Archive for December, 2011

December 21, 2011

My First Semester in Architecture School…

by: Jennifer Gunther

Tweet Today’s post is a glimpse into the world of a first year architecture student by contributing writer Jennifer Gunther. Jennifer Gunther is a design management sophomore at Arizona State University. She has written for NAU’s The Lumberjack and ASU’s own State Press, as well as for Modern Phoenix. Though she may prefer writing to drawing, architecture school will probably always loom over her future. If I could describe my first semester of architecture school in one word, I would use the adjective that was on everyone’s lips in the studio:  intense. The unique lessons of craftsmanship and spatial relationship…

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December 19, 2011

What is D.U.R.T.?

by: Kirby Hoyt

Tweet Today’s post is by landscape architect and urban planner Kirby Hoyt, someone I met recently and immediately hit it off with. Kirby, along with his partner Rob Izer, just opened shop for their company Edge Industries on Grand Avenue. They call their studio the Funk Lab and it’s a place where great ideas are born, incubated and implemented and so I try to hang out there as much possible. Kirby Hoyt, founder of EDGE Industries, holds a Master of Design Studies from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and a Bachelors of Landscape Architecture degree from Iowa State University….

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Tweet Plans for a road diet on Central between Camelback and Bethany Home have been in the works since March and it’s finally going to happen next month! Yes it’s just a tiny stretch of road in the larger scheme of things, but in reality this is a huge step towards shifting the mindset here in Phoenix away from car-oriented urban design towards Complete Streets. According to the Maricopa Association of Governments Complete Streets Guide, complete streets “ensure that facilities for bicycles, pedestrians and transit are recognized as integral to a properly designed and functioning street. They are as important…

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December 13, 2011

Fact: Cars are very Convenient on Rainy Days

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet I’ve hit a wall with the car-free lifestyle. I’m exhausted and cold. Today, a cold and rainy day, with appointments on Maryland and 16th Street and at the Funk Lab down on Grand Avenue, I couldn’t face the reality of taking two buses, the light rail and riding my bike in this weather. I suppose it’s a cumulative fatigue. Over the past month or so, on our car-free stint, everything has taken twice as long and has been at least twice as taxing. I’m tired of having to lift my heavy bike hurriedly onto the bike rack in the…

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Tweet Last week on Thursday Will Bruder won top honors at the 2011 Residential Architect Leadership Awards Luncheon held at the Biltmore Resort & Spa as part of the Reinvention Conference sponsored by Hanley Wood. There were three awards for residential architecture given out at the luncheon, one for Rising Star, which was given to a firm out of New Haven, Connecticut called Gray Organschi, one for Top Firm, awarded to Marlon Blackwell and Meryati Johari Blackwell from Fayetteville, Arkansas, and the most prestigious, the Hall of Fame award given to our very own Phoenix-based Will Bruder + Partners. The…

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December 07, 2011

Downtown Phoenix’s Best Block

by: Will Novak

Tweet Today’s post is by contributing writer, Will Novak:   Inspired by the 26 Blocks project, I thought today I’d write a review of the best urban block in Phoenix: the block bounded by Central Ave, 1st Ave, Monroe and Van Buren. For the purposes of this article I’m going to refer to the block as “the Schoolhouse Block” because it was home to the first schoolhouse in Phoenix, an adobe structure built in 1874. The schoolhouse block is not only beautiful, but it has a mixture of uses that would make Jane Jacobs’ heart swoon. If we ever want…

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December 05, 2011

Bicycles and Chickens: Tour de Coops 2011

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet “It is better to travel well than to arrive.” – Buddha This Saturday was the third annual Tour de Coops, an event put on by the Valley Permaculture Alliance showcasing cool chicken coops throughout Phoenix. In years past, people visited the coops with their cars. But this year, urban farmer and architect Bryan White, one of the main organizers of the event, had the insight to cluster the coops within Central Phoenix and added a bicycle component to the tour. I was asked to head the bicycle effort. Knowing that there was no way I could do it by…

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