ARCHITECTING
A couple of exciting architecture firms were brought to our attention recently. Check out the work of Herriot + Melhuish out of New Zealand for some warm modernism.
-thanks to Josiah
One of the more thoughtful and pleasingly simple structures we’ve seen in a while comes from Finnish architects Marco Casagrande and Frank Chen. The house is located in Sanjhih, Taiwan and you can check it out here.
-thanks to Marco
Andrew Maynard is doing some delicate infill work that we think you’ll get a kick out of.
-thanks to Josiah
Also get your eye-balls on the drop-dead-gorgeous minimalism of Isay Weinfeld out of Brazil. They’re doing some thought provoking furniture work as well.
-thanks to Josiah
BLOGGING
In the blog world, get on over to Space Invading for some fresh material.
-thanks to Josiah
RANKING
A big thanks to Northwest Home, who selected BUILD LLC as one of the Top 50 Architects of 2008.
FORECLOSING
With the sky falling in on the architecture, construction and real-estate industries here in Seattle, new opportunities are opening up. Since all the clients have disappeared out there, you may have to be your own. The Blockshopper website can help you along as it lists all the recent real-estate foreclosures in the area.
-thanks to Gavin
DEVELOPING
Our colleagues over at Hybrid Architects just finished up a very handsome develop-design-build project right in the heart of uber-cool Capitol Hill. Hats off to Hybrid on an admirable project.
FURNISHING
Although the designs have been around – we just came across the Minotti Living White Book that ties a variety of scorching hot couch designs together in a delicious presentation. We find ourselves shaking martinis every time we take a spin through the book.
Deconet is a great digital market place for the exchange of modern furnishings.
-thanks to Brian
Our buddy Adam just released a line of versatile chairs that you should check out at the Digital Pixel Posse.
FALSE MARKETING
It seems there’s a new game in marketing – developing fictional design that has absolutely nothing to do with the product being promoted. That’s how important your eyeballs are. Check out the Pomegranate Phone and tell us you’re not entirely excited about the coffee feature.
WATCHING
Eat your spinach and work a few episodes of World’s Greenest Homes into your schedule. As far as we know, cargo containers are not mentioned.
-thanks to Ben
Remember that film from a few years ago based entirely on the Helvetica font? There’s a new one out on DVD by the same team titled Objectified: “Discover how manufactured objects that surround us such as cars, phones and chairs influence our daily lives with this revealing documentary, which features top industrial designers discussing their creative processes and professional objectives.”
MODELING
Those of you who spend each day working “inside of” digital models probably won’t have much trouble imagining how close technology already is to the World Builder video that came out recently. Look out for the sad ending.
-thanks to Angela
ANNOYING
It was interesting to entertain the idea of shipping containers as a solution to pre-fab housing for a period of time, that time occurred between 1997 and 1998. Until someone can prove that it actually is more cost effective to retrofit a 14 gauge corrugated steel box for insulation, electrical, plumbing, mechanical, a foundation, windows & doors, and comfortable finishes we’re not buying it. They’re good for backyard storage sheds and large nomadic art galleries assembled at ports around the world. The costs associated with a steel worker performing surgery on a steel box to accommodate all the services required of human habitation does not offset the cost of simple stick framing and siding. Enough with the sexy images – let’s see the numbers.
GRANTING
In 2000, the Vital 5 Productions group here in Seattle developed a thesis that “no institution or individual holds the capacity to objectively judge who should, and who should not receive money to create art”. Since then they have developed an arbitrary art grant program rewarding artists without the mechanics of judgment or competition. The next grant deadline is May 15th and the task is to create a sculpture inside of a steel grocery cart created only from the store inventory. Brilliant! Grocery shopping will have a new angle until mid-May. Read more about it here.
-thanks to Greg
LISTENING
There are some good lectures coming to Seattle in the next month. Keep your eyes open for Lawrence Scarpa at the UW on Friday April 3rd at 6.30pm and Tony Fretton at the Frye Art Museum on Friday April 10th at 6.30pm. Thanks to the UW school of Architecture and Space.city for these.
We’ve added a new category to The Modern List Seattle to conveniently track lectures and exhibits in town, check it out here.
Cheers, and let us know what you’re DOING