Happy Friday and welcome back to another end-of-the-week roundup of the arts, architecture, and in this case, professional development news you need to know.

Here’s some reading to tide you over this weekend:

WeWork is planning for a post-COVID recovery and begins hiring more architects

The Hulu film that dropped this April documenting the behind-the-scenes turmoil at the once venerated WeWork only appears to have bruised the ailing company, not dealt it a death blow. The coworking company, bullish on the idea of a recovery on the horizon, is ramping up its incentives by including things like 3 months of free rent and touchless coffee dispensers in an attempt to lure customers back. It’s also ramping up hiring architects and interior designers once more, even as the company previously gave up a number of its properties worldwide to stave off debt when it began imploding in 2019.

H/t to Archinect

An Italian sculptor successfully sold an invisible, intangible sculpture

It’s a story that harkens back to Yves Klein selling non-existent work for bars of gold (and no, it’s not another NFT story). Italian artist Salvatore Garau sold an immaterial work “of the void” for $18,300 last month, and even though the actual “piece” is an empty cube of air to channel thoughts into, prospective buyers were still required to carve out a dedicated 5’-by-5’ space to display the work in their house. At least the winner got a certificate of ownership.

H/t to Artnet News

Documenting how fire influenced architecture’s evolution

YouTuber Stewart Hicks, who breaks down the secrets of the built environment through weekly videos, has turned his attention to the humble campfire. In his latest video, Hicks explains how fire has dictated everything from room layouts, to material use, to fire suppression systems over the years, and how the outgrowth of each impacts contemporary architecture.

H/t to Archdaily

RIBA told to re-examine fellowship program after no women are appointed in 2021

After it was revealed that the Royal Institute of British Architects’ (RIBA) cohort of 2021 fellows contained no women, the institution has come under fire for both perceived gender discrimination and the way the fellowship system works. RIBA members volunteer to pay 20 percent higher membership fees, and in exchange, act as international ambassadors for the institute. Only 10 of RIBA’s 70 fellows are women.

H/t to the Architect’s Journal

New York City wins appeal to move homeless from an Upper West Side hotel

The battle over the Lucerne, a posh Upper West Side hotel temporarily housing homeless men, appears to have concluded. New York City has been attempting to relocate the tenants to another hotel in the Financial District after neighborhood residents complained about their presence, but were stymied by FiDi residents suing to keep them out. Now, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has tossed out a lower court ruling blocking the move, and Lucerne residents are complaining that being forcibly relocated would cause them to lose the jobs they had found on the Upper West Side, all funded by a grant contingent on the hotel’s usage as a homeless shelter.

H/t to the New York Times

Fordham University unveils a $100 million campus refresh

Fordham University is currently chipping away at the first phase of a $100 million refresh of its campus in Rose Hill in the Bronx. Led by HLW International, the project has been broken up into two sections, with the first scheduled to open this fall. That includes a 4-story new student center spanning approximately 71,000 square feet, and campus-wide sustainability upgrades. The second phase, scheduled for completion in 2025, will include renovations to the existing McGinley Center and the linkage of it and the new building, and a new dining facility.

H/t to New York YIMBY