LOCUS Architecture BLOG

Aside from the obvious material differences revealed in the June 22^nd article, Architecture is Too Expensive, I thought it noteworthy how the spatial proportions and contextual relationships contrasted one another in the Walgreens and Mission Santa Barbara “arcade” examples. A diagrammatic cross section through both conditions reveals differing priorities toward daylight access, views, and threshold.

Let’s look at the Walgreens store first.   The bench is located over 15 ft. past the roof overhang – a point at which daylight noticeably decreases.  Though the setback enables shoppers to conveniently pass by without tripping over the legs of those seated, sitters are left in the dark without much to admire. When resting at the bench one is confronted by cars – aligned at the same height as a driver seated in their vehicle.  There is no spatial sense of separation aside from the curb and occasional appearance of the column / bollard grid, thus the “arcade” is as much a dull attempt at pedestrian-izing a parking lot as it is store front circulation.  It straightforwardly states, “get me in and get me out” by funneling patrons from the expansive parking lot along its hard edges toward the barely distinguishable front door.  The passage through this sort of threshold (parking – sidewalk – store wall) is as easily forgotten as the search for an open parking stall.

The horizontal proportions of Walgreen’s funnel (~16’ wide by ~10’ tall) are practically flipped at the Mission Santa Barbara.  The less deep and more vertical space allows daylight to stream through the arcade to the exterior wall where a variety of benches are shaded, but not left in the dark.  The height of the space offers a sense of lightness with expansive skyward views; however, it does so while maintaining a sense of safety and separation from the parking area.  Level changes and a variety of architectural and vegetative layers create a stage-like setting that oscillates between foreground and background – containment and permeability.  Notions of threshold extend beyond that of a curb and front door to include exterior sidewalk, planter, stairs, balustrade, and archway.

Such a layering offers sensorial choices – varied, but clear – to the action of entering/exiting and does so within defensible space – simultaneously offering both prospect of possibilities (ranging from “stopping to smell the flowers” to racing for the front door) and refuge from undesirable interaction (e.g. facing windshields head-on).  The proportion of the arcade works together with the entire system of aforementioned elements to achieve this experiential richness.  Had the height been halved, the crescendo effect of climbing the stairs would have been lost, not to mention the expansive view.  Conversely, had Walgreens raised the height of the ceiling, the spatial experience might be less claustrophobic, but not necessarily more desirable given its immediate adjacencies.  Climatic conditions aside, the Mission succeeds because of the attention put toward threshold and reminds us that enjoyable space doesn’t occur from materiality, proportion, or context alone.  Rather, it requires a deep understanding of these interrelationships.

On July 1, the Walker Art Center will be screening Citizen Architect, a film about Auburn University’s Rural Studio and its creator, the late Samuel “Sambo” Mockbee.  It’s a glimpse into a program that has brought architecture to a group of people who typically aren’t served by our profession – the poorest of the poor in rural Alabama.  For architects, or those about to enter the profession, Sambo’s vision and ambition can be an inspiration to us all.  It certainly has been for us at Locus, both in our teaching experiences as well as in our business.

The course we led in Biloxi, MS three years ago closely resembles the work of the Rural Studio.  It had all the ingredients of the messy, “get-your-hands-dirty” kind of architecture that combines a highly creative learning environment with meaningful results.  Working in the shadows of multi-billion dollar casinos, our students designed and built a pavilion for folks with little means, many of whom had lost nearly everything in Katrina.

Our work at Locus has also been somewhat non-typical for many architects.  Recently, when we looked back over our firm’s history, we realized over 80% of our clients spent less than $4,000 in fees with us.  While this doesn’t represent the poorest of the poor in our country, it does suggest  a wider range of clients than what the public perceives as the norm for those purchasing architectural design services.  We take pride in the work we have done for clients of all shapes and sizes and we continue to look for ways to bring the benefits of architectural design – inspiring spaces and outstanding functionality, among others – to as many people as possible.

Paul Neseth, Locus principal and co-founder, will be a panelist at the post-screening discussion, where he will talk about the Rural Studio’s impact on Locus, as well as the newly formed RAW – Real Architecture Workshop.

Waiting for a prescription, I escaped the overstuffed aisles of my neighborhood pharmacy only to end up outside on an overly sturdy and uncomfortable park bench, confronted with asphalt. With unidentifiable stains on the beige plastic slats, I’m guessing most people pass on the implied invitation to sit here. Small metal angles at the ends deter even urban skateboarders from enjoying it. Useful to nobody, this seat is an ill-conceived sculpture, ugly in all deployments.

A vast overhang of EIFS looms over the bench. EIFS, pronounced EE-fiss, stands for Exterior Insulation Finishing System, one of many inexpensive manufactured siding materials textured to look like something else, in this case stucco (see also: vinyl siding, aluminum siding, Hardie siding, cultured stone, manufactured stone, asphalt shingles, etc.). Sitting there, I could imagine this awful space being labeled “ARCADE” on some architect’s set of drawings, which is a little bit like serving Budweiser as an “APERITIF”.

How many times have I heard a variation of one of the following phrases? 1. Architects are too expensive. 2. Architects tend to overdesign and spend money frivolously. 3. I can’t afford an architect. 4. I don’t think I need an architect. While I don’t deny these statements may be true at times, I hesitate to condemn the profession of medicine simply because health care is costly.

We believe there is value to design, yet we admit it is not easily quantified in a market influenced by realtors, appraisers, home inspectors, and bankers who have understandably tried to rationalize the monetary value of property. I can’t imagine how one could analytically measure experience in dollars; yet I think most would agree taking a coffee in Piazza San Marco, Venice is more enjoyable than an outdoor corral adjacent to the parking lot of a neighborhood Starbucks.

Consider the photo above with the one here.

An arcade worthy of the name

I could spend a week sitting in this space, considering the sunlight, the collage of colors, attention to detail and proportion, the curve of the arches, and the visual weight of materials. They all contribute to giving my visual senses a feast that can be consumed slowly or enjoyed while napping on an ancient chunk of timber.

Is it more expensive to build? Yes. Over designed? Frivolous? The arcade at Mission Santa Barbara has been embraced as worth saving for over 150 years, despite its mud-brick construction in an active seismic zone. Noone would lament the loss of my neighborhood Walgreen’s, built cheaply with ample understanding of market forces, yet this structure might stand for centuries.

Did the Greeks protest the expenditure of state funds for the Acropolis of Athens? Romans for the Coliseum? Parisians for the Louvre? No doubt they did, the same way I bristle at the sales tax for the construction of the new (beautiful!) Twins Stadium. Are we better off for them? Ticket sales and summer travel itineraries suggest many people think so. All four sites would not be what they are without talented designers, breathtaking architecture. That’s unquestionable value.

From small scales, say a bench, to that at the scale of a city, design affects our experiences. If our culture expects richness in those experiences, we should expect commensurate investment in thoughtful public and personal spaces. The returns may or may not be financial, but what is the worth of satisfaction?

My seven year old was at a friend’s birthday party this weekend, which always reminds me of the first one we gave at our house for our older son’s eighth birthday. Twenty five banshees pounding, sprinting, diving, and crashing around our house – each with a cup of some sticky fluid in hand. Wait, why did we agree to this? In different circumstances, I’d probably have repressed the memory by now, but I often reflect upon a moment from that party.

Each time a carload of boys would arrive, they’d sprint up the walk before jamming and wiggling through our front door simultaneously – like puppies. Breathless, most of them would take a quick look around and stop.

“WHOA! CARTER, YOUR HOUSE IS SO COOL!!! AWESOME!”

And boom, they were off to explore, drop toys over the catwalk, write on the chalkboard walls, stick magnets to the bathroom door, crank the stereo (of course), throw paper airplanes out the third floor windows, and crawl along the translucent floors while buddies cheered from below. “Let me try, my turn, my turn!” An indoor jungle gym of untapped potential.

The parents would come in a minute later, take a similar look around, and address my wife and me with a more calculated reaction, delivered in adult code. “Hey, this is really different…must be interesting to live here. What do your neighbors think?” TRANSLATION: What kind of weird maniacs would live in a house like this? Can I even trust my children here?

As our children develop into teens and adults, what happens to our acceptance and even thirst for difference? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting the masses should have a house like mine nor do I dismiss Tudors and Colonials as safe repetitions of worn European patterns. On the other hand, if kids – without a single exception in my experience – think our home is awesome, what changes after childhood to make people of their parent’s age suspicious?

I don’t have an answer, but I wonder if it has something to do with advertising. Sameness is somewhat ubiquitous in American culture, while regional culture may well be eroding with globalization. Gross oversimplification coming – in general, we eat similar foods, wear similar clothes, covet similar cars/bikes, and hang around with like-minded people. Our homes, when put on the market for consumption, are “depersonalized” so they appeal to the broadest (most beige) tastes. Why do we settle for this kind of life? Most of the people I know crave unique experiences when traveling, eating, or even just exercising. Why not demand it every day in the spaces we occupy?

I’m not going to take up skateboarding anytime soon, and I refuse to limit myself to my boys’ preferred eating habits, but maybe it’s time we try to see the possibilities our second graders see when viewing the world they move through. In fact, I think I’m going go home tonight and spray them both with a garden hose after a game of whiffle ball. In return, maybe they’ll try some escargot.

Past clients Paul and Martha asked us to create a porch and main floor bathroom for their century-old home in a historic district in Minneapolis, “…something with pizzazz, different, but without thumbing our noses at our neighbors, some of whom are strict traditionalists.”

New porch + bath towards the end of construction

We answered by referencing the roof line and construction of the original cornice and fascia, detailing which was important to the neighborhood group. Windows and trim also recall the original colors of the existing structure, yet all of this is contrasted by a vertical-grain redwood screen that provides privacy to porch-sitters a mere twenty feet from the sidewalk. Tree huggers need not send me hateful notes, all the redwood and douglas fir used in the project is in its second life. The redwood was sourced from Duluth Timber, reclaimed from wine barrels.

Hidden above – in the roofline – is a “dish” flat roof for a future planted surface using Live Roof. The project was carefully and lovingly assembled by Ed Erickson of Ed Erickson Construction.

Reclaimed redwood screen

Don black, line your pockets with cash, and steer your conversion van – if you have one – to NE Minneapolis for Art-A-Whirl this weekend. Use the Locus studio, #333, as your launching point to visit hundreds of open artist studios in the Northrup King Building. Jam that van with jewelry, paintings, sculptures, photography, fashion, furniture, textiles, prints, letterpress, maps, mosaics, heck – you can even bring your mandolin to have it repaired in here.

AN ENERGY-EFFICIENT MODERN HOUSE at Art-A-Whirl? Huh?

At Locus, we’ll be launching PPoD FOR SALE, an inexpensive small kit house perfect for cabin, pool house, DIYers, or urban infill. Buy one today, sit on the couch enjoying the living room view by the end of summer. Seriously.

PPoD 1.5, with red steel siding & roofing

PPoD Living

We’ll have information about underutilized services we’ve been offering for years: inexpensive fixed-fee design packages and free design consultations during First Thursdays in the Arts District. Naturally, we’ll be displaying beautiful images of environments created by Locus Architecture.

Bored? Yawning? Heard all about Art-A-Whirl too many times already? Bet you don’t know about Travis Nichols. On Sunday at 2, Travis will be at Locus to read from his first novel Off We Go Into The Wild Blue Yonder. In a recent review in the Star Tribune, Jane Ciabattari writes “Although sometimes unpolished, ‘Off We Go Into The Wild Blue Yonder’ is both original and haunting.” At times, the novel reminded me of Jonathan Safran Foer’s Everything is Illuminated, which remains one of the most original, thought-provoking, and entertaining books I’ve read.

Art-A-Whirl opens Friday and closes Sunday, May 14-16. Friday night 5-10, Saturday 12-8, Sunday 12-5. Adam will be in Friday night and Sunday. Wynne will be in Saturday 12-4, and Paul will take the evening shift on Saturday, 4-8. See you there!

Sarah, a friend of a friend, writes a local food blog, Vegetarian Perspective. She mentioned Locus’ 2X2 series in a recent post on her blog, a recipe for Lemon Spice cookies. Seems we inspired her – at least in part – to bake some truly awesome cookies. Her photo doesn’t lie. Sustainable creativity isn’t all architecture.

Take a bike ride, burn some calories, and make room for a dozen cookies – followed by potato leek soup.

Hardwood Forest

Yesterday, while the sun was pushing the temperature above 70 degrees outside, I spent the whole day in the windowless lecture halls of the Minneapolis Convention Center learning all there is to know about forests, wood and best construction practices.  I learned that there are three biomes that make up Minnesota’s forests, that butyl based peel and stick flashing works better than asphalt based ones, that aspen trees need clear cutting to regenerate properly and that the Austrian workers who install KLH cross-laminated timber walls are precision maniacs.  But the best thing I learned all day was a piece of advice provided by the water management guru as he was describing proper methodology for lapping building paper behind the siding on a house.  After showing one failure after another, with mold splotches and rot in every picture he turned to us and said “never tuck your raincoat in your underwear.”  Now that’s a piece of advice I can live by.

Locus Architecture announces the second installment of 2X2, a lecture series pairing local pioneers to talk about passions, inspirations, and relationships.

2X2 No. 2 this Saturday, April 17th, at 6:30pm.

Tracy Singleton, Birchwood Cafe, and Greg Reyolds, Riverbend Farm, will present and opine on GMOs and CSAs, steel cut oatmeal and artisan cheese, predator bugs and kids who recognize eggplant. Mark Wheat of 89.3 The Current will moderate.

Event is at the Locus Architecture Studio, 1500 Jackson St. NE, Ste. 333 in Minneapolis. We have limited seating, you must RSVP to get a spot to wynne@locusarchitecture.com. Tickets are $10, cash only, at the door.

Our evening with Tracy & Greg will kick off a week of healthy events.

Sunday, April 18 – Joel Salatin Lectures
Joel Salatin comes to town. Who? Joel Salatin, a farmer profiled at length in author Michael Pollan’s The Ominvore’s Dilemma, and Ana Sofia Joanes’ food documentary FRESH, manages Polyface Farms in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. From Polyface’s website, “the farm arguably represents America’s premier non-industrial food production oasis…(developing) emotionally, economically, environmentally enhancing agricultural enterprises.” He will deliver two lectures – “Can You Feed the World? Answering Elitism, Production, and Choice” & “The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer” – at the Bell Museum at the University of Minnesota, and attend two fundraisers. Busy guy. All events are open to the public, costs, times, and more information.

April 20-April 22, 7pm – FRESH Screenings
FRESH documentary at the Riverview Theater. What’s FRESH? A documentary directed by Ana Sofia Joanes. From the film’s website, “FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers, and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system…forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet.”

We will have tickets for sale ($9.00) to FRESH screenings the evening Tracy & Greg speak at Locus. Otherwise, click here.

Saturday, April 24, 11am – 3pm – CSA Fair
Ever thought to yourself, “Hey, I should really join a CSA farm (Community Supported Agriculture) and support the local food economy? Do it this year! Recruit your neighbors, family & friends. Your reward? 1. Sustainably-grown organic vegetables every week from June through October. 2. Feeling good about supporting local businesses. Click here to learn how to do it.

Do your research, then check out the CSA Fair at the Seward Co-op on April 24th, from 11am – 3pm. Ask questions, talk to an actual farmer, and buy a farm share. If you crave more than beets, broccoli, and beans, some farms also offer fruit, coffee, eggs, bread, meat, and cheeses.

Better yet, buy a share at Riverbend Farm, Greg Reynold’s own farm outside of Delano.

Never mind the television show Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?, the question we’re wrestling with at Locus is “Are most homebuyers smarter than a two year old?”

On nearly all of our residential projects, we get to a phase near the end where, for any number of reasons, we put the project in a vise and squeeze the square footage down by 5-10%.  Although there is the occasional reaction from clients concerned that they’ll lose something they’ve grown to love, we inevitably find the project gets better as it zeros in on the essence of what the client really wants and needs.

While this refinement process has been our experience at Locus and is no doubt common at other architecture firms, it hasn’t been the norm in the general housing marketplace.   And while we thought the current economy had changed the trend for ever larger homes, a couple of recent experiences suggests it hasn’t and has us at Locus wondering if most folks are smarter than a two year old when it comes to buying, or building, a house?

After a bit of prodding from my spouse a few weeks ago, we accepted a dinner invitation with her sister at their new house.  I just knew the visit would come with the requisite tour by my brother-in-law.  And I was right.  After arriving at the house, we moved quickly past the greeting niceties and I was whisked away through the labyrinth of rooms, one after another all decked out like a furniture showroom, yet eerily uninhabited.  Just as he was about to put his hand on what I’d hoped to be the last doorknob of the evening, he turned to me and said “now this sealed the deal for us and we had to buy it.”  He stepped aside to usher me in and, with satisfaction punctuating every syllable, continued “welcome to my BONUS ROOM.”

Fast forward to a few days ago.  My not-so-little girl turned 14 and, at dinner, our conversation turned to discussing her early years.  Like most parents, we had struggled to set good eating habits so she would learn how to eat a balanced, nutritious diet.  When she was about two, my wife and I used a sneaky tactic to get her to eat the peas, carrots and beans that she pushed aside on her plate.    We’d tell her, “just three more bites and you can have a BONUS BITE.”  And it worked.  She’d gobble up three bites of something she didn’t want, just to be rewarded with more of the same because she thought it was special.  Although I’m sad to say that tactic no longer works on her, it seems the same can’t be said for a large selection of American home buyers as they gobble up more and more square footage without regard to need.  “Welcome to my bonus room” might best be replaced with “welcome to the space I didn’t know I needed and doesn’t have a use, but boy am I happy to have it.”

Unfortunately, unlike vegetables, getting more house than you need isn’t necessarily a good thing.

Our mailboxes, both postal and email, are flooded daily with trade and design magazines, most with the word “green” prominently featured on the cover. Inside, full page ads beckon: LED lighting, waterless urinals, green roofs, bamboo flooring, recycled content bathroom partitions, FSC certified cabinetry, agri-waste paneling, and so on.

I’m suffering from green product hangover, too many brand new buildings stuffed full of the latest products engineered specifically to maximize LEED points. Where are the beautiful buildings built to last over 100 years that won’t be tired and dated in 20? Who is talking durability in the sustainability manifesto?

I happened by the acclaimed Barker Center for Dance recently, on the University of Minnesota’s West Bank. A sculpturally complex building, the Barker Center was no doubt designed to allude to the thrust and energy of sinewy young dancers in motion. The building was probably lithe on dedication day, but at the ten year mark it’s showing its age, complete with premature beauty marks. Could it be intentional, symbolic of the dysplasia, back troubles, and arthritis that can plague dancers in later life?

To be fair, this building was not lauded as a green building or even a long lasting one. However, its grace is certainly measured in pristine walls and unblemished white surfaces – which have faded. The stains stem mainly from the way roof water is managed (or not), clearly the considerations of the architect.

Before writing off modernism as a conceit of form makers who aren’t interested in careful detailing, consider Kenzo Tange’s 1974 addition to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Like The Barker Center, it has large expanses of smooth white facade. However, the imperfections caused by weathering here are more patina and less scar.

Anticipating the ravages of elapsed time – addressing the problems of use, abuse, or weather – is suggested by the concept of building environmentally sensitive buildings, as much as selecting materials carefully and using them properly.

That’s not to say green construction is immune from performance disasters. The first straw-bale home in Minneapolis, completed in 1998, opened to hype about revolutionary building practices, agri-waste into housing, and affordable single family homes. Four years later, city officials condemned the structure while mold consumed the rotting straw within the walls, saddling the homeowner with debt on the memory of a house. Not so affordable. The structure is so far gone from the collective memory I couldn’t source a picture of it anywhere.

Mohsen Mostafavi, in his book On Weathering, precedes the body of the text with this: “Finishing ends construction, weathering constructs finishes.” One of those clever sentences architects love (i.e., “NewD irections” – Peter Eisenman), but a worthy challenge to building owners and designers. Owners, contractors, and architects have the most technologically advanced materials at their disposal, a very real advantage over our predecessors. What we often lack is the knowledge, ability, or desire to put them into a lifetime worth of service. Consider the differences in the following examples.

Concrete bench at Minneapolis' Public Library

Weathered corten steel

Glazed brick on a downtown building

Weathered entrance

The upper Midwest is a brutal climate for building longevity. Century-old brick buildings have stood the test of time, weathered elegantly, and provided us a link to a nostalgic heritage, yet they are unashamed energy hogs. When heating and maintaining these remnants becomes overly costly, to the point they start to disappear, will the aging of our modern constructions be as graceful?

This free event includes workshops to empower citizens on how to green their neighborhood, congregation, school or business. At 11:30 a.m. you can join Adam (of Locus) and Minneapolis’ Artist in Residence, Seitu Jones, to envision the future of the Frog Town Farm.
A full schedule and pre-registration is available at: http://www.afs.nonprofitoffice.com/
For more about the Frog Town Farm visit: http://www.frogtowngardens.org/Frogtown_Farm.html

Short post for today. Clark Bremer, owner of Northern Lights Timber Framing, is auctioning off a small timber frame he made recently with a handful of students in his shop. It’s about 12′ X 16′ X 14′ high, perfect for a very small cabin, tea house, screen porch, or just a room to sit and meditate. He is asking for a minimum of $1,900 (price of the materials) when it goes on eBay today.

Snap it up!

Looking for an event to take your sweetie for a pre-Valentine’s Day date? Drop by the Circa Gallery in Minneapolis on Saturday, February 6th from 6-9 pm for the opening reception of a show featuring the work of Rebecca Crowell & Maren Kloppmann.

Maren is a friend and neighbor here in the Northrup King Building, as well as a gifted ceramic artist. She shows her work in galleries nationwide, and recently received a 2009/2010 McKnight Foundation Ceramic Artist Fellowship. In the past year, she installed a nifty piece in the lobby of the Westin Hotel at the Edina Galleria (behind the main reception). When you’re out returning holiday gifts at Southdale, stop in and have a look.

Maren at the Westin

This past November, Maren co-delivered a lecture at the Locus studios with Mark Wheat, the evening DJ at MPR’s 89.3 The Current. The two of them talked about the creative process, their relationship, and how they influence each other. If the work she presented is any indication, the Circa Gallery’s show should be well worth a trip. You might even get a glass of wine if you behave yourself.

See you in February at the Circa!

Friends Steve Appelhans and Azin Adjoudani recently approached Locus to ask if we’d be willing to host their Movie Night gatherings. “Sure!” we said. The Locus Movie Night era premiered in December with one of Steve’s picks, John Frankenheimer’s Seconds, a “neo-noir” “science fiction thriller” (Wikipedia). Rock Hudson, no Doris Day, in a surreal chain of events that left me nostalgic about my teenage years watching Twilight Zone marathons.

With only one Locus gathering in the bin, MPR’s Art Hounds segment asked composer and educator Randall Davidson what he’s doing this weekend (1/16/10). Going to Locus Architecture for Movie Night! Obviously.

Movie night is part social hour, part Midwestern potluck, part movie club. No membership necessary, anyone is welcome. We convene at 6pm for food and drinks (BYO food and drinks), watch a film at 7pm (chosen by the membership a few weeks prior in an email instant-run-off-voting format), with discussion afterwards. When the wine runs out, people inexplicably head for the exits.

This month’s screening comes courtesy of Melody Gilbert, a local filmmaker. She follows other locals Barry Kimm (Meteor) and Barbara Wiener (Ida’s Story) in presenting personal work at Movie Night.

Interested in future gatherings? Add your name to the email list by sending a note to movienight@igrok.com. In your note, make sure to thank Steve and Azin for having the passion to keep the momentum behind Movie Night going.

This post is for Scott in La Crosse. He’s been thirsty for a new one. Thanks too, to Margaret, for use of a couple of her photographs.

With the economy in free fall, mirroring my net worth, my wife Linda and I decided to join four friends in Mendoza, Argentina. We figured we could always stay there, if there was a run on the banks stateside. Sip wine, nap through the afternoon, lounge in mineral spas, choke down slabs of beef around midnight, and gawk at modern architecture around Gran Mendoza. Could be worse.

A little geography. Mendoza is in central west Argentina, at the base of the Andes. Santiago, Chile is due west on the other slope, closer than Buenos Aires. Winter here, summer there, drain swirls the other way, sun in the northern sky, etc.

MALBEC
After acclimating to the relentless sunlight by drinking chilled wine and consuming pints of ice cream from Helados de Chacras in Chacras de Coria (where we stayed), we emerged on Day 3 to visit wineries and taste more seriously. With our able wine guide Santiago in the front seat, we headed to the Uco Valley to visit O. Fournier & Salentein, two wineries designed by Mendoza modernists, Bormida y Yanzon.

O. Fournier's Main Building

We started at O. Fournier, which one could argue, is a bold stroke for 21st century winery architecture. Monumental, imposing, masculine, dramatic, impressive, and to my taste, ultimately a little heavy-handed. I couldn’t shake the impression that a nasty troll with a Russian accent was going to emerge from a shadow, snub nosed pistol in hand, and announce that No. 3 at SPECTRE was awaiting our company in the downstairs vault.

Terrace

The manmade pond on the property was particularly unsympathetic to the climate. With water a valued and scarce resource in this desert, a shallow pool felt luxurious, not to mention incongruous, to the industrial feel of the site. The gesture struck me as arrogant.

On the upside, the rusting steel formwork used to cast the concrete waffle-slab ceiling in the barrel room – now scattered around the site as planters – were beautiful reused discards. The art inside the building was stark and harshly lit, which worked well with the spaces.

Barrel Room

We then drove to Salentein, another Bormida y Yanzon complex. Three named buildings serve the winery’s different functions; wine making in Salentein; visitor’s center, art gallery, and restaurant in Killka; and the chapel at Capilla de la Gratitud.

Salentein

Entry Court

I thought the chapel the best building of the three, although the pool and entry sequence at Killka impressed the group. All of the buildings share a severe language, yet the chapel represented the rugged landscape without sentimentality or nostalgia. It was my favorite of all the Bormida y Yanzon buildings that we visited. The olive wood furniture in the chapel was spectacular.

In the art gallery, there was a small body of exquisite sculptural work from an Argentine artist working with sheet metal.

If you’re used to wine tasting in the U.S., be warned. Most of the wineries producing the higher quality vintages require a reservation for a tour, tasting, or a meal. The armed guards out at the road appear serious, and aren’t necessarily swayed by a smiling mouth that speaks English. Comprende?

MATE (MAH-TAY, not Mmm + ATE)
Many Argentines drink mate throughout the day, a tea-like brew made from the leaves and stems of the stubby yerba mate tree. Caffeine? Yes, but doesn’t give the jitters like coffee. Bitter? Yes, like a strong tea. Benefits? Supposedly a mellower stimulant, aiding weight loss, increasing energy level, and even fighting bad breath.

My friend Zach embraced the mate ritual, which is a bit like a smoker constantly fiddling with the bowl of a pipe. We have no idea if Zach knows what he was doing, but he was convinced enough to buy a 25 lb. bag of yerba mate when he returned to Minneapolis.

Zach with his mate

Make your own at home!

1. “Cure” new gourd (you can find out how on the ‘net)
2. Place yerba mate (looks like shredded tea leaves) in gourd
3. Add other flavors if desired (orange rinds, mint leaves)
4. Fill with hot, not boiling, water – add cool water to drink, if desired
5. Drink mate through straw you bought with the gourd (Traditionally, you’d share your gourd with friends and/or strangers; this stretched our party’s comfort level)
6. Refill frequently, adusting the amount of yerba mate, hot water, rinsing straw, etc. Make sure it takes plenty of time, with much gesticulating
7. Rinse gourd, compost spent mate, dry gourd upside down until next time

MUTTS
In the city of Mendoza, most of the dogs we saw were groomed and on leash. In Chacras, they roamed the streets like some kind of canine Pamplona. With three enthusiasts in our group, half of the dogs in town followed us around the city on our daily jaunts, much to the disgust of the locals (and some in our party). On the last day, Linda tried to talk the local butchers into selling her a few bones for her favorite pals, Uno & Dos. Nada. When Marta, the mother of one of the owners of the house where we stayed, saw Linda with the dogs outside the house, she panicked, “You didn’t let THEM in, did you?” Linda confided in me that she had not only considered letting them in, but was going to let them swim in the pool, you know, “to get clean.”

Uno y Dos

Not all were friendly

MOUNTAINS
The highlight of the trip was our trip into the Andes. We did a short hike in the National Park at the base of Aconcagua, the highest peak outside of the Himalayas. It made me wish we’d dedicated more of our trip to getting around the mountains. If you find yourself up near Aconcagua, keep warm with an Alpaca scarf from the high altitude flea market opposite the Puente del Inca.

Aconcagua!

Outpost at Puente del Inca

MEAT (Vegetarians need go no further)
Every article ever written about Argentina must mention meat in passing, and I will not break the chain. Mendoza is supposed to be a good place to eat goat, but we couldn’t find any – not for lack of trying. The best beef I had was at 1884, chef Francis Mallman’s place in Godoy Cruz just outside Mendoza. The garden where we ate was immaculately manicured and the wait staff efficient and professionally formal. If not for a particularly rude encounter with our bar waiter, the evening would have been perfect.

Beef on frisbee-sized Potato Chip at 1884

While waiting for one of our party to use the bathroom, I scanned the jacket of Mallman’s book Seven Fires, Grilling the Argentine Way. I had to giggle when I read Mallman’s quote that he “tired of making fancy French food for wealthy customers in Buenos Aires.” Based on what I saw at 1884, he’s now making fancy Argentine food for wealthy customers in Mendoza.

A couple of other highlights from our 10-day food orgy. Vegetables were in short supply, but the food really was outstanding for the most part, and relatively inexpensive.

Not for the squeamish

The Argentines, like the foodies in this country, like their food sculptural. There was plenty of stacking and layering, towers and slabs, including this architectural offering.

Some recommendations for your trip to Mendoza:

1. Despite what the locals tell you, you CAN ride the bus. It’s quick, you mix with the locals, and the bus drivers don’t try to fleece you.
2. Go see the modern architecture of Bormida y Yanzon (see above). All the old buildings of the city were leveled by an earthquake in 1861 anyway.
3. Shop at Ni Chicha Ni Limonada. Great accessory store run by an architect.
4. Enjoy a Fernet Branca con Coke. Tasty.
5. REUSE plastic bags – The Argentine landscape already has too many blowing around.
6. If two little girls knock on your door with empanadas for sale, BUY!
7. If wine tasting, get out of town to the Uco Valley.
8. Go to the mountains, see Aconcagua. Climb it!
9. Spend a day walking around Mendoza, and stop in at Kato Cafe for a Gancia Batido.
10. Consider staying at the place we did, it’s beautiful. Pool, meat across the street, empanadas (see above), modern, very comfortable, and no dogs have ever been in the pool.

Friday, November 13th from 1:30-3:00 pm
Stassen Room, Humphrey Center, University of Minnesota West Bank

This is copied from an email I received from Sophia Ginis in the System Dynamics Interest Group. If you’re interested, come see.

Are biofuels sustainable considering the world’s need for food? How do biofuels contribute to greenhouse gas emissions? How have biofuels been helpful? Finally, how do we develop policies that actually encourage rather than stifle development of truly sustainable biofuels? John Sheenan will present his work in modeling on the effects of biofuels and help answer some of the existing land management issues.

John Sheehan is the Institute on the Environment’s scientific program coordinator for biofuels and the global environment, Sheehan’s work focuses on the multifaceted question of biofuels and their sustainability as a future energy source. Sheehan joined the University of Minnesota in February 2009, after spending nearly two decades working on biofuels. For 17 years, he worked as a project manager and analyst at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo. Initially trained as a biochemical engineer, he quickly developed an interest and expertise in the life-cycle assessment of biofuels. While at NREL, Sheehan also led research on the production and conversion of algae to biofuels; a technology that is now receiving a great deal of attention.

What do these have in common? Well, nothing I can speak about intelligently, but I’ve been confined to my car quite a bit these past two weeks listening to the radio. Sure, I’ve listened to a few innings of Twins games, but most of the time the usual; the Minnesota-centric staple of the tea-drinking, dog-walking, Volvo-driving, liberal-talking, weather-obsessed, Prairie Home Companion-loving, responsible-without-being-inflammatory crowd; our beloved MPR.

A few items caught my ear.

Got a Hennepin County library card? Check out (in both senses of the word) a Power Energy Meter . Plug in any appliance you own and you can monitor voltage, electricity cost, and power consumption. Have you ever wondered if your KitchenAid actually meets the standards on that yellow EnergyGuide sticker you threw out?

Dr. Mark Seeley, who has the most comforting voice of any climatologist I’ve ever met, wakes me up every Friday morning with a collection of weather data and facts. Today on air and on the Minnesota WeatherTalk Newsletter, he noted the annual Kuehnast Lecture coming up on October 15th. Dr. Dennis Baldocchi will speak on “Breathing of the Biosphere: How Physics Sets the Limits and Biology Does the Work”. Exactly. Dr. Baldocchi teaches at U. C. Berkeley, my alma mater, and that of Dr. Seeley as well. Seeing as we beat the Gophers a couple weeks back in the new stadium, it’s looking like there might be a Cal tsunami sweeping the North Star State….

…including an invasion of solar collectors. Not just for the deserts of Nevada and California any more, or at least not in the minds of the Brothers at St. John’s who are installing the largest solar farm in the upper Midwest. I’m skeptical this type of electricity generation makes sense here, given the land required and our climate (short days in winter, cloud coverage, and, oh yeah, plenty of wind), but St. John’s leadership has a history of making bold statements with results. (see: Marcel Breuer’s Abbey, Richard Breshanen’s pottery, VJAA’s recent buildings)

Onto the consumer goods front.

We just ran out of office paper. Calling XpedX, I was surprised to learn a ream of medium weight office paper with 30% post-consumer recycled content was going to run $180. Cheapo, clear-cut forest paper sure to endanger a handful of species, on the other hand, was about forty bucks. Desperate, we cleared out some old client files, and threw used paper in the tray, printing on the blank side. To the internet. In minutes, we found Eureka! Recycling right here in NE Minneapolis runs a paper Co-op. 100% post consumer recycled white paper for $41 a ream! See you later XpedX! Fall deadline to order is October 15th. Order now! Your goods won’t come until December, so clear out those file cabinets.

And finally, some politics.

Saw this week’s City Pages cover story featured the darling-of-all-architects-and-developers, Minneapolis Council Member Lisa Goodman. Some exquisite quotations in that article. Also read our lovely downtown pillow is going to be sponsored by Minnesota’s shopping mecca, Mall of America Field at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. This lead me to wonder if the new planted roof at the Target Center – should we thank or harass Lisa for that? – might fuel a new round of naming. My vote is Roundup Roof at Target Center.

I spent Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on a trade mission. Our group of Minnesotans – four architects, one home builder, and three representatives of a window distributor – spent two days in Steinbach and Winnipeg, meeting with Canadian manufacturers and architects working with sustainable materials. After I spent Sunday biking around Winnipeg, I met up with the mission Monday.

We departed for Steinbach, Manitoba from the historic (and allegedly haunted) Fort Garry Hotel. For those of you living beneath the 49th parallel, you’ll be relieved to know that summer road construction is not limited to our interstates. We were kept to one lane, pretty much the 65 km from Winnipeg to Steinbach. Fortunately for us, the woman driving our van was a native Austrian, and like most Europeans, knows how to get the most out of a rented Dodge minivan.

We poured out of the vans into the Loewen parking lot around 9. For the next five hours, we watched douglas fir and mahogany get shaped, cut, culled, inspected, clamped, hammered, fitted with aluminum extrusions, and outfitted with hardware and glass in Loewen’s 580,000 square foot facility (that’s 13+ acres). We talked about custom sizes and shapes, quality and optimization, specifying FSC wood (which can be had for about a 20% premium), sustainability, and how Loewen assembles their own glass on the premises. At Locus, we’ve bought Loewen for a half dozen years (through Doug Truax, now of Synergy Products) and have been pleased with the product line. Part of the tour outlined how waste material was handled in the process. Wood offcuts heat the plant in winter, sawdust is collected and sold as animal bedding, and aluminum and glass offcuts are sorted and recycled. We were told even the water used for storm and pressure testing in the research lab is collected and reused. It all makes financial sense of course, but comforting to see it in action.

Loewen Windows in a recent Locus project

On Tuesday morning, we met with other product manufacturers and inventors in Winnipeg. In a rapid-fire-10-minute-dating type format, we met with other Canadian manufacturing interests. We’ve not used any of these, so the following isn’t an endorsement, but I think we will be following up with these companies.

J Neufeld, Wood Anchor
J offers wood flooring and mouldings from wood that has been reclaimed, landfill diverted, or from trees cut down in urban areas. We’ve been looking for someone that is already doing this for years. Most of the manufacturing is done in Minnesota, at a mill in Cook, north of Virginia.

Neil Krovats & Kristina Yurkiw, Clearline Technologies
Neil & Kristina will unveil a line of products this year at Greenbuild in Phoenix (the link above will show the products after November 2009). Will we see particle board and acoustic tile made from hemp fiber or “hempsulation” in the aisles of Home Depot in the near future? How about hemp cement? These two would like to see it happen with products they are currently bringing to market. As you might expect, Neil had to say, as he handed me the hempsulation sample, “You can’t smoke it.”

Ryan Schade, Terry Johnstone, & Paul Loewen, Accurate Dorwin
Al Dueck, Duxton Windows & Doors
Accurate Dorwin and Duxton (two separate companies) both manufacture windows and doors using pultruded fiberglass. Fiberglass manufacturers argue that the material inherently makes for a window that is more energy efficient, structurally stable, less expensive, and longer lasting than their clad aluminum and wood-based competition. In theory, all these claims may well be true. In a residential application where the window is to be painted, fiberglass is definitely an option to consider, with U-values (inverse of R value) lower than wood and aluminum versions. In our office, we’re more excited by the commercial potential of fiberglass windows and doors in storefronts and curtain walls. Fiberglass conducts much less heat than the more prevalent aluminum.

Special thanks to Pam Olson, Christa Andraos, & Charles Hatzipanayis (Canadian consulate & trade) for transportation, setting up our meetings, making sure we were properly fed and caffeinated, and keeping the conversation stimulating.

Lastly, if you find yourself without your skateboard in Winnipeg (it could happen), stop by the Green Apple skate shop. When I stopped, Mike McDermott, a pro boarder and shop owner, came out from the back to show off his new space. We talked about business while he rung up a couple of autographed Green Apple T-shirts for my boys. As we walked out on Sunday evening, Mike joked while pointing at his sign, “If it doesn’t make it, I’ll just change the word ‘skateshop’ to ‘pub’ and I’ll have plenty of business.” Seems Winnipeg has something in common with Wisconsin.

A couple of ideas for September. Come and see us, say hello, we’ll give you a hug.

9/10 – Housing Crisis Presentations (with cold beverages!)
West Bank Social Center
7pm
The housing crisis has transformed once vibrant neighborhoods into vacant landscapes of foreclosure and collapse. Much attention has been given to the financial causes of the crisis but few projects have gone beyond that. In the exhibit “Unbundling the Housing Crisis,”, just closing at the Form + Content Gallery in downtown Minneapolis, 8 interdisciplinary groups of artists, designers, writers, scientists, and thinkers were asked to collaborate, research, create and present projects examining all aspects of the housing crisis.

These 8 groups come together in person to present their projects, discuss their process, and share their creative approaches to understanding and unbundling the housing crisis.

Short presentations on:
+ Money on the Block: Mapping neighborhood financial flows in the Hawthorn neighborhood
+ The flora of of a condemned property at 3001 James Ave. N
+ A machine to decipher the housing crisis through interactive discovery and play
+ Locus Architecture’s PPoD: A flexible housing system – pay as you build, build as you grow, and grow (or shrink) as you need.
+ Houses that work with their climate; thoughts on sustainable housing and community
+ gen(h)ome: From a pool of slime to a McMansion in only 3,700,000,000 years!
+ Complexities of the urban fabric
+ Ghosts and Shadows; A physical examination of 26 square blocks in North Minneapolis

A panel discussion led by curator/artist/architect Jay H. Isenberg, AIA will follow.

Vinje in 1961 at a prior dedication

9/12 & 9/13 – Vinje Lutheran Church Dedication
Willmar, MN
Open House Saturday 3-6pm
Worship Sunday at 8:30 & 10:45am
Locus designed an addition for this modern icon in Willmar, MN, including a gathering space and youth expansion on the west side of the original complex. This follows a painstaking renovation of the original Sanctuary designed by Sewell J. Mathre of SMSQ. It’s quite a dramatic structure, with an exoskeleton steel frame, unusual in this climate, supporting the worship space.

Vinje's Original Floor Plan - in person

9/18 – PARK(ing) Day 2009
Nationwide/Minneapolis
All day
1. Pick a parking spot
2. Feed the meter
3. You’ve paid for the space, set up some chairs, hang around, socialize.
We plan to set up shop and work. We’ll let you know where we’ll be. Come and visit. Maybe we’ll even give you some advice – free of charge.

9/20-22 – Canadian Trade Mission
Winnipeg, Manitoba
OK, not at the personal invitation of Stephen Harper, but as guests of Loewen Windows of Steinbach. Going to tour the plant, and spend a few days bicycling around Winnipeg. Send us your favorite things to do at the confluence of the Red & Assiniboine.