Archive for the 'Critique' Category

It’s ARCHITECTURE, not Sculpture…

Recently, Frank O. Gehry has been sued by MIT for some serious issues regarding the design of the three year old Stata Center. This building is a great example of the difference between architecture and sculpture. Architecture is meant to be inhabited and used. Sculpture is to be looked at and admired. [...]

Less is NOT more…

Mies van Der Rohe said “less is more”.  At first, this thought seems to make sense.  But Milton Glazer has a more nuanced position that I think nails it.  He said:
 

Being a child of modernism I have heard this mantra all my life. Less is more. One morning upon awakening I realised that it was [...]

Why an Architect?

Subtitled: Plan Book vs. Draftsman vs. Contractor vs. Architect
There are very few of us who undertake any building project without some planning. We try and figure out what we need, how it’s going to be put together and how much it’s going to cost us. For some projects, we plan it out in our [...]

What I Learned from Totino’s Frozen Pizza

My partner designed a “traditional” house for a client of ours. It’s currently under construction and we went out for a site visit. It’s nicely designed. However, the owners have made some poor decisions and mucked up the proportions. It’s now taller than it should have been. As designed, [...]

Spirit of Place

It wasn’t until I walked into the Utah Veteran’s Memorial when I was in my twenties that I became conscious of the Spirit of Place. I vaguely remember the feeling being somewhat familiar suggesting that while this was the first time the sensation was strong enough to break through the hidden barrier of awareness, [...]