still museum: final design presentation

now you must decide between santiago and allied works! brad cloepfil shows off the final design of the clyfford still museum tonight:

Clyfford Still Museum: The Final Design Brad Cloepfil, Allied Works Architecture Since the initial schematic design unveiling, the design of the Clyfford Still Museum has advanced in exciting ways. Architect Brad Cloepfil will detail innovative solutions conceived to present Still's artworks, including a state-of-the-art daylighting system and an innovative, highly expressive custom-formed concrete exterior. As part of his lecture, Cloepfil will premier a 2-minute “virtual animation” of the building which will simulate a walk-through of the museum, including the landscaped forecourt. 7pm, Monday, July 26 Denver Art Museum Sharp Auditorium Please RSVP at info@clyffordstillmuseum.org

Calatrava in Denver

Another inbox gem:

Renowned Spanish Architect

Santiago Calatrava to Visit Denver

DOCA will host special public presentation

on Calatrava’s unique vision & career July 28

DENVER, CO – JULY 21, 2010 – The evening of July 28, the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs will host a special public presentation on the unique vision and career of renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, to be followed by Q & A. Calatrava will be in town to unveil his design for Denver International Airport’s South Terminal Redevelopment, which will take place the following day July 29. The public presentation on July 28 is free and open to the public. No RSVP is required; however, seating is first-come, first-served.

WHAT: Public presentation on unique vision & career of architect Santiago Calatrava followed by Q & A

WHO: Architect Santiago Calatrava

WHEN: Wednesday, July 28, 5:30-6:30 p.m.

WHERE: Sharp Auditorium, Denver Art Museum, 100 W. 14^th Ave. Pkwy.

DOCA’s public presentation on the unique vision and career of Santiago Calatrava is an extraordinary opportunity to learn about the celebrated architect, who was selected for the City’s latest civic venture, DIA’s South Terminal Redevelopment.

Architect, artist and engineer Santiago Calatrava was born on July 28, 1951, in Valencia, Spain.

Calatrava began his formal instruction in drawing and painting at the age of eight. He earned a degree in architecture from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura in Valencia, where he also took a post-graduate course in urbanism. Attracted by the mathematical rigor of certain great works of historic architecture, and feeling that his training in Valencia had given him no clear direction, Calatrava decided to pursue post-graduate studies in civil engineering and enrolled in 1975 at the ETH (Federal Institute of Technology) in Zurich. He received his Ph.D. in 1981.

In 1984, Calatrava designed and built the Bach de Roda Bridge in Barcelona. This was the beginning of the bridge projects that established his international reputation. Since then, Calatrava has been commissioned for bridges and buildings across Europe, as well as numerous projects in North and South America.

Calatrava’s first building in the U.S.—the expansion of the Milwaukee Art Museum—was completed in 2001. It was named “Best of 2001” by Time Magazine, “2002 Best Large Structure” by the Structural Engineers Association of Illinois, “2004 Outstanding Structure” by the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering and “2004 Outstanding Project Award” from the National Council of Structural Engineers Associations, Chicago, Illinois. Sundial Bridge in Redding, California, was Calatrava’s first bridge in the U.S., completed in 2004. Recent U.S. commissions include the World Trade Center Transportation Hub in New York and three bridges over the Trinity River in Dallas, Texas.

Calatrava’s honors and awards are many. They include being named a “Global Leader for Tomorrow” by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland (1993) and one of the “Time 100” most influential people by Time Magazine in 2005. He has received 18 honorary doctorates to date, is an Honorary Citizen of Liege and a Permanent Honorary Guest (Ständiger Ehrengast) of the University of Zurich.

Santiago Calatrava has offices in Zurich, Valencia and New York. For more information, visit www.calatrava.com.

The mission of the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs is to advance the arts and culture in the City and County of Denver.

pecha kucha night denver: vol. 10

In my inbox this morning:

Untitled at the Denver Art Museum presents:

PechaKucha Night Denver volume 10

projected on the side of our own
DENVER ART MUSEUM!

Lanny Martin Plaza @ DAM Hamilton Building
Friday, July 23, 8:20 - 10 pm
Show starts at sun-down
Bring your own chair / pillow / blanket
FREE / $5 donation

* Special Biennial Edition *

PRESENTERS include local ARCHITECTS who helped design & build the DAM and the Plaza (with their presentations projected ON the DAM and IN the Plaza!); DESIGNERS with current letterpress and pop-up shows; Denver's largest CARTOONIST; LANDSCAPE DESIGNERS present their tree installation for the Biennial; an architecture STUDENT opens his sketchbook from Rome; and Buntport THEATER is back to make us laugh so hard we cry.


FEATURING PRESENTATIONS BY:
Maria Cole
Christopher P. Schooler
Rick Griffith
Samuel Schimek
Felix Tannenbaum
DESIGN4
Michael Bucher
Buntport Theater


HUGE THANKS to our SPONSORS!

The Denver Art Museum

Buntport Theater

D&K Printing

Passenger Pigeon

Food available from the Deluxe Street Food Truck "Little Orange Rocket"

After-party at Beauty Bar - 608 E 13th Ave.


RSVP to the facebook event!
Follow us on Twitter!
Full size flier: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pechakuchanightdenver/4807256783/sizes/l/


We hope to see you there!

Thanks,
PechaKucha Night Denver Team

http://www.pkndenver.com
http://www.pecha-kucha.org

________________________________________________________________

glimpses of a ghost

there are some glimpses of this summer's ghost 12 in an article over at architzer.com. [with photos taken by builder gordon maclean for mls architects]. special thanks to parkinperspective for the heads up!

ghost 12 'boat house' from the northwest

ghost 12 'boat house' from the southeast

the article also features some past ghost projects as well, but his year's "boat house" stayed within the language of last year's minimalist wooden boxes perched towards a view or over a body of water.

see also some good blog documentation by Cherish Rosas at moxie 5.25

photo of brian's sketch for ghost 12 "boat house" [by cherrymoxie4.com]

we will keep our eyes peeled for new images/blog posts, etc. and post the links here.

stay tuned!

summer parties

In my inbox:

this means that ghost 12 will be completed soon, and taow will be linking to pics of the latest project. if any of you ghosties have photos you'd like to share, leave us a message in the comment thread.

Brian MacKay-Lyons and a model of Ghost Five. (Credit: Mark Buckley)

random stuff

since we are hard at work trying to push the fifth LEED platinum building in colorado through the permitting process, here are some random readings that have caught our eye:

-typically, peter eisenmann is not on our radar, but this interview of the man had some good sound bites:

Longing for the Impossible

we're not a regular subscriber to the old man's work, but he sure makes some good points.

-dan rockhill illustrates the trials and tribulations of his kansas university design build program:

"this is not your usual tippy-tappy studio...we kick ass here."

last year, the group went for LEED platinum, now they are shooting for the much higher Passive house standard, defined by germany's housing code. here is a rendering of the new studio 804 project:

the slatted wood rain screen will be douglas fir boards, finished with a japanese technique called "shou-sugi-ban":

photo from pursuing a life of wabi

this process consists of blackening the surface of the boards with a propane torch that will make them resistant to rot and insects:

photo from pursuing a life of wabi

the boards are finally washed and dried and coated with penofin oil:

photo from pursuing a life of wabi

check out the current project status here: studio 804.

LECTURE:

APRIL 14th, 2010

Clyfford Still Museum: The Final Design

Brad Cloepfil, Allied Works Architecture

POSTPONED INDEFINITELY

CHECK BACK FOR FUTURE INFO

pecha kucha night denver: vol. 9

In my inbox this friday afternoon:

PechaKucha Night Denver volume 9 is coming up on Tuesday, April 13th!

Create Denver Week and AIA Colorado present this edition of PechaKucha Night, an evening of creative chit-chat where local architects, designers, and artists will share 20 images of their work, timed for 20 seconds each.

As usual, PKND volume 9 will feature a mix of creative talent - including some buildings, playgrounds, cake, furniture, end-of-life photographs, and living via thinking. Come to be entertained and informed about the creative talent here in Denver!

PechaKucha Night Denver volume 9
Tuesday, April 13
doors 7:30 / event 8:20
@ Flower Garage
1430 Delgany St. / Denver (across from the MCA)
free/donation - rsvp suggested

RSVP! Save yourself a seat: http://bit.ly/CDWRegistration

Featuring (but not limited to) presentations by:

Amir Alrubaiy, Matt Shea, Ken Renaud / architecture
Meg Rapp / ATELIER-xs
Jeanne Connolly / Vintage Renewal furniture
Ian Coyle / Thinking for a Living
Lucia De Giovanni / "My Life" photography, with music by John Common
Cate Townley / Learning Landscapes

Create Denver Week: http://www.denvergov.org/CreateDenver
AIA Colorado Architecture Month: http://www.coloradoarchitecturemonth.org


Thanks! We hope to see you there!

PechaKucha Night Denver

www.pkndenver.com

PechaKucha Night Global: http://www.pecha-kucha.org
PKN Denver: www.pkndenver.com

twitter: http://twitter.com/PechaKucha_DEN

facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=116825507657&ref=ts

flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pechakuchanightdenver/sets/

a secular retreat

all imagery from living architecture blog

as many [or not so many] readers know, we here at taow are big, slobbering fans of peter zumthor and whatever is released from his office into the wild blue yonder. we just recently noticed the update over at the living architecture blog regarding 'a secular retreat' that the zumthor is currently working on. at first glance the concept model images seem crude and elementary, but rough texture and the hand made quality of the presentation is not only a trademark of PZ's craftsman background, but maybe that is the entire point of the project...

after all the chosen title 'secular' brings to mind some intriguing concepts [and meaningful interpretations] for a house:

Not specifically religious.

(Christianity) Not bound by the vows of a monastic order.

Temporal; something that is worldly or otherwise not based on something timeless.

Happening from age to age.

Long-term.

(astrophysics) Of or pertaining to long-term non-periodic irregularities, especially in planetary motion.

(atomic physics) Unperturbed over time.

[all definitions from Wiktionary]

but we must say that the suspense is killing us--what is the material palette? where is the site? is it this place mentioned in the photo caption called chivelstone, great britain? how many obscure places do we have to travel to see zumthor's projects? ; ]

in the between time, this vague and brief description will have to suffice for now:

Peter Zumthor is frequently described as the greatest architect at work in the world today, and has recently been awarded the internationally prestigious Pritzker Prize. He is famous for his baths at Vals in Switzerland, as well as for his Bruder Chapel outside Cologne in Germany and his Kolumba Museum in Cologne itself. He is a master of craftsmanship, and an expert in the use of natural materials, which gives his buildings an eternal quality. For Living Architecture, Zumthor is designing his first project in the UK – a hill-top retreat, to which people will be able to go for periods of sustained work and reflection.

model view 1 - dining room

model view 2 - kitchen & dining room

model view 3 - corridor

Peter Zumthor discussing structural concepts with structural engineer

Jane Wernick for the 'chivelstone' secular retreat

[a glimpse into the plan hidden in the background?]

Stay tuned...

be sure to check out the other houses on the blog...

we are particularly interested in the shingle house and the in-between house.

___________________________________________________________________

Clyfford Still Museum: The Final Design

In my inbox Tuesday afternoon:

Clyfford Still Museum: The Final Design

Brad Cloepfil, Allied Works Architecture

Since the schematic design unveiling, the museum design has advanced in exciting ways. Cloepfil will detail innovative solutions conceived to present Still's artworks.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010; 6pm
Denver Art Museum - Sharp Auditorium

[All images courtesy of Allied Works Architecture & Clyfford Still Museum]

___________________________________________

biennial of the americas

The curator for the Biennial of the Americas, Paola Santoscoy, checks the progress of remodeling in the McNichols Building in Civic Center last week. Santoscoy was hired in January. ( Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post )

the denver post does an article on the curator of the upcoming biennial of the americas, which will take place in denver starting July 2010 and last until August:

The Biennial of the Americas is a month-long cultural celebration of innovation, imagination and the artistic achievement of the Western Hemisphere, hosted by the city of Denver.

the main exhibition will be hosted in the old McNicols building in civic center park, and is currently under a stealthy renovation.

the museum of contemporary art, denver botanical gardens, museo de las americas and denver museum of nature and science will all be hosting sites for a multitude of gallery events, symposiums, roundtable discussions and lectures on the topics of art, architecture, design, innovative technologies, poverty, energy, climate change, material culture, and community cohesiveness by 35 participating countries from the western hemisphere.

if it sounds monumentally epic in scope to anyone else then i suppose it probably is--so why aren't we hearing more about it?

there once existed a website called 'ingoodwetrust', highlighting bruce mau as the chief curator of the biennial 2010, but evidently it no longer exists.

we will be watching closely for the upcoming opening event.

_______________________________________________________________

ghost 12

Ghost Architectural Research lab is the research facility of MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects. It is an education initiative designed to promote the transfer of architectural knowledge through direct experience-project based learning taught in the master-builder tradition--with emphasis on issues of landscape, material culture & community.

The Ghost Lab provides a 2-week summer design/build internship [1-week design, 1-week build] for architects, engineers, builders, professors & students. The program takes place on the coast of Nova Scotia, atop the stone ruins of a nearly 400 year old village on Brian's farm. Projects are seen as didactic instruments to interpret cultural ecology and build on both the research experience of the firm, and the building traditions of the area.

This past year's collaboration [2009] resulted in the re-use of an historical, octagonal barn. This year's ghost will be a 'boathouse' at the edge of the sea.

This year's guest architect will be acclaimed Australian architect Peter Stutchbury [peterstutchbury.com] from Sydney. Peter is a professor at the Univ. of Newcastle, and a teacher at Glenn Mercutt's renowned international master-class. The guest critic is respected architect, Ingerid Helsing Almaas, editor-in-chief of Arkitektur N, from Oslo, Norway.

Ghost 12 will run from June 5th to 19th, 2010, and the applications for admission are due on March 31st, 2010.

Please see the MLS site for more info on ghost and to download the application.

See also:

ghost 8 - archaalto flickr

ghost 10 - pixelwhore flickr

ghost: building an architectural vision on amazon

plain modern on amazon

_________________________________

Pecha Kucha for Haiti

In my inbox this morning:

PechaKucha Night Denver Vol. 8 is this Saturday, February 20th, at the Museum of Contemporary Art!

PechaKucha for Haiti
On Saturday February 20th, PechaKucha events will be held all around the world, including Denver, as a fundraiser for Architecture for Humanity to rebuild in Haiti. All the PechaKucha Night cities will be connected by a 24-hour PechaKucha presentation WAVE that will gradually move westward city by city, circumnavigating the globe.

2-4 pm: watch the live stream of the PechaKucha WAVE as it makes its way west towards Denver.

4-6 pm: presentations by Denver architects and designers on the theme of "rebuild."

20 images x 20 seconds, 200 cities, 2,000 presentations, 200,000 people.

Rebuilding a nation 20 seconds at a time.

Saturday, February 20th

MCA Denver / 1485 Delgany Street

Viewing Party 2-4 pm

Denver Event 4-6 pm

Museum admission: 5 cents

Event: please donate $5 / $10 / $20

All donations go to Architecture for Humanity

Cash bar

The global press release follows below.

Please forward this on to your friends and colleagues in the Denver area, and we hope to see you there!

Thanks,

PechaKucha Night Denver team

20x20@pkndenver.com

www.pkndenver.com

the third and the seventh

after a much longer break from taow than anticipated, here is a post, we believe, worthy of starting out 2010. linked to this amazingly beautiful film via our [big] little brother, the third and the seventh, by spanish filmmaker Alex Roman.

The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

the description of the film is simply this:

a full CG piece that tries to illustrate architecture art across a photographic point of view where main subjects are already built spaces.
sometimes in an abstract way. sometimes surreal.

watch the video again...in full screen. did you say this is completely CGI? as in no real life footage?? evidently there are a few bits of real time footage in here: sky backgrounds, pigeons flying, the wandering photographer character, time-lapse plants and the airplane flying overhead. but they are a very small fraction of the work that has been put into the final product.

usually, taow are champions of the real, the textural, the sensual nature of experiencing life. but this is something else. this is a visual feast of gluttony on poetic images. but how does that explain why are we are so drawn to it then?

maybe it is the hyper-reality rendering style, or maybe it is the exceptional pieces of architecture that were chosen to be rendered: kahn's exeter library, mies' barcelona pavilion, calatrava's milwaukee art museum, ando's chikatsu-asuka historical museum, among many others. or maybe it is the touch of sur-reality near the end, or maybe it is the chance that this could be real, or we desperately want it to be real...

the soundtrack helps immensely, and some of you will recognize part of the score from the film GATTACA [also a favorite]. alex has also posted some screen capture videos of creating the exeter library 3d model and you can see it here:

Exeter Shot -- Making Of from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

where this film seems to succeed the most is through its completely immersible quality. the successive combinations of various view compositions and scene transitions mimic the way your eye travels through out a space. more random, sporadic--first a close-up detail view follows a wide angle shot of the entire space, which then changes depth of field focus. this is more accurate to the way humans experience space, not by a single tracking "fly-through" around or inside a building.

maybe if this is how all architects could present all their work...there would be a larger emphasis on quality of craft and construction.

good wishes for 2010.

props to devin for the killer link!

*UPDATE: we were pointed to an interview with Alex Roman [aka Jorge Seva] on his animation project here.

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happy holidays

bitterly cold morning [-10 degrees F]

frost screen texture #1

frost screen texture #2