Architecture: Down the Street and Across the World

Architecture can be found in every area of the globe, from your house in Brookings, South Dakota, to the Cathedral Church of St. Nicholas in Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK. Traveling can enhance your perspective of a place and become a learning experience… I realized that we can learn from architecture anywhere; whether it be from a building down the street or across the world.

Input Needed : SD Architect Collects Data About Architecture & Social Distancing

A South Dakota architect in Yankton, Sarah Mannes Homstad is conducting a study during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study is in response to the evolving needs of our communities and questions about what it means, architecturally-speaking, to inhabit our world today. Mannes Homstad asked herself the following questions:  What is changing about the way we …

The Future of the Workplace: Life After COVID-19

While the silver lining in no way relieves the pain and suffering of those directly and indirectly affected by this global pandemic, it does pose some questions of what this means for the 9-5 desk jobs. Will we see another paradigm shift in office designs? Will home buyers evaluate prospective homes based on the office or den? Will South Dakota see a return to rural lifestyles as living in the city is no longer a requirement to stay connected? The future holds many unknowns, but if anything is certain, it is that life will go on. We will pick up the pieces and learn from the events that necessitated a sudden separation.

What about the rural?

U.S. Census Bureau defines rural as any population, housing, or territory NOT in an urban area. So by its definition, rural is not a self-defined condition, but it is the absence of the urban. Then it goes forward to define urbanized areas as having a population of 50,000 or more. The green area on the map above (US Census) represents all the area in the US that falls under the classification of rural based on this definition.

Design Solutions for Winter Blues

While the groundhog gave us hope that Spring will come early this year, I found myself struggling with a lack of motivation lately; in part, because of the season. In South Dakota, we’ve grown accustomed to bearing cold dark winters and short days. It’s not just you: twenty percent of Americans experience either the winter blues or Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). That being said, we are not forced to submit to the elements and anxiously wait for warmer temps and brighter days to come. There are strategies to combat SAD, and we can incorporate technologies into the spaces we retreat to in the winter.

Call to Action: “Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again”?

It was 8:49 on Tuesday evening when an email notification came across my phone. I was watching a movie but decided I’d see what the email had to say. It was from a colleague regarding an article in the Architectural Record. The article by Cathleen McGuigan (editor-in-chief of Architectural Record) was about a preliminary draft of an executive order rewriting the Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture (a document written by the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan and issued in 1962 that mandates Federal architecture standards). According to Architectural Record, the new Guiding Principles will be rewritten and will be called “Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again.”

Avera Addiction Care Center – Architect as Owner Representative

Within the last two weeks, Avera has started receiving patients at the newly constructed 32-bed inpatient addiction care facility located near the Avera Specialty Hospital on 69th St. and Louise Ave. in Sioux Falls. This 2-building facility has been completed in a time of need as our communities start to more openly discuss and address …