JULY 5TH, 2010
By BUILD LLC
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:
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JUNE 26TH, 2010
By BUILD LLC
BUILD LLC just wrapped up a sharp, modern residence in Seattle’s Magnolia neighborhood and it’s a perfect time to share some materials, methods and design ideas. We decided years ago that the BUILDblog would be dedicated to transparency and getting useful information out there in the world about design and architecture. This project, in particular, is an excellent means to do so as the owner, Mike Davidson, has kept the most thorough journal/blog we’ve ever seen on a residential project. A HOUSE BY THE PARK documents everything from talking to realtors about buying the land, through the design and construction process, all the way down to the punch list. It’s an objective, accurate look at home construction and you should check it out. Give the owner some kudos for the achievement and supporting architecture!
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JUNE 14TH, 2010
By BUILD LLC
The design industry can be an elusive place. By the time a designed object is revealed to the world, be it a house or a toaster, the entire process is typically represented with a few polished and highly refined images. As if to suggest that every line drawn was one genius stroke after the next, as if each model simply improved on the last. These glossy photographs suggest that there was no backtracking or mistakes. No head-scratching, no F-bombs thrown around, no plan B.
The fact of the matter is that this sort of perfection is rarely the case. Not only are failures and unintended results part of the process, but we’d go as far to say that they’re necessary to the sequence of designing something. BUILD LLC recently designed and fabricated an urn for the show The Architect and the Urn and it’s a good example of the messiness of design. Today’s post covers the struggles and the grittiness of achieving an end product.
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APRIL 7TH, 2010
By BUILD LLC
We’ve always found demolition to be an amazing stage of most projects. While messy and raw, it is also informative and in some cases even poetic. All the mysteries of a house or building are finally exposed and the assumptions and discrepancies of as-built drawings can finally be resolved. The layers of history can be peeled back and deciphered. Depending on the project, it can feel like an archeological dig removing the wood paneling of the 80’s to remove the wallpapers of the 70’s to reveal the lathe and plaster of the 40’s. As architects and builders we’ve always had a curiosity about the methods and techniques of those who came before us and a building in demolition is a little museum to their craft. So for today’s post we’re highlighting photos that you wouldn’t normally see on a design blog – demo photos.
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MARCH 29TH, 2010
By BUILD LLC
Team BUILD recently spent some time at our SPD cabinet shop and we’ve got all kinds of design goodies to share for today’s BUILDblog post.
We’ve been designing up a custom wine rack concept that is integral to a wenge veneer cabinet package. Aluminum pipe is cut and finished smooth to create a nice clean geometry for bottle storage. It’s one of those designs where the guts looks so good that it’s hard to cover ‘em up.
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MARCH 10TH, 2010
By BUILD LLC
Although we operate a shoot-from-the-hip design blog, we actually draw from a great deal of professional literature. By ‘professional’ we’re referring to periodicals comprised of articles written by authors who actually went to school for journalism or English literature. These individuals have a command of language, a thesis of communication, and don’t rely on spell check as the only means of quality control. In a nutshell, they’re just as serious about writing and reporting as we are about design and buildings.
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FEBRUARY 18TH, 2010
By BUILD LLC
We’re zooming into 2010 and while the design and construction industry is still taking a beating, we’re keeping busy here at the BUILD world headquarters. We get a lot of questions about how we’re keeping busy and what we’re doing in an economy like this – so we figured we’d put a post together on the top 10 tips for not only staying alive but attempting to flourish in the current economic climate. As per usual, take our list with a grain of salt; this list isn’t right or wrong and it’s certainly not the only way to do it. It’s worked for us for several reasons; we haven’t had to decrease our staff, everybody is getting paid, we feel good about the way we’re spending our time, and we’re still taking on projects of a high quality. So here goes:
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FEBRUARY 15TH, 2010
By BUILD LLC
It’s a good time to update the blog with a few projects on the front burner here at the BUILD world headquarters. Also keep your eyes peeled for a few publications coming out soon.
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JANUARY 11TH, 2010
By BUILD LLC
Since putting in some elbow grease at the SPD cabinet shop we’ve been thoroughly reminded of the importance of craftsmanship and the quality of the handmade object. While key elements of cabinet construction (or house construction for that matter) can be automated, there are important aspects to a finished product that simply need a discerning eye and the human touch.
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JANUARY 6TH, 2010
By BUILD LLC
We love mid-century modern homes. The floor plans are straight-forward with intentional relationships between rooms, the elevations are kept deliberately low to the ground with clean lines, and the design philosophy of the time addressed a modest lifestyle. Mid-century modern homes make sense.
These homes are turning 60 years old soon, and while the foundations are typically solid and the framing is usually in good shape, mid-century modern homes need some help in key areas if they’re going to make it another 60. Typically the bathrooms and kitchens need an overhaul, the systems (plumbing, electrical, heating) need updates, and items like the windows and doors need replacing. It’s also sensible to make cosmetic upgrades while you’re at it. The challenge with these homes is that some updates are concentrated in key areas, some updates are spread throughout, and some updates are anywhere between. Basically it’s complicated; it’s like performing surgery on a house.
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