THE DOGRUN/2013
The Dogrun
a place to share ideas
Large civic projects like the Austin Central Library take a great deal of time and effort by a large number of team members. The process, much like we intend the the final product to be, is a mix of the best of digital and analog technologies available. In the library's design process we have utilized many different technologies; from clay models and sketchbooks, to Building Information Models and complex digital energy and daylight models. Here is a photo timeline from clay model to excavation. A brief overview of the project can be found below the photo timeline. 2009-10-20 - early clay...
Conceived as a modern farm complex in northern California, the Yee Residence is designed to maximize both views and breezes. Structures are independent of the main barn to accentuate a farm-like complex. Different buildings, and a dry stacked-stone wall, form a sanctuary within a landscape of rolling hills and oak groves. Answers by Karla Greer The Story: Sarah and Jason Yee started this process before they were married by purchasing an incredible site in the Santa Lucia Preserve, a 20,000 acre development located in Carmel Valley, California. The Preserve is managed by Santa Lucia...
"Awino. A name that has something to do with an umbilical cord wrapped around somebody’s neck at birth, but not at her neck… maybe it was her dad’s? It’s hard to keep all her stories straight, but I sure did enjoy listening to them while working with her over the last 8 months. I knew as soon as I started giving her random tasks that Hellen with two l’s was smart and talented enough to tackled anything that I threw her way, but what really made her a pleasure to work with was her wonderful attitude and glowing smile that we all came to love. Oh, and since David’s on vacation I’ll go ahead and...
We're happy to introduce our newest Project Director, Michael Britt. Before joining us in San Antonio, Michael worked in Charlottesville where he also attended the University of Virginia for his M.Arch. He was a project manager for EcoMod, affordable and sustainable housing, which was recently featured in Architect Magazine . He has been told that he has "crazy sharp" vision (his ophthalmologist's official diagnosis), which means he can see twice as far as the normal person. This has apparently come in handy when he goes bird watching. Some other random tidbits about Michael: His spirit...
I have been playing with a new technology that could change how we visualize our built environment. It is called ReCap Photo . This is an online image based modeling tool that is currently offered by Autodesk for free. The idea is very simple. You take a series of images around an object or a building, upload the images via the website, using the cloud computing technology and the images will be converted to a 3 dimensional object for you. I found a flag pole in front of a historical building near my office and use it as a test subject. I took a series of images with my phone camera around...
Ever since Herzog & De Meuron’s De Yong Museum and Thom Mayne’s San Francisco Federal Building, perforated sheet metal has been all the rage. There are plenty of strong opinions on the aesthetic merits of perforated metal, but we are more interested in looking at it from a performance standpoint. Specifically, we wanted to know the effects of a perforated metal canopy on the comfort of those sitting below. To answer the question we set up an experiment in the parking lot behind the office. Our in-house data collector, Maite Bermudez, placed two sheets of metal, one 20% perforated and one...
The yearly Trans-Pecos Festival of Music + Love is coming to El Cosmico in Marfa Thursday September 12 to Sunday September 15, 2013. I have had the pleasure of attending the 2006 and 2007 events. The weekend is filled with new friends, good food, great music, minimalist art, and nomadic dwellings. Whether you are staying in a tent, a yurt, a teepee or one of the refurbished travel trailers you are bound to have a good time.
Our newest interns are joining us just in time for Flake Lato this weekend, where they'll get to know their fellow LFers really well and in a short amount of time. Here's what we know about our newest recruits so far: Joining our talented group of student interns, Melina Pereira is adding San Antonio to the laundry list of places she has lived. Melina was born in Sao Luis, Brazil, but has also spent time in Manaus, Brazil; Belem, Brazil; Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolovia; and Bogota, Colombia. She moved to the United States to attend school, receiving her B.F.A in Architecture from Savannah...
Last weekend several of us had the unique opportunity to witness, as guests with EarthShare of Texas, the nightly feeding exodus of Mexican Freetail bats from their roost at Bracken Cave. Located just north of our home base in San Antonio, the cave is managed by Bat Conservation International, a wonderful group working to educate people and protect bats. Lake|Flato is a proud contributor to the EarthShare of Texas workplace giving program, which in turn benefits hundreds of local conservation efforts like BCI. Bracken Cave is home to the largest colony of bats in the world! There are 15-20...
What happens when you drive a metal screw through an insulated wall? It is well known that the assembly U-Value will decrease due to thermal bridging, but over all, how much of an effect can one screw really have? To answer this question we looked to the thermodynamic simulation software, Therm. Over the last few weeks our sustainability software guru, Joseph Dugan, has been working with Therm to help us better understand the effects of thermal bridging on our building envelopes. Today our first test results are in and that one screw is causing more problems than we ever thought. We ran a...
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