Archive for the ‘Design’ Category

 

Metamorphosis

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

When we saw this abandoned gas station in the idyllic town of Boerne, TX it was a bit like love at first sight. I have a natural attraction to old buildings, and I have a passion for Adaptive Reuse projects. This oppportunity brings them both together nicely.

Gas Station-before

The design proposal converts the existing structure into a multi-use facility for office or retail space. We gave special attention to detailing in an effort to preserve and reinforce the original character of the building, while also addressing issues of solar orientation, shading and street presence.

Gas Station-after

Stairs

Sunday, October 25th, 2009

Solar Decathlon

Monday, October 19th, 2009

Yesterday marked the end of the 2009 Solar Decathlon.  The event “joins 20 college and university teams in a competition to design, build, and operate the most attractive and energy-efficient solar-powered house.”  The Solar Decathlon is an educational project of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).  It takes place each year on the national mall in Washington D.C.  You can learn more about the event at the  Solar Decathlon’s site.

We’re obliged to share this year’s winning design by Team Germany:

SolDec-Germany

I was disappointed to see that the University of Texas didn’t enter this year.  Since we couldn’t root for our alma mater, we were behind Cornell’s cor-ten steel silos.  No prize for them this year, but still a nice design in our book.

SolDec-Cornell

Architecture By the Bottle

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

Wine Rack

I love the idea of taking an object or a piece of history and using those items or ideas to develop details of a design or concept. The wine rack above is a detail from Circa restaurant in Memphis, TN designed by 3SIXO architects. The modular design serves as both screens, creating privacy for diners as well as storage for wine bottles. Simple idea, we need storage for our wine, we need privacy for our patrons. Two birds, one stone. They could have just as easily designed privacy walls and wine storage independent of each other. I think the combining of the two creates a new beauty, an added layer.

blatz_03

Johnsen Schmaling Architects used the history of the Blatz brewery company as inspiration for it’s conversion into a mixed-use building. These pivoting walls of beer bottles from the old brewery act as both door and lighting element.