The Dogrun
a place to share ideas
Goat Mountain Ranch, a ranch house overlooking the Nueces River, recently earned LEED certification. The project is sited on an intermediate bluff overlooking the expansive Nueces River Valley to the southwest and upward towards views of Goat Mountain and a bowl-shaped ridge encircling the site’s northern half. Outfitted in natural and local materials that weather gracefully, the home features materials the owner collected over time from her family’s Louisiana farm. Reclaimed wood siding is incorporated in ceilings and interior walls while steel kettles, once used for boiling sugar cane, are...
In the beginning of March, Sarah and I ended our long tenure as interns at Lake|Flato and began our long trek up to Nova Scotia to start graduate school at Dalhousie University. We were super excited to begin school but still found it difficult to say goodbye to our San Antonio family. In order to take our minds off of the extreme sadness, we decided to distract ourselves with a road trip schedule that would take the longest possible route to our final destination in Halifax. For this, we went West instead of East — taking a few brave intern souls with us as we hiked to the top of the...
To celebrate the large live oak that was craned up to the 6th floor green roof reading garden at the Austin Central Library today here are some recent images of the construction progress at the Austin Central Library paired alongside the corresponding renderings. To see previous images click here. The Austin Public Library also has photos here. Here are a few more fun facts: Square Feet of Library: 240,000 Date Voters Approved bond: Nov 2006 Size of Revit Model in Megabytes: 450.1 Concrete Cubic Yard Mat Slab Placement: 10,000 Number of Gallons the Rain Water Cistern Can Hold: 373,390 View on...
Graduate School Admissions Notification Season is winding down and two Lake|Flato interns, Wo Wu and Pavan Iyer, have emerged with acceptance letters in hand. Wo was accepted to the architecture programs at Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, and Washington University in St. Louis. He chose… Columbia! Wo is looking forward to “Columbia’s studio as a laboratory for learning incisive thinking skills and exploring unknown architectural realm, and interacting with a diverse body of classmates and faculty from all over the world.” When asked about what skills he developed at Lake|...
"We previously knew Harriet Pattison through bits and pieces.... But now an oral history project sheds more light on Harriet Pattison’s life and work. As part of an ongoing oral history series on landscape architects, the D.C. based nonprofit the Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) is releasing a 93-minute oral history on Harriet Pattison . In 32 wide-ranging clips, Pattison reveals how she approached her work, life, and Kahn. The series begins with her growing up in Chicago, through her opening of a private practice, to her major works like the Hershey Company Headquarters."
LF's four newest interns have been here for a while and are well-acclimated to the Lake|Flato lifestyle. Here's the Dogrun-exclusive on Adam, Emilie, Alistair and Elijah. Adam Heisserer www.joshhuskin.com Hometown: Plano, Texas Alma Mater: University of Texas at Arlington - Masters in Architecture Favorite LF project: El Cosmico Current LF project you’re working on: All of them! Hobbies: Planting pumpkins in public spaces in the dead of night only to have them ripped out by groundskeepers once they get big... Interesting fact about yourself: I’ve recorded what color shirt I’ve worn every day...
Ryn is always glowing. It could be the darkest, rainiest day and she still has enough sunny demeanor and charm to get through it and brighten the rest of us around her. Though animated with a subtle quick wit that could make even the Grinch laugh in conversation, Ryn is sharply focused. She thoughtfully pieces together modules and connecting outdoor porches and corridors in LF's porch house studio as though they are patchwork squares in a carefully stitched together tapestry. You can tell from her demeanor that she's not afraid of a challenge — Ryn will artfully tackle anything you send her...
Last year, we went to the new LiftFund Headquarters in San Antonio to collect daylighting measurements. Collecting real data tells us how accurate our daylighting simulation was, and gives us invaluable information about which strategies are working and which are not. First, we mark off a 5‐foot grid in every regularly occupied space and take a measurement of footcandles at each point with a light meter. Measurements are typically taken at 9 AM or 3 PM, near one of two solar equinoxes. Each data point is entered in Excel, and the missing points are extrapolated from the data we have. Then we...
It's the close of the first week back at work in the new year, and like everyone else, many of us at LF have been reflecting on and chatting about goals we're undertaking to make our personal, family and professional lives more enriching and productive than the previous year. This year, we broadened our frame of new-year's-resolution-thought and contemplated things we — and others in the architecture/design/green building/urban planning/(and on and on) community — could do to improve the profession as a whole. We also thought it would be productive to include inspiration from some industry...
Last month we installed an eMonitor on the Prow, a porch house in the Davis Mountains. This is our first time monitoring an off-the-grid project, and our most remote installation so far. eMonitors track the energy use of individual electric circuits, and transmit the data in real time to an online account where it can be observed and analyzed. Owners can use this feedback to make informed decisions about energy use and save significantly on their energy bills, and we can improve future design decisions based on real data. After a 7 hour drive through west Texas, we arrived in Fort Davis. We...
Pages
