Community
The Dogrun
a place to share ideas
What are the Bottom Line Benefits of Biophilic Design ? How can our designs more effectively connect with Nature? These are some of the questions being discussed at this year's AIA Convention by a panel including Jason McLennan, founder and creator of the Living Building Challenge, William Browning, partner of Terrapin Bright Green, and Bob Berkebile, founding principal of BNIM Architects. Read a short article about this panel's discussion here .
Last Thursday night Lake|Flato helped facilitate a Citywide Collaborative Session for the new San Antonio Children’s Museum. We found the event to be a joy and success, and would like to share the process behind it. Prior to the charrette, we brainstormed with the museum staff to come up with a few different activities that would be fun and engaging for attendees. With about 70 people participating, the crowd split into groups of 8-10 at round tables and took part in three sessions: word clouds, image stations, and programmatic modeling. The Museum Director, Vanessa Lacoss Hurd, began with an...
We recently hosted a two day daylighting workshop with Shepley Bullfinch, the UW Integrated Design Lab, and, Clanton and Associates to tune, hone and test the large six level day-lit atrium space at the heart of the new Austin Central Library design. Our good friends at the Integrated Design Lab brought down cameras, light meters and lots of knowledge to help guide us in this process. For the workshop we constructed a large 1/4" scale working model of the atrium space as well as interchangeable architectural elements we wanted to test against one another. After settling on what we wanted to...
Why are Ground Source Heat Pumps so efficient? How much do they cost? Where can I learn more? We thought we'd put together a short white paper to get you started!
Many of us are familiar with the five historic Missons in San Antonio and their rich cultural and architectural significance in our community. Currently, the Mission San Jose is receiving extensive stone restoration on its facade, which is "one of the most spectacular Spanish colonial art treasures in the United States," according to Fr. David Garcia, who raised $15.5 million to fund the current Mission restoration work. The Rivard Report posted an article describing the life and work of the two stonemasons that have been brought to San Antonio to work on this delicate, intricate facade...
The Papays took KLRN up on their offer for free tickets to watch the movie 'The Revenge of the Electric Car' last night at the LOL Comedy Club. Somewhere around 150 EV fans packed the floor to watch the movie and hear discussion from industry reps. The movie chronicles the path of four groups trying to break ground in the EV world, from GM down to a custom shop in southern California. I'm not sure the rest of the Papays we're loving it, but dad's dreaming of a post ICE world. Here's the trailer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkRIu5a6Sb0 And Nico channeling his inner electrons with some dorky...
I got back recently from a photographing spree around the Lakes District of Chile…. The climate and natural resources of this region have yielded some interesting building traditions. Wood shingles, lapped board siding, and corrugated metal are employed with a lot of variety and creativity. Similar to Lake | Flato’s home base of San Antonio, German colonists of the 19 th century brought to the Chilean landscape some sophisticated tools and building forms from northern Europe. And also similar to San Antonio, local climatic conditions, available resources, and labor pools at hand began to...
There is no way to prepare for South By Southwest. Each year the world famous music, film and interactive festival utterly transforms the city of Austin. For two weeks, the city is truly the cultural epicenter of the (western) world. Being so close, many a Lake Flatonian endured the traffic on I-35 to migrate North in the hope of perhaps catching a glimpse of the next breakthrough act, or at least enjoying some free tacos. The atmosphere on 6 th street was comparable to a political revolution or black Friday in Walmart, not that I have experienced either. The music blared from every possible...
A commentary by a former Lake Flatonian and a response by a native San Antonioan in the Rivard Report made me think of my own feelings towards my adopted city of San Antonio. As a newcomer to the city, I have my "challenges' with the lack of density, the suburban sprawl, big truck culture, food/grocery options and a certain levels of convenience I was accustomed to in Portland. However, on the flip side, this city has (at least) three advantages: 1. Amaziing life! It has a vibrancy, creativity and "folksy" friendliness that is so much at the core of this place. From the store clerks to the...
For those of you that missed their presentations at PechaKucha San Antonio back in November, Jennifer Young presented her exquisite jewelry designs and Jonathan Smith teamed up with Express News reporter Colin McDonald to relive their 150-mile trek through the Chihuahuan Desert. Watch below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YkHZOnljEU0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjXLl4DL8Eo&feature=player_embedded Watch other PechaKucha San Antonio videos here .
Pages
