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The Dogrun
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Taking advantage of the 70 degree weather in January, the intern crew decided to take a trip to Government Canyon and check out a classic Lake|Flato visitor center as well as some prehistoric dinosaur foot prints. It is always fun to see Lake|Flato's work first hand and the visitor center at Government Canyon was a great place for the new interns to start. Sustainability was a key driver in the design with its recycled oil field pipe structure and rainwater collection from the screen porch's diagonal butterfly roof. Corbin was fascinated with the various floor textures, both of the visitor...
Say hello to the newest member of our team, Dorothy. Coming in at over 7 feet tall, she is a hard worker who really puts her head to the wind in everything does. Dorothy is energized on sunny days, and lets everybody know when it is raining. Named after the iconic robot from the movie Twister , Dorothy is our new weather station. The unit remotely logs weather data that can be viewed and analyzed using HOBOware software. Powered by solar, the device can report a comprehensive list of climate information, including temperature, relative humidity, dew point, and wind speed (as well as direction...
My wife Bekah works for a luxury tour operator . Once a year she gets sent on familiarization trips to South America. I go along for the free hotel rooms. Yes this really is every bit as ideal of a setup as it sounds. I also have a strong interest in hotel design here at Lake|Flato, and so these South America adventures are basically big happy research trips for both of us. Bekah meets with tour guides and tests out the horseback riding, and I salivate over the exposed trusses in our hotels and measure the widths of corridors when no one's looking. (Also you would not believe how hard it is...
A few months ago, we featured the 1984 Vickers Residence as part of our Thirty Projects x Thirty Years series. It is with sadness and much grief that we mourn the recent loss of this client, Callie Vickers, who passed away in Palm Desert California last week. We reflect on our sweet memories of Callie, our very first client, as a generous, kind, thoughtful, creative soul who passionately supported and endorsed our firm and our mission. Vickridge was completed in Castle Pines, Colorado in 1986. Thanks to the Vickers’ support, our firm designed three homes at the Vintage Club in Palm Desert (...
A few weeks ago a few friends and I embarked on our first trip to the mountains of Big Bend. We camped out under the stars in the Chisos Basin and took in some of the most beautiful landscape I’ve ever seen. From the "party rock" as it became known we watched bears wander around the slopes by day, gazed through The Window as the sun set behind the mountains, and by night we searched the skies for constellations, satellites and shooting stars. On our first day we tackled the tallest mountain in the park, Emery Peak. The views from the top were incredible, a 360° panorama of the unending desert...
A couple of Fridays ago, the “Nerd Train” took a sketch trip to San Jose Mission in South San Antonio. It was a humble beginning, consisting of fellow LFer Ben Hartigan and myself. Not the longest train, but determined none-the-less. We began the 6 mile bike trip a bit after 4pm and set out with dreams of Spanish Colonial grandeur, I on my miniature Dahon foldable bike and Ben on his more appropriately sized road bike. Being from Illinois, the heat was a bit intense, but with a little effort we arrived at our destination right at 5pm… just in time for the mission to close. Regardless, we...
Recently Cameron and I visited Acadia National Park. The carriage road system within in the park is incredible not only for the meandering beautiful roads but also for the incredible care and craftsmanship of the roads and stone bridges themselves. The roads feel as if they are a natural part of the landscape and heighten your awareness of the nature that surrounds you. Each of the carriage road bridges utilizes the same local stone but in a different way. Some are more rusticated and others more civilized; some offer overlooks as part of the bridges while others morph into existing natural...
BONFIRE AT TIM HURSLEY'S SILO A few weekends ago, I made a trip back to West Alabama to visit Alumni Weekend, Pig Roast and the 20th anniversary celebration at Auburn University's Rural Studio. I was fortunate to be a part of the Rural Studio in 2004 and 2007-08 and contribute to the current endeavor of the Rural Studio's Twenty Thousand Dollar House (20k) during my thesis year. The 20k is a project that began in 2004 that seeks to provide Hale County with noble and affordable housing under the Rural Housing Service 502 loan program. Multiple prototypes have been developed by Auburn for the...
The San Antonio Children's Museum team recently had the opportunity to review the building construction progress with a group of UTSA architecture students. The class of soon-to-be graduates are completing their professional practice curriculum, and as part of the class, they were able to tour the site during an exciting phase of the project’s construction. For me, participating in the construction administration phase of this project so close to home has been an incredible experience for my own professional development, so it was fun to share some insights and lessons learned with James...
This past Sunday was a very important day for a few Lake Flatonians, it was the Downtown Kickball League 2014 Spring Championships. And boy was it a success! In the regular season we were 6-1, losing only to the undefeated Southtown Deflatables. After clinching our spot in the final four earlier in the week, we arrived at the field on Sunday cautiously optimistic about our chances to take home the coveted Samba-topped trophy. The playoffs games were located at the little spot of park at 440 Labor Street. With renovations in Hemisfair park imminent, the Downtown Kickball League has been on the...
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