99K House  

14 May 2008

A good friend of mine left my office about a year ago to work at a fairly new firm... Recently, they entered their first competition - the 99K House - and they were not only finalists, but they won the competition! ORA's design for a compact, adaptable home is sustainable too. For more info, check out the 99K House Competition.
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And Then There Was None  

13 May 2008




Ok... so these aren't the greatest photos (taken with a camera phone)... but you can kind of see the progress we made this past weekend. We finally lined up a plumber - he actually started on monday. So these photos show the finished demo, where the kitchen and bathroom used to be. I need to take some more photos now that we have new framed walls... I'll get those up soon.

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Wouldn't it be easier to build it on a mountain?  

11 May 2008



Admittedly, I don't know anything about skiing, much less about ski jumps... but it just seems like Christensen Arkitekter would have had an easier time designing the ski jump if it was actually on the side of a mountain... Then again, it didn't stop Zaha.
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Faceless  

08 May 2008

I really like this faceless collage available at L'Affiche Moderne, found via Emma's Design Blog.
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Angela Fritsch  

05 May 2008




Angela Fritsch Architekten has got some really fabulous designs. Something about the colors and lines of the forms is subtly feminine without being overtly female. I've always like projects with a sharp edge quality... of which I think all three of these apply. While there are many projects with more organic qualities that I like and appreciate, I just really love embracing the man-made qualities of architecture, and I think Angela Fritsch does a great job with that.
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Minal + Sonal Design  

04 May 2008


Based in Navi Mumbai India, Minal + Sonal Designs have got a wide body of work... I really like their simple forms and placeful use of color...
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An Interesting Approach to a Website  


I generally don't like websites that are too heavy in Flash... mostly because they can be a pain to navigate, and especially hard to backtrack your steps. Industrial Design firm Boym Partners has an interesting approach with their website... It reads a bit like a child's computer learning game, where the players are trying to find the right clues to lead them to the next step. I think it would be an absolute annoyance if I wanted to find something particular, but its kind of fun if you just want to take a look at their products. So go ahead... check out Boym's website and their wide variety of work...
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Chamber Orchestra of Cascais  

01 May 2008






I posted about a previous project by ARX... so I'm not surprised that I really like this recent project by the Lisbon based firm. The design is the result of Cascais competition and has recently opened to the public. If you've been to this site before, then you know that I've got a real appreciation for modern additions to older structures. This project is quite sensitive to the original building, just barely engaging it physically while keeping a similar palette of colors and textures. By doing this, instead of flagrantly disregarding the original intent, ARX manages to celebrate both the new and the old.
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Glufolio  




I really like these collages by Tez Humphreys...
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Is Moooi Trying to Tell Us Something?  

30 April 2008



This cabinet hardware and shelving unit detail by Moooi (as shown at the Milan Furniture Fair) are really cracking me up... Nothing subtle here....
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For Photography and Architecture Buffs  

27 April 2008

A walk in camera obscura by Cermak Rhoades Architects.
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And now I'm off to Hawaii for work... I'll get back to posting once I return later this week...
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Centre Zamet Under Construction  

26 April 2008





Almost a year ago, I blogged about the 3LHD's competition entry for the Centre Zamet... Its seems that they have won the competition and the building site is already open! There is a webcam if you're interested in following the construction. The building which is located in Rijeka, Croatia hopes to be a new hub for the city's population. It will be interesting to watch the progress...
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DRAW  

24 April 2008


There are quite a few great projects in DRAW's (De Manincor Russell Architecture Workshop) portfolio... I like the qualities of both of these (Raw War Studio and Corner House). Its nice to see movable walls that are just as functional as aesthetic, and the quality of light in the corner house is really great...
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Nendo  


Seriously... there is not a single thing on Nendo's website that I don't absolutely love. The cabbage chair and the kisala restaurant shown above are two of my favorite projects... The cabbage chair is created by the unpeeling of the many layers of pleated resin impregnated paper. I really love the sophisticated form created by such a simple material... This subtle and intelligent attention to material is a constant theme in Nendo's products and projects. The Kisala restaurant is another example where the variated tones of the floorboards help delineate the separate spaces while still adding a cohesive element to the restaurant. The use of mirrored panels and lace curtains only add to the textural quality of the space.
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If you don't know Nendo's work already... check out their website. Everything on it is working a look...
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I'm Addicted  

23 April 2008

I'm warning you... its political and its liberal, so if you're not into that sort of thing, then just don't click through.
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Fair Trade and Climate Neutral  

22 April 2008


I thought of Karen when I saw these rugs (she's been on the hunt)...That combined with today being earth day, and I couldn't pass on posting about this company. Bholu is a climate neutral and fair trade company based in Australia that designs these rugs using Australian wool, and then hand embroidered by women in Gujarat, India using traditional techniques. In addition to providing a modern rug you can be proud to have in your home, the women earn an independent income. Next time you're in the market for a rug, definitely check these guys out.
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Via Bricks and Cartwheels
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The View from our Bed  


This is the current state of our demolition/remodel and the view from our bed. And yes, just in case you are wondering... that is the toilet you can see through the studs.
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Not for the Faint of Heart  

20 April 2008

Most people would probably NOT be pumped to have these coat racks in the house... but I love them. How can you now get a chuckle when you see them?
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Talent Runs in the Family  

18 April 2008

Maybe you all already knew this... but I just found out. Dov Charney, the founder of American Apparel is the nephew of Moshe Safdie!
Moshe's daughter Taal is also talented architect with her own firm.
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A New LEED Office  

Its great to see architectural firms actually following their own advice... GGLO has recently finished a new expansion to their Seattle office, and kept it green in the process! Their new expansion has achieved Silver LEED status, and looks like a healthy (in the non-toxic sense!) and fun place to work!
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A Killer Pool  

15 April 2008


I kind of feel like I'm done with infinity edge pools... everybody wants one and everybody has one... so they've lost a lot of the allure for me. But, in the right place, an infinity edge pool is really worth all the extra detailing. This pool (and house) by Corona y P. Amaral Arquitectos is phenomenal. You don't feel like you're perched on the cliff... you actually feel like you're floating in the sky.
Amazing.
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Opening at Winston Wachter Fine Art  

14 April 2008

Opening this wednesday at the Winston Wachter Fine Art gallery in Seattle is Peter Waite.... His acrylics are lovely and quite architectural.
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Perched on a Cliff  

12 April 2008




Talk about an amazing home... and an amazing location. I'd love to spend just an hour or a day in this house... I can't imagine coming home to it everyday.
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The Holman House by Durbach Block Architects
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Tautra Mariakloster  

10 April 2008





This is a really lovely wood construction church in Norway, but architecture firm Jensen & Skodvin Arkitektkontor. The light and shadows are really amazing... Personally, I've always been a big fan of churches that celebrate the natural world around them.
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I guess President will have to do...  

08 April 2008

Barack Obama wanted to be an architect when he was growing up... I knew he seemed like my kind of guy!

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Wow. Fashion and Architecture  


I can't tell you how much I love these photos and stage design from a recent YSL show.
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Curtain Wall Extraordinaires  



You'll have to excuse me if you already know all about Permasteelisa, but I just heard about them when reading a Slate article today... I don't have much experience working on large structures, so my curtain wall knowledge is fairly limited... and its especially limited when it comes to particular manufacturers. For those of you, like me, who aren't exposed to different curtain manufacturers... Permasteelisa is basically one of the premier building envelope and cladding manufacturers, based out of Italy.
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Their list of projects and architect collaborations is pretty insane. They developed the curtain wall system for the above projects (the TU Delft Library by Mecanoo, the Heart Headquarters by Foster and Associates, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall by Gehry), as well as a whole slew of other projects (including practically all of Gehry's). Clearly, the design/engineering and fabrication technologies developed by Permasteelisa directly affect the success of these collaborative projects. I imagine that it helps to get directly involved with Permasteelisa as soon as possible in order to work together on the optimal solution for your particular project.
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Checking out their webpage is a pretty interesting look into evolution of curtain wall and cladding systems over the past 30 years. I just wish that they had their projects listed chronologically, so that we could really see the progress!
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Graypants  

06 April 2008



These three objects by local architecture and design firm Graypants are really quite nice... and even green, too! The light fixture and scrap chairs (lowest picture) are made from leftover materials like cardboard and newspapers. The forms are pretty simple, but very successful... The corrugated cardboard gives off a very nice quality of light, and the chairs actually look comfortable! We should all keep an eye on this young design duo in the future!
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Progress  


C & I made some definite progress this weekend on the house... We're still not moving along quite as fast as we'd like, but at least we're moving. During the week, we tore down the drywall (actually 1950s button board) on the wall separating the living room from the back side of the kitchen. Then this weekend we tore out the kitchen, including the kitchen sink, all the cabinets, the linoleum and plywood below. The demo is getting easier, as we're learning to work smarter not harder, but there is still a lot to do. The biggest problem is that since we're living amidst the construction/demo, and our house doesn't exactly leave room for us to be separated from the rubble, we spend a great deal of time prepping and cleaning. We're still a long way from being ready for the plumber, which I guess is a good thing since we haven't yet selected one...
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I'm not exactly sure what we'll be working on next week, but it feels good to be finally making some forward motion on the house again.
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Life Without TV  

04 April 2008

About 2 weeks ago, C & I decided that we were sick of giving comcast all of our money. When you start tallying up the costs for tv and internet you really start spending a decent percent of income on digital entertainment. On top of that, we had a subscription (albeit low level) to comcast, which really helped add up to a huge bill for tv/movies/internet. Combining our frustration over the bill with the fact that there is never anything on tv (and yet we always get suckered into watching terrible television) and we had a situation that just didn't make any sense. There are very few television shows that we actually want to follow on a weekly basis, and nearly all of those are available free on the internet.... so we decided to get rid of tv and change our internet over to a cheaper provider, and then we increased our netflix so that we could have a few more movies a week. In the end, we managed to save about $60/month as well a bit of our brains (hopefully!). We were a little worried that we'd be bored without tv, but actually we both feel very relieved and free! No need to worry about what's on tv anymore... we can just get to work on our house, tearing down walls, and only watching the things that we really are interested in! So, I guess the moral of the story is... If you've ever thought about getting rid of your tv, do it! There is so much time available once tv has been taken out of the equation!
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But, I guess I s