I was recently introduced to the Canadian architect, Arthur Erickson. In 1977, he designed The Fire Island House, shown in the photo below. I am always pleasantly surprised when a design can look just as edgy and fresh today as it did when designed 30 years ago. That is the magic of good design. In 2000, he gave a speech to McGill University School of Architecture and said:
”Whenever we witness art in a building, we are aware of an energy contained by it. The intensity of that energy reflects the intensity of the creative act, the degree of devotion invested in the work, that is communicated immediately to the viewer.
Creation is the bestower of life. Vitality is radiated from exceptional art and architecture. Beauty - a word much avoided in this late mechanistic era, conveys an inexplicable sense of harmony and wholeness.
A thing of Beauty is not pretty, nor perfect, nor flashy - but restrained, often odd, tough, indefinable - it touches a higher sense than the emotions alone. Out of the most ordinary circumstance a transcendental experience is distilled. Though lacking in cerebral challenge, since it is beyond the limits of the brain it gives its viewers a sense of highest fulfillment.”
http://www.arthurerickson.com/
Straw bail construction has been around since humans first started building shelters. Its modern day use is a great alternative for those looking for a sustainable solution to home construction. It will save you 75 percent on heating and cooling costs due to solar gain caused by the wall thickness. It’s is an excellent form of sound proofing. Using straw helps to reduce water consumption and air pollution. It eliminates the need for toxic man made forms of insulation. It can be used as a load bearing wall and eliminate the need of wood. It also burns 3 times slower than walls made of wood.
Elizabeth Alford and Michael Young recently moved from New York City to Austin, TX. They wanted the feel of their Tribeca loft for their architecture and painting studios but couldn’t find it in Texas. So, they built their own. Elizabeth Alford teaches about prefabrication at the School of Architecture in Austin and runs the Prefab Lab.
They raised the roof of an existing structure, located in a up-and-coming Austin neighborhood, and filled between with polycarbonate sheets, creating clerestory windows. Because of their interest in the identity and tactility of materials, they experimented by creating the wall shown below. The wall is a sandwich of polycarbonate sheets with 1,000 pounds of colored sand filling the voids. “It insulates, and we like the look,” Young says.
Martha Schwartz, Inc. landscape designers of Cambridge, MA was awarded a ‘2007 Award of Excellence’ by the Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) for their work on the Mesa Arts Center in Mesa, AZ. The concept for the site design is a “Shadow Walk” or a promenade. Overlapping shadows create cool and inviting environments providing opportunities for both large and small group gatherings and places for quiet relaxation and enjoyment. The shadows are created by vegetation as well as a series of colored glass walls and canopies which cast colored shadows on the ground. The designers also incorporated cooling mist jets into the colored glass structures that spray from above to the walkway below. Translucent colored glass screen walls, back-lit by the afternoon sun, will hold the shadows of cacti and other unique and indigenous plants in silhouette.
Innovation can come from taking a fresh look at the everyday and mundane, like a chain link fence, and thinking of how it can be improved and beautified. That is exactly what Dutch design duo, Demakersvan did with their project LaceFence. In their own words, they describe their work, “ Industrial production is for us a big source of inspiration. The Big Miracle of how some products come about is a beautiful phenomenon if you look at it closely. In our projects we often combine the sensitive and the small with the powerful, large and industrial…hostility versus kindness, industrial versus craft.”
I am reading the book “The Ten Faces of Innovation” written by Tom Kelley, co-founder of IDEO. IDEO is a collaborative design team that works with companies to “visualize, evaluate, and refine opportunities for design and development.” They’ve worked with many of the world’s leading companies to improve their strategies and products.
A recent client of IDEO is Sean Malony, Vice President of the Intel Mobility Group. He envisions, “Human beings are inherently mobile, and computing will be too.” IDEO worked with Intel to visualize how consumer behaviors could be made better / easier through the use of this new technology. They created three videos, displaying Intel’s larger movement toward human-centered technology innovation. Intel has innovated a series of chipsets and mobile platforms that enable smarter, more efficient laptops, mobile phones, and PDAs. From a design perspective, IDEO developed user scenarios that integrated product, interaction, and experience as they related to hands-free communication, social networking, and purchasing. The design team turned the scenarios into storyboards and scripted for video production. The videos communicated Intel’s unified vision to the service providers for them to understand the product value.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385512074/theartofinnovat/102-0654687-1650515
The initials in the firm name PEG office of landscape + architecture stand for “Post Euclidean Groove.” PEG is based on Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck’s theories of 2D rational thinking about Modernism in an Euclidean groove. The firm’s three principals, Keith Vandersys, Karen M’Closkey, and collaborating partner Jeff Sharpe, have recently designed the student lounge a the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan, where Vandersys is a lecturer and M’Closkey an assistant professor. The design is a style they call “saturated Minimalism.”
Vandersys says they acknowledge the differences between interior and exterior environments, but their approach to both is similar: It isn’t all about getting people outside, but on how clever spatial relationships between outdoor spaces and architecture can be achieved.
After my previous Liquid Sky post, I attended the opening weekend of MOMA’s P.S.1 Warm Up series. I found it to be a great house party with excellent live music and DJs, but was slightly disappointed in the architectural installation by Ball-Nogues. The Liquid Sky was only partially installed. The use of fiber-enforced mylar sheets, which are typically used for ship sails, was innovative. The sky consisted of a multitude of individually designed and cut triangular mylar panels in a custom color which created intriguing shadows. These flag ‘tents’ were stretched with metal cables in tension over large wood poles. Unfortunately, because it was incomplete, the effect was less magical than anticipated and rather looked like a deflated circus tent.
Also, in order to cool off the attendees, the architects designed a sprinkler to the top of each of the poles. A fine mist would have done the trick to cool us down, but these lawn sprinklers drenched the guests. For the New York crowd, on a less than scorching day, it was too much. By the afternoon, we were soaked and our drinks were watered down. As much as I appreciate the innovation, I wished it was completed and exhibited a bit more finesse.
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Apropos for the week of summer when everyone spends time outside eating BBQ and enjoying fireworks, my co-worker Bill Morris has introduced me to the Richard Schultz garden Pavilion. It is a modern gazebo or arbor designed to define space and create shade over your outdoor furniture. The structure is 100% stainless steel with pleated vinyl mesh top and side curtains. Modular components can be configured for new layouts. It was originally designed in 1987 and re-released in 2004, but because of it’s timeless design it can work well even with more traditional architecture.
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