As part of the summer lecture series of Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Log's own editor, Cynthia Davidson, will be speaking at Wood Auditorium in Avery Hall on Tuesday, July 27th at 2.00pm. Other lecturers in the series include Shohei Shigematsu of OMA New York, on June 15th; Iwan Baan, a photographer based in the Netherlands, on June 29th; and Andres Lepik, the curator of contemporary architecture at the Museum of Modern Art, on July 13th.

The recent success in blocking the “refurbishment” of John Hejduk’s 1988 Kreuzberg housing complex has raised the stakes for the politics of architectural form. On April 28th, the Berliner Morgenpost reported the Berlin Senate’s decision to protect IBA housing from insensitive renovation and to restore the integrity of Hejduk’s tower and east and west blocks. This was the result of efforts across the international architectural community, involving almost 3,000 signatures for Slab’s online petition “Stop the Disfigurement of John Hejduk’s Berlin Tower” and an extensive campaign by Renata Hejduk, among others.

For an old journalist - one never leaves one's roots entirely - there is nothing like the heft of a publication in print - that is, on paper. Truth be told, however, I seem to read more of the New York Times online today than I do of the actual newspaper, even though I buy it every day ($2.00 on weekdays, $5.00 on Sunday). This is because it's my homepage, and I can stay current with the news if I scan the headlines each time I open Safari. For someone who loves print, this is a big shift.

In parallel with Log's print production - 2,528 cumulative pages in issues one through 18 - there has also been a technological and generational shift in architecture. This is seen in the rapid upswing of the digital - computation, parametrics, the virtual, and its proponents. Being fully aware that this also translates to a cultural shift in methods of communication, last summer we undertook to "refresh" the Anyone Corporation Web site.

Meet the Nelsons, the sixth volume of the Forum Pamphlet Series, documents "The Nelsons," Wes Jones's notorious comic strip that appeared in ANY (Architecture New York) from 1994 to 2001. At once a critical send-up of 1990s architectural discourse and a masterfully executed homage to the traditions and techniques of comic book art, "The Nelsons" addresses themes ranging from the legacy of the machine aesthetic to the challenges of virtuality to key disciplinary personalities such as Buckminster Fuller and Manfredo Tafuri. Each strip combines insider knowledge and healthy skepticism with a sly wit rarely encountered in serious architectural discourse.

The first competition for a Log postcard - the mobile medium that also serves as the Log "cover photo" - garnered 112 submissions, which ranged from the surreal to the hyper-real. Through a points system that gave a total numerical value for each entry, the editors determined that the clear winner is Manuel Alvarez Diestro, whose photograph Parabolic Facade will be the featured postcard for Log 18 (Winter 2010), published in March.