Walked to Vladimir Ossipoff’s IBM Building. The facade has staying power compared to many facades of the 1960’s. He designed the open-to-the-elements Honolulu Airport, and airports at Kahului, Maui, and Kona, Big Island. I once met his daughter, but didn’t realize the connection.
Category: Architecture
Guthrie Theater
It’s no accident the Guthrie Theater is close to our home. The theater moved to its current home in the Minneapolis Mill District in 2006 next to the Mill City Museum which had opened three years earlier. At the time, the choice of new location was brave. The Mill District was mostly derelict, and not… Continue reading Guthrie Theater
Model of Downtown
The Minneapolis skyways were 80 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the streets below, so I walked the skyways. Spotted a model of Downtown in Cesar Pelli’s Wells Fargo Center. For me, the Wells Fargo Center seems outclassed by the restraint of Philip Johnson’s IDS Center.
Logitech Blue
Walked past the blue Guthrie Theater set against a blue sky on my way to join friends for a Mississippi walk. Architect Jean Nouvel’s influences included nearby flour mills (industrial shapes), Logitech computer mice (blue siding), and ski goggles (yellow
Without Fear of Discovery
Walked into art at the Chichu and Lee Ufan Art Museums on the island of Naoshima in Japan’s Seto Inland Sea. Photography was not permitted, but I took this photo without fear of discovery. Note Tadao Ando’s signature concrete.
Frank Lloyd Wright in Japan
It was rainy, a good day to change plans and ride a bullet train for 230 miles to visit Meiji Mura, an architecture museum. After coffee in the lobby of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Tokyo Imperial Hotel, we explored many of the 60 buildings. We then rode a bullet back.
Crystal Court
Ran errands Downtown, always a good excuse to walk through the Crystal Court at IDS Center.
Extraordinary Places
Rain made today a good day to indulge my inner dilletante. Walked to the library at the University of Minnesota’s School of Architecture to take my mind to an extraordinary place.
The Shed
Pushed my bicycle through “The Shed” in Nordeast Minneapolis. Over 300 people work 21st century jobs in the surrounding former industrial spaces. The gantry crane nods to the past.
Former Fire Stations
Cycled with a friend looking for former fire stations. This unusual beauty was built in 1923 in the American Craftsman bungalow style. Former Fire Station Number 13 is now an architects’ office. One of the partners gave us a tour of the sensitively repurposed building.