Category: Design

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. In March 2014 I was vaguely aware of architect Tadao Ando when I took a boat to Naoshima… 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.

Crystal Court

Walked through the downtown Minneapolis IDS Center’s gorgeous Crystal Court. Opened in 1972, Philip Johnson’s masterpiece still feels fresh.

Awaiting Rebirth

Walked past the dilapidated 1884 Commutator Brass Foundry Co. Building in the Minneapolis Warehouse District. Delighted to learn it will be preserved and incorporated into new construction.

Tangletowns

Explored Tangletowns in both Minneapolis and St. Paul, where the streets wind and ignore the grid. Found this 1887 Cass Gilbert home in St. Paul’s Tangletown. Later, Gilbert was the architect for the MInnesota Capitol, the Woolworth Building in New York, and the US Supreme Court.

Louis Sullivan Ironwork

Paused at this ironwork above the entrance to a Target store in Chicago’s loop. Legendary architect, Louis Sullivan, created this for the Carson Pirie Scott department store which originally occupied this building.