on a limited run of its vehicles and called it a day. It probably would have even sold well. But that is decidedly what Bob Wheeler, Airstream’s president and CEO, did not want to do.  “We said, ‘All right, let’s make sure that everything has a purpose and a function—that way it’s not just a pastiche, or some kind of lame attempt to mimic something,’” Wheeler recalls. “We didn’t want it to seem overdone or kitschy.” Instead, the brand embarked on a multiyear collaboration with the experts at Wright’s Taliesin West home and studio in Scottsdale, Arizona, and today the two are rolling out the 28-foot Airstream Frank Lloyd Wright Usonian Limited Edition Travel Trailer. With just 200 numbered vehicles that retail for $184,900 on offer, you—like me—might not be able to afford one at the moment, but they just might also restore your faith in the art of the artist collab at large.  [Photo: Airstream] BETTER LATE THAN NEVER Wheeler has a passion for midcentury design (as you might expect of Airstream’s CEO), so it tracks that he’d be a natural fan of Wright’s organic architecture. “Honestly, this has been a dream of mine for the last 20 years, which is about as long as I’ve been president of Airstream,” he says. “Why are Wright’s designs so celebrated today? It’s because they’re timeless. I think there are values there that incentivize someone to buy an Airstream that overlap in some meaningful ways.” Though Wright and Airstream founder Wally Byam were active at the same time and likely shared some of the same design fan base, there’s no record of them ever meeting. But a collaboration between the two ultimately proved inevitable when Wheeler reached out to Wright’s foundation in 2022. Foundation historian Sally Russell says her team wasn’t initially sure how robust a joint project could be. They eventually toured the Airstream factory in Ohio where the trailers are handmade using 3,000 rivets over the course of 350 hours, and saw how much customization was truly possible. Then she realized that it could be a great showcase of Wright’s work.  Beyond an Airstream’s signature aluminum exterior, Wheeler says the trailer is essentially a blank canvas. “And that’s where we can really flex some design muscle and allow others to do so.”  Russell says the foundation first explored whether to make the trailer feel like an adaptation of a specific Frank Lloyd Wright home. “The answer to that was no,” she says. “We didn’t want to try to re-create the Rosenbaum House and shove it into the size of a trailer. It didn’t make sense, because Frank Lloyd Wright certainly designed for each of his individual projects—he created something new, something that expressed the individual forms of the project, the needs of the client. So there was a great awareness of wanting to continue that legacy through the work that we did on the trailer.” The two teams ultimately homed in on the concept of Usonian design, a style that aimed to democratize design via small, affordable homes with a focus on efficient floor plans, functionality, and modularity.  In other words: an ideal fit for an Airstream. [Photo: Airstream] COLLAPSIBLE CHAIRS AND CLERESTORY WINDOWS When you approach the trailer, the connection to Wright is immediate on the custom front door featuring the Gordon leaf pattern, which the architect commissioned his apprentice Eugene Masselink to design in 1956. It’s a tip of the hat to nature, presumably an Airstreamer’s destination, and can be found subtly throughout the trailer in elements like sconces and cabinet pulls—but not too much, per the design mission at the outset. (“At one point we had a lot more of that Gordon leaf in there,” Wheeler notes. “We dialed that way back.”) With the push of a button, the bench seating converts into a king-size bed—one of Wheeler’s favorite elements. It is the largest bed in any Airstream, and is a first for the company, he says.  [Photo: Airstream] Another convertible element, in line with that focus on modularity, is the living space at the front of the trailer. Here, a dining table, desk, and seating inspired by the slant-back chairs that Wright used throughout his career collapse into a wall cabinet. Wheeler says Airstream used to deploy clever features like this in the midcentury era, before modern preferences trended toward built-in furniture. “So in some ways, this is a bit of a flashback to an earlier design in the ’50s, which is appropriate.” The teams also honored Wright’s focus on natural light, relocating Airstream’s usual overhead storage in favor of clerestory windows, which are prominent in Usonian homes. Meanwhile, the overall color palette comes from a 1955 Wright-curated Martin-Senour paint line. Russell says the team selected it for its harmonious blend with the natural settings where the trailer is likely headed, featuring ocher, red, and turquoise.  Ultimately, “It’s like a Frank Lloyd Wright home, where you walk into it, and it’s a completely different experience from any other building,” Russell says. “I hope that he would be very happy to see that design legacy continue, because he certainly did that with his own fellowship and the apprentices that he worked with.” [Photo: Airstream] USONIAN LIFE Starting today, the limited-edition, numbered trailers will be available for order at Airstream dealerships. Wheeler says the company was originally going to release just 100 of them, but got so much positive feedback from dealers and others that they doubled the run.  On the whole, the collaboration comes in the wake of a boom time for Airstream, which is owned by Thor Industries. Airstream experienced a surge during the pandemic, resulting in a 22% jump in sales in 2021 as people embraced remote work or realigned their relationship to the world.  “We’ve come back to earth now, and now we’re much more tied to actual market retail rates, which is what we know,” Wheeler says. In its third-quarter financials, Thor reported $2.89 billion in revenue (up 3.3% from previous year). While the company declined to provide Airstream-specific numbers, its overall North American towable RV division is up 9.1% from the same period in 2024. But there’s a problem afoot: The current administration’s tariffs, which Wheeler says made settling on the price for the Frank Lloyd Wright collaboration tricky. He adds that the company is struggling with shortages caused by the disruption in the supply chain, and high interest rates are also a problem.  [Photo: Airstream] “Look, we’re 94 years old,” he says. “We’ve been through more of these cycles than we can count, so we’re fine, and we’ll continue to trade on authenticity, quality, great service and support, a great dealer network, and a brand that really has become part of the fabric of the U.S. traveling adventure.”

June 3, 20258 min readWhite House Budget Plan Would Devastate U.S. Space ScienceScientists are rallying to reverse ruinous proposed cuts to both NASA and the National Science FoundationBy Nadia Drake edited by Lee BillingsFog shrouds the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in this photograph from February 25, 2025. Gregg Newton/AFP via GettyLate last week the Trump Administration released its detailed budget request for fiscal year 2026 —a request that, if enacted, would be the equivalent of carpet-bombing the national scientific enterprise.“This is a profound, generational threat to scientific leadership in the United States,” says Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at the Planetary Society, a science advocacy group. “If implemented, it would fundamentally undermine and potentially devastate the most unique capabilities that the U.S. has built up over a half-century.”The Trump administration’s proposal, which still needs to be approved by Congress, is sure to ignite fierce resistance from scientists and senators alike. Among other agencies, the budget deals staggering blows to NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF), which together fund the majority of U.S. research in astronomy, astrophysics, planetary science, heliophysics and Earth science —all space-related sciences that have typically mustered hearty bipartisan support.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.The NSF supports ground-based astronomy, including such facilities as the Nobel Prize–winning gravitational-wave detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), globe-spanning arrays of radio telescopes, and cutting-edge observatories that stretch from Hawaii to the South Pole. The agency faces a lethal 57 percent reduction to its $9-billion budget, with deep cuts to every program except those in President Trump’s priority areas, which include artificial intelligence and quantum information science. NASA, which funds space-based observatories, faces a 25 percent reduction, dropping the agency’s $24.9-billion budget to $18.8 billion. The proposal beefs up efforts to send humans to the moon and to Mars, but the agency’s Science Mission Directorate —home to Mars rovers, the Voyager interstellar probes, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the Hubble Space Telescope, and much more —is looking at a nearly 50 percent reduction, with dozens of missions canceled, turned off or operating on a starvation diet.“It’s an end-game scenario for science at NASA,” says Joel Parriott, director of external affairs and public policy at the American Astronomical Society. “It’s not just the facilities. You’re punching a generation-size hole, maybe a multigenerational hole, in the scientific and technical workforce. You don’t just Cryovac these people and pull them out when the money comes back. People are going to move on.”Adding to the chaos, on Saturday President Trump announced that billionaire entrepreneur and private astronaut Jared Isaacman was no longer his pick for NASA administrator—just days before the Senate was set to confirm Isaacman’s nomination. Initial reports—which have now been disputed—explained the president’s decision as stemming from his discovery that Isaacman recently donated money to Democratic candidates. Regardless of the true reason, the decision leaves both NASA and the NSF, whose director abruptly resigned in April, with respective placeholder “acting” leaders at the top. That leadership vacuum significantly weakens the agencies’ ability to fight the proposed budget cuts and advocate for themselves. “What’s more inefficient than a rudderless agency without an empowered leadership?” Dreier asks.Actions versus WordsDuring his second administration, President Trump has repeatedly celebrated U.S. leadership in space. When he nominated Isaacman last December, Trump noted “NASA’s mission of discovery and inspiration” and looked to a future of “groundbreaking achievements in space science, technology and exploration.” More recently, while celebrating Hubble’s 35th anniversary in April, Trump called the telescope “a symbol of America’s unmatched exploratory might” and declared that NASA would “continue to lead the way in fueling the pursuit of space discovery and exploration.” The administration’s budgetary actions speak louder than Trump’s words, however. Instead of ushering in a new golden age of space exploration—or even setting up the U.S. to stay atop the podium—the president’s budget “narrows down what the cosmos is to moon and Mars and pretty much nothing else,” Dreier says. “And the cosmos is a lot bigger, and there’s a lot more to learn out there.”Dreier notes that when corrected for inflation, the overall NASA budget would be the lowest it’s been since 1961. But in April of that year, the Soviet Union launched the first human into orbit, igniting a space race that swelled NASA’s budget and led to the Apollo program putting American astronauts on the moon. Today China’s rapidprogress and enormous ambitions in space would make the moment ripe for a 21st-century version of this competition, with the U.S. generously funding its own efforts to maintain pole position. Instead the White House’s budget would do the exact opposite.“The seesaw is sort of unbalanced,” says Tony Beasley, director of the NSF-funded National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). “On the one side, we’re saying, ‘Well, China’s kicking our ass, and we need to do something about that.’ But then we’re not going to give any money to anything that might actually do that.”How NASA will achieve a crewed return to the moon and send astronauts to Mars—goals that the agency now considers part of “winning the second space race”—while also maintaining its leadership in science is unclear.“This is Russ Vought’s budget,” Dreier says, referring to the director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), an unelected bureaucrat who has been notorious for his efforts to reshape the U.S. government by weaponizing federal funding. “This isn’t even Trump’s budget. Trump’s budget would be good for space. This one undermines the president’s own claims and ambitions when it comes to space.”“Low Expectations” at the High FrontierRumors began swirling about the demise of NASA science in April, when a leaked OMB document described some of the proposed cuts and cancellations. Those included both the beleaguered, bloated Mars Sample Return (MSR) program and the on-time, on-budget Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, the next astrophysics flagship mission.The top-line numbers in the more fleshed-out proposal are consistent with that document, and MSR would still be canceled. But Roman would be granted a stay of execution: rather than being zeroed out, it would be put on life support.“It’s a reprieve from outright termination, but it’s still a cut for functionally no reason,” Dreier says. “In some ways, [the budget] is slightly better than I was expecting. But I had very low expectations.”In the proposal, many of the deepest cuts would be made to NASA science, which would sink from $7.3 billion to $3.9 billion. Earth science missions focused on carbon monitoring and climate change, as well as programs aimed at education and workforce diversity, would be effectively erased by the cuts. But a slew of high-profile planetary science projects would suffer, too, with cancellations proposed for two future Venus missions, the Juno mission that is currently surveilling Jupiter, the New Horizons mission that flew by Pluto and two Mars orbiters. (The Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s moon Titan would survive, as would the flagship Europa Clipper spacecraft, which launched last October.) NASA’s international partnerships in planetary science fare poorly, too, as the budget rescinds the agency’s involvement with multiple European-led projects, including a Venus mission and Mars rover.The proposal is even worse for NASA astrophysics—the study of our cosmic home—which “really takes it to the chin,” Dreier says, with a roughly $1-billion drop to just $523 million. In the president’s proposal, only three big astrophysics missions would survive: the soon-to-launch Roman and the already-operational Hubble and JWST. The rest of NASA’s active astrophysics missions, which include the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope and the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), would be severely pared back or zeroed out. Additionally, the budget would nix NASA’s contributions to large European missions, such as a future space-based gravitational-wave observatory.“This is the most powerful fleet of missions in the history of the study of astrophysics from space,” says John O’Meara, chief scientist at the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii and co-chair of a recent senior review panel that evaluated NASA’s astrophysics missions. The report found that each reviewed mission “continues to be capable of producing important, impactful science.” This fleet, O’Meara adds, is more than the sum of its parts, with much of its power emerging from synergies among multiple telescopes that study the cosmos in many different types, or wavelengths, of light.By hollowing out NASA’s science to ruthlessly focus on crewed missions, the White House budget might be charitably viewed as seeking to rekindle a heroic age of spaceflight—with China’s burgeoning space program as the new archrival. But even for these supposedly high-priority initiatives, the proposed funding levels appear too anemic and meager to give the U.S. any competitive edge. For example, the budget directs about $1 billion to new technology investments to support crewed Mars missions while conservative estimates have projected that such voyages would cost hundreds of billions of dollars more.“It cedes U.S. leadership in space science at a time when other nations, particularly China, are increasing their ambitions,” Dreier says. “It completely flies in the face of the president’s own stated goals for American leadership in space.”Undermining the FoundationThe NSF’s situation, which one senior space scientist predicted would be “diabolical” when the NASA numbers leaked back in April, is also unsurprisingly dire. Unlike NASA, which is focused on space science and exploration, the NSF’s programs span the sweep of scientific disciplines, meaning that even small, isolated cuts—let alone the enormous ones that the budget has proposed—can have shockingly large effects on certain research domains.“Across the different parts of the NSF, the programs that are upvoted are the president’s strategic initiatives, but then everything else gets hit,” Beasley says.Several large-scale NSF-funded projects would escape more or less intact. Among these are the panoramic Vera C. Rubin Observatory, scheduled to unveil its first science images later this month, and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) radio telescope. The budget also moves the Giant Magellan Telescope, which would boast starlight-gathering mirrors totaling more than 25 meters across, into a final design phase. All three of those facilities take advantage of Chile’s pristine dark skies. Other large NSF-funded projects that would survive include the proposed Next Generation Very Large Array of radio telescopes in New Mexico and several facilities at the South Pole, such as the IceCube Neutrino Observatory.If this budget is enacted, however, NSF officials anticipate only funding a measly 7 percent of research proposals overall rather than 25 percent; the number of graduate research fellowships awarded would be cleaved in half, and postdoctoral fellowships in the physical sciences would drop to zero. NRAO’s Green Bank Observatory — home to the largest steerable single-dish radio telescope on the planet — would likely shut down. So would other, smaller observatories in Arizona and Chile. The Thirty Meter Telescope, a humongous, perennially embattled project with no clear site selection, would be canceled. And the budget proposes closing one of the two gravitational-wave detectors used by the LIGO collaboration—whose observations of colliding black holes earned the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics—even though both detectors need to be online for LIGO’s experiment to work. Even factoring in other operational detectors, such as Virgo in Europe and the Kamioka Gravitational Wave Detector (KAGRA) in Japan, shutting down half of LIGO would leave a gaping blind spot in humanity’s gravitational-wave view of the heavens.“The consequences of this budget are that key scientific priorities, on the ground and in space, will take at least a decade longer—or not be realized at all,” O’Meara says. “The universe is telling its story at all wavelengths. It doesn’t care what you build, but if you want to hear that story, you must build many things.”Dreier, Parriott and others are anticipating fierce battles on Capitol Hill. And already both Democratic and Republican legislators have issued statement signaling that they won’t support the budget request as is. “This sick joke of a budget is a nonstarter,” said Representative Zoe Lofgren of California, ranking member of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, in a recent statement. And in an earlier statement, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, chair of the powerful Senate Committee on Appropriations, cautioned that “the President’s Budget Request is simply one step in the annual budget process.”The Trump administration has “thrown a huge punch here, and there will be a certain back-reaction, and we’ll end up in the middle somewhere,” Beasley says. “The mistake you can make right now is to assume that this represents finalized decisions and the future—because it doesn’t.”

A teen tech entrepreneur is working to retrofit robots with simulated artificial bodily functions like a virtual heart rate, body temperature, and sweating response — a bong-rip idea to make them better emulate human emotional states like joy or anxiety.In an interview with TechCrunch, the 19-year-old founder of "emotionally intelligent robots" company Intempus, Teddy Warner, explained why he's imbuing AI with digital versions of the often-uncomfortable sensations you feel during spells of heightened emotion like fear and anxiety.Warner told the website that he got the idea for his company while working at the AI image generator outfit Midjourney.During his time at that company, the researcher and his coworkers were tasked with building out a so-called "world AI" model, which essentially means an AI that makes decisions like humans do in the real world.While world models have made waves in the AI industry in recent years, they've fallen short because, as Warner puts it, they're being trained on data from robots that heretofore have lacked the kind of physiological feedback humans have."Robots currently go from A to C, that is observation to action, whereas humans, and all living things, have this intermediary B step that we call physiological state," he explained to TechCrunch. "Robots don’t have physiological state. They don’t have fun, they don’t have stress."For robots to understand our human world, they need "be able to communicate with humans in a way that is innate to us, that is less uncanny, more predictable, we have to give them this B step," he continued.In short, Warner thinks robots need to be able to feel like we feel. After hooking himself and his buddies up to polygraph tests to capture their sweat data, the youthful founder built out an AI model that can, as he told the website, "essentially allow robots to have an emotional composition" based on lie detector data.Depending on how much Kool-Aid you've had to drink, the concept of feeling robots — and AI trained on lie detector tests — is either goofy or terrifying. The latter vibe is worsened by Warner's recent announcement that he'd won a Thiel Fellowship, which the controversial tech billionaire Peter Thiel awards to several youngsters each year to fund their entrepreneurial dreams.Since September, Warner has built out the Intempus research apparatus and managed to sign seven partners in the process. He's now hiring staffers and working on testing his retrofitted feeling robots in front of customers — though he says he's not opposed to building his own robots in the future."I have a bunch of robots, and they run a bunch of emotions," he told TechCrunch. "I want to have someone come in and just understand that this robot is a joyful robot, and if I can innately convey some emotion, some intents that the robot holds, then I’ve done my job properly."Share This Article

Tech layoffs have continued in 2025. Much of that is being blamed on a combination of a slower economy and the adoption of automation via artificial intelligence. Nearly four in 10 Americans, for instance, believe generative AI (genAI) could diminish the number of available jobs as it advances, according to a study released in October by the New York Federal Reserve Bank. And the World Economic Forum’s Jobs Initiative study found that close to half (44%) of worker skills will be disrupted in the next five years — and 40% of tasks will be affected by the use of genAI tools and the large language models (LLMs) that underpin them. In April, the US tech industry lost 214,000 positions as companies shifted toward AI roles and skills-based hiring amid economic uncertainty. Tech sector companies reduced staffing by a net 7,000 positions in April, an analysis of data released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed. This year, 137 tech companies have fired 62,114 tech employees, according to Layoffs.fyi. Efforts to reduce headcount at government agencies by the unofficial US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) saw an additional 61,296 federal workers fired this year. Kye Mitchell, president of tech workforce staffing firm Experis US, believes the IT employment market is undergoing a fundamental transformation rather than experiencing traditional cyclical layoffs. Although Experis is seeing a 13% month-over-month decline in traditional software developer postings, it doesn’t represent “job destruction, it’s market evolution,” Mitchell said. “What we’re witnessing is the emergence of strategic technology orchestrators who harness AI to drive unprecedented business value,” she said. For example, organizations that once deployed two scrum teams of ten people to develop high-quality software are now achieving superior results with a single team of five AI-empowered developers. “This isn’t about cutting jobs; it’s about elevating roles,” Mitchell said. Specialized roles in particular are surging. Database architect positions are up 2,312%, statistician roles have increased 382%, and jobs for mathematicians have increased 1,272%. “These aren’t replacements; they’re vital for an AI-driven future,” she said. In fact, it’s an IT talent gap, not an employee surplus, that is now challenging organizations — and will continue to do so. With 76% of IT employers already struggling to find skilled tech talent, the market fundamentals favor skilled professionals, according to Mitchell. “The question isn’t whether there will be IT jobs — it’s whether we can develop the right skills fast enough to meet demand,” she said. For federal tech workers, outdated systems and slow procurement make it hard to attract and keep top tech talent. Agencies expect fast team deployment but operate with rigid, outdated processes, according to Justin Vianello, CEO of technology workforce development firm SkillStorm. Long security clearance delays add cost and time, often forcing companies to hire expensive, already-cleared talent. Meanwhile, modern technologists want to use current tools and make an impact — something hard to do with legacy systems and decade-long modernization efforts, he added. Many suggest turning to AI to will solve the tech talent shortage, but there is no evidence that AI will lead to a reduction in demand for tech talent, Vianello said. “On the contrary, companies see that the demand for tech talent has increased as they invest in preparing their workforce to properly use AI tools,” he said. A shortage of qualified talent is a bigger barrier to hiring than AI automation, he said, because organizations struggle to find candidates with the right certifications, skills, and clearances — especially in cloud, cybersecurity, and AI. Tech workers often lack skills in these areas because technology evolves faster than education and training can keep up, Vianello said. And while AI helps automate routine tasks, it can’t replace the strategic roles filled by skilled professionals. Seven out of 10 US organizations are struggling to find skilled workers to fill roles in an ever-evolving digital transformation landscape, and genAI has added to that headache, according to a ManpowerGroup survey released earlier this year. Job postings for AI skills surged 2,000% in 2024, but education and training in this area haven’t kept pace, according to Kelly Stratman, global ecosystem relationships enablement leader at Ernst & Young. “As formal education and training in AI skills still lag, it results in a shortage of AI talent that can effectively manage these technologies and demands,” she said in an earlier interview. “The AI talent shortage is most prominent among highly technical roles like data scientists/analysts, machine learning engineers, and software developers.” Economic uncertainty is creating a cautious hiring environment, but it’s more complex than tariffs alone. Experis data shows employers adopting a “wait and watch” stance as they monitor economic signals, with job openings down 11% year-over-year, according to Mitchell. “However, the bigger story is strategic workforce planning in an era of rapid technological change. Companies are being incredibly precise about where they allocate resources. Not because of economic pressure alone, but because the skills landscape is shifting so rapidly,” Mitchell said. “They’re prioritizing mission-critical roles while restructuring others around AI capabilities.” Top organizations see AI as a strategic shift, not just cost-cutting. Cutting talent now risks weakening core areas like cybersecurity, according to Mitchell. Skillstorm’s Vianello suggests that IT job hunters should begin to upgrade their skills with certifications that matter: AWS, Azure, CISSP, Security+, and AI/ML credentials open doors quickly, he said. “Veterans, in particular, have an edge; they bring leadership, discipline, and security clearances. Apprenticeships and fellowships offer a fast track into full-time roles by giving you experience that actually counts. And don’t overlook the intangibles: soft skills and project leadership are what elevate technologists into impact-makers,” Vianello said. Skills-based hiring has been on the rise for several years, as organizations seek to fill specific needs for big data analytics, programing (such as Rust), and AI prompt engineering. In fact, demand for genAI courses is surging, passing all other tech skills courses spanning fields from data science to cybersecurity, project management, and marketing. “AI isn’t replacing jobs — it’s fundamentally redefining how work gets done. The break point where technology truly displaces a position is when roughly 80% of tasks can be fully automated,” Mitchell said. “We’re nowhere near that threshold for most roles. Instead, we’re seeing AI augment skill sets and make professionals more capable, faster, and able to focus on higher-value work.” Leaders use AI as a strategic enabler — embedding it to enhance, not compete with, human developers, she said. Some industry forecasts predict a 30% productivity boost from AI tools, potentially adding more than $1.5 trillion to global GDP. For example, AI tools are expected to perform the lion’s share of coding. Techniques where humans use AI-augmented coding tools, such as “vibe coding,” are set to revolutionize software development by creating source code, generating tests automatically, and freeing up developer time for innovation instead of debugging code.  With vibe coding, developers use natural language in a conversational way that prompts the AI model to offer contextual ideas and generate code based on the conversation. By 2028, 75% of professional developers will be using vibe coding and other genAI-powered coding tools, up from less than 10% in September 2023, according to Gartner Research. And within three years, 80% of enterprises will have integrated AI-augmented testing tools into their software engineering tool chain — a significant increase from approximately 15% early last year, Gartner said. A report from MIT Technology Review Insights found that 94% of business leaders now use genAI in software development, with 82% applying it in multiple stages — and 26% in four or more. Some industry experts place genAI’s use in creating code much higher. “What we are finding is that we’re three to six months from a world where AI is writing 90% of the code. And then in 12 months, we may be in a world where AI is writing essentially all of the code,” Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in a recent report and video interview. “The real [AI] transformation is in role evolution. Developers are becoming strategic technology orchestrators,” Mitchell from Experis said. “Data professionals are becoming business problem solvers. The demand isn’t disappearing; it’s becoming more sophisticated and more valuable. “In today’s economic climate, having the right tech talent with AI-enhanced capabilities isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s your competitive edge,” she said.

It’s not that hard to explain why, in The Lord of the Rings, Denethor, the steward of Gondor who ruled the realm in the absence of the king, would hate Aragorn. The latter was the rightful king after all, and could anytime supplant Denethor as the ruler of Gondor. Furthermore, Aragorn was part of the Fellowship that, in a twisted way, led to Denethor’s beloved son, Boromir’s death. So what’s not to hate? But what if there was more? A jealousy born long before the events of the Fellowship or before the true lineage of Aragorn was revealed?

Michalina Janoszanka, “Motyl (Butterfly)” (ca. 1920s). Image courtesy of Public Domain Review June 2025 Opportunities: Open Calls, Residencies, and Grants for Artists May 30, 2025 Opportunities Colossal Every month, we share opportunities for artists and designers, including open calls, grants, fellowships, and residencies. Make sure you never miss out by joining our monthly Opportunities Newsletter. Innovate Grant awards two $1,800 grants each quarter to one visual artist and one photographer. In addition, twelve applicants will receive honorable mentions, be featured on the website, and join a growing community. International artists and photographers working in any medium are eligible.Deadline: 11:59 p.m. PST on June 26, 2025.Open Calls Artadia Awards (San Francisco Bay area) Artists receive unrestricted funds of $15,000, and honoraria will also be provided to finalists.Deadline: June 1, 2025.Artists are welcome to submit proposals for temporary, site-specific public art projects to be showcased throughout Nashville during the Artville festival weekend, September 26 to 28, 2025. Selected artists will be invited to accept a grant to bring their creative visions to life, plus the chance for a cash prize. Total cash prizes equal $10,000.Deadline: June 4, 2025.Women in Watercolor International Juried Competition (International)Deadline: June 8, 2025. The Vilcek Foundation will award six $50,000 prizes to young immigrants working in fashion curation, material innovation, makeup, hair, writing, curation, styling, design, and photography. Read more on Colossal.Deadline: June 9, 2025.Art Renewal Center Salon Competition (International)Deadline: 11:59 p.m. PST on June 12, 2025. Weather Photographer of the Year (International) Hosted by the Royal Meteorological Society, this competition showcases the world’s most striking weather and climate photographs and raises awareness about the environmental issues putting our planet at risk. Open to photographers of all ages and abilities, the contest offers a £5,000 cash prize.Deadline: June 19, 2025.AAP Magazine #49 B&W Photography Open Call (International) The contest is open to any interpretation of black-and-white photography. Winners will receive $1,000 and their winning image(s) or full portfolio published in AAP Magazine, vol. 49, There is a $35 entry fee for the first three images, plus $5 for each additional image.Deadline: June 24, 2025.Midwest Open (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota) The Midwest Open is Woman Made Gallery’s annual exhibition highlighting women and nonbinary artists living in the Midwest. All media and subject matter are eligible, and cash prizes range from $100 to $300. There is a $35 submission fee.Deadline: June 28, 2025.Makers, artists, and crafters are eligible to submit works that demonstrate technical mastery and a connection to cultural tradition through a singular, one-of-a-kind handcrafted piece. The winner will receive $25,000, and four finalists will also receive grant funding.Deadline: June 30, 2025.16th Epson International Pano Awards (International) This panoramic photography contest is open for entries and offering more than $50,000 in cash and prizes. There is an $18 entry fee.Deadline: July 21, 2025.Grants Art Fluent Evolution Grant (International) Art Fluent awards a $1,000 grant to one visual artist each cycle. The unrestricted funds may be applied toward any expense to enhance the artist’s ability to create work. There is a $35 entry fee.Deadline: June 6, 2025.Get Ready Grants provide craft artists with up to $1,000 for activities to safeguard their studios, protect their practices, and prepare for emergencies. Priority is given to applicants who have been underrepresented in the craft community, including BIPOC and folk/traditional artists.Deadline: June 10, 2025.Ian Potter Cultural Trust Emerging Artist Grants (Australia) Two funding rounds annually are open to individual artists working across disciplines who can apply for grants of up to AUD $15,000. This round funds travel or projects that commence after September 19, 2025.Deadline: June 17, 2025.Grants for Artists’ Progress (Washington State) This program offers 65 unrestricted grants of $1,500 for artists working in all disciplines across Washington State.Deadline: June 23, 2025.This $10,000 grant is designed to highlight an existing body of work by a Black trans woman visual artist. Four finalists will also receive $1,250.Deadline: July 2, 2025.Liu Shiming Art Foundation’s Artist Grants (International) Each year, the Liu Shiming Art Foundation selects up to five artists to receive a $5,000 grant. Visual artists working for at least two years (but not more than 10) are invited to apply for a grant in support of a current or new project.Deadline: August 21, 2025.Vital Impacts offers one $20,000 grant to an established environmental photographer, along with six $5,000 grants to emerging photographers from around the world. These funds are specifically earmarked for the development of documentary projects focusing on environmental stories.Deadline: September 15, 2025.The Adolf and Esther Gottlieb Emergency Grant (International) This program provides one-time financial assistance to qualified painters, printmakers, and sculptors whose needs resulted from an unforeseen catastrophic incident and who lack the resources to meet that situation. Awardees typically receive $5,000, up to $15,000.Deadline: Rolling.This fund commissions visual artists to create company projects on a rolling basis. Awardees will receive between $500 and $5,000.Deadline: Rolling.Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant (International) The foundation welcomes applications from painters, sculptors, and artists working on paper, including printmakers. Grants are intended for one year and range up to $50,000. The artist’s circumstances determine the size of the grant, and professional exhibition history will be considered.Deadline: Rolling.Residencies, Fellowships, & More The Farm Margaret River Residency (International) This five- to eight-week residency is geared toward site-responsive projects and engagement with the land. Residents receive a $7,500 stipend, studio space, accommodations, and travel assistance.Deadline: 5 p.m. AWST on June 2, 2025.Wassaic Project 2026 Residency Program (International) Wassaic Project is accepting proposals for the 2026 summer and winter residencies. Artists receive a semi-private studio space; private room in a shared house (the Family program receives a private house); access to a wood shop, print shop, and kiln; staff support; and programming such as our visiting artist program, artist talks, studio visits, open studios, artist presentations, etc. The residency fee is $900, and fellowships are available. There is a $25 entry fee.Deadline: June 2, 2025.Headlands Center for the Art Artist-in-Residence (International) Residencies of four to ten weeks include studio space, chef-prepared meals, housing, travel, and living expenses. Artists selected for this program are at all career stages and work in all media, including drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, film, video, new media, installation, fiction and nonfiction writing, poetry, dance, music, interdisciplinary, social practice, arts professions, and architecture. There is a $45 application fee.Deadline: June 2, 2025.Banff Centre Artist in Residence – Winter 2026 (International) Individual and duo visual artists at any stage of their career are eligible for this residency, which offers focus in a supportive learning environment. During five weeks, participants are encouraged to self-direct their research and time and cultivate new directions. Studio space is provided.Deadline: June 11, 2025.Prairie Ronde Artist Residency (International) These five- to six-week residencies offer a $2,000 stipend, $500 travel grant, and housing to artists interested in interacting with the former Lee Paper Company mill in Vicksburg, Michigan. There is a $25 application fee.Deadline: June 15, 2025.Stove Works Residency (International) This program invites eight residents for one to three months. Six studios are designed for artists who require significant space in their practice, while the other two are for writers, curators, and academics. There is a $30 application fee. Deadline: June 15, 2025.Women’s Studio Workshop (International) WSW is accepting applications for two programs: A studio residency open to artists working in intaglio, letterpress, papermaking, screenprinting, darkroom photography, or ceramics; and an education residency for artists interested in working with local students. Both tracks offer studio space and housing.Deadline: June 15, 2025.Artists, ecological scientists, and scholars wanting to explore connections to nature, land conservation, historic preservation, agriculture, and community building are invited to apply for this program. Studio space, accommodations, a $200 per week stipend, and more are provided.Deadline: 5 p.m. PST on June 20, 2025.Peters Valley School of Craft Residency (International) This program is open to artists working in blacksmithing, ceramics, fibers, jewelry and fine metals, wood, and printmaking. Residents spend two weeks or one month in fully equipped studios, receive a $500 or $1,000 stipend, and are offered housing. There is a $10 application fee.Deadline: July 1, 2025.Penland School of Craft (International)Deadline: July 2, 2025. The Kyoto Retreat (International) Artists, curators, and writers are eligible for this four-week retreat in Kyoto for research, exploration, and inspiration. Chosen applicants receive a round-trip flight, a private bedroom, and $800 to supplement meals and local transportation.Deadline: July 15, 2025.If you’d like to list an opportunity, please contact [email protected]. Next article

Pope-Leighey House | © Peter Thomas via Unsplash Constructed in 1940, the Pope-Leighey House represents Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian vision, his architectural response to the social, economic, and aesthetic conditions of mid-20th-century America. Designed for middle-class clients, the Usonian houses were intended to democratize quality design, providing spatial dignity at an affordable cost. In stark contrast to the mass-produced suburban housing of the post-Depression era, Wright sought to design individualized homes rooted in site, economy, and human scale. Pope-Leighey House Technical Information Architects1-6: Frank Lloyd Wright Original Location: Falls Church, Virginia, USA Current Location: Woodlawn Plantation, Alexandria, Virginia, USA Gross Area: 111.5 m2 | 1,200 Sq. Ft. Project Years: 1939 – 1940 Relocation: 1964 (due to the construction of Interstate 66) Photographs: © Photographer The house of moderate cost is not only America’s major architectural problem but the problem most difficult for her major architects. I would rather solve it with satisfaction to myself and Usonia than anything I can think of. – Frank Lloyd Wright 7 Pope-Leighey House Photographs © Lincoln Barbour © Peter Thomas via Unsplash © Peter Thomas via Unsplash © Lincoln Barbour © Lincoln Barbour © Peter Thomas via Unsplash © Peter Thomas via Unsplash © Peter Thomas via Unsplash Contextual Framework and Commissioning The house, commissioned by journalist Loren Pope, was initially situated in Falls Church, Virginia, on a wooded lot chosen to amplify Wright’s principles of organic architecture. Working within a modest budget, Pope approached Wright after reading his critique of conventional American housing. Wright accepted the commission and delivered a design reflecting his social idealism and formal ingenuity. In 1964, the house was relocated to the grounds of the Woodlawn Plantation in Alexandria, Virginia, due to the construction of Interstate 66. While disrupting the original site specificity, this preservation affirms the cultural value placed on the work and raises enduring questions about the transposability of architecture designed for a particular place. Design Principles and Architectural Language The Pope-Leighey House distills the essential characteristics of Wright’s Usonian ideology. Modest in scale, the 1,200-square-foot house is arranged in an L-shaped plan, responding to programmatic needs and solar orientation. The linearity of the bedroom wing intersects perpendicularly with the open-plan living space, forming a sheltered outdoor terrace that extends the perceived interior volume into the landscape. Wright’s orchestration of spatial experience is central to the house’s architectural impact. The low-ceilinged entrance compresses space, setting up a dynamic release into the double-height living area, an architectural maneuver reminiscent of his earlier Prairie houses. Here, horizontality is emphasized in elevation and experience, reinforced by continuous bands of clerestory windows and built-in furnishings that draw the eye laterally across space. Materially, the house embodies a deliberate economy. Red tidewater cypress, brick, and concrete are left exposed, articulating their structural and tectonic roles without ornament. The poured concrete floor contains radiant heating, a functional and experiential feature that foregrounds the integration of structure, comfort, and environmental control. Window mullions extend into perforated wooden panels, demonstrating Wright’s inclination to merge architecture and craft, blurring the line between enclosure and furnishing. Structural Rationality and Construction Methodology A defining feature of the Usonian series, particularly the Pope-Leighey House, is the modular planning system. Based on a two-foot grid, the plan promotes construction efficiency while enabling spatial flexibility. This systemic logic underpins the entire design, from wall placements to window dimensions, allowing the house to feel simultaneously rigorous and organic. Construction strategies were purposefully stripped of excess. The flat roof, cantilevered overhangs, and minimal interior partitions reflect an architecture of subtraction. Without a basement or attic, the house resists hierarchy in its vertical organization. Walls are built with simple sandwich panel techniques, and furniture is integrated into the architecture, reducing material use and creating visual unity. Despite the constraints, the house achieves a high level of tectonic expression. The integration of structure and detail is particularly evident in the living room’s perforated wood screens, which serve as decorative elements, light diffusers, and spatial dividers. These craft elements reinforce the Gesamtkunstwerk ambition in Wright’s residential works: a house as a total, synthesized environment. Legacy and Architectural Significance Today, the Pope-Leighey House is a critical touchstone in Wright’s late-career trajectory. It encapsulates a radical yet modest vision, architecture not as monumentality but as a refined environment for everyday life. Preserved by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the house continues to serve as a pedagogical model, offering insights into material stewardship, compact living, and formal economy. In architectural discourse, Wright’s larger commissions often overshadow the Usonian homes. Yet the Pope-Leighey House demands recognition for what it accomplishes within limitations. It is a project that questions conventional paradigms of domestic space and asserts that thoughtful design is not a luxury reserved for the elite but a right that can and should be extended to all. The house’s quiet radicalism remains relevant in today’s discussions of affordable housing, sustainable design, and spatial minimalism. Its influence is evident in contemporary explorations of prefab architecture, passive environmental systems, and spatial efficiency, fields that continue to grapple with the same questions Wright addressed eight decades ago. Pope-Leighey House Plans Floor Plan | © Frank Lloyd Wright Section | © Frank Lloyd Wright East Elevation | © Frank Lloyd Wright North Elevation | © Frank Lloyd Wright West Elevation | © Frank Lloyd Wright Pope-Leighey House Image Gallery About Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) was an American architect widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in modern architecture. Known for developing the philosophy of organic architecture, he sought harmony between human habitation and the natural world through forms, materials, and spatial compositions that responded to context. His prolific career includes iconic works such as Fallingwater, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Usonian houses, redefined residential architecture in the 20th century. Credits and Additional Notes Original Client: Loren Pope Architectural Style: Usonian Structure: Wood frame on a concrete slab with radiant heating Materials: Tidewater cypress, brick, concrete, glass Design Team: Frank Lloyd Wright and Taliesin Fellowship apprentices Preservation: Owned and maintained by the National Trust for Historic Preservation

The Canada Council for the Arts is recognizing the potential of emerging architects and the contribution of practicing architects by awarding the following four prizes. The Canada Council contributes to the creative and diverse arts and literary scene, and supports their presence across Canada and around the world. The winners include the following: Prix de Rome in Architecture — Professional The Prix de Rome in Architecture – Professional is awarded to a young practitioner of architecture or an architectural firm that has completed their first built works and has demonstrated exceptional artistic potential. With this prize, the recipient may travel abroad to develop their skills and their creative practice, and to strengthen their position in the international architecture world. D’Arcy Jones ArchitectsPhoto: Shane Hauser This year’s winner is D’Arcy Jones Architects. D’Arcy Jones is the principal of D’Arcy Jones Architects (DJA), a Vancouver practice recognized for design excellence. DJA’s responses to contemporary conditions have earned awards and publications nationally and internationally. Their work focuses on arts, residential and commercial projects. Previous practice honours include an Architectural Institute of British Columbia Emerging Firm Award, a Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Emerging Architectural Practice Award and the Ronald J. Thom Award for Early Design Achievement from the Canada Council for the Arts. Ronald J. Thom Award for Early Design Achievement The Ronald J. Thom Award for Early Design Achievement is given to a practitioner of architecture or an architectural firm. The successful candidate must be in the early stages of a career or practice and must demonstrate both outstanding creative talent and exceptional potential in architectural design. Odami. Photo: Arash Moallemi The latest winner, Odami, is an award-winning architecture and design studio that aims to “converge the pragmatic and the expressive, the subtle and the striking, the familiar and the unexpected.” Led by Arancha González Bernardo, a Spanish architect and Michael Fohring, a Canadian designer, the practice represents a merging of design values and histories, a process deepened by the contemporary multiculturalism of the city in which Odami lives and works. In embracing difference and purposely working between modes, perspectives and dichotomies, they’re in search of a fertile meeting ground—a space of conference and connection that gives rise to inventive outcomes.     Prix de Rome in Architecture — Emerging Practitioners Daniel Wong. Photo: Kabir Olatinwo The Prix de Rome in Architecture – Emerging Practitioners is awarded to a recent graduate from a Canadian architectural school who demonstrates exceptional potential in architectural design. With this prize, the recipient may visit architectural buildings and carry out an internship at an international architectural firm. The latest winner, Daniel Wong, is currently an intern architect at AAmp Studio, in Toronto. He holds a Bachelor of Architectural Science from the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) and a Master of Architecture from the University of Toronto. During his studies, he received several awards including the Barry W. Sampson Scholarship and the John and Myrna Daniels Foundation Opportunity Award. He also received the Kuwabara-Jackman Architecture Thesis Gold Medal for his research on architectural maintenance as a sustainable alternative for the built environment.   J.B.C. Watkins Award: Architecture Fabio Lima. Photo: Yixin Cao The J.B.C. Watkins Fellowship: Architecture is offered to an individual who has completed a bachelor’s or master’s degree in architecture in Canada and who will pursue postgraduate studies in another country, ideally Denmark, Norway, Sweden or Iceland. The latest winner, Fabio Lima is a graduate student and research fellow at Pratt Institute, in New York City, USA. His work explores the social archaeology of queer spaces by mobilizing the tools of historic preservation. Lima studied architecture at the Université de Montréal, in Quebec, and his work has been supported by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.           The post Canada Council announces Prix de Rome and J.B.C. Watkins Award winners appeared first on Canadian Architect.