Welcome to Blueprint South Dakota, a blog created by architects in South Dakota to provide a forum for public conversations with citizens, city planners, developers, property owners, designers, public office holders and others. Through these conversations, we want to participate with the public and community leaders in the creation of vibrant, prosperous, beautiful and effective places to live, work and play in South Dakota. Please join us in conversing about design and planning issues in our state.
A Debt to LEGO
When CNN (or any other mainstream news agency) shares something about architecture, I’m always interested. This was an nice “fluffy” find this weekend: https://www.cnn.com/style/article/lego-architecture-design/index.html I’m one of those architects who owe a debt to LEGO for sparking and fostering a curiosity about the built environment from an early age. This sentiment is fairly pervasive in …
AIA National, Where we stand: Climate change
Within the last few years, AIA National worked to continue to “advance our nation’s quality of life and protect the public’s health, safety and welfare,” by creating priorities based on AIA’s legislative goals for the 115th Congress. These priorities were driven from the feedback of thousands of AIA members, and a call to action was …
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When to hire an architect – This Old House
Happy November! The cold temps are truly upon is as we’ve seen this past week, and for me that gets me inwardly focused on my house as I get it buttoned up and ready for winter. Fall is my favorite time to look through one of my favorite magazines – This Old House. Recently I …
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2019 AIA SD Merit Award – Farmhouse Bistro – JLG Architects
For decades, a series of dilapidated farm structures on a rolling farmstead along Spearfish Creek defined quintessential rural Americana. When the original owner demolished the buildings and listed the property for sale, the new owner, Merideth Pangburn-Walker, decided to use the opportunity to create a restaurant that reflected the fondly-remembered old farmstead in both structure …
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2019 AIA SD Honor Award – Passive House – SDSU DoArch
PROCESS: PH01:BRK is the most visible portion of the Passive House Initiative, an ongoing research project by the Department of Architecture at South Dakota State University to deliver high performance homes to the region that are faculty led, student designed, and contractor built. The initiative is seeking to become a regional leader and resource for …
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2019 AIA SD Merit Award – Augustana University Hamre Recital Hall – TSP, Inc.
Augustana University students had performed in the same Kresge Recital Hall for nearly 50 years. Nestled deep within the interior of a large Humanites and Arts building, its color palette evoked the 1970s, and the acoustics scheme was abstract and minimalist. Augustana came to TSP to help them formulate a list of improvements for the …
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BIM Data Utilization – Path of Travel Analyzer
by Iman Ebadi, Stone Group Architects The ongoing question in my mind is: How can BIM help us make educated decisions while designing buildings? I believe this tool is not only capable of performing existing tasks faster and easier, but it also opens doors to new opportunities. Building Information Modeling (BIM) is intended to be …
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2019 AIA SD Merit Award – Northern State University Athletic Pavilion – COOP Architecture
Des Moines, Iowa-based substance architecture and Tim Hickman, AIA, LEED AP, served as juror, considering 28 submitted projects, for the 2019 AIA SD Design Awards. One of the four awards given was for the NSU Athletic Fields & Pavilion project by record architect COOP Architecture. The building’s story is something like this; Northern State University …
We Are All Builders
By Rebel Hurd, Church on the Street There are challenges when working with those living on the margins of society. There are challenges serving those who live on the margins of society. There are challenges walking alongside those struggling with homelessness and poverty on the margins of society. What might it look like, if, instead of looking through a lens of …
EP Friendly Firms – North Central States Region
by Katie Kangas The AIA North Central States Region proudly announced the first round of EP Friendly Firms during the 4th Annual EP Summit on October 5th, 2019. This award recognizes businesses that employ and support emerging professional architects (EPs) through four qualities: Providing Fair Compensation and Benefits Supporting Licensure Investing in Professional Development Actively …
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