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.
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DECEMBER 23RD, 2011
By BUILD LLC
We’ve had some great winter-time cheer come across our desks at the BUILD World Headquarters lately and we thought we’d share; after all, it’s the holidays.
CONSTRUCTing
Deviating from a mere competition for the best snow-person sculpture, each year in January, Breckenridge, Colorado hosts the International Snow Sculpture Competition. The event attracts ambitious artists who aren’t satisfied with making just an average snow fort. These large scale sculptures showcase the unique and ephemeral medium of high country snow and ice, producing some stellar results.
[Image Credit: flickr.com/hawbone]
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DECEMBER 16TH, 2011
By BUILD LLC
Along with the holidays come all of those holiday parties. And along with most any holiday party comes the potential for uneasy conversation and awkward small-talk. You’ve been there, you know you have; the only question is which side of the fence you were on. If you’re going to be in a room with one or more architects this holiday season, we recommend brushing up on some things not to say. We’ve rounded up our list of favorite taboo quotes, complete with mind-reading translations of what the architects will be thinking, should you elect to go there. Enjoy.
I always wanted to be an architect
Translation: I took an architecture course in college for about 6 minutes; you people are nuts. While you were toiling away in studio I was showing the entire Alpha Phi sorority how to make vodka Jello.
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DECEMBER 13TH, 2011
By BUILD LLC
A couple of weeks ago we met up with master structural engineer, long-time mentor and good friend Gary Swenson. Both partners here at BUILD had the privilege of working for Gary at Swenson Say Fagét and we’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for him. As far as we’re concerned, he invented structural engineering in the Pacific Northwest (private caveat to our many good S.E. friends out there- we love you too, we do, but this is the Man’s moment). He recently announced his retirement after 50 years of engineering; we caught up with Gary and his lovely wife Becky over dinner and drinks. Here’s a few things you should know about this hero of ours.
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DECEMBER 9TH, 2011
By BUILD LLC
Our latest round-up of inspiring links culled from our readers, friends, and in-house team.
ARCHITECTing
Check out the noteworthy work of JSa out of Mexico. Javier Sanchez has a background in both architecture and real estate. We’re happy to see a growing presence of architects in real estate development.
-thanks to Prentis
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JULY 15TH, 2011
By BUILD LLC
As architects of the current time, people expect us to have an awareness of what is going on in the design world. It’s important to be up on current design developments and it’s necessary to have a working knowledge of the prominent examples of modernism. We find NYC to be the culture hub of the design world; it is, arguably, the most important city in the world for modern design and culture. And while we’re 2,800 miles away here in Seattle, we find it imperative to get our feet on Manhattan pavement a couple of times each year. As an architectural laboratory and one of the greatest social experiments ever conducted on earth, NYC is one of the best places for the design-minded to observe, research, and learn. We did just that on our recent trip earlier this summer; subsequently we’ve got a suitcase full of new, cool design to share with you. Many, many more on the Modern List.
Brunch | Lunch
Vandaag, 103 2nd Ave, 212.253.0470
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JUNE 3RD, 2011
By BUILD LLC
Twice a year we head to Manhattan to catch up on all things design. We like being well prepared for our travels and we’re currently deep in the trenches of our Manhattan research. Part of our homework involves following trusted publications, tracking design blogs and talking to our favorite NYC field correspondents. Although we’re always on the lookout for new venues, exhibits and events, we always visit some older favorites as well. These favorites are so important to the modern culture of Manhattan that we decided to round them up into a tidy little post. If you’re design-minded, you’d be foolish to miss these 25.
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MAY 27TH, 2011
By BUILD LLC
We recently returned from a quick weekend in Portland, where we’re constantly amazed at the mindfulness and sophistication in the built environment. The level of multi-family and mixed-use urban housing is extraordinary in Portland -how is Portland getting developers to step it up and fund such high quality, design-forward projects? We’ve got crazy respect for the city of roses and we had a smashing time running around the city checking out new venues. A huge thanks to everyone that gave us recommendations from our last TML Portland post. Here’s the new scoop, as always, let us know what we missed. Many more on The Modern List Portland.
HOTELS
Hotel Modera, 515 SW Clay St, 877.484.1084
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MAY 6TH, 2011
By BUILD LLC
We get asked frequently about the beginnings of our design-build operation; how team BUILD came together while studying abroad in Denmark and the influence that the Scandinavians had on our work. The topic comes up so often, in fact, that we figured it might make for an interesting blog post. Or if nothing else, we’ll arm you with some good material from our alcohol saturated student days to blackmail us with later. But, we found the Danes to be an extraordinarily thoughtful and sophisticated bunch, and we fooled them into giving us passing grades somehow- so we’ve got that going for us.
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DECEMBER 31ST, 2010
By BUILD LLC
Happy New Year’s Eve! To welcome in 2011 it’s important for the design minded to tip up a proper drink. In preparation for tonight’s celebrating we’re posting this outstanding image of Assemblies & Details of Mixed Drinks –done up all construction document style for your viewing pleasure (click here for the larger version). Huge props to Erik Bredberg of Becker Architects for getting this diagram in our hands.
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