Posts Tagged ‘architecture’

Yerevan.  Yes, that's right.  The New York times just covered the opening of the Cafesjian Center for the Arts in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.  This US$40 million art center sits on top of the Cascade, an ostentatious yet delightful structure that sums up Armenia.  As true with any nationality, being part Armenian, I had to visit the ancestral homeland, so I've done so, twice.  And that was enough.  But one of the best features about Yerevan is the Cascade:  a decadent, grandiose temple mixing Soviet chic with Art Deco ornaments--and it works! (more...)

As Ottawa's population grows, districts once in decline are making a huge comeback.  Wellington Village, on Ottawa's west end, was considered gritty and lacked shops and services earlier this decade.  Now, this neighborhood, where I've been staying the past week, is thriving.  Shops and restaurants have moved in, homeowners have purchased homes and beautifully refurbished them, and buildings once vacant are now full of lofts and condos.  On Holland and Wellington is one stellar example of high density building using green construction standards:  The Currents. (more...)

Recently a friend and I attended a day-long LEED workshop in Santa Monica.  The instructor was enthusiastic and knowledgeable (in fact, he stayed an extra hour to cover the material with us); the class small, providing a  great opportunity to cram in more information; and the venue was a LEED-certified silver showroom, giving us live examples of more sustainable building and interior design.

In a nutshell, LEED and the US Green Building Council provides a suite of standards for the green building industry.  The Bank of America Tower in New York City is the first Platinum LEED skyscraper; the University of Minnesota’s football stadium opened this year, this first such venue meeting LEED standards.   (more...)

I just watched the IOC announcement giving the 2016 Summer Games to Rio de Janeiro.  For South America, it’s about time the continent hosted such an event.  Rio is an incredible city, and Brazilian culture is infectious.  I’m sure the Cariocas (the local term for Rio residents) will put on quite a party.

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Modular homes.   

That thought leaves most of us shuddering, then snickering about that dream double-wide trailer—hey, live large and maybe you could have a triple wide!  Years ago, a dear friend of mine was struggling to buy a home in her beloved, but unaffordable, Santa Cruz County.  She dealt with a real estate agent who waxed eloquently about modular homes, leading my friend to grumble, “It’s just a fancy word for a trailer home.  Yuck!”  Thankfully, she and her husband were able to buy a nice townhouse near downtown Santa Cruz.

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Detroit has become the butt of countless jokes and to many in Michigan and beyond, it's a national embarrassment.  The automobile industry has collapsed, crime is rampant, and hard numerical evidence is demonstrated by the fact that San Jose recently passed Detroit as the tenth largest US city.  Finally, the Motor City is one big festering eyesore, in part because of the foreclosure crisis that has left many of its residents to abandon their homes.

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I just returned from a quick trip to the Bay Area, and on Friday morning, as my mother was driving me down I-280 from the CA-85 interchange, a gateway to Cupertino, I suddenly saw a stunning white cable bridge spanning the highway.  It reminded me of similar bridges I’ve seen around the world, from Buenos Aires to Yosu, Korea.  It was such a nice change from the bland concrete walkways you see almost everywhere else.  I was smitten. (more...)

Say “green” or “environment” and we immediately thinking about solar, cute harp seals, big oil, activists, or that bio-fueled Mercedes.  But one way I think about the environment is aesthetics:  yes, humans can have an awful effect on our land, water, and air . . . but also on our surroundings.  I blanch at the awful strip malls that have marred Los Angeles, I hated the Soviet-style apartment buildings in Korea, and when I was a kid, I couldn’t believe they painted my mother’s high school in Fallon, Nevada, bright lime green. (more...)

We lost a Los Angeles icon this past Wednesday night. Julius Sherman spent decades photographing and documenting the Los Angeles that once was . . . and which we’re in danger of completely losing.

Shulman brought such 20th-century architects as Frank Lloyd Wright and Richard Neutra to life. This mid-century crowd designed its buildings as part of their surrounding landscape instead of scarring it; made what may look mundane magnificent; and with Shulman’s work, created boisterous images of what at first looked boring. (more...)