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You can easily discount some of the fashionable “blob” architecture coming out of New York City these days. Most of those brightly colored, amorphous objects look like thesis projects, which is basically what they are. They do the term “computer-aided design” a disservice because they’re not computer-aided at all. They’re human-aided, and most of them will never be worth the ink cartridges that printed them. One notable exception, though, is the work of SHoP short for Sharples Holden Pasquarelli, a relatively new firm made up of Columbia U. alums who are excited by design software’s capabilities but still know how to use a table saw. In its short existence, SHoP has racked up a number of intriguing creations, among them Dunescape, a “beach” they built of timbers in the courtyard of New York’s P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center last year. Principal Gregg Pasquarelli will talk about this project and others his fans can only hope will materialize (such as the totally frivolous Museum of Sex slated to rise at 5th Avenue and 27th Street) at 6:30 p.m. at the National Building Museum, 401 F St. NW. $14. For reservations call (202) 272-2448. (Bradford McKee)