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Whenever we travel we like to design up a TEXTURES series post – they’re just quick snapshots of the color, texture and grit that make places unique and special. They’ve been a ton of fun because it’s easy to grab a few photos with a smart phone and it makes us think a bit differently about our surroundings. We haven’t done one on Seattle yet and we’re opening up the ‘Urban TEXTURES Seattle’ to BUILDblog fans. So here’s the deal:
Lately on our travels we’ve been putting together collections of textures that jump out at us. It gets us thinking a little differently as we explore cities and places and it makes us more deliberate about where we go, what we do, and what we take photos of. On a recent trip to San Francisco we pointed our iPhones at some textures that communicated significant qualities about the place, time and conditions.
L: Inside Three Gems sculpture by James Turrell
R: Aperture of Three Gems sculpture
Shortly after the January 12th earthquake in Haiti, team BUILD did some serious research on emergency shelter and all signs pointed to ShelterBox as an excellent organization to put our resources towards. Their motto is “an international disaster relief charity that delivers emergency shelter, warmth and dignity to people affected by disaster worldwide”. Those are words that we could get behind and we’ve been huge fans ever since. Earlier this summer we sponsored a buddy of ours to visit Haiti for assessing structural damage; after being in the field and experiencing the disaster on the ground in Léogâne, he reported back that ShelterBox was indeed the real deal and was making a significant difference to people struggling with survival.
[All photos by BUILD LLC]
On a recent trip to Tofino on Vancouver Island of British Columbia’s west coast, we came across a hike through the rainforest of Florencia Bay. The hike was particularly inspiring because of how the raised boardwalk trail delicately snaked its way through the lush rainforest, leading the way to a pristine stretch of beach.
[All photos by BUILD LLC]
Recently BUILD LLC finished up a modern residential project in Seattle’s Magnolia neighborhood. Today’s post covers the interior package and we’ve got plenty of information to share about the materials, methods and design ideas – all with a healthy supply of links for you to check out. You can take a look at the exterior package here and some night shots here. Many, many more links can be found on the home-owners extremely thorough journal documenting the process.
DESIGNing
Resource Furniture has brought their engineering game to kick some serious ass in the space saving game. It’s not enough for a piece of furniture to just look good anymore, it’s got to be smart as well.
-thanks to Brian T
[St. Coletta School in Washington DC by Michael Graves, 2006]
Let’s be perfectly clear, we hate post-modernism architecture. The architectural style, based on the nostalgia of architectures past, tries too hard to be something that it’s not. It’s a clumsy amalgamation of disparate architectural elements; a Beaux-Arts frieze here and a Greek Corinthian column there; maybe round it all off with a Romanesque tower and throw in few craftsman style knee braces for good measure… oh and it’s got to have air conditioning and mirrored plate glass windows. It’s pretend architecture and it’s terrifying to most of us architects. Back in grad-school the entire post-modernism movement was summed up in 5 words “buildings with funny little tops”. Post modernism taught society that it’s okay to take a few peel-n-stick doric columns and slap them onto the front of your house. Post modernism could be the worst thing that ever happened to architecture.
[All photos by BUILD LLC]
In this tidy digital information age (that we’re all getting a bit too comfortable in) there’s a new movement boiling up. It’s gritty, imperfect and requires a bit of elbow grease. It’s physical, authentic and most of all, it’s changing the rules.
We just returned from San Francisco where we caught up with some talented friends from our study abroad days in Denmark; we also scoped out some modern venues that are fresh on the radar. When traveling, we believe that there’s no excuse for a mediocre experience; every meal you eat, gallery you see and martini that you tip back should be an extraordinary experience, or at the very least, new and different. We started THE MODERN LIST several years ago to record all of these places in 5 different cities. If you like what you’re seeing you can check out TML San Francisco for more, and as always, let us know what we missed.
Maybe it had something to do with the 4th of July fireworks last night or being over-served by the bar tender, but some night shots of our latest project, the Davidson Residence, sounded like a good blog post today. We love taking night shots and dusk shots of our projects because the conditions keep changing by the minute – it’s a balancing act between exercising patience and quick maneuvering. We’re also finding some key ingredients that greatly improve the quality of night shots:
