Thursday, October 4, 2007

Odds 'n Ends

(Brendan)

In a few weeks of surfing, I've come across some other pictures that I think relate to the potential architecture of our home (at least as expressed in the first concepts, see the sidebar at right for links to the three conceptual schemes). Again, I don't want to put words in my brother's mouth, but these seem to be analogous in some of the exterior design aesthetics...
This home seemed to be similar in the separate "wings" or areas of the home, which can be clearly seen as an outside viewer. The architect is Dixon Weinstein Architects.


These are both covers of books by architect Jeremiah Eck (link 1, link 2), and you can see a more midwestern flavor still with a modern feel. Very clean and organized.


This home is by David Salmela, and it's located in an Eastern suburb of St. Paul, MN. I like how native they've kept the surrounding landscape. I like David Salmela as an architect because he knows how to blend traditional forms with a modern aesthetic; here's a great article about him. In the article it notes that his projects are done for "everyday people—not corporate executives, not art collectors, not style-conscious celebrities" on the "smallest of budgets... After David, architects have no excuses for not doing terrific work." The quotes are from the dean of the University of Minnesota school of architecture.

I included this pic, from a book by architect John Connell, because one of the ideas for Scheme C was to twist the chapel to be directly East, possibly by connecting to the chapel via a short glass hallway such as the one above. Cost? Surely not cheap. Something to consider though, and it would be an interesting way to add drama to entering the chapel, and give the chapel a feeling of "separation" that is conducive to prayer life.

Also, in my surfing I've come across Squidoo.com, which has lots of users that post single pages with links, commentary, Amazon.com books, eBay items, etc. on one topic (a better way to get information on a topic than having a computer bring up random pages on Google). If you're interested, here's a good page someone put together on the home design process, with good information regarding loans and working with contractors.

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