Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Goodwin: Web, Connect, Expansive

Swollow: Time, Grow, Aged

Piccinini: Flesh, Feed, Grotesque

Monday, March 8, 2010


This is an idea I had for a small sanctuary in the bush that I had last year. The intended site for this building is a small sandstone rock face in the bush behind my house. The sanctuary consists of a simple corrugated iron roof cantilevered off a sandstone rock face. A small timber deck is suspended from the roof. The idea was to create a place where one could escape from the world and reflect. These are some of the first rough sketches.

Image courtesy of: http://aedesign.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/paul_klee_zentrum.jpg

This is the Zentrum Paul Klee building in Bern Switzerland. It is named after and devoted to Paul Klee, a Swiss artist who lived from 1879 until 1940. The building consists of three connected "hills"(one of which is pictured above) which are designed to to meld seamlessly with the surrounding environment. Each of the Hills is devoted to an area of the arts that Paul Klee was involved in at different stages of his life. Klee was a painter, musician and poet. Aesthetic beauty put aside, this building it is a very technologically advanced structure. A carefully designed set of translucent panels is used to carefully manage the solar radiation entering the building so as to preserve the priceless art works held within.

I took this photo about a month ago in Revelstoke British Columbia, Canada. This photo shows a line my friend skied on Mt. McKenzie. It is difficult for me to express why this is a beautiful image for me. But it has something to do with the danger that was involved with drawing that line on the mountainside. If at any moment my friend had fallen he would have almost certainly gone into an uncontrolled slide down the face, off a 100m cliff and fallen to his death. It might be difficult to understand the commitment it takes to ski a line like this, where you risk every thing for a few moments of extacy. This image is beautiful for me because it reminds me of what my passion for skiing is all about.