architecty resolutions for 2016: How did we do?

Before we go off and make resolutions for 2017, here's how we fared with our resolutions for 2016:

1. Success! Visit Corbu, Reitveld, and Weissenhof in the Old Countries.

After failing the year before (due to unplanned surgery...) we made it to Europe and saw all these sites and more. As you know, we are still writing about them. Stay tuned!

2. Partial...  Build a Schindler Shed 



No shed, but we did make progress is learning how to build a shed (thanks to some books) and what we want to build. If anything, due to the small footprint required, it won't be a Schindler Shed: It'll be a shed shed echoing the garage.

3. Fail... Dance with architecture in Palm Springs



Although we planned to take the trip in the summer or fall, we really needed to take this trip in the spring. We learned too late that the temps in Palm Springs are BRUTAL in the summer, so summer was out. And with the trip to Europe in the fall, we were tripped out for 2016. Next year?

4. Success! Dance with architecture in Miami


photo via free people

We had a fabulous pre-Zika trip to Miami and Miami Beach. We need to go back to focus on MiMo on the Beach as well as check in on the latest murals at Wyndam Walls.

5. Success! "Finish" the landscaping



Yay! Finally! The only regret was that we didn't do it earlier (like do-it-when-the-house-was-getting-built earlier). Our architects (element 5) really knew what they were doing with the hardscape they designed for the back patio. It stunningly finished out the back yard, turning it into a comfy cubby.

6. Partial... Dance with architecture in 12 state parks



We hit 3 of the planned 12. Weak (but better than nothing!).

7. Success! Put together a list of architecture to see in Austin



And here it is! It still needs some work (and I need to move it to a tab), but the bones (and most of hte meat) is there.

8. Success! Put together a plan for building a cabin



We moved surprisingly fast on this one, buying a lot earlier this year, architecting up, and planning to design in 2017 (and build in 2018?). We even have the rough beginnings of a build blog for the cabin.

9. Success! Keep the blogs going





So far, so good. Although I didn't provide a metric, my goal was 104 posts on austin cubed this year, and, with less than a week left, I've written 87 posts (including this one). The Schindler List is still alive, although I've neglected it lately with too many other projects...

10. Partial... Write a book on building a Modern house



This was a stretch goal, so I didn't quite make it, but I made some progress, pulling together slightly north of 21,000 words so far.

Some bonus goals from last year:

11. Partial... Cut the cable

Still have cable, but looking at AT&T and online programming. Is this week the week?

12. Fail... Finish upgrading the plugs

I'm still a slug on this... Is this week the week?


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dancing with architecture: Gropius' Hammerstock Colony, Karlsruhe, Germany

On the way to Stuttgart during our European architectural vacation we stopped in to gawk at Walter Gropius' Dammerstock Colony in Karlsruhe. Commissioned in 1928 and finished (?) in 1929, the colony is an example of Gropius' thoughts on urban development as well as architecture. As far as architecture is concerned, the development is done in the Bauhaus style: rational and radically unadorned. In Gropius' own words: "We want to create the purely organic building, boldly emanating its inner laws, free of untrtuhs or ornamentation."

On the urban planning side, Gropius gradually scaled his buildings from six-story apartment buildings facing the main street and railroad down to two-story garden townhomes away from the street. This scaled development is still prefered today by urban planners (we certainly hear about it in Austin).

Funny story that relates to Gropius' farsightedness in design: When we showed up to Hammerstock and rolled in the front entrance, it was obvious that the entrance buildings were Gropian and from the original colony. We then walked all over the development disappointed that none of his other buildings appeared to be left (bombed out during the war?). For grins, we walked down a footpath along the tracks and happened upon another entrance building. In that building was a map, upon which we turned around and saw that all the buildings we thought were relatively new were in fact 85-year-old originals!

If you go:

Where is this place?

It's still an active neighborhood. We were able to drive in, park (for free), and simply wander. We did not arrive early enough for the retail buildings to still be open to tour.

The main retail space.

Apartments that L off the retail space.

The Gropius Apothocary!

The original main entrance to the living spaces (now closed to auto traffic).

 Historic photos of the Colony:

Historic photos from here and other palces.

dancing with architecture: The Bruder Klaus Field Chapel (Germany)

When I put together the itinary for our European vacay, I looked for a stop every hour during drive times. Needing a stop between a Mies van der Rohe and a (forthcoming) Gropius, we ventured off the Autobahn for this nifty little sanctuary just outside of Antweiller west of Bonn. The Bruder Klaus Feldkapelle (The Brother Klaus Field Chapel) was built by a local farmer using 120 tree trunks to create an inner void around which concrete was poured. Once the concrete dried, the farmer slowly burned out the interior logs over three weeks, creating the final chapel. 

The chapel is dedicated to the Swiss Saint Nicholas von der Flue, also known as Brother Klaus. Appropriately, the farmer hired the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor to develop the design.

photo from wikiarquitectura

This was a lovely stop in the quiet German countryside to see an amazing and somber piece of contemporary eclesiastic architecture. 

if you go

The chapel is located here. You can drive up to the chapel's path, although you'll see people walking out of town to the chapel (we assumed these were folks taking buses to visit the quaint town. 

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