Wednesday, January 28, 2009

that ghost time of year again




the deadline to submit applications for brian mackay-lyon's annual GHOST LAB design/build session near halifax, nova scotia will be february 28th, 2009.

GHOST 11 will take place over 2 weeks during june 13th through june 27th, 2009, and rumor is it will be called "boathouse". here are some photos of GHOST 10: "1000 foot house", built last summer:



the structures acted as viewing platforms, looking over the ghost village and the atlantic ocean.

each was built with selective contruction methods to illustrate the unique relationships between the individual places of the structures, the earth beneath, and the horizon beyond.

varying degrees of enclosure, openness and transparency reveal the meaningful nuances inherent in the site.

and for visual effect at dusk, it must have that warm canadian glow...

shobac cottages and studio in this month's issue of arch record.

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3 comments:

ty.ro said...

Hey there, I just checked out your blog because I saw that you're "following" mine.

I find this really interesting because I'm currently a student in Halifax, and right now Brian (MacKay-Lyons) is the instructor for my design course.

Also interesting is that we just had Tom Kundig as a guest critic a few weeks ago at our design critique - and I see that you posted about him recently too.

Funny.

I'm curious what your link is to these architects and how you found your way to my little blog.

Good to meet you, my name is Tyler.

archaalto said...

Tyler_
Thanks for your comment and questions.

As far as my connection to Brian, I was a "ghostee" in 2006, and our group built the studio [ghost 8]. i was also able to convince him to visit us here in colorado as well and he gave an excellent lecture at the AIA convention in Vail in 2007 [?].
ghost lab was a blast and a fantastic learning experience for me, and that's that's why I try to promote it every year on this blog. like bml, i am a strong believer in the "learning by making" methodology, and discovering a theoretical approach to architecture through this process.
the post about tom kundig was really just in reverence for that particular house and his elevation of a humble material like CMU to such an artisan level.
that is, in some part, why I enjoy "brick blog", because being economical [rather than iconic] is almost considered to be radical these days.
it appears that most of the starchitects consider brick to be below their stature [re: s. holl] as it is too "common" for the expression of their usually un-contextual [and ridiculously expensive] proposals. brick is a wonderful material that comes directly from the earth [with minimal processing needed], and most the architects i admire [lou kahn, aalto] have been able to design with brick in unconventional and inspiring ways.
i don't exactly recall how i found my way to your blog, but i have very much enjoyed the recent posts, especially the one on aalto's town hall.

thanks for reading and keep up the good posts.

ty.ro said...

Thanks for the response.


I recently visited Brian's land where the ghost projects are located and it blew me away. The studio is a fantastic space.

I agree with what you've said regarding brick, and additionally I appreciate the handcrafted quality that is built-in to structures made by brick masons, I believe this adds value beyond expensive material use.

Cheers,
-Tyler