Inkandescent Kids

January12020

The Future of Architecture: Glimpse the designs of buildings we’ll soon be inhabiting

BeInkandescent Health & Wellness: The Mind, Body, Spirit, Soul Show
BeInkandescent Health & Wellness: The Mind, Body, Spirit, Soul Show
The Future of Architecture: Glimpse the designs of buildings we'll soon be inhabiting
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January 2021: A note from Hope, publisher, BeInkandescent Health & Wellness magazine — It is a pleasure to launch 2021 to look to the future. With that goal in mind, we are honored to feature two dynamic young architects who have an eye on the future.

Meet Weijia Song and Alex Yuen, founders of Collective Operations, an architectural and urban design, research, and development firm seeking to do things differently.

“We focus on design, research, and development because we think that each is most powerful when working in tandem with the others. Often, research focuses on the past, development has an eye to the future, and architecture focuses on space here and now. As designers trying to make a positive impact, it is important that we consider all of these moments together,” explains Weijia, a native of New Zealand who partnered with Alex in founding Collective Operations and setting up an office in 2021 in San Francisco, CA. “We balance work between private and public clients while also keeping an eye out to initiate projects ourselves or with partners.”

Alex shares: “We really believe that good design has agency informing culture – or put more simply, it affects how people behave with each other. Both Weijia and I are third culture kids, we grew up in a culture that was not our own, and we use that hybrid world view to seek out new possibilities for spaces of interaction.”

Their design process is centered around addressing each project’s needs and client across a range of scales.“We have to shift the scale at which we design constantly. For instance, for a residential project, we are equally concerned with how the design performs within the landscape or city as we are with the details and finishes, and we work with clients to help them understand their needs across all of these scales. It’s interesting how architecture is somehow both the most public and most intimate of creative professions,” Weijia adds.

Please scroll down for their responses to our questions about the future of housing, architecture, their trip from student to architect, and more.

Spoiler alert: Weijia and Alex have been selected to design the first Inkandescent Health & Wellness Center, located in the high desert of Las Cruces, NM. This retreat center for women will provide the opportunity for ladies from around the world to come together to connect, heal, and create amazing visions for their lives. Packed with opportunities to do yoga, meditate, hike and bike, enjoy healing food and native rituals, and dance under the stars — the Center will feature regular workshops for writers, artists, photographers, musicians, and more! Built into the natural habitat, this solar-powered Center will live in balance with the gorgeous natural setting. Stay tuned for details!

About the show: From the mouths of kids come the most profound thoughts and ideas. On the Inkandescent® Kids Show, we take it one step further with interviews by kids, for kids. Yes, there are a few adults involved, too, including experts on parenting, education, and more!

Read all about it: Launched on August 8, 2025, InkandescentKids.com magazine is on a mission to teach kids from kindergarten to college to think critically, like a reporter. Students are welcome to submit articles, photos, illustrations, videos, puzzles, games, and more for review and publication.

We also offer classes: 

  • Journalism (3 sessions): I am an award-winning reporter and teach the journalism classes. In Class 1, the assignment is to be part of our “So You Want to be a …” book project, in which they interview a parent about their work. They learn how to do research, develop interview questions, and practice asking the questions; then they write the article, and we work on it together until it’s ready for our student editors to copyedit and publish it.
  • Photojournalism (2 sessions): Our Inkandescent photographer, AnnaGibbs.com, guides students through the process of taking photos for the articles. She teaches them the essentials of taking a good photograph, how to capture the essence of the story they are working on, and, once she approves the images, we send them to our editorial team for inclusion in the article.
  • Illustration (4 sessions): Award-winning illustrator michaelglenwood.com works with students to create artwork to accompany the articles. He teaches them to identify the main concepts in the article they are working on, create 3 sketches for editor review, and then craft the illustration. Upon his review and approval, it goes to the editorial team.
  • Videos and podcasts (4 sessions): With me, Inkandescent’s video and podcast producer, Nelson Benavides, teaches students how to capture the essence of an interview through video and podcasting. He focuses on helping students understand the technical aspects of production.
  • Newsroom (6 sessions): Our InkandescentKids editor, Ellen Smith, is building our student newsrooms that include a team of editors, copyeditors, proofreaders, and a layout team. In addition to our online magazine, they help us craft a bi-monthly printable publication that features a theme. This September-October theme is New Beginnings.

Click here for pricing and payment options, and learn how to join our InkandescentKids family!

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MEET THE INKANDESCENT® RADIO TEAM

Hope Katz Gibbs, Founder & Executive Producer, InkandescentRadio.com

Brandi Wilsker-Merritt, Director of Podcasting

Nelson Benavides, Director of Videography

Max Kukoy, Inkandescent Website Developer

Michael Gibbs, Inkandescent Art Director

 

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