Archive for the ‘architecture’ Category

August 21, 2014

The Ranch Mine does Infill the Right Way in a Historic Phoenix Neighborhood with the LINK House

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet “We need to look at infill as a piece of an existing puzzle rather than trying to create your own identity within an existing neighborhood and disregarding what’s around you. A good infill project is one that takes in what’s existing and also adds to it,” says Cavin Costello, co-founder and designer at The Ranch Mine. Costello and his partner Claire Costello prove these principles with their new infill residential project for developer Evan Boxwell of Boxwell Southwest, the LINK house, in the historic Pierson Place neighborhood in uptown Phoenix. The LINK house got its name because it was…

July 25, 2014

New Summer Exhibition and Opening at Frank Lloyd Wright’s the Gordon House

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet The Gordon House, located in Silverton, Oregon, is the only Frank Lloyd Wright designed house in Oregon and the only Wright building in the Pacific Northwest open to the public. It was built in 1964 for Evelyn and Conrad Gordon in Wilsonville, OR and was saved from demolition in 2001 when it was disassembled and moved to Silverton, Oregon. Set in a serene environment next to the Oregon Garden, this Wright gem is a beautiful and unique home to look at inside and out. Guided tours of the house are available everyday except Tuesdays and start at noon, 1pm…

July 17, 2014

Why Some Modernist Homes Make Bad Neighbors

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet I grew up as an architect loving modernism and its clean lines, its spartan rectilinear shapes and its honesty of materials. But now that I’ve gotten some distance from my modernism-centric education, I see how modernism can go wrong, especially on a residential scale in established neighborhoods. As I’ve written emphatically before, I don’t think the solution is to copy historic homes, but to create a new contemporary architecture that reflects the materials, sensibilities and values of today while still honoring timeless and universal principles of being neighborhood and people oriented. Historic homes celebrated the front porch, for example,…

July 02, 2014

My 10 Favorite Things to See and Do When I Visit Phoenix

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet I noticed that what I like to do when I visit Phoenix are not the same things I liked to do when I lived here. I appreciate a whole different set of attractions as a visitor that I completely took for granted when I lived here. Now that I live in the Pacific Northwest, I can see and appreciate the things that make Phoenix uniquely Phoenix – the things that draw from its Latino and Native American culture, the scorching Mars-like climate and landscape, and the history of the place. When I lived in Phoenix, I was most interested…

July 01, 2014

Did We Learn Anything from the Kevin Rose Almost Demolition of the Willamette Heights Historic House?

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Today’s post is by contributing writer Walt Lockley: Earlier this week Blooming Rock covered the recent controversy here Portland as Kevin Rose, a well-known wealthy sort of person from out of town (you can’t see me but I’m silently indicating another state south of here), purchased a nice old house here. A house in Northwest Portland built in 1892. The Montague House. Kevin Rose bought it on February 28th and then recently announced that he wanted to tear it down. No, actually, he announced that he was going to tear it down. Thus Rose kicked the hornet’s nest. Taz…

June 26, 2014

21 Reasons Portland’s Director Park is One of the Most Successful Public Spaces in the World

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Director Park, located between Yamhill and Taylor on Park, is one of the Park Blocks, a series of consecutive parks in downtown Portland that originated in 1848. The Park Blocks ended up being divided into the South Park Blocks and the North Park Blocks. Director Park is a way to connect the two sets. Believe it or not, Director Park narrowly escaped the fate of becoming a 12-story parking garage in 1995. Thankfully, more visionary leaders, like then mayor Neil Goldschmidt and developer Tom Moyer, interceded and the block became a public park instead. And what a good thing…

June 24, 2014

Reaction Against the Possible Kevin Rose Demolition of Historic Northwest Portland Home Goes Overboard

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Emotions have been running high regarding the purchase and now possible demolition of an 1892 historic home in the Willamette Heights neighborhood in Northwest Portland. Neighbors and concerned Portlanders are enraged that someone could buy this historically significant house merely to demolish it and build something new on the site. Kevin Rose, a Google executive and millionaire, and his wife bought the house on February 28th for $1.3 million. The house was one of the first in the neighborhood, built in 1892 by the Montague family, which was prominent in early 20th century legal circles. The house clearly has historic…