At the McNay

Posted on October 19, 2010 1:26 pm

I attended the annual Texas Society of Architects convention in San Antonio last week, and took part in a tour of museums, which included the recently completed Stieren Center at the McNay. (BTW, I designed the identity for the McNay years ago, and I’m delighted to see that it’s still in use.) The Stieren is a minimalist glass pavilion designed by the noted French architect Jean-Paul Viguier – his first museum project in the U.S. Complementing the exhibit Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism, was an installation of paintings and photographs from the McNay’s collection of postwar and contemporary art. As the tour group rounded a corner, everyone was knocked out (“Can I take it home!?”) by an extraordinary, immense chromogenic diptych of an Italian beach scene by Massimo Vitali, a new acquisition by the Museum. I’ve seen Vitali’s work published in books and magazines, but never before in person. Ethereal, yet richly detailed. Of this world, or some other? Documentary, or surreal?

PKN Austin #9 on November 18

Posted on August 11, 2010 9:12 am

After a break, we’ll present the 9th edition of Pecha Kucha Night Austin on Thursday November 18 – venue to be announced. As many of you know, we showcase extraordinary emerging and mature Austin creative talent (architects, artists, photographers, musicians, filmmakers, etc&etc), usually to an audience of several hundred. For the upcoming edition we will for the first time feature an out-of-town guest. Jason Roberts is a Dallas-based community organizer, citizen urban designer, and middle-of-the-night guerilla bike lane creator. His work has been showcased at TEDx Washington DC and GOOD magazine. Yes, there are things that Austin can learn from Dallas. Take nine minutes and check out this video:

The Better Block video:

Happy Summer. Be cool.

Posted on July 26, 2010 11:32 am

RIP

Posted on July 20, 2010 2:00 pm

I was in a cemetery in Waco, Texas the other day and, quite by accident, came upon the grave of Poodie Locke, the well-known and much-loved road manager for Willie Nelson for over 30 years, and the proprietor of Poodie’s Hilltop, a honky-tonk in Spicewood, just west of Austin. Poodie died last year of a heart attack at the age of 56. His tombstone caught my eye from across the way, with it’s orange stone and super-sized Texas Longhorn emblem.

Headstones have been an interest of mine for many years, and I have profound and sweet (and sad) memories of times at Mission Park Cemetery in San Antonio.

Should a headstone make a personal statement? Where’s the line between good taste and silliness? How does one, or one’s family, distill a life into several words? With the decline of traditional stone-carving craftsmanship, what can reasonably be designed and produced that stands up to the best that’s been done in the past? What role can, or should, technology and digital iconography play in headstone design? (I’m thinking none, but maybe I need to get over it.)

The headstone of Paul Rand, one of the 20th century’s great designers, is composed of two stone cubes, one atop the other and turned 45 degrees. The lower stone is inscribed in Hebrew, and the lighter upper stone has Rand’s carved name and years of birth and death filling one face of the cube. The effect is modern yet timeless, solid yet dynamic, simple yet rather grand.

Sir John Soane (1753-1837) was one of England’s great architects. His eccentric and atmospheric home in London is open to the public, and is a totally cool museum experience. (Go at night for a candlelight tour.) While small, every nook is cram-packed with the art and antiquities he obsessively collected throughout his life. There’s a basement room Soane designed for Padre Giovanni, an imaginary monk. (Yes.) And there’s a crypt for his wife’s lap dog. The exquisitely simple inscription on the crypt reads, “Alas, poor Fanny.”

Unimark

Posted on July 6, 2010 9:35 am

Although I was educated as an architect, I was aware of and interested in graphic design from my high school days. My first job with an architecture firm was a summer internship with the Houston office of Wilson, Morris, Crain and Anderson, where I spent a lot of time press-typing Helvetica Medium from Letraset sheets. I became quite proficient, with first-rate kerning skills that still serve me well. My first job out of college was in the graphics department at Caudill Rowlett Scott (CRS, later CRSS), the innovative Houston-based firm. By this time the Italian architect and designer Massimo Vignelli had become a hero of mine, and a kind of bridge for me as I moved from architecture to graphic design. Seemingly effortlessly, but with extraordinary discipline, he designed interiors, products, furniture, signage, and print graphics. Unimark, the firm he founded with several others in 1965, was the first truly international design firm, with eleven offices in five countries. Unimark’s spectacular successes, failures, and lessons have been documented in an engaging monograph published last Fall.

Modern 50

Posted on July 6, 2010 9:17 am

Uncommon Objects is a very cool store. Located on South Congress in Austin, it’s a great place to kill an hour or so, and it’s a shortlist stop for out-of-towners, whether your elderly aunt from Tyler, or your hipster buddy from LA. We recently bought a vintage quilt there that looks like it was made by an insane, minimalist, dizzy, Savile Row, Sol Lewitt type. You just never know what you’ll suddenly find to be irresistable.

o so mnml

Posted on June 23, 2010 9:07 am

I tend to like my architecture minimal. Black, white, gray… you know. Websites too. And so, I take special note of the exquisitely simple and elegant sites of my favorite architects. Below are links to three. Please let me know what I’ve missed.

http://www.johnpawson.com/
http://www.davidchipperfield.com/
http://maxlevyarchitect.com/