2014 Begins and The Fracking Debate continues...

Ellen Dunham-Jones: Retrofitting suburbia | Video on TED.com

I am not a fan of encouraging anyone to move to the suburbs but at the same time I don't think they are going away any time soon. With the price of gas and climate change it will happen eventually, even then though I don't think people will go rushing out of them in the thousands.

However, in the mean time Ellen Dunham offers some interesting ideas about improving them as they are......watch here
Ellen Dunham-Jones: Retrofitting suburbia | Video on TED.com

Grimshaw's latest

Grimshaw's latest project to go forward the Miami Science Museum. See more here.

Study: Blacks, Latinos Hardest Hit by Foreclosures

I heard about this study that came out today on the radio and it just further reminded me that racism is alive and well in the US.

Study: Blacks, Latinos Hardest Hit by Foreclosures

A new study says people of color have been disproportionately affected by the nation’s foreclosure crisis. According to the Center for Responsible Lending, recent African American and Latino home-loan borrowers were much more likely to be foreclosed on than recent white borrowers. Overall, a black family is 76 percent more likely, and a Latino family is 71 percent more likely, to lose their home to foreclosure than a white family. The likelihood of foreclosure compared to white homeowners even grows the higher the income bracket, with the highest-paid blacks and Latinos 81 percent and 94 percent more likely to face foreclosure than whites with similar incomes.

ALSOP SPARCH - new on the sidebar

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.

"Con educacion todo se puede" - With education, everything is possible

A great campaign slogan from Antanus Mockus one of the 2010 Colombian presidential candidates. So simple but says so much.

Reflections of the Broken Obelisk

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.

Rothko Chapel

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.

Lo + Mo

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 Love these photos

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.

The work of architect Antón García Abril

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

Apocalypse Now: Scenes from the Industrialized Wasteland

"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.

Back in the city

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.

Left vs Right

an interesting graphic, click on image to enlarge

The Fun Theory . com

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