While still not really a common request by clients in our state and region, design competitions are nonetheless become more prevalent. In recent years, some competitions have been more controversial than others, with such controversy focusing more or less on how they compensate (or rather, didn’t compensate) those competing. With that said, I will cover…
Full admission, the title of this post is stolen from the title of a book I just finished reading a few months ago, written by John-Mark Miravalle. While it detailed aspects of beauty from the traditional fine arts, it also was broad enough to cover the literary and culinary arts, and even touched on the…
Okay – one more Ha! You thought you were rid of me, but I’ve got one more post to get in just under the wire, thanks to something a co-worker shared from earlier this year. I’m a sucker for space architecture, and continuing some thematics from my hosting a couple years ago, I offer the…
Tis the Season! For many, this time of year is about honoring long-lived traditions. For me specifically, it’s about making pumpkin pie (this year I made the crust from scratch), putting up Christmas decorations, Donut Day at school for my kids, and, at some point in the near future, watching the classic Frank Capra film…
No, not the “wealthy” kind of patron… In my family, the month of November kicks off with the Solemnity of All Saints (for which most folks go out the evening before on All Hallows Eve – which you might know better as Halloween). It is a great lead-in to the end of the liturgical year,…
Buildings as Critical Infrastructure Over 14 years ago, the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis collapsed, killing 13 people and injuring hundreds of others. Nearly 5 years ago, a tragedy occurred in downtown Sioux Falls when the Copper Lounge, undergoing renovations, suddenly collapsed. A construction worker died. Earlier this year, a condo in the Miami suburb of…
Think More “NFL” and Less “Tolkien”… For those who don’t play fantasy football, the season is headed into week 11, which means there are some defining moments coming up for who will and won’t make playoffs. At our TSP office league, my head is certainly in it to win it, coming off a 6 win…
An “Argument” For Changing How We Think About Buildings. Cover image: 1920s era graduate level work from Harold Spitznagel, illustrating a classical drawing approach to an elevation While not required reading in my own architectural education, I’ve often interfaced, usually in a joking manner, the analysis of Denise Scott Brown and Robert Venturi of the…
The intersection of money, architecture, and culture. I’d be remiss if I didn’t do some form of “re-share” on the latest bit of architectural news to cross that deep canyon between the what is architecturally news-worthy and what is more universally news-worthy. That, as many of you have likely guessed by now, is the current…
Happy November 4th to all you faithful readers. As has been tradition for a few years now, I have the privilege of hosting this blog for the next month. For me, that usually means a take-over, where you are mercilessly barraged with my musings, random thoughts about design, and my momentary excitements/re-shares from the realm…