MARCH 23RD, 2012
By BUILD LLC
We spend a lot of our days designing houses. When we come across a house that resonates with us, the unconscious reflex of pausing and imagining what it would be like to inhabit it just can’t be helped. Surely, you’ve done the same. It’s takes little to no effort these days to get our fill of head-turning, inspiring residential projects. Modern architecture has become a hot topic of online chatter, postings, pinnings, re-pinnings, etc.
As architects, our natural inclination is to take that initial passing interest and entertain the daydream a bit further: analyzing it like a project we’re taking on or studying it for its significant contribution to The Greater Architectural Good. At BUILD World Headquarters, we work cohesively as a team on each project that comes through our doors, but we have a variety of inspirations that guide us as individual designers and people. And no building type hits closer to home than a home.
So here’s our round-up of favorite houses (or at least ones that make our short list), contributed by each one of us at the office. Read more »
MARCH 13TH, 2012
By BUILD LLC
[Image Credit: BUILD LLC]
Here at BUILD, we’re big proponents of being generalists and gaining hands-on experience wherever we can get it. It’s been a theme we’ve returned to time and again and have recently found another inspiration for doing so. The fine folks at Taliesin West offered to host us for a couple of days and we jumped at the opportunity. We were given a warm introduction by Aris, a member of Taliesin’s faculty, and stayed on campus in the former home of Frank Lloyd Wright’s daughter. Read more »
MARCH 9TH, 2012
By BUILD LLC
[Image Credit: BUILD LLC]
A couple months ago, we wrote a blog post about a Usonian home located in Western Washington designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. We had the rare opportunity to tour the home, and recently a similar opportunity arose. Last weekend, BUILD was fortunate enough to check out another local Usonian project, the Brandes House, located just west of Seattle in Sammamish, Washington. On this recent visit, we got to thinking about the context surrounding Wright’s pursuit of this democratized form of architecture, which only came to fruition in the later part of his career.
Read more »
MARCH 6TH, 2012
By BUILD LLC
Team BUILD is currently designing up an interior drop soffit on a residential project and, in working through the design, we’ve accumulated a healthy amount of data on the subject. Doing our research, we also noticed that there isn’t much info up on the web specific to interior architectural soffits. Basically the situation met all the criteria for a blog post, so here goes.
Read more »
MARCH 2ND, 2012
By BUILD LLC
[Image Credit: Trendir]
On the heels of Oscar Season, it’s only natural that movies are on people’s minds. As architects, watching films doesn’t pertain solely to following the plotline nor catching the work of a favorite actor or director. Just as in real life, we can’t help but pay attention to the built environment that surrounds us, nor can we when watching the latest flick. It’s nice to come across some modernism gracing the scenes of movies, and it’s worth bringing them to light. Here’s a quick hit at a handful that we could recall, both recent and classic. Read more »
FEBRUARY 24TH, 2012
By BUILD LLC
[All photos by BUILD LLC]
A recent project of ours just wrapped up and during the final stretch we stopped by for a site visit. Approaching the front door, we were so absorbed in the house itself that we almost missed what has become one of our favorite details on the project. Right by the front porch, cast into one of the pavers along the walkway, our clients (a family of four) cast their handprints into the concrete. It’s a detail that strikes a nostalgic chord: reminds us of childhood, the fascination of concrete curing into permanency, and the excitement of a new home. Most of all, it brings to surface the simple fact that, as serious as we are about architecture, ultimately, homes are for people and families to enjoy. They’re for dinner parties, running around in the yard and watching your kids grow up. A home is about much more than the architecture alone. Read more »
FEBRUARY 17TH, 2012
By BUILD LLC
Here at BUILD, we’re always yapping about social media and internet promotion. Having seen our own business grow and flourish due to a healthy online effort, we’re enormous advocates of having a strong web presence. Despite (or perhaps due to) the overwhelming amount of digital media out there, we’re always keeping an ear to the rail for what’s next.
Lately we’ve been spending quite a bit of time on what we’re calling meta sites -the web 2.0 experience devoted to user contributed images. And while the image is the first thing you see on these sites, they are typically accompanied by a significant amount of metadata (or quiet data). There’s a range of information typically included in this: the author, designer, or person that found the image; links to other websites, source blogs, opinions; and last but not least, descriptions of the image itself. While you may only see pretty pictures on these sites, all of this metadata is hard at work behind the scenes. The more an image is viewed, the more important it becomes. If a well-viewed image links back to your website or blog, the increase in traffic is noticeable. If you consistently post photos that people enjoy, what you have to say becomes very important on these meta sites. Subsequently, your images are featured more prominently, you gain “followers”, and the traffic bump becomes significant. Basically, you become popular.
Read more »
FEBRUARY 14TH, 2012
By BUILD LLC
Check out the latest browse-worthy sites fresh from BUILDblog Senior Correspondent, Josiah Johnson.
ARCHITECTing
Modern hillside home reminiscent of a WWII bunker…but significantly cooler. By MU Architecture.
Read more »
FEBRUARY 10TH, 2012
By BUILD LLC
Here’s the latest on the books that have been stacking up around the office lately. It’s been a good mix of visually stunning, academically engaging, and useful reference texts this round.
Visual Complexity: Mapping Patterns of Information by Manuel Lima, $50
Princeton Architectural Press
There’s no denying that we now live in a world where your average pie chart just won’t fly with audiences as a means of visually communicating raw data. Advances in data visualization have made even the often dry political polling or mundane year-in-the-life trivialities fascinating eye-candy. Lima chronicles information patterns and their associated graphics from back in the day to current times. An engaging read, but also just pure fun flipping through the well-constructed graphic designs.
Read more »
FEBRUARY 3RD, 2012
By BUILD LLC
It’s been a few years since we’ve visited the high altitude urbanism going on in The Centennial State. On a recent visit last month, it had become clear that with each passing year Denver is becoming known as more than a city within striking distance of a high altitude playground. The mountains will always be an integral part of the culture and growth of this city, but in the past year alone, Denver has (and by the looks of it will continue to) put itself on the art, culture, culinary, and architectural maps. So when you book your next ski trip to Vail, it’ll be worth spending some time exploring the ever-changing Mile High City.
Read more »
