Category: Architecture

Former Cream of Wheat Headquarters

Walked to a Home Depot to choose picture hangers and drywall anchors. On the way, stopped to enjoy the 1928 Art Moderne former Cream of Wheat headquarters and factory, now condos.

Don’t Touch the Concrete

Last week my partner and I walked along a Chicago residential street to Wrightwood 659, a brand new exhibition space designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando.  The Antithesis  The previous day, a wonderful volunteer docent, an elderly woman, went silent when I said that Ando walks on water. Maybe I had offended her religious sensibilities,…… Continue reading Don’t Touch the Concrete

Wrightwood 659

Visited Chicago’s Wrightwood 659, a new exhibition space designed by Tadao Ando. The current installation showcases Ando and Le Corbusier, an early influence on Ando. In one gallery, models built by Ando’s students of Le Corbusier’s designs, are displayed in chronological order.

Finding Tadao Ando

This week my partner and I will make a quick trip to Chicago to visit Wrightwood 659, a new art space designed by Japan’s Tadao Ando. We’ll explore the inaugural exhibition, Ando and Le Corbusier: Masters of Architecture. Ando’s signature concrete, 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, Tokyo, October 2018. In March 2014 I was vaguely aware of architect…… Continue reading Finding Tadao Ando

Minoru Yamasaki in Minneapolis

Walked Downtown to do errands. Paused to enjoy the patterns and symmetries in some of the hundreds of carefully cut marble slabs that side this 1966 building. It was designed by starchitect Minoru Yamasaki for the (then) Northwestern National Life Insurance Company.

School of Architecture

Explored the University of Minnesota’s East and West Bank (of the Mississippi) campuses with a friend. Walked into buildings that promised to be interesting. In the School of Architecture earnest students were having their work reviewed by their peers.