This month's Metropolis Magazine is dedicated mostly to Eero Saarinen.
Check it out here.
Posting may be light this week. My computer's hard drives is having issues. But fortunately the lovely people at Dell will be sending me a new hard drive this week and a nice person from tech support will be coming out later this week to install is for me. I am busy backing up everything on my computer before the new hard drive is installed. But I hope to be back later in the week with more postings.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
First look at the Renzo Piano addition to the Kimbell Art Museum
Renzo Piano, architect of the Nasher Sculpture Center, has been tapped to design an addition to the Louis Kahn designed Kimbell Art Museum in Ft. Worth.
Check it out here.
Check it out here.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Posting to resume next week
I am out of town this week for work, so it will be a little quiet around here. Posting will resume next week.
Ciao!
Ciao!
Friday, November 14, 2008
The American Look
For those of you killing time at work before the weekend starts, take some time to watch this video. It is chock full of MCM goodies. Thanks to the Lushpad blog where I first watched this.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Weekend Plans
1. Bond, James Bond. Go see Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace. My theater of choice - Studio Movie Grill.
2. Lone Star International Film Festival - my pick is Visual Acoustics, The Modernism of Julius Schulman.
3. Lakewood Home Tour and Market. Check out some beautiful homes built in the 20s and 30s in addition to a juried art fair. Info here.
2. Lone Star International Film Festival - my pick is Visual Acoustics, The Modernism of Julius Schulman.
3. Lakewood Home Tour and Market. Check out some beautiful homes built in the 20s and 30s in addition to a juried art fair. Info here.
Addition to Kimbell Museum
Renzo Piano to design the new addition to the Kimbell Museum. The kids over at FrontBurner have the details.
Check it out here.
Check it out here.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Julius Schulman Film
Julius Schulman is one of my favorite photographers and most famous for his architectural and interior photography of iconic MCM homes (think Case Study Homes, Neutra, Palm Springs MCMs). On November 15 and 16, 2008 the Kimball Art Museum will be screening Visual Acoustics - The Modernism of Julius Schulman by Eric Bricker as part of the Lone Star International Film Festival.
If you love MCM architecture and photography this is a must see film.
Information about the festival here.
If you love MCM architecture and photography this is a must see film.
Information about the festival here.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Pinon House - MCM Renovation
Jetson Green has a nice review of a MCM renovation. My favorites are the pivot entry door and the galvalume ceiling in the kitchen.
See the pics here.
See the pics here.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Austin AIA Homes Tour Re-cap
About a month ago the Architect and I roadtripped down to Austin for their annual homes tour. We hadn't been there in a few years, but enjoyed our past visits. Homes tours such as the one in Austin, this weekend's Dallas AIA Homes Tour and the White Rock Homes Tour are great ways to get ideas for your own home. Usually the architects and designers are at the home and there is always lots of reading material to pick up. So without further adieu I give you my re-cap of the Austin AIA Homes tour:
Biggest disappointment: 2708 Rae Dell by Barron Custom Design. I was really looking forward to this house because it was an MCM redo. I was sorely disappointed. The front of the original house looks fabulous. I love the siding and frosted glass garage doors.
But Whisky Tango Foxtrot on the addition that landed on the back of the house! It was way to big and overwhelmed the rest of the house. The back yard is huge and goes back quite a ways. If they felt they needed that much space they could have made it a one story addition. Instead, when you are in the back yard there is some very nice landscaping but a huge dead area behind the addition. And the views were not that great from the addition - no downtown view or lake view that I recall.
The other thing that disappointed me was the lack of continuity inside the house when it came to floors and fixtures. The entry way was an arts and crafts style door with a ceramic tile floor mosaic entry in mutued colors seen from houses in that period. You wander to the kitchen, you have cork floors, then wander into the bathrooms and other rooms finding slate, other ceramic and the pine floors in the addition. I'm not saying you have to use the same flooring throughout but at least think about texture, color, and how they will all flow together.
BTW, the house is for sale, more interior shots and this image are here.
House I would like to go to a party at: This is a condo in downtown Austin right near UT. The interior was designed by Anthony Alofsin. Hello LCDs! LCD lights are mounted in the floor allowing you to change the colors of your walls. Although, I am curious to see how often these LCDs are used in real life. The spaces were nice, but with so much white lacquer I kinda felt like I was in a nightclub. Actually, it reminded me a lot of Supper Club in San Francisco. A nice place to visit, but I don't want to live there. That being said, there was some nice use of built-ins to hide media equipment, etc. The Architect especially liked the built in wet bar.
More shots and this image here.
My favorite home on the tour: Clayton, Levy, Little & Maier + Zelter House in Westlake Hills. Yeah, I know the picture is tiny, but this was the best one I could find at the moment. This is a renovation of I believe a 70s contemporary home. It is situated high on a bluff that overlooks the river. With a view like that, all you need to do is create spaces that focus on the view. What was great about this house is there was a theme throughout the house in regards to flooring, counter tops, and millwork. Polished concrete floors throughout and concrete counter tops along with a unified color scheme pulled the entire house together. There was also good usable outdoor space. In many of the homes we toured and I didn't discuss here, had great outdoor spaces but in places you wouldn't naturally gravitate to. Here, almost all of the rooms open up onto balconies with views of the river where you could really see yourself enjoying a cocktail, grilling or reading a book.
More about Clayton, Levy, Little here. They executed the renovation. More about Maier + Zelter here. They did the actual renovation design.
Current trends seen on the tour:
1. Horizontal slat fences.
2. Sliding panel doors - almost every house we saw had at least one.
3. Outdoor living spaces - ranging from the small intimate garden to full blown outdoor kitchens with fireplaces.
4. Rock/gravel landscaping
5. Gratuitous fixtures - I'm talking about over the top faucets and basins, LEDs, put there to be showy and say "I'm cool."
We are off to the Dallas AIA Homes Tour this weekend. Re-cap to follow in the next few weeks.
Biggest disappointment: 2708 Rae Dell by Barron Custom Design. I was really looking forward to this house because it was an MCM redo. I was sorely disappointed. The front of the original house looks fabulous. I love the siding and frosted glass garage doors.But Whisky Tango Foxtrot on the addition that landed on the back of the house! It was way to big and overwhelmed the rest of the house. The back yard is huge and goes back quite a ways. If they felt they needed that much space they could have made it a one story addition. Instead, when you are in the back yard there is some very nice landscaping but a huge dead area behind the addition. And the views were not that great from the addition - no downtown view or lake view that I recall.
The other thing that disappointed me was the lack of continuity inside the house when it came to floors and fixtures. The entry way was an arts and crafts style door with a ceramic tile floor mosaic entry in mutued colors seen from houses in that period. You wander to the kitchen, you have cork floors, then wander into the bathrooms and other rooms finding slate, other ceramic and the pine floors in the addition. I'm not saying you have to use the same flooring throughout but at least think about texture, color, and how they will all flow together.
BTW, the house is for sale, more interior shots and this image are here.
House I would like to go to a party at: This is a condo in downtown Austin right near UT. The interior was designed by Anthony Alofsin. Hello LCDs! LCD lights are mounted in the floor allowing you to change the colors of your walls. Although, I am curious to see how often these LCDs are used in real life. The spaces were nice, but with so much white lacquer I kinda felt like I was in a nightclub. Actually, it reminded me a lot of Supper Club in San Francisco. A nice place to visit, but I don't want to live there. That being said, there was some nice use of built-ins to hide media equipment, etc. The Architect especially liked the built in wet bar.More shots and this image here.
My favorite home on the tour: Clayton, Levy, Little & Maier + Zelter House in Westlake Hills. Yeah, I know the picture is tiny, but this was the best one I could find at the moment. This is a renovation of I believe a 70s contemporary home. It is situated high on a bluff that overlooks the river. With a view like that, all you need to do is create spaces that focus on the view. What was great about this house is there was a theme throughout the house in regards to flooring, counter tops, and millwork. Polished concrete floors throughout and concrete counter tops along with a unified color scheme pulled the entire house together. There was also good usable outdoor space. In many of the homes we toured and I didn't discuss here, had great outdoor spaces but in places you wouldn't naturally gravitate to. Here, almost all of the rooms open up onto balconies with views of the river where you could really see yourself enjoying a cocktail, grilling or reading a book.More about Clayton, Levy, Little here. They executed the renovation. More about Maier + Zelter here. They did the actual renovation design.
Current trends seen on the tour:
1. Horizontal slat fences.
2. Sliding panel doors - almost every house we saw had at least one.
3. Outdoor living spaces - ranging from the small intimate garden to full blown outdoor kitchens with fireplaces.
4. Rock/gravel landscaping
5. Gratuitous fixtures - I'm talking about over the top faucets and basins, LEDs, put there to be showy and say "I'm cool."
We are off to the Dallas AIA Homes Tour this weekend. Re-cap to follow in the next few weeks.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Weekend Events
1. The Architect and I will be going to the 2nd Annual Dallas AIA Homes Tour on Saturday. Ticket info and list of homes here.
2. This Saturday learn about the future of the environment, American cities, race, law and global issues at the Festival of Ideas at the Myerson Symphony Center. It also happens to be an I.M Pei building. Probably the best Pei building in Dallas (there are approximtely 3). Ticket info and speakers here.
3. Check out Olafur Eliasson's exhibition at the DMA.
2. This Saturday learn about the future of the environment, American cities, race, law and global issues at the Festival of Ideas at the Myerson Symphony Center. It also happens to be an I.M Pei building. Probably the best Pei building in Dallas (there are approximtely 3). Ticket info and speakers here.
3. Check out Olafur Eliasson's exhibition at the DMA.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Obama the architect?
The kids over at Prairie Mod are talking that at one time in the past Obama wanted to be an architect.
Read about it here.
Read about it here.
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