jnieves's picture

The Lick List

Ever feel so compelled by the experience of a building that you felt the need to lick it just to have a more complete experience of it? Me neither- that is until I read "The Eyes of the skin" by Juhani Pallasamaa. This book convinced me to begin the practice of licking buildings that were of a particular caliber. For example, some of the buildings my tongue has had the privilege of tasting include but are not limited to; the Pantheon, The Duomo in Florence, Jubilee Church, the Campanile in Venice and many more. With every stroke of the tongue another building would join "The Lick List". With...
matthewwallace's picture

Briscoe Western Art Museum Grand Opening

Come join the fun October 26 & 27, 2013. Yours truly David "I can paint like Remington" Lake and Matt "Sure you can David" Wallace will be presenting the design of the building. Time TBD.
margaretsledge's picture

Park(ing) Day San Antonio

Tomorrow, September 20, is Park(ing) Day 2013! Park(ing) Day is an annual open-source event in which ordinary citizens transform single parking spaces into urban parks for a day. The activity is designed to call attention to the need for more urban open space, and to generate debate about how public space is allocated, managed, and used. The first park(ing) park was created in 2005 by the San Francisco design firm Rebar (led in part by my talented former classmates from UC Berkeley, Blaine Merker and John Bela). The movement has spread rapidly, and you can now find these temporary urban oases...
jsmith's picture

Photo Timeline - Austin Central Library

Large civic projects like the Austin Central Library take a great deal of time and effort by a large number of team members. The process, much like we intend the the final product to be, is a mix of the best of digital and analog technologies available. In the library's design process we have utilized many different technologies; from clay models and sketchbooks, to Building Information Models and complex digital energy and daylight models. Here is a photo timeline from clay model to excavation. A brief overview of the project can be found below the photo timeline. 2009-10-20 - early clay...
graceboudewyns's picture

Better Know an L|F Project: Yee Residence

Conceived as a modern farm complex in northern California, the Yee Residence is designed to maximize both views and breezes. Structures are independent of the main barn to accentuate a farm-like complex. Different buildings, and a dry stacked-stone wall, form a sanctuary within a landscape of rolling hills and oak groves. Answers by Karla Greer The Story: Sarah and Jason Yee started this process before they were married by purchasing an incredible site in the Santa Lucia Preserve, a 20,000 acre development located in Carmel Valley, California. The Preserve is managed by Santa Lucia...
sierrahaight's picture

BETTER KNOW AN LF'ER : HELLEN AWINO

"Awino. A name that has something to do with an umbilical cord wrapped around somebody’s neck at birth, but not at her neck… maybe it was her dad’s? It’s hard to keep all her stories straight, but I sure did enjoy listening to them while working with her over the last 8 months. I knew as soon as I started giving her random tasks that Hellen with two l’s was smart and talented enough to tackled anything that I threw her way, but what really made her a pleasure to work with was her wonderful attitude and glowing smile that we all came to love. Oh, and since David’s on vacation I’ll go ahead and...
sierrahaight's picture

Meet Our Newest Project Director

We're happy to introduce our newest Project Director, Michael Britt. Before joining us in San Antonio, Michael worked in Charlottesville where he also attended the University of Virginia for his M.Arch. He was a project manager for EcoMod, affordable and sustainable housing, which was recently featured in Architect Magazine . He has been told that he has "crazy sharp" vision (his ophthalmologist's official diagnosis), which means he can see twice as far as the normal person. This has apparently come in handy when he goes bird watching. Some other random tidbits about Michael: His spirit...
philipchan's picture

Capturing Reality with New Technology

I have been playing with a new technology that could change how we visualize our built environment. It is called ReCap Photo . This is an online image based modeling tool that is currently offered by Autodesk for free. The idea is very simple. You take a series of images around an object or a building, upload the images via the website, using the cloud computing technology and the images will be converted to a 3 dimensional object for you. I found a flag pole in front of a historical building near my office and use it as a test subject. I took a series of images with my phone camera around...
coreysquire's picture

How much sun do you block when you block 80% of the Sun?

Ever since Herzog & De Meuron’s De Yong Museum and Thom Mayne’s San Francisco Federal Building, perforated sheet metal has been all the rage. There are plenty of strong opinions on the aesthetic merits of perforated metal, but we are more interested in looking at it from a performance standpoint. Specifically, we wanted to know the effects of a perforated metal canopy on the comfort of those sitting below. To answer the question we set up an experiment in the parking lot behind the office. Our in-house data collector, Maite Bermudez, placed two sheets of metal, one 20% perforated and one...
jsmith's picture

El Cosmico 2013

The yearly Trans-Pecos Festival of Music + Love is coming to El Cosmico in Marfa Thursday September 12 to Sunday September 15, 2013. I have had the pleasure of attending the 2006 and 2007 events. The weekend is filled with new friends, good food, great music, minimalist art, and nomadic dwellings. Whether you are staying in a tent, a yurt, a teepee or one of the refurbished travel trailers you are bound to have a good time.

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