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:

1. Submit (2) photos that you think work well together and speak to the texture of Seattle.
2. The photos can be hot off the shelf or from that trip you took to Seattle 5 years ago.
3. Use an SLR, a smart phone, hell a pinhole box camera if you like.
4. The shots can be black & white or color but need to be at least 500 pixels wide and in .jpeg format (no larger than 1MB please).

Email both photos to info@buildllc.com by Monday August 2nd (5pm PST) and throw a word or two in the comments box to help us keep track of things. We’ll showcase the entries in an upcoming BUILDblog TEXTURES post with proper photo credits and shout-outs to your websites/blogs.
Team BUILD will pick a favorite and award the winner two club seats for the Seattle Sounders Futball Club vs. the Houston Dynamo on August 8th at Qwest field in Seattle (a $100 value).

So get those cameras out and cheers from team BUILD

L: Inside Three Gems sculpture by James Turrell
R: Aperture of Three Gems sculpture

L: Passage to Three Gems sculpture
R: Column of Saint Mary’s Cathedral by Pier Luigi Nervi

L: Subway tiles
R: Jellyfish at the California Academy of Sciences

L: Brick wall at Vince
R: Subway floor traction mat

L: Stone at Saint Mary’s Cathedral
R: Sandals at H&M

L: Skylights at the California Academy of Sciences
R: Exterior sheet metal wall in the Hayes Valley

L&R: Copper rainscreen at the de Young

L: Green wall at the California Academy of Sciences
R: Copper rainscreen at the de Young

L: Wall climbing plants in Pacific Heights
R: Courtyard at the de Young by Andy Goldsworthy

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.

There are a couple of exciting events involving ShelterBox just around the corner right here in the Northwest. First off, our friends at Picnic on Phinney Ridge will be hosting a Shelterbox benefit on Thursday July 29th from 5.30pm to 7.30pm where all fees will be donated to Shelterbox. Taste  some delicious Spanish wines, have some nibbles AND help give shelter, warmth and dignity to people that need it. Team BUILD will definitely be there and we’re fortunate enough to be getting an actual ShelterBox kit which will be present at the event for everyone to check out. We’d love to see you there.

Secondly, we’re proud to announce that we recently organized a cycling ride from Seattle to Vancouver as a fundraiser for ShelterBox and a means to get people focused on an important world organization (some good old fashioned exercise isn’t a bad motivator either). We’ve been honored with a healthy list of donors who are helping us reach our goal of $10,000 (as of this posting, we have only six hundred smackaroos to go – thanks to everyone who has generously given so far!). We took the opportunity to design up some bike jerseys for the event, which was a ton of fun.

Which leads us to event number three; make a $50 donation to ShelterBox before this Monday, July 26th (5pm PST) and we’ll put your name in a hat – one lucky donor will win two club seats for the Seattle Sounders Futball Club vs. the Houston Dynamo on August 8th at Qwest field in Seattle ($100 value- give $50 to win $100 worth of tickets?  Has the BUILDblog become a late night infomercial?- No!).  You can donate here; make sure and mention the BUILDblog when you donate to ShelterBox and let us know in the comments at the bottom of this post that you’ve made the donation to be entered into our drawing.  Again, we’ve raised $9,385 as of the moment of this post and are asking for YOUR help to hit our $10,000 goal.

With wine, food, futball, and cycling there should be a reason for everyone to get involved. We decided to give our full support to ShelterBox and we’re doing everything we can to keep at it. We’d be honored for any of you out there to participate.  It’s invigorating to put a few bucks into something this powerful and we hope you can join us.

Cheers from team BUILD and thank you for everything you do.

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.

There was a confidence about the boardwalk that we took pleasure in – it wasn’t designed to blend in or disappear like camouflage. The boardwalk wasn’t trying to copy nature or compete with it, at the same time the simple structure respected the nature it rested within. While made of a different language and built by the human hand, the raised platform of cedar boards looked like it belonged there in this unspoiled environment.

The handrails were worn by years of use and the floor boards displayed grooves from the thousands of footsteps passing over. These differences in texture and shape communicated a story about the boardwalk. The very use of the object became the ornament.

Subtle acts of creativity were crafted by the boardwalk’s builders, an exaggerated radius at a bend or a deliberate array of boards at a corner. And yet the boardwalk was everything it needed to be and nothing more.

The boardwalk illustrated the qualities we so often aim for in architecture and design; creating something that belonged there all along. The irony is that there were no architects involved with this boardwalk; and if there were drawings, of any sort, they must have been plain and almost sketch-like to allow for the constant variables.

Achieving design of this level seems almost primal. A knowledge of wood and earth and rudimentary physics seems more beneficial than any number of graduate design degrees. Overthinking or overdesigning in this instance would immediately diminish the end result.

It got us thinking that maybe the Forest Service would make for a good supplementary education over the summer for an architecture student.

Follow our travels on Twitter and our location on Foursquare.

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.

The living room takes advantage of a sweeping view capturing the Puget Sound, Bainbridge Island, light-houses, boats going by… you get the picture. The floor is a stained bamboo and we used painted MDF baseboard for the recessed base trim. The Prodema rainscreen slides past the window system and becomes part of the interiors to provide warm interior textures and to create a solid architectural expression of the fin wall.

We like to incorporate a fireplace that provides the element of fire but not at the expense of over-design.  The sleek look of a Heat & Glo fire box is then wrapped with blackened, waxed steel plate to align with the modern geometry of the living room. A set of (3) Raumplus S3000 sliding doors provide privacy and darkened conditions for a media room beyond. When closed, the sliders blend well with the adjacent walls. Nelson pendant lights hang from the ceiling providing an element of sculpture in addition to lighting the space.

A second floor loft provides light, air circulation, and view from the upper floor bedrooms. TAM Skylights are situated above the loft for additional natural light – their motor operation allows the hot air to ventilate in the summer months. Recessed wall lights by

The stair and loft guardrails are constructed of blackened, waxed steel with steel dowels at the horizontals. The stair treads are custom made bamboo planks to match the flooring. Recessed FC Lighting wall lights keep the illumination simple and out of the way. The entry floor is an acrylic cement hybrid which provides a nice visual separation between the living room and kitchen.

A home automation system is powered by a combination of Myro and a Leviton Vizia RF+ Z-Wave network.  Almost every control in the house is operable via iPhone, Myro panel, or remote control, and certain actions occur automatically as people walk through the house.

The wenge veneer cabinet package at the kitchen was completed by SPD and comes complete with an integral aluminum tube wine storage rack.  Linnea drawer and door pulls are used for a consistent modern look throughout.

We kept a simple material palette by using white Chroma countertops at the cabinet banks and the kitchen island. The appliance package includes GE Monogram convection wall ovens, a Miele dishwasher, Samsung refrigerator, a GE Monogram induction cooktop and a sleek Zephyr island hood. The washer and dyer (located on the second floor)  are also Samsung models.

The wenge cabinet package continues into the master bedroom and wallk-in closet. To provide greater privacy for varying morning schedules, the master bathroom is separated from the master bedroom via the walk-in closet. The master bath is equipped with double Ronbow box sinks, Dornbracht faucets, a Toto toilet, and Origami jetted tub from Bain. The glass shower enclosure was fabricated and installed by Distinctive Glass. The lighting at the master bath is a combination of Alinea overhead lights at the mirror and 5” can lights at the lid.

To differentiate itself from the other bathrooms in the home, the main floor powder room uses a slightly different palette of fixtures and tile. A Laufen Palomba sink gives the powder room a unique look and integrates with the custom cabinet package. The faucet is a Taron (aka China-bracht as it’s a good Dornbracht knock-off).

The simple material palette provides visual harmony and the subtle geometric moves frame the view.

For more of the inside scoop, follow us on Twitter.
Cheers from team BUILD

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

Check out the forward thinking furniture design at Derin Design
-thanks to Dilruba

We’ve been running around the Fuseproject site lately, Yves Bahar’s brainchild of industrial design + marketing. The concept goes beyond design and involves the story. In a nutshell we dig it.
-thanks to Brian R

Leave it to the Dutch to reorganize website navigation into a bare-bones interface called CatalogTree that will consume hours of your day.
-thanks to Nicholas

Tableau is integrating graphic design with internet smarts. The site puts horse-power behind your visuals and is becoming a very powerful tool.
-thanks to Darlin

The down and dirty nature of letter presses has been grabbing our attention lately. We were impressed by a series of workshops put together by Levis.
-thanks to Brian R

We were delighted to stumble on this very nicely composed diagram of Seattle skyscrapers.

EXHIBITing
A huge round of applause goes out to Lundgren monuments as they wrap up a month and a half  long exhibit entitled The Architect and The Urn at their First Hill showroom.
-thanks to Greg

Another great show to hit in Seattle is the annual architectural model show put on by the Seattle Architecture Foundation. The show is located in downtown Seattle at 1124 1st Ave.
-thanks to Amanda

NETWORKing
Heard of the Summit Series?  Modeled in part on TED but specifically geared toward up-and-coming entrepreneurs who would rather ski, kayak, and surf than hang around in hotel lobbies and swap business cards. We had the opportunity of having dinner with one of the founders recently and this group is worth keeping a pulse on.
-thanks to Chase

BUILDing
We’re big fans of Cecil Balmond and Anish Kapoor and we couldn’t be happier to see that both have teamed up on a new sculpture called Temenos.
-thanks to Kevin

We’re not quite sure why we had never heard of Stiltsville, but we were fascinated to find the photos and read about it’s history.
-thanks to Brian R

This Vanity Fair photo tour of modern architectural marvels was a good refresher course for us.
-thanks to Brian R

FILMing
These time-lapse films of Vancouver B.C. and Coachella in Palm Springs are beautiful and engaging.
-thanks to Angela

Recently, we recommended that a friend watch the video “Paris in 9 Minutes” because it is the most invigorating, testosterone pumped, tire-screeching video we’ve ever seen. On an August morning in 1978, French filmmaker Claude Lelouch mounted a gyro-stabilized camera to the bumper of a Ferrari 275 GTB and had a friend, a professional Formula 1 racer, drive at breakneck speed through the heart of Paris.

FOLLOWing
Based on some good advice over at Mashable, we just added these 10 sharp-shootin designers to our twitter feed.

Wanna get the play by play? – follow us on Twitter.
Wanna get your stuff on the radar? – shoot us an email

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.

[Dolphin Hotel in Orlando Florida by Michael Graves, 1987]

[Bank of America Building in Houston Texas by Philip Johnson, 1983]

[AT&T Building in New York City by Philip Johnson, 1984]

The postmodern movement (and it’s funny little tops) set architecture back about a hundred years in our opinion; and given that we’re only going to be designing hot, modern buildings for a portion of that setback, we’re a bit perturbed.

[Les Arènes de Picasso in Paris by Manuel Nuñez Yanowsky, 1984]

[Les Arènes de Picasso in Paris by Manuel Nuñez Yanowsky, 1984]

[Les Espaces d'Abraxas in Paris by Ricardo Bofill, 1983]

It would be easy enough to forget this unfortunate architectural era and move on, but they’re everywhere. Every city’s got one and they always seem to be in the most prominent locations. It’s as if Michael Graves was given the choice plot of land in every important city to run wild with his Franken-building visions.

[Denver Public Library by Michael Graves, 1995]

[Team Disney Building in Burbank, California by Michael Graves, 1991]

[Harold Washington Library in Chicago by Hammond, Beeby and Babka, 1991]

But despite the abundance of post-modern architecture, we’re making progress. It’s not easy but we’re confronting the postmodern era head-on after an important epiphany. We had this epiphany while lying down on a black leather Mies van der Rohe Barcelona day-bed and staring up at the perfectly gridded white ceiling of our psychiatrist’s dimly lit office <queue the cigarette smoke and dialogue about our early years in the design industry>. We needed to give postmodern architecture a personality; something human to relate to; a means of acceptance.

[Les Espaces d'Abraxas in Paris by Ricardo Bofill, 1983]

[Les Espaces d'Abraxas in Paris by Ricardo Bofill, 1983]

[Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City by Roche Dinkeloo, 1994]

So we moved forward in the only way we knew how; by making the postmodern era more authentic and honest. There was only one answer really, and it was staring us right in the face: Googly-Eyes. By placing Googly-Eyes on the postmodern tragedies of the 1980′s we’re able to see the structures for who they really are. We’re able to meet them eye to eye, understand them, and move on with our careers. Thanks to Googly-Eye Buildings we’re able to let the healing process begin.

[Washington Mutual Tower in Seattle by KPF, 1988]

[Portland Building in Portland OR by Michael Graves, 1982]

[Antigone in Montpellier, France by Ricardo Bofill, 1978-2000]

[Mansion on Peachtree in Atlanta Georgia by Robert A.M. Stern, 2008]

[Steigenberger Hotel in El Gouna, Egypt by Michael Graves]

For more design talk and general tomfoolery follow us on Twitter.

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.

Maybe we’re all getting tired of staring at our sterile monitors for the majority of the day, or maybe purging down our language and expression into homogenous emails is finally reaching the threshold of diminishing returns. Maybe things are getting a little too clean, a bit too prosaic. Perhaps the human fingerprint is absent a bit too often from the things that greet our senses.

Whatever the case, we’re seeing the signs of a new wave everywhere around us lately. There’s an advancement of designers digging deep and creating a new movement of tangible work that has a grittiness and an imperfection about it. It’s work that connects with the senses and engages the mind. It’s fascinating work precisely because it’s imperfect.

Over the weekend we had an opportunity to visit the Smoke Farm Press about an hour north of Seattle. We were immediately drawn to the tractor shed, built from the discarded lumber of old barns, which gave us just a peak of the mechanics housed inside.

Anyone remotely involved with the design industry should feel an inextricable connection with a letter press. It is a pure expression of its function and it is nearly impossible to prevent oneself from pushing down on the foot pedal which enables the gears to spin and the plates to oscillate. Once spinning, the machine is a wonder to observe.

The letter press machines at Smoke Farm were built in the late 1800’s and, over a hundred years later, still glide through their motions today. Every bit as remarkable as the press machines themselves, are the plates and blocks used to produce the colored cards and posters. Thousands of blocks cover the numerous fonts and symbols typically used by the press – all organized into bins and drawers, well worn by the human hand over decades of use.

The letter press was a refreshing example of this tactile grittiness we’re seeing out there and it’s a good reminder of what it means to make something real. Let us know where you’re seeing the grit.

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.

HOTELS
While the lodging in San Francisco can get a bit pricey at the boutique hotels, you can find some very good deals through Tablet Hotels which keeps a pulse on cool modern pads to rest your head. With the weather kicking into summer gear, the outdoor lounges are a great amenity and the St. Regis Hotel has done a nice job with their outdoor spaces.

St. Regis, 125 3rd Street, 415.284.4000

BRUNCH | LUNCH
Informal dining in San Francisco continues to be delicious and pleasant with an abundance of outdoor seating venues. San Francisco is a town where it pays to stay in the queue for a brunch table and there’s no lack of taco stands and burger joints to help you fuel your urban explorations later in the afternoon.

Tacolicious, 2031 Chestnut St, 415.346.1966

Wichcraft, 868 Mission St (Westfield Centre), 415.593.3895

Universal Café, 2814 19th St, 415.821.4608

Flipper’s Gourmet Burgers, 482 Hayes St, 415.552.8880

Nook, 1500 Hyde St, 415.447.4100

DINNER
It’s maddening to try and keep up with all of the phenomenal dinner spots in SF.  Here’s a few new-ish culinary wonders with sleek interiors to boot.

Coi, 373 Broadway, 415.393.9000

Contigo, 1320 Castro St, 415.285.0250

Frances, 3870 17th St, 415.621.3870

Nopalito, 306 Broderick St, 415.437.0303

DRINKS
While SF has seen a fare share of drinking establishments close down in the last several years, there’s been a movement of sophisticated, well designed lounges popping up in their place. Put your good digs on and try these.

Gitane, 6 Claude Lane, 415.788.6686

Press Club, 20 Yerba Buena Lane, 415.744.5000

MUSEUMS
In the keeping up with the Jones’ school of urban planning, San Francisco, like every other city, now has their Libeskind collectors addition museum.

Jewish Contemporary Museum, 736 Mission Street, designed by Daniel Libeskind

RETAIL SPACES
While we typically gravitate toward the Hayes Valley for design shops, this time around we kicked the tires on a few shops on the main drag. We liked what these places offered up with their refined grittiness.

John Varvatos, 152 Geary St, 415.986.0138

The Hundreds, 585 Post St, 415.440.7700

Vince, 36 Geary St, 415.951.0771

For the play by play follow us on Twitter, to track our location as we run around town follow us on Foursquare.

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:

1.    Get all the lights on, all of ‘em. An obvious one, but you’d be surprised how often we forget.
2.    Shooting in .RAW format to capture a greater spectrum of light – you can always narrow down the spectrum later, but you can’t create more spectrum once the shot is taken.
3.    There’s a critical window of time when the artificial lights glow and there’s still enough light in the sky to define the clouds – the magic moment.
4.    Adobe Lightroom – this software has been critical to our in house photography lately.
5.    Extraordinary homeowners who allow us to poke around the house for several hours (a huge thanks to Mike and Chelan).

We’re certainly no pros – so if you are, let us know how we’re doing.
Cheers and happy birthday America.