BUILD Blog

BUILD is heading to San Francisco this weekend and we’re doing our best to try and keep up with such a phenomenal town. The number of new restaurants alone has entirely overwhelmed the Modern List field research team. But here goes; the latest and greatest that should be on your radar. Many, many more on The Modern List San Francisco.

HOTELS
St. Regis, 125 Third Street, 415.284.4000

LUNCH
Best-O-Burger, 493 Pine Str (@ Belden Alley), 415.986.3808

Mixt Greens, FiDi/SoMa, 560 Mission Street, 415.543-2505

DINNER
Anchor & Hope, SOMA, 83 Minna St (between 2nd St & Shaw Aly), 415.501.9100

Conduit, 280 Valencia Str (btwn 14th & Brosnan Str), 415.552.5200 by Natoma Architects

Myth, 470 Pacific Str, 415.677.8986

Nopa, 560 Divasadero Str, 415.864.8643

Terzo, 3011 Steiner Str, 415.441.3200

Serpentine, 2495 3rd Str, 415.252.2000

Slow Club, 2501 Mariposa Str, 415.241.9390

also…

Zuppa, 564 Fourth Str, 415.777.5900

Chez Papa, Potrero Hill, 1401 18th St, 415.824.8210

S.P.Q.R., Pacific Heights, 1911 Fillmore Str, 415.771.7779

DRINKS
Supperclub, 657 Harrison Str, 415.348.0900

Vessel, 85 Campton Pl, 415.433.8585

Press Club, Union Square, SOMA, 20 Yerba Buena Lane, 415.494.2000

The Ambassador, 673 Str (btwn Jones & Leavenworth), 415.563.8192

also… Cav Wine Bar, 1666 Market St, 415.437.1770

MUSEUMS
California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, 415.321.8000, by Renzo Piano

BUILDINGS
San Francisco International TerminaL by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; Del Campo & Maru Architects; Michael Willis Architects, 2000

[Photo by Tim Hursley]

1234 Howard Str by Natoma Architects

Soma House, 3027 25th Street by Jim Jennings Architecture

Sunset Idea House in the Mission by John Lum

[Photo from www.jetsongreen.com]

GALLERIES
Long Now Foundation, Fort Mason Center, Landmark Building A, 415.561.6582

Robert Koch Gallery, 49 Geary Str 5th Floor, 415.421.0122

It’s time to get a few newly discovered and recently remembered items up on the blog. Last Friday evening the University of Washington held their annual Headlines Exhibit which highlights dozens of architectural projects that will soon be in construction. It’s a rare view at the design process and a great way to keep a pulse on what is coming Seattle’s way. It only runs for two weeks so get over to the UW and check it out. There are many more recommendations for Seattle at The Modern List and, as always, give us a shout if we missed anything.

2008 UW Headlines Exhibit from May 9 to May 25
College of Architecture and Urban Planning, 3949 15th Ave NE, 224 Gould Hall

[crappy photo by BUILD llc]
To you smaller architectural practices out there – this annual exhibit needs you. When first started, the exhibit was a good spectrum of northwest firms doing local work. Gradually the exhibit is getting consumed by the big sweat-shop design firms doing high rise projects in distant places. It’s losin its soul – so cowboy up next year.

Stumptown Coffee on 1st Hill, 1115 12th Ave

Café Press on 1st Hill, 1117 12th Ave, 206.709.7674
Some nice industrial interior design and a rack of cool magazines at the front.

Poco Wine Room, 1408 east Pine Str, 206.322.9463 by Department of Design

Apartment building in lower Queen Anne, Denny & Warren Ave N
We don’t know who’s behind this simple but handsome building - kudos to the developer and architect for doing something lasting and sharp.

[Photo by BUILD llc]

Fix design showroom, 570 1st Ave S, 206.838.3838
Newly remodeled, they rep cabinets, plumbing fixtures and all the cool stuff that goes along.

Joule restaurant, 1913 N 45th Str, 206.632.1913

[Photo by The Seattle PI]

Carnitech Headquarters at Pier 91 by Patano + Hafermann Architects
Some of you may have noticed this clean, modern piece of architecture going up between Queen Anne and Magnolia. Nice job to Chris and Laura of Studio PH on the completion.

[Photo from www.studioph.com]

Standard Home 1108 Pike Street, 206.464.0850
Beautifully restored Scandinavian and mid-century modern furniture.

Seva Home, 900 Lenora Street #116, 206.323.9920

If Georgetown is one thing- it’s cool, it’s so cool it doesn’t care what anybody thinks about it. Located approximately 3 miles south of downtown, Georgetown is Seattle’s Brooklyn. It’s got the proximity to keep urban but the distance to elude the touristimos. While compact, Georgetown has everything a Seattleite needs: cost-effective real estate, pizza, and good coffee.

The history of Georgetown is quite amazing, but this isn’t a history lesson – it’s a few tips to what’s hot and modern. Here’s what the BUILD field research team came up with:

Great Stuff is our new favorite furnishing shop in town. Owner Kirk Albert has created a brilliant and inspiring shop of restored and re-appropriated antique and mid-century modern objects. From sculpture to dynamic lighting to machines that hold flowers, Great Stuff has some of that fascinating urban grit that your pad needs.
Great Stuff, vintage furnishings, 5517 Airport Way S, 206.931.6208

All your caffeine needs can be taken care of at All City Coffee. The clean, open interiors are finished with mid-century modern fixtures and the place is filled with coolios – faces aglow at their laptops.
All City Coffee, 1205 South Vale

George can take care of your well appointed stationary needs and miscellaneous household/office items.
George, 5633 airport way south, 206.763.8100

A trip to Georgetown is not complete without paying homage to the Hat n’ Boots Gas Station. Built in 1955 at its original location of 6800 Corson Avenue S on the corner of E Marginal Way the station was closed in 1988 and later moved to Oxbow Park. Its current state shows off the incredible steel skeletal system of the 44 foot diameter cowboy hat, the 22 foot high cowboy boot bathrooms remain in good shape despite of bit of graffiti. More history on the Hat n’ Boots Gas Station can be found here.
Hat n’ Boots Gas Station, Oxbow Park, 6400 Corson Ave S


There are a couple of noteworthy residential projects in Georgetown worth taking a peek at:
6604 Corson Ave S Lofts by Pb Elemental

6708 Corson Ave S

A hot, modern line of scooters lines the curb outside of Big People Scooters.
Big People Scooters, 5951 Airport Way S, 206.763.0160

The Georgetown Brewing Company has been hard at work with their brews. Prized by Seattleites, they supply the city with Manny’s Pale Ale, Roger’s Pilsner, and the difficult to find Bob’s Brown Ale. Visiting the brewery allows some nice viewpoints of the surrounding brick industrial architecture as well.
Georgetown Brewing Company, 5840 Airport Way S, 206.766.8055

Although we didn’t make it here, the Georgetown Power Plant Museum seems like it would be well worth the time. As their website states: “The mission of the Georgetown Powerplant Museum is to preserve, maintain, and operate the Georgetown Steam Plant as a dynamic museum and teaching facility.” Which is great, cause we all like a bit of power once and a while.
Georgetown Power Plant Museum, 6605 13th Avenue S, 206.763.2542

Stellar Pizza sells by the slice
Stellar Pizza, 5513 AIRPORT WAY S, 206 763 1660

Quite possibly the hottest piece of modern design in the northwest is housed at Boeing field, just south of Georgetown. While technically the Museum of Flight resides in Tukwila, Georgetown makes for a convenient diving board – and let’s face it we’re not going to be covering the design scene of Tukwila anytime in the near future.

The Concorde Supersonic Transport is gorgeous, sleek and pure function. First flown commercially in 1976, it defined uber-chic travel for the next 27 years. Decommissioned in 2003 the Concord set the world speed record between New York and Seattle at 3 hours and 55 minutes.

Capable of 1,350 mph, or nearly twice the speed of sound, the Concorde now sits idle and can be toured in conjunction with admission to the Museum of Flight.

The Museum of Flight is well worth a tour for the design conscious – whether you’re an aviation geek or not you can’t help but respect a room full of objects designed to defy gravity.
The Museum of Flight, 9404 E Marginal Way S, 206.764.5720

Thanks to our buddy Josiah for the hot tips
[All photos and images by BUILD LLC]

It happens quite often, we’re at a cocktail party, a gathering, someone asks us what we do, we say we’re architects… and the response usually applauds the creative process. “It must be nice to do something so creative for a living” or “you must be a very creative person” or “I always wanted to do something creative like architecture”. Which is great, we’re honored to be thought of as creative and enamored that people are paying attention to the architecture around them.

The irony, however, is that good architecture is less about creativity and more about discipline. Granted, schematic design requires a great amount of creativity and the design and construction process necessitates creative problem solving. But in our opinion it is discipline in architecture that generates masterful, functional, inspiring architecture. Knowing what not to do. Just because there is a good view doesn’t mean that you fill the room with windows everywhere.

It is this restraint in design that is so important to a finished work. The projects that exercise discipline seem to forego fashion and grasp at a clarity of form and a timeless architecture. Such work creates a set of guiding principles and maintains an architectural thesis just as adamantly as it keeps the heat in and the rain out.

In doing our research on this theme we became quickly disenchanted with gathering the usual suspects – Mies, Breuer, Corbu, Kahn, Ando, etc. All masters of this architectural obedience but most of you are already very familiar with their work. They are extremely well documented and your bookshelves are most likely lined with their monographs. So we thought it might be a better use of our caffeine fueled research, and more enjoyable for us, to cover some of the lesser known architects - also well versed in an architecture of discipline.

Casa Pellico in Puebla, Mexico by Gerardo Balcazar, 2003

[Photos from the book Arquine + RM, Arquitectura Mexicana 2001-2004]

H Loft in Manhattan by Kar-Hwa Ho, 2002

[Photos by Bjorg Photography from the book New York Minimalism by Aurora Cuito]

Innfeld House in Schwarzenberger, Austria by Dietrich + Untertrifaller Architekten, 1999

[Photos from the book Country Modern by Aurora Cuito]

Pawson Residence in London by John Pawson, 1999

[Photos by Christoph Kicherer from the book Living and Eating by John Pawson and Annie Bell]

Miramar House in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal by Eduardo Souto de Moura, 1991

[Photos by Luis Ferreira Alves from the book Ten Houses by Oscar Riera Ojeda]

Rosen House (Case Study House #11) in Los Angeles by Craig Ellwood, 1962

Kjaerholm near Copenhagen Denmark by Poul Kjaerholm, 1962


[Photos by Per Nagel & Vibe Udsen from the book Scandinavian Modern Houses by Faber & Udsen]

Gunnlogsson Residence in Oresund, Denmark by Halldor Gunnlogsson, 1958

[Photos by Nagel & Udsen from the book Scandinavian Modern Houses by Faber & Udsen]

Villa Bianca in Seveso, Italy by Giuseppe Terragni, 1937

Let us know who’s on your list of lesser known, well disciplined, residential architects…

In spirit of heading to Manhattan, today’s blog features some sexy diagramming, mapping and visual measures from New York City. These diagrams are stimulating and effective because every graphic move on the paper (or screen) has a meaning; the color, dimension, position, and position relative to other graphics are all important. In addition to all the data, they are composed with craft and intentionality.  Let us know what you’ve found out there…

New York Times: In the Shadow of Foreclosures
Both color and height indicate a different measure of foreclosures and the perspective view makes it all the more dramatic.  The sharp visual makes a complicated collection of statistics comprehensible and allows for quick visual comparisons.

Time Out New York: McDonalds vs. Starbucks
The location of each McDonalds and each Starbucks is mapped in mid-town. The choice of symbols (French fries and coffee cups) effectively adds to the visual of over-propagation.

New York Times: A Year in Iraq
The diagram indicates the classification of each individual and how they died, organized as a timeline. The diagram is powerful for the simple fact that each person is represented as a figure in the display.

New York Times: Face-Lift for an Aging Museum
A mapping of cracks and movement in the Guggenheim’s concrete shell. While engineering firms commonly make mappings such as this, the artistic enhancements of color and composition allow the technical data to be more interesting and comprehensible.

New York Times: Subway Population
…and what would a NYC diagram blog post be without a token subway diagram. This particular diagram tracks the hourly population of the 1/9 subway line over the course of a single work day. The use of ordinary objects, like the clock, make the diagram more tangible and easier on the eyes. Once again representing each individual with an object, or dot in this case, creates a population and drives the idea home more powerfully.


The Works: Anatomy of A City by Kate Ascher
The visual compares the measure of snowfall to the city’s response. As more snow accumulates an increasing amount of garbage trucks are converted to snow plows. This book is filled with great diagrams explaining everything from stoplight calibration for ideal traffic patterns to the city’s storm sewer overflow tactics to the garbage removal sequence. Get a copy here.

New York Times: Inventory of Low Altitude Satellites
The satellites are organized by height above the earth’s surface, color coded by type (military, communication, science) and labeled to the country of ownership. The pixilated nature of the diagram lends to a tangible sense for the number of satellites in space.