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This Wednesday, September 1st we’d like to invite you to a very cool event here in Seattle. As some of you know, team BUILD is the guest editor on the fall issue of Arcade Magazine, the Northwest’s very own journal dedicated to design and the built-environment. The fall issue is packed with talent, masterfully designed by the sharp-shooters at RMB Vivid and beautifully orchestrated by the hard working staff at Arcade.
Recently, one of us received a piece of furniture from their father-in-law, who received this same piece of furniture from his father decades ago. It’s a simple free-standing coat rack that holds a jacket, cuff-links and a few ties. It was elegantly designed, well constructed, and nicely taken care of over the years. It’s a beautiful piece of furniture that has become a cherished item in the home.
We live in strange times. Rarely is a piece of furniture sought out with the foresight to consider future generations. That a design lasts for three generations is extraordinary and nearly unheard of in our disposable society. As architects, builders and individuals concerned with the condition of our physical environment, we are alarmed with the current state of design and consumerism. Nothing is as depressing as watching someone spend their hard-earned money on cheap disposable objects for the home. Not only do they miss out on the qualities of good design but they bypass the ritual of handing down a piece of design to the next generation. We wonder how the next generation will learn to cherish good design and take care of their possessions if the link is broken.
PHOTOGRAPHing
Check out the work of Doug Scott, he’s got a great eye for light and color and we think his photos really bring buildings into a whole new perspective.
-thanks to Doug
Our senior field correspondent, Josiah Johnson, has been hard at work in the field – tracking down cool architecture and getting the scoop on modern design. Here’s the low-down;
FABRICATing
Associated Fabrication is a full-service digital fabrication and architectural millwork company serving architects, contractors, furniture makers, artists and students in New York City. AF is working with the who’s who of NYC and checking out their work should be on your to do list.
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.
As architects and designers we reference a lot of books, some are quite transient and leave just as quickly as they arrive, others stay on our desks and on our shelves. The BUILD Book Report aims to share our favorites, some of them are brand-new and others have been around long enough to pass the test of time.
Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, The Nature of Circumstance, Rizzoli, $95.00
There is a certain caliber of book that the internet will never be able to replace. The latest book on BCJ has been masterfully designed by Pablo Mandel of Circular Studio and published by ORO Editions. Wandering through this book is a gratifying experience – it exemplifies both how architecture should be designed and how the text should communicate built-work and ideas. At 400 + pages, the book is filled with drop-dead gorgeous images, each shot with a clarity that teaches about the mechanics of architecture. A masterful, inspiring book; it has become an immediate favorite of ours.
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.
BUILDblog Senior Field Correspondent Josiah Johnson is taking the reins today with another roster of scorching architecture and design resources, enjoy.
Austrian firm Caramel is up to some work that pushes the envelope and develops new ideas that are very exciting to look through.
