Another impressive kinetic bone-white structure by Caltrava, and surprisingly, it’s LEED certified. More here.
Rammed Earth Bricks by DUST Architects (Texas)
Small, simple and elegant. I’m particularly drawn to structures that are made from local materials, in this case, clay from Marfa, TX. Also, notice how the foundation becomes baseboard and the drywall on the ceiling is offset an inch or so from the walls.
Quick Bend Design - Kelton Osborn (Artist/Architect)
Good friend, Kelton Osborn, was commissioned to enlarge one of his wall sculptures and asked if I could help-out with fabrication. I got started today on the body and Hayden is slated to work with me Friday to weld the truss and top-middle panel out of steel. I’ll include more process pics as we push fwd. Until then, here’s more about Kelton and QuickBend.
Cloud Ranch by Best Practice Architecture (Washington State)
F Domes - Insulated geodesic domes
Oru Kayaks (foldable boats)
Ok, full disclosure, the closest we’ve gotten to taking one of these out so far is, we’ve set one up (7mins.) in our friends’ living room and took turns sitting in it. Super smart design, ultra light weight and easily transportable. We’re hoping to get one in the near future. Read more about these cool origami boats here.
Central Park Theater by Manuel Herz Architects (Swiss)
Flying MicroChips
“What could go wrong?” he says half jokingly. These teeny tiny data collectors mimic natures’ seed distribution designs. Read more and watch informative video here.
Bjarne Mastenbroek. Dig it! Building Bound to the Ground (Book by Taschen)
Factory Roof Houses by Delmulle Delmulle Architecten (Belgium)
Great composition, nice old with new and solid material choices. More here.
Amelia Tavella Architects addition to a Corsican convent
My kind of addition: it relates to the form, connects and integrates, clearly modern. Read more.
Eagle
A lovely weekend up in the mountains with the crew. Dave Manzella & I slept in the van one night - lots of fond memories flooded-in before eventually nodding off. Julia rallied the troops with her bubbly smile and my grilled peach cobbler had a comically meaty residue from the previous nights grilled hamburgers (note-to-self).
l'Arc de Triomphe wrapped by those honoring late artists Christo & Jeanne-Claude
I’ve seen Christo’s drawings of this for years - so good to finally see images of this project being realized. In the link (below) there is a photomontage (sketch) of an early wrapping idea in 1962.
The Arc is covered by 25,000 sq metres of silvery fabric, secured by 3,000 metres of red rope and fulfills one of the many life-long proposals of Christo & Jeanne-Claude, who were best known for large-scale wrappings and other massive site-specific artistic interventions.
Lots more excellent images/information here.
2019
Instruments and other Retro Devices by LOVE HULTÉN
Knobs, toggle switches and dials, Love Hultén successfully pays lots of homage to Dieter Rams minimalist industrial designs of the 50s-80s.
Thierry Mandon - Artist
Mandon inserts himself into unexpected places, helping us to notice the otherwise unremarkable. More here.
Artisans Ayutthaya Women Restaurant by Boonserm Premthada (Thailand)
I’ve never seen glass block assembled within a wood frame like this. Also, the outside begs for a look at the inside.
‘One curiosity of this place is that most of the residents are unmarried or widowed women,’ says Premthada. ‘Their daily activity is to give alms to monks in the early morning at a small run-down village temple. They try their best to earn money to repair the temple. Each of them cooks a few specialties in large pots and packs the food in smaller individual bags to offer to the monks and exchange among themselves. This is where the project began.’ Read more.
Schedlberg Contemplation House (Germany)
Cristina Mittermeier - Photographer
She was born in Mexico City in 1966, grew up in nearby Cuernavaca and is also a marine biologist who for the past 25 years has been working as a writer, conservationist and photographer. Read/see more here.
Also, check out Chris Beutler’s Band Bash benefit for ALS on Youtube here, it’s today.
S E P T E M B E R 1 1 , 2 0 0 1
“All bricks are motivated to be arches.” - Louis Kahn
Watch this funny-ish short video as Will Quam takes Stewart Hicks on a walking tour of Chicago neighborhoods and discusses brick motivations.
NOTE: Greg Burns and I tried sailing the kayak two days ago but Denver decided to have no wind for us. I will be on the ready for the future breezes.
