Wednesday, September 17, 2008

cu denver lecture: bjarke ingels




just a friendly reminder of the upcoming cu lecture "big ideas" with former PLOT -er and now the head principal at ...BIG... bjarke ingels.  the title of the lecture is taken from a recent exhibition of the firm's work [sample images below].








"The traditional image of the radical architect is the angry young man rebelling against the establishment. The avant-garde is defined more by what it is against than what it is for. This leads to an oedipal succession of contradictions where each generation says the opposite of the previous. And if your agenda is dependant on being the opposite of someone else’s, you are simply a follower – in reverse.

Rather than being radical by saying fuck the establishment, fuck gravity, fuck the neighbours, fuck the budget, fuck the context – we want to try to turn pleasing into a radical agenda.

What if design could be the opposite of conflict? Not by ignoring it, but by feeding off it. A way to incorporate and integrate differences – not through compromise or by choosing sides, but by tying conflicting interests into a Gordian knot of new ideas.

We propose to let the forces of society decide which of our ideas can live, and which must die. Surviving ideas will evolve through mutation and crossbreeding into an entirely new species of architecture.

An inclusive rather than exclusive architecture. An architecture unburdened by conceptual monogamy. An architecture where you don’t have to choose between public or private, dense or open, angled or curved, blond or brunette etc. An architecture where you can have both."


the lecture will be held at the cu architecture building on 14th Street in lodo monday 2008.09.22, room 470 @ 5.30pm.

see you there.

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Monday, September 15, 2008

SugarCube complete









All Photos by Tom Arban [KPMB website]

From KPMB website:

The program is broken down into three distinct volumes and organizes retail space at street level, offices from the second to the fourth floor, and residential space from the fifth to the tenth floor. The design establishes relationships to the adjacent historic Sugar Building in the dimensions and proportions of the massing, masonry piers, and punched grid of windows. The glazing composition varies at different levels of the façade to create vertical emphasis, shadows and depth within the grid of the masonry.

The project is located on the 16th Street Mall, a major public pedestrian thoroughfare that runs through the city of Denver. The building features a central ten-storey volume in manganese-coloured brick, and two building volumes wrapping around it at its base, one rising 4 storeys and one six storeys, both in buff brick.

The SugarCube is located on the 16th Street mall in Denver at the intersection of Blake Street.

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Friday, September 12, 2008

pacific northwest photos




novelty-hill januik winery [mithun]




seals off the coast of tofino, b.c.


gleneagles community centre [patkau]




view of mount hood from hood river, or



grace vancouver church [unknown]


glass blower in vancouver, b.c.


seaplane in vancouver, b.c.



city of glass condos [vancouver, b.c.]



sea foam made by ferry from nanaimo



barclay house b & b




newton library in surrey, b.c. [patkau]



mount hood


one-eyed willie

space odyssey escalator seattle public library [oma]



douglas-truth branch seattle public library [schacht-aslani]


beach sunset in tofino, b.c.


island rainforest hike in clayaquot bay, b.c.


catch of the day in tofino, b.c.

to view the entire pacific northwest photoset on flickr, click here.

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Tuesday, August 12, 2008

ready. reset. go.


despite this rare poetic image from the window of an airplane, i spent a ridiculous amount of hours in the airline industry's web of a cluster-f*ck, both to and from the east coast. after flying the UN-friendly skies, i've come to a conclusion that the only way to save the airline industry is to completely start over from scratch. scrape all the airports [sustainably, of course heh heh] and re-think the way we travel in this country. maybe they become hovercraft stations or even underground high speed tube train hubs...whatever ... it should be better than what we currently have.

here's some random pics from the past week:

a little slice of paradise...


some local news: redline studios [pictured below], a project by semple brown design, recently opened in the RiNo [River Neighborhood Arts District] area of denver. the program included leasable studio spaces, offices, courtyard, and a cafe remodeled from what was once a shipping warehouse:

redline studios [semple brown design]


RedLine promotes the creative expression of emerging and mid-career artists in various disciplines through the active engagement of diverse audiences. The mission of RedLine is to serve as an incubator for emerging artists and to create a vibrant community gathering place that will provide a unique cultural draw to the neighborhood while strengthening and enhancing the art community in the City of Denver.

more in the press about redline here, here and here.

also in my inbox today was a flyer for a book signing, if you happen to be near lunenburg, nova scotia:


also, while you're there you can rent-a-ghost: shobac cabins

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Monday, July 28, 2008

pinohuacho observation decks



archdaily points us south to the chilean countryside, and 2 structures designed by rodrigo sheward architects.
located in an area devastated by a past volcano eruption, the observation platforms were built in response to the growing "agri-tourism" business that is sweeping the country.





built entirely by hand , the architects and locals wanted to showcase the cultural significance and skills of the local woodworking craftsmen by using heavy timber from an unused pile of coigue wood pieces.

plan of the enclosed observation deck


diagram indicating the placement of the structural tie rods

videos on the architects' blog show the highlights of the construction process--from transporting the timber by oxen, to boring holes by hand, and in-situ details done by chainsaw. the enclosed structure is tied together with hidden steel rods hidden within the framing members.


sequencing diagram of the wood frames tied together with steel roods


a view of the volcano which shaped the surrounding landscape


the simple form and openness of the structures seem to allow for solace and connection to the landscape all at once. the nature of the material suggests a rugged adaptation to the climate, but also recognizes the life-cycle of the wood, returning to the earth naturally as it slowly decays, eventually becoming a poetic artifact of human existence.

time to book my flight to chile...

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Monday, July 21, 2008

cornerstone arts center



here's some images of the brand spankin' new performing arts center in colorado springs, designed by that motorcyclin' madman antoine predock. amd were the architects of record:













thanks to gerardo for the update.

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Tuesday, July 08, 2008

ghost 10 photos


once again, some images from pixelwhore's flickr photostream of the recently completed ghost 10.

a light box and interior zen rock garden...







congratulations to pixelwhore and the entire ghost 10 crew!

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