En route from Denver to Los Angeles, a stop in Las Vegas is required.
As an architect, I avoided going to Vegas for many years, disgusted by the falseness and kitsch. However, after coming here a year ago on a similar voyage and seeing the place first hand, I have revised my opinion of the place. It still has the cheese I feared, but it also has a sense of service, quality and depth I never would have expected. The landscape around the city, which I have barely explored, reminds me so much of my beloved Tucson is ripe for architectural exploration. Whether in town or in the surrounding hills, the challenge and promise of making serious architecture here is potently enticing. Who’s game to gamble?
Scott
Posted from WordPress for Android
We at Maison ORION recently jettisoned our Blackberry’s and picked up some Samsung’s running Android (upgrading to the Monocle branded BB phone was too expensive anyway.)
The new phone will allow for blogs to be posted on the go so look for more exciting things at this location soon. Bringing everything back to Los Angeles will generate enough ideas to fill many blog posts.
Thanks for sticking in with us. 2010 has been great so far.
Scott MB Gustafson
Posted from WordPress for Android
Catching up on a backlog of Podcasts, this episode stood out as something worth sharing. KCRW’s Design and Architecture show had a focus on the need for shade along our streets, playgrounds and places of work, and also covered some important information on sunscreen products that aren’t safe or effective. Also, host Frances Anderton talks with local architect Lorcan O’herlihy about his firm’s work designing new shaded bus stops for Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus system. All important issues for summertime. Check out the show here:
http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/de/de100615let_there_be_shade
Also, I thought I would share another blog with a good post about the need for shade in desert architecture. The Native Americans who dwelt in the desert knew it, but the Europeans were too excited to bask in the sun and pretend they were still lounging around the Mediterranean.
http://lawrencewcheek.com/articles/?p=35
Living and working in Tucson, Arizona for five years after graduating from Architecture school was an important and formative period for me (Scott M B Gustafson) in my development as an architect who values design that works well with its location.
Published July 11, 2010 – 10:44 am
Categories: Media
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Inspired by the near square proportions of the Polaroid format, I cropped photos from my mobile phone into a Polaroid photo frame I found on the internet. These photos were taken in the last few months between Kansas City, MO and Los Angeles, CA.
The Spring 2010 Campaign is inspired by the cultural diversity of Los Angeles. As we have been spending a lot of time in LA this year, the ethnic layers of this city continue to amaze. Neighborhoods, cuisines, languages, lifestyles, artistic expression – all reflecting the rich pageant of human experience. For us, Los Angeles is the most exciting city in the United States and the things we learn here influence the way we view the rest of America – continually diversifying, expanding, becoming more connected, more beautiful, more humane.
We came across this today on the Moleskine website.
The initiative starts with a question asked by Matteo Schubert of Alterstudio Partners, Milano: the hand of the architect, the sketch, is it still useful in a CAD era?
More than 100 internationally recognized architects answered by sending to FAI hundreds of hand drawn works, revealing that contrary to popular belief, the hand is faster than the computer. Now an exhibition organized by FAI- Fondo Ambiente Italiano called “The Hand of the Architect” with 378 autographed drawings were given to FAI as a tribute to Piero Portaluppi, the Milanese architect who designed Villa Necchi Campiglio, beautifully restored and opened to the public by FAI.
Here is the link to the page on the Moleskine site.
Here are some sketches from about this time last year when I started working on the concept design for the Cloud Horse Art Institute. I use an unlined, pocket sized Reporter Notebook by Moleskine. It is indeed pocket sized, and the spine on the short side allows sketching in landscape format, which I find to be more comfortable. I also like to use a smaller notebook so I can keep one sketch or idea per page. It is easier to remember what it was I was trying to capture when I look back through the notebooks months and years later. I have a library of my sketchbooks going back over 12 years. I can look back through ideas, good and bad, that were important to me at various times in my development as a designer.
See the Moleskine notebook here. I have also started using the watercolor version. See my drawing for Cielo Morado under the Work section of the main website.
Here are some images from the 2009 outdoor advertising campaign in Denver.
About a month ago I had the good fortune to be able to visit the Library at Phillips Exeter Academy by Louis Kahn. Located in Exeter, NH, it is a part of the country I don’t spend much time in. Luckily I was in the area for the baptism of the daughter of some good friends. One of them, the husband, went to high school at Exeter and was of course very familiar with the building.
This is the third Louis Kahn designed building that I have been to; the others being the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth and the Salk Insitute in La Jolla. Going to Exeter was a great experience, but I was only able to look around the building for about an hour. I’ve been to the Salk Institute 3 times and the Kimbell over ten, so the duration I had to make detailed observation on this “new” building was extremely short. I can say though that the interior space is every bit as amazing as I expected it to be, and the building has a very comfortable feeling to it. It is a great building that still feels somewhat humble. The fact that the students at the school probably hear all the time that it is really famous and yet still just consider it their campus library and use it every day makes it better. Maybe though nobody tells them what a rare treat they have to spend time with a masterpiece in so many seasons, lights and moods throughout the course of their high school years. One could possibly learn more from that alone than all they teach you in architecture school.
I didn’t bring my good digital camera, so these photos were taken on my BlackBerry. I hope to visit this building again soon and give it the proper attention it deserves.
Scott
About the building.
http://www.exeter.edu/libraries/4513_4522.aspx
Published March 1, 2010 – 5:35 pm
Categories: News
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Hello. This blog still doesn’t have the layout and colors I want it to have so it matches the rest of the website, but I shouldn’t let my lack of CSS knowledge keep me from utilizing this soapbox in the website. Expect more updates in 2010.
For now, think about the Marketecture image. Comments and questions related to the commodification of the environment are welcome.
Thanks,
Scott M B Gustafson
Published February 26, 2010 – 12:35 pm
Categories: News
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