…for our freedom.
Archive for May, 2008
If you haven’t read a copy of The Modern Estate, be sure to pick up a copy the next time your browsing the shelves at Borders. An award-winning regional publication dedicated to luxury residential design, the articles are very well written and the photography is top notch. They recently celebrated their first anniversary and every issue is better than their last.
Their website, TME Online, is a great resource too. It includes bonus articles, a search tool for back issues and much more.
The US Green Building Council has partnered with the American Society of Interior Designers’ Foundation to create REGREEN, a 182 page guide for green renovations.
I posted a link over at Westchester Green where you may download a complete copy for free.
Residential Architect Design Awards 2008
Published May 24, 2008 Architecture , Design Leave a Comment
Residential Architect magazine (in my opinion, the best trade mag out there) has announced the winners of their 2008 design awards program.
Every spring, I look forward to this month’s issue featuring some of the best residential architecture in the nation. It was a record year for submissions (1,300+) and the editor claims that the jury had a tough time selecting the honorees.
Despite their labor, the jury appears to have leaned toward very modern projects. Although, the houses featured are very interesting and clearly well designed, I can’t help but feeling like I’ve seen them before. Flat roofs. Modular cubic forms. Lots of glass. Exposed structure. Every architects idea of the perfect house.
The thing I like most about Residential Architect magazine is that they feature exceptionally well designed “real houses”. Innovative. Inventive. Even modern. But all real. The houses they more typically feature reference traditional materials and forms. Sloped roofs. Human-scaled windows. Elements that trigger emotions and feelings of home; comfort, warmth, security… but not strict traditional architectural styles. Traditional elements manipulated in new contemporary ways.
Unfortunately, the real houses were discarded by the jury this year in order to make room for the glass and steel boxes more likely featured in Record. I look forward to next year’s RADA winners.
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The photo above is the Gardiners Bay Beach House, Amagansett, NY designed by Fred Stelle, FAIA; winner of a RADA Grand Award.
The Majestic Hudson River Valley
Published May 23, 2008 Hudson Valley , Organizations , Photography 1 Comment
Scenic Hudson works to protect and restore the Hudson River and its majestic landscape as an irreplaceable national treasure and a vital resource for residents and visitors.
This past month, they’ve been running an online photo contest. Sit back and enjoy some of the most inspiring images of the Hudson River Valley region here.
Hudson Valley Ruin Lecture
Published May 20, 2008 Announcements , Architecture , Historic Buildings , Hudson Valley , Local History Leave a Comment
I just received this invitation from Rob Yasinsac of Hudson Valley Ruins.
Greetings:
Please find below the details regarding a talk that Tom Rinaldi and I will present Saturday May 24 at the Bronson House in Hudson, NY. The house has been vacant and boarded-up since 1973 and public access has been restricted since then (the house is located on the grounds of Hudson Correctional Facility).
Please join us on this rare opportunity to tour one of the great “ruins” of the Hudson Valley – the house is one of 28 specific sites examined in-depth in our book Hudson Valley Ruins: Forgotten Landmarks of an American Landscape. With alterations designed by Alexander Jackson Davis, the Plumb-Bronson House represents one of the earliest surviving examples of “Hudson River Bracketed” architecture. Historic Hudson recently signed a lease for the property, and intends to restore and reuse the house.
This also seems to be the continuation of an unofficial annual “lecture at a ruin” series – last May we spoke at the New York Central Railroad Station in Stuyvesant (also in Columbia County), where restoration of that long-abandoned building is in-progress Who knows where we’ll be next year.
Hope to see you there!
-Rob
For more information on the lecture or on Hudson Valley Ruins click here.
What makes you happy?
For Henry, it’s simple.
A few hours before this photo was taken, he was flying jetBlue, being entertained by Dora the Explorer. That alone was enough for him think he was in heaven.
Within minutes of arriving home, he had his favorite blue jeans on. Work boots. Fireman coat. Work gloves. Goggles and his race car hat. He “started up” the old tractor and he was off to work.
Life just doesn’t get any better.
On Monday, John spent the day at his house in Montauk.
For the past few months, he’s been working nights in his Sleepy Hollow shop custom fabricating the guardrail panels for the tower. Don’t they look pretty? They’re framed in Azek painted cedar and in-filled with stainless steel mesh. I love their transparency, allowing a view to and from the tower windows. Very nice.
The tower is just about done. Just a few more details and it will be 100%.
Nice job John. I can’t wait to see it in person.
I was traveling north on King Street (Rt. 120) today. Sun roof open, sixty-five degrees and sunny. Spring is here for sure. I just had to stop and snap a few images of the Kensico Reservoir. Here’s my favorite.
From Dri-Design.com:
Dri-Design is a dry joint, pressure equalized rain-screen, metal wall panel system. Panel manufacturing is highly automated and the installation is fast and simple, which makes Dri-Design an economical choice.
Dri-Design panels are available is a variety of materials and finishes, including Kynar painted aluminum, anodized aluminum, zinc, copper, stainless steels, embossed stainless steel, titanium and other custom finishes such as the Corten (rusty looking) steel pictured above.
