Great Spaces, Great Places
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 …
Thanksgiving may look a bit different for us all this year. Some traditions may end up changing as we attempt to social distance even from family. One tradition I’ve loved is seeing the Parade of Lights in Downtown Sioux Falls. Unfortunately that won’t happen this year. However, another tradition I have, passed down from my …
My first job, at the tender age of 14, was working at Hy-Vee as a bagger. One of my (many, so many) bosses there loved to say “Work smarter, not harder.” I remember him reminding me of this once as I was attempting to move a display from one area of the store to another, …
I brought donuts to work this morning. I’m not supposed to because COVID, but that just means I’ll eat them all myself. I’m celebrating, because it is one of my favorite days, as someone who loves obscure and esoteric things. It the feast day of St. Bernward of Hildesheim, a more obscure patron of architects …
Prevalent in several university architecture programs these days is an emphasis on the “narrative” in design. No, this doesn’t mean the technical narrative a mechanical engineer puts together (as enticing as engineering narratives might be). I’m talking about approaching design per the definition of a narrative, that is thinking of a building or project as …