Posts Tagged ‘blooming rock’

April 20, 2011

At Stake: The Magic of Lux Coffee Bar

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet As you might know, Lux Coffee Bar is my “office” and hang out. I go there almost every morning to work and some times to relax. There are lots of great coffee shops in Central Phoenix, but I choose Lux as my home away from home because it has a certain unique energy to it. It’s not clean or pristine, it’s usually crowded and there isn’t much space to sit, if you’re lucky enough to find a seat. But this particular set of circumstances gives Lux a je ne sais quois appeal, not unlike a messy, busy, crowded city….

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Tweet A few weeks ago, on March 31, I had the pleasure of speaking with Diane Jacobs, one of the principals behind a small firm in Downtown Phoenix called Holly Street Studio Architects that focuses on public work. Diane’s firm has done some remarkable public projects such as McCormick Ranch Railroad Park, Maryvale Poolhouse and the Core Collection at the Heard Museum.  Just recently, the firm was awarded ASU’s new Student Engagement Center tenant improvement project at the historic Post Office in Downtown. Below is part I of my video interview with Diane. Diane on the importance of officing out…

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Tweet There’s something remarkable happening at the Lexington Hotel, a place that has sat rather unremarkably on our landscape for quite some time now. Recently, Habitat Metro got control of it and has big plans to revitalize it into a boutique hotel with a focus on the arts community. The Lexington hotel is located at an important crux point of our city.  It is between the Roosevelt neighborhood and the midtown museum area that includes the Phoenix Art Museum, Burton Barr and Margaret Hance Park.  If done well, it has the potential to act as a connector, catalyst and activator…

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Tweet A lot of times designers and architects tend to dream big and forget about the budget.  And important part of making realistic plans is to put numbers to the design as early in the game as possible, so you know you’re not way off track.  So at Castaway House, now that we have solidified a schematic design for the house, both interior, exterior and landscape, we are getting bids from contractors.  There are two reasons to do this early in the game rather then when the drawings are complete and into the city for permit review, which is the…

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Tweet Today I’m posting the final part of my video interview with Eddie Jones.  If you missed the first and second part, go back and take a look.  In today’s post, Eddie talks about 3 aspects he considers that make good architecture.  And lastly, he talks about what every young prospective or already in the field architect should know. Part V: Eddie on what makes good architecture   Part VI: Eddie’s advice to up and coming architects

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Tweet Last week, when I interviewed architect Marlene Imirzian (I’ll be posting the interview next week), she said that every project has a public aspect to it, even private residences.  What she meant was that even houses have a way to address the street, have a front yard that the public can see, and has a front door for the public to knock on.  Good architecture addresses the public face of the house with intention. At the Castaway House, we have layers of space that lead from the public to the private.  The diagram below, created by Cavin, illustrates what…

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Tweet Today’s post is the second third of my interview with Phoenix architect Eddie Jones.  I promised that I would post the entire second half today, but there is too much goodness and I don’t want you to miss out on any of it. So I’ll post the rest of the interview in a special edition of the blog this Thursday.  Tomorrow I’ll give you an update on the Castaway House. If you missed the first two parts of this interview, go back and watch here. Below, find out why Eddie says that being named a key figure in the…

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Tweet Last week I had the honor of interviewing one of my all-time favorite architects in the Valley, one of my heroes, Eddie Jones.  Below are video segments of the first half of our interview.  I hope you’ll be as inspired  and thrilled as I was when you watch. Part I: Architects that have had the most influence on Eddie:   Part II: Eddie on how his work responds to the local context and what sustainability means to him:   Stay tuned for the second half of my interview with Eddie tomorrow!  

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Tweet In this update: I. Claire walks us through the multiple considerations that go into every decision II.The idea of a triple bottom line approach III. An illustration of the stack ventilation concept created by Cavin I. Claire at the Site   II. The Triple Bottom Line Approach Claire talked about the multiple benefits of keeping the existing wood roof structure of this 1950s house and actually exposing it as a vaulted ceiling in the remodel.  We try to use the triple bottom line to make most of the decisions at Castaway House.  In the case of the existing roof…

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