In the Pacific Northwest, many of the structures I love blend seamlessly with the surrounding landscape, while SW structures I like tend to stand out boldly. I adore both types of work, it’s just different. I suppose it depends on your mood. Today, I’m feeling a little stand out. Hence, the Hummingbird…

This beautiful curvy structure, originally known as the Townsend Residence, is located in the eastern saddle of Mummy Mountain (AZ), and was designed by the amazing Will Bruder. Brunder, of Will Brunder + Partners designed the Hummingbird with an array of colored resins, glass, steel, concrete, aluminum and various wood. It’s a large home (downside) but still chock full of goodness like intertwined circles, curvilinear geometry, natural light, resin window squares, and pivoting glass doors. Not to mention the surrounding mountain views. 

Ah – light delight. This bath view above is a great example of how natural lighting and organic colors were used in this home. Fans of Brunder seem to hail the Hummingbird as a best-of sort of work. It is beautiful, but while I like this structure, I’m not sure I’d say it’s the best Brunder design because that’s too tough a call. Seriously this is a stunning architecture co. You have to visit Will Brunder + Partners to see all their great work.

You can also cut to the chase and view stats and many more lovely images of the Hummingbird at AZarchitecture. It’s worth a click.

+ AZarchitecture

+ Will Brunder + Partners

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Hummingbird of Mummy Mountain

That said, I decided to go with random.

I closed my eyes, tried to navigate the categories and hit Commercial Structures. Actually that’s sort of a lie. Since my eyes were closed I clicked on two ads accidentally before catching a break, and actually snagging a category. I figured you didn’t want to see an ad, so lucky us I got the category.

Then I randomly clicked on a commercial structures and got…

BusinessWeek & Architectural Record 2007 Awards

Not bad. This was a killer post in my opinion. Although not so “classic” since it came from December. Still, take a look at a sample:

The Gardiner Museum in Toronto…

I love the Gardiner Museum. Sleek, clean, and admit it, it looks a little like a neat abstract elephant or some oddball Star Wars character. It looks like it’s taking off at any second – or is that just me?

Visit the original post to see two more lovely winners. Then visit the Business Week post to see all the winners.

[via Business Week]

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Random Classic Offbeat Homes

I guess its skinny nature would encourage you to stick to that New Years diet resolution.

A little tilting though. Sort of makes you dizzy.

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Houses of Goa Museum

According to BusinessWeek, “The strategic impact of these designs can be seen in everything from higher ticket sales at the theater to improved employee retention, better brand awareness, and even increased productivity.”

True; how much importance do we place on aesthetics? Quite a bit. People forget, I believe, how much your structure can represent you, whether a home or multi-million $ business, how people see things and the environment surrounding them affects feelings, drive, passion, all sorts of emotions. There were four Award of Excellence winners chosen and six other finalists this year which received a Citation of Excellence.

Here are a few of this year’s winners.

The Gardiner Museum in Toronto:

The Hubbell Lighting Headquarters in Greenville, S.C. — seriously how gorgeous is this structure. It’s completely amazing.

The U.S. Census Bureau Headquarters in Suitland, Md.

To see all the lovely winners and to learn the back story about each of them visit Business Week.

Don’t forget to gather points for the December Offbeat Homes Contest.

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BusinessWeek & Architectural Record 2007 Awards

The cool contest:

Currently AD is running a random drawing book give away for their newest book, Private Views: Inside the World’s Greatest Homes. 10 winners and an easy sign up. (No purchase or anything like that). I want this book. It looks great. Some of the homes featured are not my style — more fancy contemporary but many are simply beautiful. I think it’ll be a nice book. Private Views features, among others…

Our old pal, the amazing Bart Prince.

Preston T. Phillips’ awe inspiring home. 

Now don’t you want the book after seeing these two photos?

If not you can always enter and then send it to me if you win (just kidding) well, sort of kidding. Anyway, AD has a major drool worthy slide show featuring more clips from the book. See the slide show here.  

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Architectural Digest Events & Contests

HCMC House 10

I’ve never seen something quite like this but it’s so great.

This post was brought to you by the number 3 and the letter S.

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Sunday Snapshot: Super Graphics House

Most creative folks like having their very own place to brainstorm and work. I write and my own little place is called the “one room office with desk.” And although I do have a spiffy chair as well, I’d much rather have a place like this:

This is the Bart Prince Residence and Studio, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A tad more inspirational than the one-room workspace I’d say.

EDIT NOTE: Dan in our reader comments noticed this, “The first pic above is the 1982 studio in Santa Fe (read caption above Bart’s photo). The interior is of the present studio in Albuquerque, begun in 1983.” ~ Thanks Dan & sorry readers, it’s been a heck of week – my brain’s off. 

From Prince’s site:

“Bart Prince Residence and Studio, Albuquerque, New Mexico 1983-1984

Built on a small lot in an existing neighborhood to provide living and studio workspace. The studio is set into the ground behind an earth berm toward the front of the structure to provide easy access and a buffer from the street for the more private portions of the house. The top level contains the bedrooms with curved south-facing glazing for passive solar benefits. The masonry tower was added in 1990 to provide library and drawing storage space.”

Pretty cool. Here’s an interior shot:

I’ve read various Prince interviews in the past and based on some of his previous quotes, I came up with this whopper of a question for him:

You’ve said that “site, client, materials, and form are associated with what develops…that architecture is the structure that grows out of a situation,” and that you “work from the inside out….letting (the structure) become the final form.” To an outside observer (read Jennifer, the outside non-architect observer) this can sound like you’re completely ‘winging it’ yet your finished structures are always amazing. How is this ‘from the inside out’ method more cohesive than planning from the outside in — i.e Such as architects who try to make the building and client fit their plans, rather than the other way around?

Geez, good (and by good I mean a little nuts) question huh. Still nice fellow that he is, Prince answered:

“When I say that the design ‘responds’ to the site, client, climate, materials etc. and that the design ‘grows’ from this situation, it doesn’t mean these things ‘happen’ by themselves. It’s the mind of the architect that brings these ideas together and synthesizes everything into a final scheme. It’s a very complex process and far from ‘winging it’! In fact it is a much more difficult process that the standard so-called design process used by many. You are dealing with materials, structure, ideas, space while solving complex design programs presented by the client. It takes years of experience to make this process look easy!”

This is a good example of something that looks easy, but likely took great skill. The Price Residence in California was built to provide the owners with privacy as well as, “An integration with the site and close association with the sea,” Prince’s site states.

Here’s a beautiful interior shot of the Price home:

Just amazing. Now what if you’re an architect freshly starting out. I asked Prince if he was ever worried about job security or what others in his field might think of his break from the traditional structure early in his career and what advice he’d give to aspiring architects and designers who want to break away from a basic box architectural style and head into offbeat territory.

“I never worried about ‘breaking away’ from the standard ways of doing things. I didn’t think that any architect worth anything had a choice! You HAD to begin doing work that was more creative and responsive to the modern world in my opinion. Job ’security’ never interested me. I didn’t want any job that was going to make me do things I didn’t think were worth doing.

I don’t think anyone should be trying to be ‘offbeat’. What they should be doing is using their imaginations to bring about creative solutions to the problems they are given. There should be as many kinds/styles of buildings are there are kinds/styles of people. Everything should be ‘offbeat’!”

I agree with Prince… what do you think?

This is the Mead/Penhall Residence in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I used to think of this as a little too contemporary for me. But you know, it’s kind of grown on me. I like the alternating lines and for some reason it reminds me of a waterfall. Would you like to call a place like this home?

This almost concludes our offbeat weekend architect tour. But in case you’re aching for more information I’ve got some extra sites for you to check out.

Bart Prince’s website, the obvious place to start. Prince has a multitude of cool projects to see on his site. I especially enjoy his random models and drawing page. And I highly recommend checking out the Model Skyscraper — very cool.

A book? Why yes there is a book. A very fine book that you will enjoy. You can check it out at Builders Booksource or any other bookstore you frequent.

You can find one of my favorite Prince interviews at Architectural Digest. It’s a video interview; interesting and informative. Go give it a whirl, (or a watch).

Last but absolutely not least, a hearty “thank you!” to Bart Prince for answering my questions, letting me raid his site for great photos, and allowing the Offbeat readers a view into his world.

*As yesterday, all pictures (except book cover) provided courtesy of Bart Prince. (Thanks again Bart!).

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Offbeat Hot: Q&A With Architect Bart Prince (part two)

This week there is an “Offbeat Hot” but there will be no “Offbeat Not,” because when Bart Prince is in the house how can you possibly complain?

My house is full of architectural books and magazines and discussions often turn towards home building and design. But frankly, although I enjoy this stuff, hearing about drywall, soffits, or PV modules for the umpteenth time isn’t that exciting. What’s exciting to me is to see unique design in structures; architectural pieces that give something back to the space they occupy. Buildings that enhance the natural world around them fascinate me and Prince’s designs do just this. Here is one of my favorites:

According to Prince’s site, the Height Residence, a weekend home near Mendocino, California, was designed, “With a continuous undulating roof which provides a buffer to the wind on one side while opening to ocean views on the other.” I love how this house looks like it completely belongs here — almost like it grew out of the ground. The colors and shapes work directly with the landscape instead of overwhelming it.

Personally, I’ve always been curious about what goes on in the mind of individuals who have such such an original focus; so I was thrilled when Prince agreed to answer some questions I sent him about his work.

Background:

The New Mexico born Prince, is recognized internationally for his unique residences. Prince was awarded the Record House of the Year Award in 1989 for the Brad and June Prince Residence and again in 1991 for the Joe and Etsuko Price Residence. Other accolades, among many, have included featured works in numerous exhibitions, the 2004 International Excellence in Design Award, and Prince is recognized as one of The AD 100 by Architectural Digest. Now this is just a smidgen of a bio. You can find out much more at Prince’s website.

I asked Prince if he always imagined himself designing offbeat and unique structures or if there a specific moment, such as at the College of Architecture at Arizona State University or after meeting Bruce Goff, where he decided to build unusual projects vs. the average project. Here’s what he had to say:

“I’ve never really thought of my work as particularly ‘offbeat’ though I guess that word has probably been used on occasion to describe it by others. What I’ve been interested in since I was very young is CREATIVE work. Work that is RESPONSIVE to each individual situation, site, climate, client etc. I can remember going to kindergarten in Santa Fe and wondering why people lived in these dark, creepy brown buildings. I don’t know why at age five or six I was so affected by these things but I was. I didn’t know what an architect was and at that age I didn’t really know how buildings came about but I certainly thought we MUST be able to do better! I began making my own designs and models to show people what we could have. I never thought of my ideas as anything but serious attempts at creating something beautiful for our own age.

I came across the work of Frank Lloyd Wright when I was around 8 or 9 years old and I was amazed that such beautiful work was possible. I learned that he was an ARCHITECT and that architects actually DESIGNED these buildings. I knew that this was what I wanted to be. By the time I got to ASU I had been working on my own trying to design buildings I thought were more interesting, unusual and beautiful. While in high school I saw a few of my designs built by a local contractor who had asked me to do drawings for houses he was building. This was good experience since instead of learning how a building was supposed to be built, I learned a lot about how buildings WERE built while at the same time realizing there were others ways they COULD be built.

One of the things that made me decide to attend ASU’s School of Architecture (aside from the fact that it was a very good school at that time) was the proximity to Frank Lloyd Wright’s home and studio just outside of Scottsdale. Paolo Soleri was also working near there and I got to know him as well as many people who lived and worked at Taliesin West. While at ASU Bruce Goff came to give a talk and that is when I got to know him and his work (I had seen a few things prior to that but didn’t know where Goff lived and worked . . . that was before the internet and it was not so easy to find people). Goff was very interested in the designs I had been making and I went to work with him that summer. After graduating I continued my work with him until I opened my own office in Albuquerque in 1973. One way that Goff was an inspiration was that I could see he had an interest in Wright and other very creative people but he was able to find his own way and do work which was not imitative of them. This is something I felt was very important.”

To have these amazing ideas in your mind is one thing; explaining them to a potential client is a whole other issue. Prince’s site offers some very cool random models and drawings in order to show how he communicates designs to clients and later contractors.

Groves drawing above, and below a Groves model.

With all of these cool designs it can be hard to pick a favorite. I asked Prince what his most interesting design request from a client has been and he said:

“All design requests are interesting. I once had a client who needed a design that looked beautiful from the air as opposed to the typical ‘front elevation’ most people are concerned with. True ARCHITECTURE has no front or back, top or bottom. This client went everywhere in a helicopter and wanted his house to be something extraordinary from the air as he approached it. He wanted a helipad where he could land, push a button which opened the door to the hangar while a platform on tracks pulled the helicopter inside and the door closed behind. I gave him what he asked for but it’s no helipad or hangar like you’ve ever seen. He also wanted his kitchen to be able to move from the den to the dining room to the upper view room all of which were on different levels. That’s what he got!”

Below, a residence near Glorieta, New Mexico.

I don’t know the background of the Glorieta residence, but it almost looks like an airplane landed down in the desert. Very cool. What do you think? Would you like to live in a house like this?

Tomorrow (technology willing) I’ll post some more Prince Q&A and more of his amazing designs. So stay tuned.

All photos courtesy of Bart Prince. (Thanks Bart!).

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Offbeat Hot: Q&A With Architect Bart Prince