WEATHERing
BUILD recently attended the opening of the Whatcom Museum which is currently exhibiting the provocative and elegant work of John Grade. We like that that Grade’s work embraces the processes of nature, time and weathering. If you’re in the Seattle area, get up north and see what Bellingham has to be truly proud of.
ARCHITECTing
We were blown away by a very handsome remodel of a classically modern Mercer Island Residence originally designed by Fred Bassetti in 1962 and recently updated by Chadbourne + Doss. Great story by Rebecca Teagarden.
We were also impressed by the Two Family House in Mullheim Germany by Pfeifer Roser Kuhn. It’s simple, elegant and, no doubt, engineered like a German automobile. -thanks to Mike
Get your eyes on the Hotel Caldor by Söhne & Partner Architekten out of Austria. -thanks to Guido
Check out the expandable deck by Bloomframe. Leave it to the Dutch to create square footage where none existing before. And it’s cheaper than building a polder. -thanks to Mike
Also check out the Natural Science Center in Bjerringbro, Denmark by Nord Achitects
[Photo by Adam Mørk]
Continuing our northern European theme, go check out the work of Thomas Bendel out of Berlin. -thanks to Josiah
Why is it that we can’t spec corner windows here in the northwest to save our lives (or save design for that matter) yet every time we click on the website of Spanish firm there are more corner windows than we can get our glassy little eyes on, like the Unifamiliar en A Coruña by Abeijón+Fernández. -thanks to Josiah
FILMing
Arthouse Films recently released a new documentary on the late Julius Shulman, said to be the greatest architectural photographer of all time. Screening locations for Visual Acoustics can be found here. -thanks to Anthony
It’s both humorous and disturbing to watch Oprah Winfrey (alleged owner a 23,000 square foot residence) tour a modern Danish home. It’s as if Oprah has come across an alien civilization and has discovered unknown concepts; like effective use of space, modest possessions and tidy organization.
PHOTOGRAPHing
The Boston Globe started an online publication called “The Big Picture, News Stories in Photographs” and the images are fresh, astounding and sometimes haunting.
[Photo courtesy of REUTERS/Krishnendu Halder]
We came across the work of Amanda Friedman, whos scenes of ordinary life are pleasing to the eye and the mind. We especially like her “Night Landscapes Series”.
BLOGing
Check out some new ideas and trends at PSFK -thanks to Alex
We’re having a moment is the product of 2 graphic design students from Ireland. It’s edgy, racy and exciting and you should go check it out.
[Photos of Tilda Swinton by Craig McDean]
DESIGNing
A recent graduate and BUILD applicant sent in images of a table so smoking-hot that we couldn’t wait to get it up on the blog. Gregory Hale has an extraordinary eye for design and the hands-on skills to turn ideas into reality. We’re big fans of his Steel and Ash Table.
Just in time for winter, the new Fire Orb. -thanks to Andrew
Our SPD cabinet shop was very happy to come across the Janka hardness chart for common woods. -thanks to David
FURNISHing
A clean, simple interface is important when it comes to searching for furniture online. With the thousands of cluttered and clumsy website out there it’s always refreshing to find sites like Suite NY. -thanks to Taryn
Matter Matters has a nice clean site that we admire. These guys also understand that showing the prices on the website matters. -thanks to Josiah
FOLDing
With the news of Metropolitan Home Magazine folding we’re not sure who’s going to be covering unaffordable high-end interiors anymore…
PUBLISHing
…but thankfully more and more of the exclusively elite medias are being replaced by web based magazines full of info for the masses, like Good Magazine recently highlighted in the peoples design awards at the Cooper Hewitt. It’s a well designed website that covers all things important in society including politics, the environment, culture and even a bit of design.
STIMULATing
We were recently sent some important information about the Stimulus Bill and how it relates to the construction industry. It must have taken the hard working folks over at Construction Software Advice some long hours and serious brain-power to crunch through the numbers and produce this data. We found the information interesting and anyone involved in the design and construction industry should familiarize themselves with it. Just like CSA should familiarize themselves with interfaces that are more engaging to the graphically minded. BUILDblog readers are visual people and expect more than pie-charts and text book graphs. It’s the design industry afterall – it’s gotta work AND look good. CSA – thank you for the data and we highly recommend that you take a look at the Feltron Report, the work of Edward Tufte and our post on NYC Diagrams. -thanks to Chris
LODGing
We’re not sure how we missed the Hotel Habitat on our last trip to Monterrey but our sixth-sense for modern design didn’t sniff this one out. Landa Arquitectos out of Mexico City brought their A-game to this one with a stunning example of lodging chic. -thanks to Josiah
CHARACTERIZing
A bunch of really smart people over at MIT put together a persona web tracking device that scours the web for everything about you and categorizes it into a pleasing visual display. Type your name in and watch the gears spin…
-thanks to Josiah
EATing
We’re always up for whatever new foodie trend NYC is exploring. Next trip it looks like we’ll be getting our Dogmatic on. -thanks to Josiah
MIXing
Just click play. -thanks to Josiah
That oughta keep you busy over the weekend.