Haslegrave Designs: A Long And Winding Road

Evan and Oliver Haslegrave are two brothers who have taken a winding and wild journey in their careers to become some of New York’s most respected designers.  The designing force behind a prestigious list of half a dozen New York City restaurants and shops including the Manhattan Inn, duckduck and Goat Town, the Haslegrave Brothers have earned their reputation as a great design duo.  Their journey in getting to where they are isn’t a  very traditional story for designers.

Starting off like many who come to find their dreams in New York, they were waiters and service industry employees who worked hard to keep the lights on in their apartment while moonlighting their real talents.  Their story, written about in The Scout, is a fascinating tale of how finding, using and pursuing their talents in the midst of the desires of the marketplace paid off.

“We like creating these places where you feel, in a comfortable way, all of these crossovers of necessity within one space. There are just so many different levels that have to all function and when you finally get those different things to overlap in the right way you end up with a cohesive, beautiful feeling in the space…It’s about creating that space that we really believe in.”

Photograph by KimCarpenter NJ

July 12, 2012 by Aaron Everitt
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Everything’s Not Bigger in Texas

Even the stars at night are bigger and brighter, it is said, in keeping with the assumption that deep in the heart of every Texan there seems to be a need for the over-sized.  Large cars, ranches, cattle, churches and even mascots for businesses seem to promote the idea that if “it aint large, it aint much.”

One interesting revolt to this stereotype comes from Tiny Texas Houses, a company that specializes in reclaiming and rebuilding small houses for new use.  As they describe on their website, “A generation of housing materials already harvested, sliced, diced, formed, and proven healthy, toxin free, priced for human energy is available in this country.  Materials that ard 100% American grown, mined, smelted, formed, and created with pride when we had such in our craftsmanship, and built to last for centuries…Why throw these materials in the dump to use Chinese imports, speed grown wood, vinyl, plastics, glues, sheetrock, carpeting or other ‘modern, big box store’ material junk that just adds to the toxic soup in our lives?”

Some of the housing they have created is remarkable.  A focus on space and details make for an efficient and beautiful contribution to the tiny house movement.  Their products are for sale on their web site, along with a series of informational articles and collection of ideas for tiny houses.

 

July 10, 2012 by Aaron Everitt
Posted in Green Building, Ideas, Products | Leave a comment

Salvation Army’s New Home in Winnipeg

The Barbara Mitchell Resource Center in Winnipeg, Manitoba is a fantastic architectural piece that was designed and built for use by the Salvation Army.  A generous donation allowed the building to be designed in a way that was more than utilitarian and capitalized on the Resource Center’s setting.

Wendi Park is the director of the center and discussed how the building is used: “Hundreds of people come through the centre each week to take advantage of a variety of programs including the Life and Employability Program, which offers employment training to war-affected youth between the ages of 15 and 30; Family Foundations, which provides assistance and support to expecting parents and those with infants; English Café, a weekly program where individuals can improve their English and get homework help; a food bank; and a youth drop-in program.”

The video tour of the building shows the magnificent resource that was created and also illustrates that community buildings do not have to conform to strict utility.

July 9, 2012 by Aaron Everitt
Posted in Architecture, Contemporary, Videos | Leave a comment

Steel Mill to Park

Reclaiming projects that have run their course is the latest development in the thinking and designs of urban planning firms.  Factories, landfills and environmentally blighted spaces are, out of necessity and space constraints, being transformed into wonderful public spaces.  This Is Colossal has a photo essay about the re-commissioned space that was designed by AllesWirdGut Architektur.  The firm “has converted an abandoned steel mill into a sleek public park, leaving many of the old structural remnants in place. The bi-level tunnel bench is especially brilliant.”

The use of old factory spaces and parts is an innovative choice for what were once centers of industry and are now becoming the center of a healthy environment.

Photograph by takomabibelot

July 8, 2012 by Aaron Everitt
Posted in Architecture, Green Building | Leave a comment

The Shady Acres Retirement

Practical solutions are sometimes right under our noses.  More often than not, it seems that  architectural problems are relieved when new perspective is applied and a fresh set of eyes assess the situation without the baggage of expectations.  As Dwell magazine found out, that’s exactly what happened for “[r]etired couple Suzanne and Brooks Kelley who hired a pair of brainy New Haven architects who breathed new architectural life into the property they’ve inhabited for over thirty years.”

Dwell author William Lamb records how the process started: “’I needed more space for books,’ says Brooks, a historian, writer, and former archivist and curator of historical manuscripts at Yale University. ‘I thought, we’ll turn the little cottage into a library, maybe have a little desk in there, and we’ll take the big attic over the garage and put in an apartment for help when we need a caregiver, or whatever. Then it was Alan who said, ‘Why don’t you put the library up there and put the extra bedroom in the cottage?’ I didn’t see any reason not to make the switch.’”

Photograph by Chase Lindberg Photography

 

July 7, 2012 by Aaron Everitt
Posted in Architecture, Contemporary, Creative Places, Room by Room | Leave a comment

Good Books: The Secret Architecture of our Nation’s Capital

Politicians will come and others will go but a few things remain the same in Washington. One can always count on bickering between political parties but also the awe-inspiring architecture of Pierre Charles L’Enfant, the creative mind behind the layout and building themes of the U.S. capital. This fourth of July we celebrated what John Adams said would be “The most memorable epoch, in the history of america,” which he believed would be celebrated by “succeeding generations, as the great anniversary festival as the day of deliverance.”

Consider reading a book by David Ovason called “The Secret Architecture of our Nation’s Capital.”  The book is a look into the mystery of the Masonic influence on L’Enfant and how the zodiac plays a major role in the layout, design and creation of Washington D.C. As Amazon writes in their brief review of the book, “Today, there are more than twenty complete zodiacs in Washington, D.C., each one pointing to an extraordinary mystery. David Ovason, who has studied these astrological devices for ten years, now reveals why they have been placed in such abundance in the center of our nation’s capital and explains their interconnections. His richly illustrated text tells the story of how Washington, from its foundation in 1791, was linked with the zodiac, with the meaning of certain stars, and with a hidden cosmological symbolism that he uncovers here for the first time…Fascinating and thoroughly researched, The Secret Architecture of Our Nation ‘s Capital is an engrossing book that raises provocative questions and otters complex insights into the meanings behind the mysterious symbols in Washington.”

Photograph by ~MVI~ (won’t ride air asia again)

July 6, 2012 by Aaron Everitt
Posted in Architecture, Books, Colonial, Images | Leave a comment

Buckminster Fuller and Standard Oil

Buckminster Fuller is the father of the geodesic dome, the strange architectural design based on spheres and triangles that captivated the world in the middle of the twentieth century. The most famous example may be the entrance feature of EPCOT in Disney World.

Since it’s creation, the geodesic dome has wrestled with both practicality and being associated only with avant garde architecture. One interesting use of this design, however, was one by the Standard Oil Company in the late 1950s in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The dome became a driving force for efficiency in rail-car maintenance for Standard Oil and helped the company keep up with demand for oil with the westward growth of the United States after World War II.

While the film makes a connection between Standard Oil and Buckminster Fuller as the designer, the dome was engineered and architecturally designed by T.C. Howard of Synergetics, Inc. (An architecture firm that were the first licensees to design geodesic domes.)

July 5, 2012 by Aaron Everitt
Posted in Architecture, Mid-Century Modern | 1 Comment

The Sundial House

Light and shadows are sometimes an afterthought in architectural design. Certainly the mass-produced housing of the American suburbs has placed a utilitarian spin on the idea of light and its movement. But they are considered and maximized, the results can be absolutely amazing. This home in Bragg Hill, in Chester County, Pennsylvania, illustrates the movement of light and its dramatic impact.

Architect Matthew Moger is the designer of the home. He describes the fundamental shift that occurred in his thinking once he began to understand the holistic approach to sustainable design. Instead of thinking how to build in traditional methods and then “greenwashing” the structure, he took a deep look into what it meant to drive all of the decisions based on the inherent longevity of the solution instead of the conventional wisdom. In the interview below, Mr. Moger describes the Bragg Hill home and some of the its fundamental differences in its design.

July 3, 2012 by Aaron Everitt
Posted in Architecture, Green Building, People | Leave a comment

“Waste Knot,” But Certainly Wanted

When someone’s designs stand out in today’s difficult and demanding marketplace, it catches our attention.  We recently discovered Waste Knot furniture.  The Boulder, Colorado furniture company creates artistic and beautiful pieces out of re-claimed and re-commissioned materials.   The editor of Imagined House, Aaron Everitt, recently interviewed creator and owner Jeremy Schick about his company, design philosophy, and innovative approach to creativity.

IH:  Tell me in a few words about your company—philosophy, design ideas, how you started etc.

JS: I have been in the residential construction industry for several years and with each build or remodel, I saw an artist’s or designer’s dreams and ideas come to life.  It was always an amazing transformation from ordinary piles of materials into someone’s dream home.  This inspired me to bring my own design ideas to life.  Over these years, I had also accumulated much of the unused construction materials from these jobs, thinking one day I would find a purpose for them.  These two concepts converged and I started building furniture that was inspired by nature.  I enjoy maintaining a natural element to all of my pieces in various ways, including raw cut edges, simple designs, and coatings that bring out the natural elements of the wood.  I build with the intention of creating pieces that have a practical purpose, will last a lifetime, and where each piece is one-of-a-kind.  I want people to be proud of the selections they make for their home…. I want them to recognize the artistic build of a functional piece.

IH: Your company name is Waste Knot, it’s  a great play on words and a nice turn of a phrase, where does the name come from?

JS: Waste Knot stemmed from the philosophy of not wasting materials.  On construction sites, I was always amazed at the amount of materials that were thrown away throughout the construction of a home.  All of the pieces I sell have some element of recycled materials, or materials saved from landfills.

IH: Where can people see your designs?

JS:  All pieces can be seen and purchased via the web site at www.wasteknotwoodworks.com.  Currently, we are only an online business.  We haven’t fully explored a storefront just yet.

IH:  Most of us in this field have a designer that we look up to—who are some of your design heros?

JS:  Nature is my design hero.  Nature does not overly complicate things.  Design starts and finishes with only what is needed and nothing more.

IH: What are your long term goals for the company? 

JS:  I would like to see my products generate awareness within the local community that function and beauty can be created using conscious building practices, all for reasonable prices.

I would like the Waste Knot name to be a familiar name for home furnishings in the local community.

And, eventually, I would like to open a storefront in Boulder where I can better display my pieces and meet customers who share similar interests.

July 2, 2012 by Aaron Everitt
Posted in Products | Leave a comment

Africa & Solar-Powered Schools

Africa has a long list of challenges as a continent.  Many of the continent’s countries face obstacles to growth and prosperity, often in the form of despotic governments and food supply issues. One company, Samsung, is trying to see to it that the challenges Africa faces are overcome by creative thinking and better technology. This news report from CNN illustrates a brilliant idea to bring the schoolhouse, and modern-era technology, to some of the more challenged areas of the continent.

July 1, 2012 by Aaron Everitt
Posted in Architecture, Green Building, Ideas, Videos | Leave a comment