Archive for June, 2010

Tweet “Beginning in the early 1930’s, Chicago architects Fred and William Keck began a decade-long investigation of south-facing windows in residences that became the first to be called ‘solar houses’.  During this same period, two internationally reknowned modern architects, Walter Gropius and Marcel Breur, both applied climatic analysis as major design determinants, as evidenced by generous south-facing and properly shaded windows.  Frank Lloyd Wright in his Usonian house designs in Wisconsin and simultaneously in his design of Taliesen West in Arizona, all executed in the late 1930s, ingeniously and appropriately applied climatic design elements to diverse and contrasting climates, giving…

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Tweet This morning, I was running some errands and had to walk between the two banks on Central, just north of Thomas, you know – the Wells Fargo and Bank of America there.  It didn’t make sense to get into my car, drive for 5 seconds, park and go to the next door bank, so I walked. As I walked out onto the sidewalk (thankfully it was in the shade on this 109° summer day) I was struck by the smell of the city, the growl of the cars as they whizzed by and the sight of people waiting for…

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Tweet I was very excited when I got invited to an open house by Sunday Studio a couple of weeks ago to check out the eco-flip they did on McKinley and 16th St. in the Garfield Neighborhood.  The photo of the end product was gorgeous and it intrigued me.  I was duly impressed when I got a tour, it was a house that any downtown resident would be proud to call their home.  When I saw the slide-show of the before and after pictures of the house, I knew we had a visionary on our hands, a person who cared…

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June 23, 2010

Women in Architecture – the Big Gap

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Recently I was approached by a colleague looking to build some LEED homes to be considered for the role of architect.  As I’m busy with other projects right now, I had to decline and he asked me if I could recommend any other women architects. I’m sad to say I was stumped!  Many of the women architects I know are working for large or medium-sized firms and wouldn’t have time to work on this.  A more appropriate fit would be a person that has her own firm and could take this project on for herself.  There are quite a…

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June 22, 2010

The Delightful Design of Giant Coffee

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Giant Coffee is finally open!  It opened in May in fact and it’s a big hit with this coffee shop-loving architectural writer.  I first went to Giant last Sunday to meet friends Aaron Kimberlin and John Jacquemart.  I was absolutely delighted with it at first glance from my car. First, I give Matt Pool, owner of Giant (along with Matt’s Big Breakfast and The Roosevelt) a big thumbs up for locating his coffee shop near McDowell and Central.  This corner, significant because of the Phoenix Art Museum, needed a serious injection of the coolness factor.  And Giant, along with…

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Tweet Today, at the Burton Barr Library, I attended one of the most beautiful events that I’ve ever been to anywhere. The Summer Solstice event at the library celebrates the wonderful moment in the year marking the beginning of summer.  It’s celebrated all over the world in different ways, but in Phoenix, we commemorate it through a wonderous piece of architecture. Wendell Burnette, the architect on the building along with Will Bruder, led the solstice ceremony, explaining how the sun spot on the round skylight hits the candlestick columns at precisely the point where it lights all four sides. At…

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Tweet Last week, I asked how we can make historic preservation a more lucrative option.  Today, Aaron Kimberlin tells us about one way to do just that – Tax Increment Financing: ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Nationally, Tax Increment Financing (“TIF”) is the foremost tool used to stimulate downtown redevelopment and economically jumpstart blighted areas.  Arizona is the only state in the U.S. that does not promote this redevelopment tool.  Let me repeat that… ARIZONA IS THE ONLY STATE IN THE U.S. THAT DOES NOT PROMOTE THIS REDEVELOPMENT TOOL. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the City of Phoenix should follow in the State of…

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Tweet “I think most buildings that are being built are very much focused on managing cost…So you tend to see less creativity in that environment, less exciting designs, less upscale materials being used in them.” Kermit Baker, the CFO of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), says in today’s CNN article, ‘Masterpieces’ on hold, waiting for better times. Once again, the American Insititute of Architects has missed the mark. Just because there isn’t room for fancy new skyscrapers in the American budget doesn’t mean that there is less creative, less exciting design on the horizon.  In fact, I contend that…

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Tweet I met Jerry Ufnal while volunteering for the Greenbuild conference last year.  He was the chair of the media and public relations committee for the local effort behind the national conference.  Jerry is a leader in the green building community and is a wealth of information when it comes to energy efficiency.  He was kind enough to write a guest post about his experience with a new trend in the green building industry,  Home Energy Assessments: ____________________________________________________________________________ Mornings are still pleasant in Phoenix, so I leave the door open in my office for fresh air as I wait for…

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Tweet As Jim McPherson mentioned yesterday, there’s already a criteria in place to evaluate whether a building is worth saving or not, and that is the Phoenix Historic Property Register.  There is also the National Register which is essentially the same but slightly different.  Here’s a look at what they require… The Phoenix Historic Property Register Criteria: The Phoenix Historic Preservation Commission shall evaluate each parcel of property within an area that is included in the application for a demonstrated quality of significance in local, regional, state, or national history, architecture, archaeology, engineering or culture, according to the following criteria:…

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