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Business expert and "economic geographer", Jim Russell describes how the trend from a manufacturing-based economy to an information-based economy has allowed intelligent, resourceful (and typically young) demographics of people to migrate from the traditional "big cities" that served as industrial hubs during the 20th Century to smaller burgeoning cities, like San Antonio in the 21st. Silicon Valley in California is a classic example, but while California and most of the rest of the country have been struggling in this economy, Texas, and San Antonio especially, have not. Russell interviewed...
In November of 2011 friends helped Cameron and I completely replant our yard with native landscape. The design was drawn up by Hocker Design Group using entirely native plants known to be found within roughly a 50 mile radius of San Antonio. We focused on plants found to the drier west as an indication of what the future may hold for San Antonio’s climate. So out went the st. augustine grass and in went the buffalo grass; out went the crape myrtles and in went the beautiful (but prickly) cat claw acacias. We anticipated a beautiful new water wise landscape, but we did not imagine how much the...
I recently traveled to Vals, Switzerland, a remote village located in a valley high in the Alps. Vals has an interesting story: the village owned a failing 1960's hotel/spa complex built over the only thermal springs in the region, and in the early 90's, invited local architect Peter Zumthor to design the new thermal spa. Vals, still a tiny, distant place, is now an epicenter for architects from all over the world. Much has been said of the architecture: its uncompromising rigor of materiality and craft, the sensory richness of the thermal bathing experience. Most essential is Zumthor's...
For the second year in a row Lake|Flato has been a part of the Big Brothers Big Sisters Inspire U program. The program matches workplace mentors [Bigs] with children [Littles] from various schools in San Antonio. The relationships that develop through this mentorship program have been proven to empower adolescents to make more positive life decisions, attend college or university and go on to lead successful, fulfilling lives. This year a total of 17 LF'ers have joined or continued in the program from last year! Once a month 17 Littles gather at the Lake|Flato office to enjoy lunch,...
The Blue Star Contemporary Art Center here in San Antonio asked local artists to design and build a Christmas tree to be exhibited at a fundraising event. This was a creative way to swing into the holiday season so Lake Flato decided to take part in this event. The photos below document the process of the build and the final exhibition. We decided to take an abstract approach to designing our Christmas tree. We created a frame structure which we hung a series of lights from - a Christmas chandelier. The photographs below demonstrate how the frame was constructed. We used 4 steel channels to...
A group of 4 LF’ers traveled to Lubbock in September to participate in a community charrette. This is the first part of our story, in which we discover the potential of a collection of grain warehouses. As many of you know, Lake|Flato has officially joined the 1% program of Public Architecture, and has completed several community outreach projects in 2012 as part of this initiative. The 1% is a national movement in partnership with the AIA that promotes pro bono architectural efforts in the public interest. We would like to share with you our work on the High Cotton project for Link...
The Hoover Dam is a true engineering marvel of man against nature. This massive arch-gravity dam was completed in just 5 years (2 years ahead of schedule) from 1931-1936. To put into perspective what an incredible accomplishment this structure was for it's time we can compare the recenty completed Hoover Dam Bypass bridge which took 7 years to construct! The accelerated schedule was largely due to innovative engineering ideas at the time. It is said that if the dam was built in a single continuous pour, the concrete would have taken 125 years to cool and result in stresses that would have...
It's time for another city-scale pop-up! This Saturday brings the third (and final?) Better Block project to San Antonio's Plaza de Armas. Come out to experience a completely revitalized street, if only for a day. I'm most excited to visit the happenings in the Spanish Governor's Palace Courtyard (one of my favorite places in the city) and if my dog's lucky, I'll bring her to the Annual Blessing of the Animals.... For more info, visit the Better Block site page here .
Part of starting any new job is doing your homework. Since I joined the marketing department at Lake|Flato two months ago, I've been researching our projects to get a better sense of our design philosophy and style. As much as I enjoy reading through old project descriptions, I must confess that I much prefer a hands on approach. Last week I had the pleasure of joining Denise on a guided tour of the Pearl, led by L|F's very own Todd Wascher. The tour covered the third phase of the Pearl Brewery Redevelopment, which includes the Pearl Parkway Buildings - three mixed-use structures and the...
After making the move to Texas from the U.K I decided to take some snapshots of my sightings so far in and around San Antonio. The photographs were shot with a Lubitel 2 camera.... [caption id="attachment_3367" align="alignnone" width="650"] Left - Playing guitar at Austin food trucks. Right - South Congress Bridge in Austin. Left - On route to Enchanted Rock. Right - Morning commute to work. Left - Enchated Rock. Right - Cooling off in a river at Hamilton Pool. Left - Interns at Enchanted Rock. Right - Bike ride through Southtown. [/caption]
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