Cute as a (library) button

Last spring we asked you to design the next round of library buttons.  We had a great response and choosing the top 10 was no easy task.

You can find a different winning design available in the library each week, so make sure you drop by to complete your collection (and maybe even learn something).

Bunny on the loose!

In a brazen violation of the Library's 'no food' policy, a GIANT chocolate Bunny has broken into our Library!

Can you help us find him?

If you can figure out where he's hiding, you may be able to take him home with you!  That's right, all 2lbs, 3ozs of his Lindt chocolate goodness could be yours!

For the next week the Bunny will be giving us daily clues about where he's hiding.  If you think you know, you can fill out a ballot in the Library to win him!

Clues will appear daily at the Musagetes Architecture Library circulation desk, on our blog and on our Twitter feed.

Here's your first clue: "Brrr... it's a good thing I have fur, it's COLD in here!"

Quick! Catch that Bunny!

Design the next Library button!

Don't you just LOVE those cute little buttons they hand out at all the uWaterloo Libraries?

One of your designs could be featured on the newest edition buttons!

We'll pick the top 10 designs to produce for distribution at all library locations starting in September.  The #1 button design will win $250! Cash!

Every entrant will get 5 buttons made of their design... just for entering!

Visit the contest webpage for all the rules and more information about how to enter.

Sweet Hearts

Got deadlines on the brain?  Crits haunting your dreams?  Pulling too many all-nighters?

It's that time of year again, but the library has something that will keep you going... sugar!

Step away from your desk and come take a guess at how many candies are in our Valentine's jar.  Not only will guessing the closest number win you a ridiculous amount of candy to share with the people you love, but we will also throw in a $10 Shoppers Drugmart Gift Card and... wait for it... A MONKEY! A monkey holding a heart!!!

We even have a prize for the runner-up because really, if you even come close you deserve something.

We will be picking the winners first thing on Valentine's Day... So put your spatial senses to the test today!

(*limit one entry per person please)

Do you have a burning desire...

...to express yourself in verse? Well get your imagination warmed up for the 2nd Annual

Musagetes Poetry Contest!
February 10th - 24th
This year's theme is: FIRE

Poems can be any length and any style, ranging from witty one liners to passionate epics spanning continents and generations.

Drop your entries into the bag in the library, or post them on our contest board for all to see! You can win Hot, Hotter and Hottest prizes!

Main Entry: FIRE

Pronunciation: \ˈfi(-ə)r\

Etymology: Middle English, from Old English fȳr; akin to Old High German fiur fire, Greek pyr

Date: before 12th century

Function: noun

1 a : the phenomenon of combustion manifested in light, flame, and heat b : burning passion : ardor : liveliness of imagination : inspiration
2 : fuel in a state of combustion
3 a : a destructive burning b : death or torture by fire
4 : brilliancy, luminosity
5 a : the firing of weapons b : intense verbal attack or criticism c : a rapidly delivered series

— on fire 1 : being consumed by fire : aflame 2 : eager, burning

Function: verb

1 a : to set on fire : kindle : ignite b : to give life or spirit to : inspire : to fill with passion or enthusiasm c : to light up as if by fire
2 a : to drive out or away by or as if by fire b : to dismiss from a position
3 a : to become irritated or angry —often used with up b : to become filled with excitement or enthusiasm
4 a : to emit or let fly an object
5 : to tend a fire
6 : to transmit a nerve impulse

The Cat's Pyjamas

Congratulations to our very own GALTstudio, winners of the Nuit Blanche People's Choice Award for their twofold project!

If you didn't get a chance to see it in person, you can virtually maneuver the intersections of time and space right here:



This win comes right on the heels of North House placing 4th in the U.S. DOE's Solar Decathlon, the City of Cambridge working with students to develop guidelines for core area revitalization, and the completion of the Grand House housing initiative.

One of our current students was just published in an anthology stacked with big-name Canadian writers, and a former student was chosen to design the medals for the 2010 Olympic Games.

UW Architecture is always making its mark on the world and we're so proud of our students for everything they've accomplished this year!

Not just a pretty facade...

Zerofootprint has just announced the Z-prize. The "Zerofootprint Skin Renewal Award" will be launched at the Discovery '09 Conference this May in Toronto.

More than just an anti-aging cosmetic approach, this award will challenge designers from across the wold to come up with new solutions to an old problem...old buildings. The largest greenhouse gas emissions in cities come from buildings. Rebuilding cities is not an option and retrofitting can be inadequate. Re-skinning, however, has many advantages:
· It can be used to hide a cheap retrofit
· It is potentially non-invasive
· It can make a ho-hum building into a handsome green role model
· It can be used to engineer an energy reduction of as much as 70%
· Re-skinning can be smart — solar, thermal, media, vegetation etc.

More information, and tonnes of inspiration, can be found at the new Zerofootprint resource area for a limited time in the library.

You can also find more books about designing like you give a damn now on display in the library.

Show them why we're the best...

Details here.

Haiku poetry / challenge for Architecture / play to win sweet prize

For Haiku Contest
writing will be rewarding
details next stanzas...

Submit your poem
before February 10th
Email or paper

Poems on display
in the library until
the contest closes

Then from all entries
5 winners drawn randomly
sweet and yummy prize!!!

-LF

Poetry (straw-bale-y) jam

This month our friendly neighbourhood library is hosting their annual Poem-a-Day contest.

It's open to all ages, all styles, and holds the possibility of prizes and publishing!

To celebrate the event you'll find an inspiring, architecture-related poetry display on the counter in our library. Drop by and learn more about architects who are poets, poetry in architecture, architecture in literature and the construction of poetry.

You will also find poetic interventions throughout the library as you browse for books!

Good on paper

Check out the latest edition of Spacing magazine. Their fifth anniversary issue focuses on the "Next generation of city builders" (psst....that's you guys) and features the winners of their thinkTORONTO urban design ideas competition (you guys again).

Some of them wanted to shine a light on the subway, and others wanted to get people reading on the rails...but all of them are about making the city a community.

Of the 20 winning ideas, many were from current and former UW Architecture students. Check out those entries on our bulletin board, or flip through the whole issue on our magazine rack!

...wait for it...

Wait for it...

You love us! You REALLY love us!

You may recall, once upon a time, the library invited you all to show us a little love...in video form.

Well, you did. Out of all 18 entries across the entire university, 2 were from our little School of Architecture...not bad at all. Even better, one of them took 1st PRIZE!

Congratulations Ray Wang and Eric Lajoie!
The Musagetes Library staff are all very impressed.


Knowledge For Free from Ray Wang on Vimeo.

A monumental presidency?

The Chronicle Review sent out a back-of-the-envelope challenge to their readers to send in their design ideas for George W. Bush's presidential library.

Some of the more amusing and impressive designs made it into their architecture issue where the public can vote on their favourites. Here are some of mine...

Show us some L-O-V-E!!!