Go Rafa!

The Selby makes me happy

I am not a minimalist.  Maybe in my architecture - and architectural tastes-  I am in a way.  But show me a home where there is not a shred of clutter or evidence that someone actually LIVES there, and I will show you what instantaneous hives look like on me.  Throughout my life I have struggled with having just a little bit too much in the realm of "stuff".  I like my stuff!  And I like to see it in my surroundings.  This does make for sometimes too much STUFF, and it's sometimes hard to clean around said stuff.  But I'm getting better, and some recent movements in the design world have made me feel more at home with my personal style around the house.  Finally people are realizing that real people (at least most of us) don't live in "Dwell"-like abodes with nary a pillow out of place (if pillows are even allowed, I'm not sure) and never a smile on the dwellers face.  For example.
Right now Todd Selby's online photo project and book are illustrating this recent trend, and in the process they are helping me to make a connection.  Most of Mr. Selby's subjects are creative types, and I've heard that he doesn't tell them when he's coming to shoot so that the homes and studios are not "cleaned up" for him.  For me this illustrates that more than any other group, creative folk tend to live in a little more clutter than the rest of us.  I'm not talking about people being hoarders, I'm just talking about having things around you that inspire.  And his photos of these creative people in their slightly cluttered homes do inspire:

More here.

RIP Rue

That was one fantastic woman.

Hot sports figure of the week

Ladies and gentlemen:  I give you Kirk.
Sadly, he's taken.  But you can always dream!

(Also, props to Ed's mom Fran looking lovely in the background)

Shanghai-UK Seed Cathedral

I so wish I could see this in person!!  More great images and info here.

Overdue Swoopy 60's Architecture Goodness

I've been meaning to post about an exciting new archive on the web.  The University of Westminster has put up an online archive of all things Archigram, a most groovy 60's architecture/graphics/thought collective.  Archigram consisted of Warren Chalk, Peter Cook (no, not the douche architect that married Christy Brinkley, this would be the British architect), Dennis Crompton, David Greene, Ron Herron, and Michael Webb.

Between 1961 and 1974 the group produced numerous building projects, theoretical projects. and a magazine.  But what I was always most intrigued with when I first discovered them (and now) was their super groovy architectural graphics.

The whole archive can be found here.

Space Ladies

I love this photo of four women astronauts - currently floating 200 miles above the earth.  Via Jezebel (and NASA)

SANAA wins the Pritzker Prize

More pretty pictures here,

RIP

Free again....

Working for tips

We architects and designers (mainly architects) like to moan and groan about how little we make. It's like a reflexive past time - out of things to talk about? Complain about the state of the profession! So here we go - food for thought.
You can think about how the architect gets paid in a couple of basic ways.

The basic private model: The architect (including all of the sub-consultants) usually make a fee that is somewhat relative to the overall construction budget. In the last 20 years, this has been greatly eroded. Making 7, 6, or even lower- 4 percent of the construction cost is common these days. One way of looking at this is, in the overall budget, you will pay your designer - the person responsible for the actual WHAT and HOW of what you're building - less than sales tax (in WA state 6.5% for construction). Ouch.

The basic public model: The architect will charge direct labor for the time it will take to do the work set out by the agency. On top of this we are allowed to charge an audited (real) overhead rate, plus fee (our profit). The hourly labor is kept low because in the end, the over-all number still is weighed against construction cost. So you can't pay your architects more than what most others are paying because that will drive you up in the percent of construction cost region. But if you just look at the fee - the amount of profit you are allowed to make, which varies by agency - you see that we are held to low profit margins - 10 percent is good, lately agencies have been requesting no more than 7.5%.

I like to think about what other professions think is reasonable. If you go to a restaurant, you are expected to TIP - this is on top of an hourly wage for services built into the menu price - 15-20 percent average. But if you are building a building, you only pay your server 7 or less percent.

No wonder we're disgruntled. Enough project management and sour grapes for today.

Look over here! A pretty building!

On Communication

So last night, I went to see some of the Charles and Ray Eames films at the NW Film Forum. I was so very intrigued by the flow diagram used as the basis for the idea. The diagram in the movie is a version of Claude Shannon's Mathematical Diagram of Communication:


Claude Shannon was a very interesting and incredible guy - most of the theories expounded on in the Eames movie are just riffs on Shannon's original idea. Of course, with the Eames' flair, it's even more engaging. But it makes me want to read more about Claude Shannon and his theories. Maybe this is next on the reading list....

Enough about Architecture

Time for a hot sports break. Sidney Crosby.

Architects work for free, why shouldn't everyone?

I love this video. It so clearly illustrates how the world would look if eveyone got treated like a designer....

2010 Young Architect Awards

I wonder if they would have recognized more than 2 women (out of 10 architects) if at least one person on the jury would have been a woman?

2010 Young Architect Awards

Skyscraper of the year

by architect Jeanne Gang, of Chicago. She's great. What I love other than how amazing this building looks, is that the forms on the facade that create the residential decks were designed using wind modeling in order to lessen the effect of high Chicago winds on the facade. The design allowed the structural engineers to be able to forego the usually required mass-dampening system.

Form, function, ah, Louis Sullivan would be proud....

Architects and film

Here's a list of films where a main character is an architect. 45 films listed. 3 women architects. Thats' pretty bad.

Drawing Restraint

I've always been a fan of Matthew Barney. But I still find this really funny...

I only wish this were really him.

Hot Canadian Pop Supergroup

Sloan. Had the pleasure of seeing them live last night at the Crocodile. If you ever get a chance to see them, you should. They do not disappoint!

Product whore

I love this thing from these people.

Wayne's super swoopy house

It shouldn't come as a surprise that Wayne Coyne and his wife Michelle would remodel their house (with the help of OKC's Fitzimmons Architects) into the most fantastic, futuristic, hive-like playground. I love it. Dream clients in my opinion! See all of the photos here.

Gone with the Wind

Here's an interesting development in wind-power technology - I wonder why this hasn't been thought of before?

Tennis Hotness

One word: yes. Ladies and Gentlemen, Fernando Verdasco.

I can't believe they called it the ipad

And already there are things not to like.

Stull

A link from Archinect to a cool site called Artificial Owl (devoted to abandoned buildings, vehicles, shipwrecks, etc.) got me thinking about Stull. Supposedly one of the "six gateways to hell" it is truly a creepy place. The ruins of the church there used to have a huge lightening-struck tree growing up right through the center making the whole entrance to hell thing more salable.