Posts Tagged ‘merzproject’

July 07, 2010

A Conversation with Chris Nieto about his Young Firm, merzproject

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet I sat down with Chris Nieto, the founding principal of merzproject along with Joe Herzog, last week at one of their projects, Giant Coffee. merzproject is a premier up and coming architecture firm in the Valley. They’ve done some excellent projects such as the After Hours Gallery, The Galleries at Turney and the Show Low Public Library. Many of the people who work at merzproject went to school with me, Joe Herzog, Jonah Busick and Alison Rainey to name a few. This firm is one of a handful in town that’s producing exciting, cutting edge work. I very much…

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…

June 02, 2010

The After Hours Building – Well Intentioned, Well Executed

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet What I love about the After Hours building is that it is sustainable because it is well-designed. In fact, it’s an example that good design and green design are actually synonymous. The merzproject is the architecture firm behind this building and they deserve a great deal of credit for getting lots of little things right. They deserve even more credit for getting the BIG things right though. But before I go any further I want to give the owners of After Hours, Russ Haan and Mike Oleskow the bulk of the credit for this incredible project. Without their vision…