Posts Tagged ‘architecture’

Tweet Build it and they will come, right? For architects, all solutions to urban, suburban, and even rural problems lie in the built environment. Just look at Le Corbusier’s Plan Voisin, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Broadacre City and even Paolo Soleri’s Arcology. These are all visions for cities that are supposed to be more egalitarian, more accessible and in Soleri’s case, more in harmony with nature. But what if the solution to the world’s problems isn’t to build something new? Or even to mess with what’s already there? Maybe the solution is to make room, not build something. Maybe the solution…

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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…

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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,…

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Tweet I kept hearing of Pietro Belluschi as a name of an architect I need to know about ever since I moved to Portland. To give you an idea of how prominent and successful this Portland architect became over his fifty years in practice, here is a list of impressive commissions he got: the Equitable Building in Portland, the Portland Art Museum, the Bank of America World Headquarters in San Francisco, and the Julliard School and the Lincoln Center in New York. I came upon one of his buildings for the first time on a Biking About Architecture tour by…

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October 07, 2013

Steel and Glass Skyscrapers Are Invading Vancouver

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Architecture school at Arizona State University from 1993 to 2001 (when I was an undergraduate and graduate student there) had a very clear leaning towards the modern aesthetic. Not only did I learn about structures, architectural history and cladding systems, I learned that modernism is good and everything else isn’t really that good. So the modern aesthetic, with clean minimalist lines using materials like glass, steel and concrete was driven into our heads as the thing to aspire to. Le Corbusier, Mies Van der Rohe, and Walter Gropius were lionized. Frank Lloyd Wright, even though he was so influential…

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September 07, 2012

My Speech: From Architect to Community Developer

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Yesterday, I gave a talk to the School of Geographic Sciences and Urban Planning Brown Bag Lunch Series. The talk is about how I went from being an architect to becoming a community developer. I thought I’d share it with you: When I was 8 years old I named my 2 goldfish Gorbechev and Reagan. I remember being an avid watcher of the news back then, shortly after my family emigrated here from Mozambique. I was mesmerized by the Iran Contra Affair, learning about places like Nicaragua and people like Oliver North and John Pointdexter. This was my first…

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Tweet One of the most onerous but beneficial parts of architecture school is presenting your work to a panel of guests, faculty and the rest of your classmates. I remember these reviews being the source of great anxiety before hand and sometimes angst and sometimes joy afterwards. Having to put yourself out there was an emotionally harrowing experience, but one that taught us how to learn from criticism and input for the rest of our careers. Last week Friday I was a guest reviewer at ASU for a fourth year architecture class, taught by one of my former teachers, Scott…

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Tweet This week I am posting Will Bruder’s excellent essay for the 98th Arizona Town Hall meeting, “Capitalizing on Arizona’s Arts and Culture”. I’ll be posting the essay in 3 parts. In today’s post, Will defines architecture and the urban fabric. How does Arizona’s unique architectural character add value to the lives of our residents/visitors and how can the urban fabric of its towns and cities help move our state forward in a distinctive and sustainable way? In this essay I will address these questions and suggest ways that we can protect and sustain our already unique heritage while embracing…

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September 14, 2011

Interview with Will Bruder – Third Segment

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Today’s post is the third segment of my interview with architect Will Bruder. If you missed them, make sure to take a look at the first and second segments as well! In today’s segment, Will talks about his vision for transit oriented development in the Valley, what excites him most about our city, the one building type he thinks is in sore need of transformation and finally, who he thinks should be the next mayor of Phoenix. Part VI Will’s vision for transit oriented development: Part VII What excites Will most about Phoenix and the one building type we…

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September 12, 2011

Interview with Will Bruder – First Segment

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet One of the reasons I love being a blogger is that I have an excuse to talk with the people I admire most about things I’ve always wanted to ask them. I had such an opportunity two weeks ago with Will Bruder, a world renown architect who is responsible for such architectural masterpieces as the Burton Barr Library, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, the Henkel Headquarters, and the Vale among a myriad of other projects and project types. In Parts I, II and III of the interview, shown below, we talked about the role of the architect in society,…

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