Kimbell Art Museum

April 27, 2009

While in Dallas for the Structures for Inclusion conference, we made a field trip to the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, designed by Louis Kahn; one of the greatest buildings by one of the greatest architects of all time. The art was nice, but the building is the real star. Visit my Flickr page for more photos! It’s easy to appreciate what makes the Kimbell great: its simplicity. A simple form (the barrel vault) is repeated throughout the building. All of the different spaces (galleries, patio, foyer, portico) are created through variations on this form. A restrained material palette …

Going to Dallas

March 19, 2009

Jody, James, Nadene and I will be piling into Dora the Explorer today bound for Dallas, along with the rest of the GCCDS, for the Structures for Inclusion conference. We stop over tonight at the Blue Moon Guesthouse in Lafayette, Louisiana. This is always a great conference and this weekend should be very interesting.

Jean Lafitte Park

March 6, 2009

On Tuesday, my parents and I visited Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve outside of New Orleans. The day was sunny but cool enough to discourage bugs, perfect weather for a bayou walk.

Goodbye to Gustav, Part 2

September 3, 2008

(Above) The first band of rain from Hurricane Gustav quickly approaches the Hands On base. As I mentioned earlier, I rode out Hurricane Gustav volunteering with Hands On in a Red Cross shelter at Stennis Space Center. Here are a few pictures and key moments.

Biloxi Post: Le Bakery

August 4, 2008

I believe I’ve mentioned Le Bakery before, but the world deserves to know more about this place, a sublime union of French and Vietnamese cuisine. It is, by far, my favorite restaurant in Biloxi, due to its delicious $3 vietnamese po-boy sandwiches (meat and veggies on a fresh-baked roll), bubble teas, and desserts. I recommend the following: a coconut curry chicken po-boy with an avocado-almond bubble tea and a bavarian cream turnover for afters. If you’re ever near Biloxi, head over to Oak Street and check it out. It’s so good that I’m not sure how I’ll go on living …

Biloxi North 40

May 26, 2008

I took my new Trek out on its maiden voyage this morning, doing a route called the Biloxi North 40 with my friend Anne. The land here changes pretty quickly as you head north of the coast. Biking just a couple miles inland, the cities of Biloxi and D’Iberville morph into a rural landscape interspersed with concrete distributors and uninspiring subdivisions. The coast’s southern live oaks are replaced by scrubby forests of longleaf and slash pines. We headed out around 11, so we had a hot and sunny two-hour ride. The bike was a good choice; it’s a hybrid road …

Boston & Structures for Inclusion Part 2

April 11, 2008

This is mostly a picture post – click below for more! I also wanted to quickly elaborate on some of the themes that came out of the conference: Top-down vs. bottom-up: There was a lot of discussion about top-down (centralized) versus bottom-up (grassroots) approaches to planning and architecture. One strong point of view held that bottom-up work best engages the community and produces the most useful results. However, I think a large number of people also realized that architects and planners are uniquely able to mediate between top-down and bottom-up approaches. This theme came out in Teddy Cruz’s talk as …

Going to Boston!

April 3, 2008

I’m very excited about going to Boston tonight for the Structures for Inclusion conference this weekend. Biloxi is sending a large contingent — 9 from our studio, 3 from Architecture for Humanity, and 6 students. I’ll report back — and I may even have a new camera, as my old one is broken.

Alabama Fun Weekend Road Trip & Doonanny

April 1, 2008

OK in 1994 john henry toney was plowing my garden and plowed up a turnip root that had a face in it . 2 eyes a nose and a mouth , looked just like a man . so he drew a picture of it and gave it to me and i gave it to frank turner who ran a dinky junk shop in Pittsview , and he stuck it in his window as a joke and put a $50 dollar price tag on it . well in about a week some folk art collector came along and bought it . …

UVA Visit – the Epic Tale

February 29, 2008

It’s Monday, February 18th, and I’m finishing up at work when I get a message from my friend Chris. He has a challenge for me: be at UVA for the club swim meet that weekend. The time has come to return, and that time is Vince O’Clock. Reason takes over, but is subsequently defeated, and by Tuesday night I have bought my plane tickets. I’ll be flying to North Carolina, where Chris works, on Thursday night, then driving up for an epic three-day weekend in Charlottesville. Pictures and more after the break:

design, build, learn. repeat.