I am just now learning more about the firm ALSOP SPARCH after a fellow architect / friend started working there. I knew them mostly from the images of the above building (Sharp Center for Design) which was highly published when it was first completed. Check out all their world wide work here.
A great campaign slogan from Antanus Mockus one of the 2010 Colombian presidential candidates. So simple but says so much.
Though the Rothko Chapel had never been one of my top Houston buildings the Broken Obelisk in front of the chapel had always been one of my favorite sculptures here. It's such a wonderful piece, sited well and on top of that it's dedicated to Martin Luther King, Jr.
For some reason I took a lot of photos of the reflections of the sculpture on the water today. It's funny how some of them almost look like I used a photoshop filter because of the texture of the rocks on the pond surface. Here is a quick collage of what I took..click to enlarge.
In keeping with the vein of my last post of trying to be a little less New York centric :) and appreciative of Houston I visited our Rothko Chapel today. (some day I will have time to change the layout too but not now)
I decided to visit after a fellow architect said it was his favorite building in Houston! I had not remembered it so fondly but it had been several years since I went so I though it better to reserve my harsh judgment and rebuttal until I visit it again with fresh eyes.
It turns out my friend was some what correct :) and although I would not say it was my "favorite" building in Houston it certainly is a special place. I am no architectural critic so I will leave it at that, suffice to say I would recommend everyone spend some time there.
No photos allowed inside so I can't take credit for this photo but did take a few of the sculpture outside the chapel...see next post for those.
It's been a while since I wrote something but I am feeling more these days that though the activities and scenes of my daily life are not the same as life in NYC I still want to find a way to appreciate Houston and life here.
One of the best parts of living in Houston is my beautiful niece and nephew. I took these pictures of them a few weeks ago while eating some ice cream before bed :)
I recently saw these on the Modernica blog and thought they were awesome. I have to say I don't miss the brutal cold of NYC so much but it is really beautiful when it snows and everyone goes out in the streets to enjoy it.
New on the sidebar....I recently heard him lecture at the Houston Museum of Fine Art. Great lecturer and great projects..crazy scale :)
Antón García-Abril website here
"The pictures, which often look Photoshopped but aren't, show the harsh collision of untouched land and man-made artificiality to make a point about the modern world and man's continuous attempt to accommodate increasing populations."I ran into this great link to the following post on Archinect this morning. Great photos, click here to See more
"The pictures, which often look Photoshopped but aren't, show the harsh collision of untouched land and man-made artificiality to make a point about the modern world and man's continuous attempt to accommodate increasing populations.
A few weeks ago I was very excited to have the chance to travel back to New York for an amazing vacation and time with friends. I have not had the time to really scale all my photos down and create a proper post here.
I did however, create two lengthy albums for my office blog and they can be seen at the following two links. There is also a bit more descriptive text.
All random NY images here
Architecture - a selection of new buildings in NYC
Below are just a few random snapshots of my time.
Check out this site dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behavior for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better.
TheFunTheory.com
"How can so many people be hungry when farmers produce enough food, at least in theory, to feed every person on the planet?
The answers are complex and involve everything from American farm politics and African corruption to war, poverty, climate change and drought, which is now the single most common cause of food shortages on the planet."
A few excerpts from this great article....So Much Food. So Much Hunger (click here to read more)
This new stadium by Japanese architect Toyo Ito was featured in the New York Times today. I am still trying to figure out what I like about it so much, perhaps it's as the author of the article says it has a more "human" environment than is typically found in a stadium.
click here for more
City dwellers have long cultivated pots of tomatoes on top of their buildings. But farming in the sky is a fairly recent development in the green roof movement, in which owners have been encouraged to replace blacktop with plants, often just carpets of succulents, to cut down on storm runoff, insulate buildings and moderate urban heat.
Urban Farming...Read more here
On the streets of Amsterdam last week, major changes were afoot. The first of 1,200 households installed an energy-saving system aimed at cutting electricity costs. Others were given fresh access to financing from Dutch banks ING and Rabobank to buy everything from energy-saving light bulbs to ultra-efficient roof insulation. And on Utrechtsestraat, a major shopping avenue in the center of the Dutch capital, solar-powered panels on local bus stops were installed to transform the road into a "Climate Street" piloting clean technology.
Check out more on Amsterdam's latest climate initiatives here!
