Alexander Calder and Contemporary Art: Form, Balance, Joy

The weekend was the opening for Alexander Calder and Contemporary Art: Form, Balance, Joy at the Nasher Sculpture Center. The exhibit combines 30 of Calder's works with the works of 7 contemporary artists influence by his work.

Exhibition on view through March 6, 2011.

Image from www.nashersculpturecenter.org

Do you know your MCM?

Test your MCM design knowledge here at the TLC mid century design quiz.

Hat tip to How About Orange where I saw the quiz.

4D Mapping on the Praetorian Building in Downtown Dallas

On Tuesday of this week The Joule Hotel and the Dallas Film Society used the Praetorian Building as the backdrop to show 4D mapping projection. The presentation also included a trailer for the movie, The Tourist. I hope more of these events continue to happen in downtown after dark. It will be a good way to get people back on the street and interacting with each other. Word on the street is that they will be running the movie/show again on Friday night.

Ranchero Brothers songs available for free download

The Ranchero Brothers are the side project of Rhett Miller and Murry Hammond of the Old 97s. You can listen and download (for free!) unreleased studio tracks and demos before the full band recorded Too Far Too Care. Thanks guys for the early Christmas present!

Listen and download them here.

Ju-Nel Home for Sale

This Ju-Nel home was on the White Rock Home Tour a few years ago. It can be yours for $355,000.00. The best part of this house is the outdoor spaces and wide expanses of glass. It is 3 bed, 2 bath in 1887 sq ft.

Check out more pictures and contact the realtor, Mark Milikan here.

Image from ebby.com.

What?

Mad Men's season may be over for now, but to tide you over here is a montage of Don saying "What."

Evil People in Modernist Homes in Popular Films

Have you ever watched a film and thought "Why do evil people always live in modern homes?" If you are me, I think "Where can I find a home like that to live in?!"

Ok, so maybe I am a little bit evil. If you are a bit evil and love modern homes, you should check out the zine Evil People in Modernist Homes in Popular Films by Yale graphic design student Ben Critton.

You can order a copy of the zine at Printed Matter.

Image: manystuff.org

Some blog updates

Just an FYI:

I added a follower button so you can follow this lovely blog. You will also notice that you know have the power to tweet or post to Facebook a post that you fancy.

Aurora 2010

When you think of Dallas Heritage Village (or Old City Park for us Gen Xers) what do you think of? Christmas carolers? That field trip with your 4th grade class?

Well think again. Dallas Heritage Village will be the site for Aurora 2010. The event will be using Dallas Heritage Village as a backdrop for a series of indoor/outdoor art installations. The installations will be using light, video or sound. One of my favorite local photogs, Hal Samples, will have an installation there.

Aurora 2010 will take place on the evening of November 19, 2010. Follow the Facebook page for more info.

Hat tip to Peter Simek over at FrontRow.

Carrotmob

When I first heard about Carrotmob I envisioned people in carrot costumes running around forcing people to eat their veggies. That is way better than those banana pub crawls.

Well Carrotmob is not a pub crawl of carrot costumed humans. From the Carrotmob site:

"Carrotmob is a network of consumers who buy products in order to reward businesses who are making the most socially responsible decisions."

Um, ok so what does all that lofty mumbo jumbo really mean?

Businesses compete against each other for the "mob's" business. The businesses compete against each other on how socially responsible they can be. The mob then goes to the winner's business and spends their money. Last week Dallas held its first carrotmob with the winner, LaGrange, agreeing to take a portion of its proceeds from that night to put towards making their business more energy efficient.

Learn more about the Dallas chapter of Carrotmob here.

Where I have been

I was in Minneapolis for a wedding.

Then I went to Austin for the AIA Homes Tour.

Then my laptop died and had to be sent away for service.

Then AT&T got confused and thought when I ordered a wireless router that really meant I wanted to cancel my internet service.

Two phone calls and 4 tech support people later my internet was reconnected. Today I picked up my laptop.

This weekend get ready for a blog blast. I've got a lot to say.

Fall Home Tours

If you are looking to avoid the chaos that is TX/OU weekend, the Austin AIA Home Tour is this weekend. New to the tour this year is cell phone audio tours and its own iPhone app. I will be tweeting from the tour this weekend. You can find me @4squaresperinch.

Also mark your calendars for the Dallas AIA Home Tour on November 6-7, 2010. Yours truly and The Architect will be volunteering on the tour this year, so be sure to come say hello.

Architectural Webcams in Dallas

Bored one night and looking for something do on the internet? Want a mid-work break?

Check out the webcams for two of Dallas' architectural projects:

1. You can watch the construction of the Calatrava Bridge (aka, Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge or bridge to nowhere) here.

2. Or you can check in on the Woodall Rodgers Deck Park progress and the traffic scene here.

Music Philosophy Posters

Typography + Design + Music Quotes = Music Philosophy.
Each week a new music quote is posted. You can download the images as an iPhone wallpaper or purchase posters to hang in your home, office, etc. You can also submit song quotes you would like to see as a graphic.

To the right is a quote from one of my favorite Smiths songs, "There is a light that never goes out."

Image from Music Philosophy.

Potential buyer for the Statler HIlton?

According to Unfair Park it looks like Plano, TX based LIG Assets Inc. is putting together an offer to buy the Statler Hilton from its Hong Kong owners. LIG says they plan on turning it into a mixed use development with an "adult arcade." Whatever that means.

Read more about it here.

Stephanie Strange - Black Well Mobile

The Architect and I discovered Stephanie Strange's art a couple of years ago at Art City Austin. One of the first pieces of art we bought was a beautiful graphite pencil drawing. We stood for about an hour in her stall trying to figure out which drawing we wanted to buy because there were so many we wanted to take home. That first time we also picked up one of her "typewriter" pieces. Stephanie uses vintage typewriters to create these simple and graphic works on paper. We have the honor of owning about 4 of those typewriter works and two of her graphite pencil drawings.

It was pretty awesome to get the email this week about Stephanie's piece for the City of Austin Arts in Public Spaces program. She created a huge mobile made out of typewriter parts, which you see above, for the Twin Oaks Branch library in Austin. Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it down for the unveiling this weekend, but I will definitely make a point to stop by the library the next time I am in Austin.

As a side note, her husband Michael O'Brien, is a sculptor and makes some gorgeous, yet simple bronze sculptures that we also have the pleasure of displaying in our quaint home.

See more of Stephanie's work here. Stephanie's blog is here.

Unfortunately, I can't find a website for Michael O'Brien's work. If anyone knows of his website, shoot me an email and I will update.

Photo by Karol Rice.

Creative Arts Center of Dallas

I recently discovered the Creative Arts Center of Dallas where I made the ring you see here. The CAC has been around since 1965. You can take classes in all sorts of media - welding, stone sculpture, painting, mosaics, fused glass, and jewelry making. The classes are geared towards those seeking to do it as a hobby but are taught by professionals in the respective disciplines. The classes are small so you are not fighting for attention and instruction.

New sessions start at the end of August. You can find out about the classes here.

Dallas and Bottle Service

Finally someone has come out and asked the question: What the heck is up with bottle service in Dallas. I've never really understood its fascination in Dallas. But then I think "ultra lounges" in Dallas are just a joke too. I love the city I live in but we will never be a NYC, LA, or Vegas. Our lounges are just cheap imitations.

Snarky rant over.

Put this on your calendar: Alexander Weekend in Palm Springs

If you love MCMs you need to put this on your calendar: March 25-27, 2011 is Alexander Weekend in Palm Springs, CA. This is a celebration of the William Krisel tract homes that are all over Palm Springs. Alexander homes are very similar to the more well known Eichler tract homes.

More info here. H/t to Lushpad.

Can you find an apartment to rent in Downtown Dallas for less than 600/month?

Dallas Observer's Jim Schutze sent the DO's intern out to find out. He posed the question because apparently a lot of the new downtown lofts and apartments were built in part with money from the US Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In order to get HUD money, you need to have "at least 51 percent of its units set aside for low income tenants."

The post over on Unfair Park is an interesting look into the Downtown Dallas apartment game. There are also some interesting points made in the comments, once you wade through all the name calling.

Why less was more and why it should be that way today

The New York Times has a nice article by Jayne Merkel about how houses after World War II were smaller, efficient, and did not necessarily sacrifice style for efficiency. The question she poses, is:

"As we find ourselves in an era of diminishing resources, could “less” become “more” again?"

The answer for me is yes. I live in a 1964 Atomic Ranch. It is 1800 square feet, 2 bedroom, 2 bath. I only have 2 gripes about the house: 1) the closets are not that big and 2) the shower in the master is like taking a bath in a coffin. In reality, if I truly spent a weekend going through my clothes and doing a hardcore edit, I could probably fit all of my clothes into one closet, instead of two. As for the bathroom - well that is going to take a bit more of a renovation, but one that isn't going to change the footprint, just make better use of the space we have.

Making better use of the space you have - I believe that is key to either dealing with the house you have or the one you want to build. I have been in my share of McMansions and contractor build homes. One of the problems that I see time and time again is the poor use of space. Funky angles, curved walls, weird nooks that serve no purpose. Roof lines - don't get The Architect started on roof lines. While the bedrooms in our house may be small compared to "today", they serve their purpose and we have adapted them to serve our needs. The closets for example - Elfa is our best friend. The bedroom now only has a bed, 2 nightstands, a lamp and a mirror. Once we removed the dresser the place felt so much bigger.

In the living room, which is open plan, had a blank wall about 13 feet high. That was dead space, which for about 3 years was occupied by the largest IKEA bookshelf we could find. And it still didn't hold all of our books and CDs. So after saving up some money we found a mill worker, 3LL Designs, who built us this awesome NINE FEET TALL BY FOURTEEN FEET WIDE bookshelf. We were able to take three rooms worth of books and CDs and put them into the bookshelf in the living room. Oh and if we (or a buyer) ever want to put a TV in the living room, it has a removable section where it is already wired for a TV. (If you want your own freakin huge custom designed bookshelf, The Architect is available for commissions)

There are some people who don't want to live in an old house and want to build their own. That is a dream of mine someday. But too often around Dallas, people will go into established neighborhoods, knock down a perfectly good house and erect a monstrosity that is built to the edge of ALL the property lines. See M streets, UP, HP. A 5,000 sqft house on a lot that originally had a 1500 sqft house just looks stupid. Oh and add that there are only 3 people living in the house. Do you really need all that space or are you just trying to say "mine is bigger than yours." Somehow, I think it is the latter. Cheap land + cheap energy + cheap materials is one of the arguments for why we had the McMansion explosion and probably the ultra luxury hi-rise condo explosion in Dallas as well. Seriously, who is going to live in these things? I certainly don't have the million-plus to live in Museum Tower.

Which leads me to another rant, the untapped market of designing modest modern homes for the true middle class in Dallas. Unless you are a person in the know, the average person who likes modern design (which arguably is not an average person by some people's standards) will be hard pressed to find someone who could build a modern home in the 150,000-250,000 range. The architects are out there, believe me. Some people love the style of MCMs and ranches, but want the new shiny benefits of new construction. Urban Reserve, back at its inception, tried to market itself as a community where the modern middle class could reside, but that has been an utter failure in my opinion. Maybe with all the new "austerity measures" people are trying to implement in their lives, that will force people to think about what they really need, which will in turn spur a demand for new breed of housing. The pessimist in me says, "yeah right", but hey it is Sunday I am willing to be optimistic for a few minutes.

Anyways, what I am trying to say through all of this is that you should really read this article. And I should probably lay off the coffee before I start blogging.

A whole bunch of randomness

Here is what I have been reading lately when I haven't been working:

1. D magazine has a breakdown of the topping off of the arch that will make up the Calatrava Bridge over the Trinity River.

2. Vanity Fair has the most influential architecture built since 1980.

3. Old 97s covers EP "Mimeograph"is out on iTunes. If you become a fan on Facebook you can download the 3 song EP for free.

4. Modern Luxury Dallas is kicking off their Summer Soirees this Saturday at the Hotel Crescent Court and the Living Room Bar at the W.

5. Get read for the Mad Men premiere on July 25th, by starring in your own Mad Men commercial.

Bartlesville, OK - Part 2

Should you decide to travel to Bartlesville to stay at Price Tower here are things you should do:

1. Take the tour of the Price Tower. Admission is free to guests of the Inn. Tours are limited to groups of 8.

2. Take the driving tour of Bruce Goff architecture. Ask for a map at the front desk. The trip should take about an hour or so, depending on how long you stop to take pictures at each house.

3. If the Bartlesville Community Center is open, be sure to take a peek inside to see the cloisonne mural. The sister mural is in the lobby of the Price Tower museum. The Community Center was built in 1982 and designed by Wesley Peters, chief architect of Taliesin West.

Places to eat:

1. Copper Bar at Price Tower has nice cocktails and light bar food fare.

2. Weeze's - classic local dinner just about a block away from Price Tower. Good for breakfast.

3. 2 Sister's Pub & Grill - 110 S.W Frank Phillips Blvd. We ate there for lunch. Good food and decent beer selection.

4. Frank & Lola's - 2nd Street & Dewey. We ate here for dinner. Good crowd with a nice upscale menu and wine list.

More info about Bartlesville here.

Now for the pictures! The first group are Bruce Goff homes and a church hes designed; the remaining pictures are of the Bartlesville Community Center. Enjoy!








































I am posting these for my friend Jeff. He just loves gigantic pieces of glass mounted into walls.

















































This metal tower thingy was in the middle of a park. Unfortunately we couldn't climb up it for "safety reasons." Total bummer.





























Bartlesville Community Center.































I call this the "band photo."

Price Tower - Bartlesville, OK - Part 1

Over the Memorial Day weekend, myself, the Architect and some friends traveled to Bartlesville, OK to spend the weekend at the Price Tower. The Price Tower is the only skyscraper designed by Frank Lloyd Wright that was ever built. It was originally, a design for the Bowery in NYC. Harold Price, owner of the H.C. Price Co. (an oil pipeline company) commissioned the building of this skyscraper. The building's inspiration is a tree. The building is covered in copper louvers which represent the leaves of a tree.

Price Tower was conceived as a mixed-use development. When it was built it had apartments, office spaces for the Price Company, a beauty salon, commissary, and dress shop. Today, the apartments are now The Inn at Price Tower. The lower level is a museum (Price Tower Arts Center) and the commissary is the Copper Bar. The Price Tower Arts Center restored the Price family's apartment and the company's offices to their original MCM glory and gives tours of the building. Now onto the pictures!

The vertical louvers are the apartments, now the rooms at the Inn. The horizontal louvers are the office spaces. The "66" sculpture is by Robert Indiana. The "66" is for Philips 66 oil, the Philips Oil Company was founded in Bartlesville, OK.



































The triangles jutting off the building are small balconies for each apartment. I use balcony loosely - there is only enough room for one person to stand out there and no room for any furniture.















The living room on the first floor of our room. The furniture was "inspired" by FLW designs. True to form, it wasn't the most comfortable furniture to sit on.






















These were the stairs of death leading up to the sleeping loft. I have no idea what FLW was thinking. The stairs are at an angle, so when you step on the tread your foot hangs half of the stair and they are very steep.















A view of the copper trim on the sleeping loft. This detail is mirrored on the copper trim on the outside of the building.










The kitchenette in our room. When these were apartments, the kitchen had a range/oven, refrigerator, sink and a dishwasher.

















The FLW designed logo for the Price Company. This logo is inset on every floor of the building in the exact center of the building - the "trunk of the tree." It is one of the few squares you will find in the building. Triangles were the dominant motif at Price Tower.







The view from the outside stairwell leading to the 19th floor. This was the only picture I was allowed to take on the tour.

Part 2 of my trip will have pictures from around Bartlesville, along with places to see and eat.

The Statler Hotel and a would be suitor, Mr. Chiu

D magazine has a nice short article on Richard Chiu - a developer who was apparently interested in buying the Statler Hotel and possible restoring it to its former glory. Mr. Chiu is the president of Warwick International, which owns the Melrose Hotel. There is an interesting twist to this story, Mr. Chiu had already been an owner of the Statler before.

Read the article here.

Renzo Piano addition to the Kimbell Musuem revealed

Last week the Kimbell Art Museum in Ft. Worth unveiled Renzo Piano's proposed design for the new addition to the museum.

Listen to KERA's discussion of the addition with Renzo Piano here.

See more pictures of the proposed design here.

Image from www.kimbellart.org.

Visual Acoustics on the Sundance Channel

Starting tonight on the Sundance Channel you can see the documentary, Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman. This is a must see for fans of MCM art and architecture. It very likely when you think of MCM homes, especially the Case Study homes, a Shulman image comes to mind.

Read about the film and the filmmaker, Eric Bricker here.

Look up showings here.

Weekend Plans

1. Cocktails and Comedy: Tonight catch the Drinking Made Easy Comedy Tour with Zane Lamprey of the Three Sheets TV show at House of Blues.

2. If you would rather brave the rain: this weekend is the Wildflower Music and Arts Festival. Revisit the 90s with Toad the Wet Sprocket, Cowboy Mouth, B-52s and Candlebox.

3. Sunday, travel over to Lakewood for LakeWoodstock. There will be live music, artists, and a bike ride starting at Main Street Garden and ending in the Lakewood Village.

Weekend Plans

1. City Arts Festival is this weekend. They have moved from the Arts District to Fair Park. There will be dancing, live music, and artists selling their wares.

2. Friday night flights at Nana at the Anatole. 20 bucks gets you a flight of bubbly paired with cuisine from the restaurant. A great way to start the evening.

3. Celebrate Mother's Day on Swiss Ave. touring the homes of Swiss Ave. at the Swiss Ave. Home Tour.

Patio Sessions at AT&T Performing Arts Center

Starting this Thursday the AT&T Performing Arts Center will have free evening concerts in Sammons Park. The Sammons Park is between the Wyly Theater and the Winspear Opera House. The concerts start at 5:30pm every Thursday starting May 6 and will run through June. You will be able to bring your own food, but alcoholic drinks will need to be purchased from concessionaires on site.

The lineup so far is:

May 6: Mi Son, Mi Son, Mi Son

May 13: Salim Nourallah

May 20: Radiant

May 27: Rockestra and Anaphase

June 3: Doug Burr

June 10: Seryn

White Rock Home Tour - the only thing you should be doing this weekend

I usually give you a few options for the weekend. However, if you read this blog you are likely a lover of mid century modern architecture and furniture. Therefore, the only thing on your to-do list this weekend should be the White Rock Home Tour. There will be 4 MCM homes plus a new-built modern "green" home.

See pictures of the tour homes and where to get tickets here.

Dallas MCM designation in our future?

I am way, way late talking about this, but Unfair Park back in March had a brief item about creating a MCM designation for homes in Dallas. The Landmark Commission has seen an uptick in MCM homeowners wanting designation, the problem is there are no guidelines to designate what homes would come under an MCM designation. Sure, we don't want to include every single run of the mill rancher, but there are definitely MCM homes worth saving. Go to the White Rock Home Tour this weekend and you will see what I am talking about.

Read the full post here. Here's hoping that like minded lovers of MCM will band together to try to save these examples of American architecture with as much gusto as others have devoted to saving the homes in the Swiss Ave. area.

What would a renovation of the Statler Hilton look like?

I've talked about the Statler Hilton Hotel before here and here. The Statler Hilton, also known as the Dallas Grand Hotel is a MCM hotel that borders the newly opened Main Street Gardens. Robert Wilonsky on the Dallas Observer's Unfair Park has followed the story of the Statler and the attempts to reopen the hotel or convert it to lofts, apartments, etc. As part of the marketing for Main Street Gardens, Merriman Associates created this nice video about what a potential renovation of the Statler could look like.

Weekend Plans

1. Saturday from 2-8pm is the DADA gallery walk. Details here. You will be able to park and walk to many of the galleries on the tour.

2. Sunday is the One Arts Plaza Block Party - restaurants at One Art Plaza will be having culinary demonstrations, there will be artisans selling their wares, and dancers at Dance for the Planet next door at Booker T. Washington High School.

3. If music is more your thing, head over to Sons of Hermann Hall on Saturday night to hear Salim Nourallah and the Roamin' Hitchhikers (a.k.a. Old 97s).

MCM House For Sale - Or please buy this so I don't have to.

9745 Wisterwood - This house is just a few streets away from me in White Rock Valley North. It is a fully renovated 1600 sqft, 3 bedroom, 2 bath Ju-Nel home. If this had been on the market a few years ago, I would have bought it in a heartbeat. However, if anyone wants to buy my MCM so I can buy this one, email me. Learn more about Ju-Nel homes here and see more pictures of this home here.





Picture from www.ebby.com.

48 Nights at Sylvan Thirty

Tomorrow night The Architect and I will be dining at the pop-up restaurant 48 Nights at Sylvan Thirty. What is this pop-up restaurant thingy? From the horse's mouth:

"Dallas area restaurateurs Chris Jeffers, Chris Zielke and Tim Byres, together with the Mass Care Task Force (American Red Cross Dallas Area Chapter, North Texas Food Bank, The Salvation Army DFW Metroplex Area Command, and Volunteer Center of North Texas), present 48 nights @ SYLVAN | THIRTY; proceeds from which will benefit the efforts of the Mass Care Task Force to increase North Texas’ level of disaster preparedness."

The restaurant is open 2 nights a week (Mondays and Tuesdays) with a different chef and menu each week. There are 2 seatings each night with 30 guests at each seating. 75 bucks gets you valet parking, a pre-dinner reception with wine/beer and appetizers, and a price fixe dinner menu. If you want wine/beer with dinner that is BYOB. A few days before the event, a menu will be mailed to you.

Find out more about 48 nights and make reservations here. 48 nights closes in July.

Online research tools for MCM furniture

So you have bought some swanky MCM furniture and you want to learn more about the cool cat who designed it - where to go? Here are some useful links that give you a bit of insight into the designers and manufacturers that may have designed that piece you just picked up.

Lushpad - Besides being the all things MCM version of Craigslist, this site also have useful articles about MCM designers and manufacturers. Currently there are articles about how an Eames fiberglass chair is made and famous designer couples.

Herman Miller and Knoll - You can read designer biographies about new modern designers in addition to MCM designers such as Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson, and Alvar Aalto.

Wright 20 - Not only is there some serious eye candy on this sight, but if you are in the market for higher end and rare MCM pieces (think FLW, one of a kinds, etc.) this is a good place to see what the going rates are for pieces in the market. You can search their past auctions and purchase catalogs for upcoming auctions.

Apartment Therapy - Occasionally, they will have in depth posts about particular designers and trends. The best way to find these posts is to search by the designer or manufacturer's name in the search box.

1st Dibs - this mega site of all things furniture, design, and jewelry has multitudes of articles with designers, artists and the like. Search the "Creators" tab to view retrospectives on a selection of designers.

Google and Wikipedia - Basic I know, but you can usually find some basic information or links to blogs and forums that may be discussing that chair you are looking for or that credenza you just picked up.

What was that about the First Day of Spring?

Yesterday was the first day of Spring. Apparently, Texas didn't get the memo, because this is what I woke up to today. Enjoy the snow while it lasts! I'll be inside with a cup of coffee and my snuggie.

Weekend Plans

1. Friday night, fall down the rabbit hole at Late Nights at the Dallas Museum of Art. There will be showings of the 1933 film version of Alice in Wonderland and the Disney cartoon version. There will also be karaoke, live theater, and lots of events for the kids.

2. Be a Pinball Wizard this weekend at the Texas Pinball Festival in Grapevine.

3. Saturday is the Dallas Center for Architecture's monthly architecture tour of the Dallas Arts District.

4. BONUS: Take your pooch down to Deep Ellum's Pup Crawl. 30 bucks gets you a t-shirt, complimentary appetizers, and drink specials. After party is at the Doublewide. Proceeds benefit the Deep Ellum Bark Park.

Eames Font from House Industries

House Industries, a typographic mecca, just released the Eames Century Font. This font was developed in collaboration with the Eames family and consists not only fonts but design objects. In addition to the typeface collection, House Industries also has silk screen prints and these Eames House blocks, which are hella cool. See the collection here.

Weekend Plans-Festival Edition

1. Put your green on and head down to Fair Park for the North Texas Irish Festival. There will be celtic music, beer, irish step dancing, beer, storytelling, beer, vendors selling all matter of irish and celtic wares, and this thing called beer. Come see your blogger kick up her heels with Shandon School of Irish Dance. We dance at 5pm on Saturday and 1pm on Sunday.

2. Friday is the beginning of Savor Dallas this weekend. Friday night take the wine stroll through the Dallas Arts District from 5-8pm.

3. I know the last few weeks have not felt like Spring will ever get here, but one of the first signs of Spring is Dallas Blooms at the Dallas Arbortetum. The entrance plaza is a Lake|Flato design.

Free Green Who's Next Competition

If you recall, last year The Architect placed 3rd in Free Green's design competition to design a house in Greensburg, KS.

The Architect is now competing in Free Green's Who's Next Competition. This competition was to design a house for an empty nester couple or a young couple looking for a starter home. The Architect chose to design for the starter home couple - which is the house you see to your left.

In this competition, there will be public voting which counts for 50% of the judging criteria. So head over here to view the project and vote! Enter "daniel day" into the search by designer box in the upper right corner of the screen to see his page. Initial public voting is open from March 2 - 17, 2010.

Pecha Kucha in Dallas

The first Pecha Kucha night in Dallas will be this Sunday at Smoke (next to the Belmont Hotel) from 7:20-9:20pm.

So what is Pecha Kucha you say? From the website:

"PechaKucha Night was devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. It has turned into a massive celebration, with events happening in hundreds of cities around the world, inspiring creatives worldwide. Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of "chit chat", it rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It's a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace."

The presenters at the inaugural meeting will be Allison V. Smith, Catherine Horsey, Brian Gibb, Cherie Boettcher, David Goltl, and Bang Dang (the best name ever!). This should be an interesting and diverse set of presentations.

Directions and additional information here.

Weekend Plans

This weekend brings us cheese, bananas, and the mumbled ramblings of a goth/heavy metal superstar.

1. Friday night is fondue night at Scardello Artisan Cheese on Oak Lawn. 35 bucks gets you fondue, salad, dessert and a glass of sparkling wine. Cheese, dessert and wine - three of my favorite things.

2. No it is not a sign of the apocalypse if you see a bunch of people dressed up in banana costumes roving around Uptown. Apparently, Saturday is World Banana Day. Whisky Tango Foxtrot. I know it is supposed to raise money to fight world hunger (proceeds go to N. Texas Food Bank), but couldn't they have picked a better colored and better tasting fruit? Like an orange or a mango or a strawberry. Since this is Uptown, this World Banana Day festivity is also a pub crawl.

3. Maybe Ozzy Osbourne will bite the head off a bat and use the blood to sign his name for you at his book signing at the Barnes & Noble by Northpark. He will be signing copies of his autobiography "I am Ozzy" at 1pm on Saturday.

Weekend Plans

1. On Friday night celebrate the Year of the Tiger at the Crow Collection of Asian Art's Chinese New Year celebration. It's a shame this won't be playing at celebration.

2. On Saturday Uptown is having yet another pub crawl - no snuggies required this time. This pub crawl benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

3. Before doing your grocery shopping at Central Market, pop on over to the Modern Ruin art exhibition at the never opened WaMu next to Krispy Kreme.

Upcoming Events

Some noteworthy art architecture events to put on your calendar:

1. February 20-21, 2010 - Modern Ruin: a two-day exhibition organized by Christina Rees and Thomas Feulmer--will open in the unused and never opened Washington Mutual bank on the corner of Greenville Ave. and Lovers Ln. The two-day exhibition will be the only use for the million-dollar building before the demolition process begins the following week. Opening reception is Saturday February 20 at 8pm.

2. April 3, 2010 - Museum Express Tour by Dallas Art News: 8 museums in one day via the T, TRE, and DART. Cost is $50 per person and includes lunch.

3. April 23, 2010 - Panel discussion and exhibit on JuNel homes: Come listen to a discussion about these gems of MCM design and see an exhibit including artifacts and drawings of homes. This panel discussion kicks off the White Rock Home Tour.

What color are you?

Take the True Value Color Quiz to find out what color matches your personality. Personally, I think the quiz is a bit off because the quiz said yellow was the color of my personality. I loathe the color yellow. I get violent about the color yellow and many things in nature that are yellow - like bananas. Seriously, there probably is a psychological condition that explains my intense loathing of the color yellow, oh and for bananas too.

Anyways, find out if the color you hate is the color of your personality here.

IKEA Name Generator

Ever wanted to know what your name would be if you were a piece of IKEA furniture? Go here to find out.

Weekend Plans

1. Lots of art happenings going on this weekend: Grand re-opening of the Dallas Contemporary, the Dallas Art Fair, and Art in the District.

2. If art isn't your thing there is the Snuggie Pub Crawl on Saturday in Uptown. $30,000.00 millionaires in snuggies should make for some awesome people watching.

3. If you want less clothes this weekend, head on over to the Dallas Burlesque Festival at the Texas Theater.

4. Or just stay home and watch that football game instead.

Upcoming Events

1. Dallas' answer to Art Basel, the Dallas Art Fair is February 5-7, 2010 at the F.I.G. Galleries from as far away as London will be showing works during the weekend. Additionally, there will a be a satellite art fair - Art in the District at the Fairmont Hotel the same weekend.

2. The Dallas Contemporary will finally have their grand opening in their new location on Saturday, February 6, 2010. The opening exhibit will be James Gilbert's Warnings & Instructions.

3. Todd Camplin's MFA Thesis Show will also be on Saturday, February 6, 2010 at the 500X Gallery. We picked up one of his drawings at the D Art Slam last year.

4. The White Rock Home Tour will be April 24-25, 2010. Always lots of great MCM homes on this tour. Note: site is not updated yet with new dates. Or head down to Austin for Art City Austin the same weekend. Two of my favorite artists, Stephanie Strange and Michael O'Brien are usually at this show.

Weekend Plans

1. Dallas Comic Con - Actors from Twilight (sorry no Edward Cullen), Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars, and the original Batman TV show will be there.

2. Bark n Beer at the Flying Saucer - flights of dog themed beer benefit Operation Kindness.

3. Grease Aid - The City of Dallas made Murray Street Coffee Shop in Deep Ellum buy a grease trap. The coffee shop is having a benefit to help pay for the costs. There will be live music and libations.

4. Alfred Hitchcock's movie The 39 Steps has been made into a comedic play.

Woodall Rodgers Deck Park Video

The Park from kristin gray on Vimeo.

Here is a video rendering of what the Woodall Rodgers Deck Park will potentially look like upon completion. You can also view a live web cam of the construction here.

H/T to Unfair Park.

Listen to the new Midlake album before it hits stores

NPR's All Songs Considered is streaming Midlake's upcoming album "The Courage of Others." The album drops next Tuesday, February 2nd.

Listen to "The Courage of Others" here. Also, you can buy a limited 7in vinyl single for the song "Acts of Man" at Good Records.

Preservation Dallas Fair Park Tour

On Saturday January, 23, 2010, Preservation Dallas will be leading a guided tour of Fair Park. The tour will highlight the park's recent restoration projects including the water show and Esplanade Fountain, the Tenor and Contralto sculptures and the Butterfly House at the Texas Discovery Gardens. Fair Park is home to one of the largest collections of Art Deco architecture in the US. It should be a fun and informative morning.

Sign up for the tour here.

Upcoming Events from Dallas Center for Architecture

I was perusing the Dallas CFA website this week and noticed the following upcoming events:

1. January 16: Arts District Walking Tour. These tours happen on the first and third Saturdays of every month. RSVP here.

2. Dallas Architecture Forum Lectures. This month is Gordon Gill.

3. DFCA will also be hosting a monthly film series. List of movies here.

Ken Roberts Architectural Delineation Competition Winners Announced

The Dallas AIA sponsors this annual competition for architectural drawing. You will be able to see finalists at the Dallas Center for Architecture soon.

Image shown is by Steve Quevedo from UT Arlington.

See the rest of the winners and finalists here.

Turquoise is the 2010 color of the year

Pantone has announced the color of the year and it is Pantone 15-5519 - aka Turquoise!

From the Pantone press release:

Turquoise is "an inviting, luminous hue, as the color of the year for 2010. Combining the serene qualities of blue and the invigorating aspects of green, Turquoise evokes thoughts of soothing, tropical waters and a languorous, effective escape from the everyday troubles of the world, while at the same time restoring our sense of wellbeing."

Image from www.pantone.com