D E S I G N /// ck

I listened to a really good radio show highlighting the Rural Studio this morning. Many of you who know me know what a huge influence the Rural Studio and Samuel Mockbee have had on me. I got to go visit the Studio twice (unfortunately right after Mockbee had passed away) and they were profound experiences for me in architecture school.

You can listen to it here. It's worth taking the time to listen to.

The Rural Studio has continued to thrive after Mockbee, and are fundamentally and philosophically changing architecture's attitude towards society, and society's attitude towards architecture. The lives that have been changed by buldings, of all things, shows how much the built environment shapes our lives.

I posted a cool song I found yesterday on my audio page. Kevin Barnes of Of Montreal redid an older song of his with new words to be on a kids album. It seems like a new trend is for legit musicians to make kids' songs that don't suck. Maybe this is because they're all having children and can't stand the music that's out there for kids. Good news for the rest of us. Kids Bop!

Alice and I are heading back to my third hometown. I lived down there the year after I got out of college. It was a was an interesting year, some of the best and worst experiences of my life. Bad and good, the city and my experiences there left a vivid impression on me. So I always go back with mixed feelings.

The reason for the trip is Tyler and Jenn's wedding. These guys were together through most of architecture school and have stayed together for 9 years. I'm glad their finally tying the knot (though it's just a formality at this point). They really are made for each other. We hung out a lot in college, and both of them studied in Europe with me (a very bonding experience). They moved down to Chattanooga a few months after me and Tyler ended up working for the same construction firm as me. We worked on a lot of stuff together as carpenters cruising around in my VW bus. Together with Winget, the four of us were the "colony" in Chattanooga.

This weekend will be a great time. Two of my favorite people will be there: my old roommate Jeremy and my partner-in-crime Matt Winget. Some other guys I haven't seen since college will be there too. There's going to be lots of shenanigans going on. And I don't have to be in the wedding. We get to hang out and enjoy it without any stress.
One other cool thing: both being architects, Tyler and Jenn got an amazing place to get married in. Above is the Hunter Museum of Art, or more accurately the new addition that's perched on the bluffs above the river by downtown. Chattanooga has one of the most spectacular settings of any river city I've ever been to, and this museum takes full advantage of the drama of its site. It's gonna be great!

Knoxville got it's first good snowfall of this winter last night. It didn't accumulate much, but it was nice waking up and seeing snow falling softly in the morning light. Of course all the school systems freaked out over half an inch, so Alice got the day off. I forget how much I miss having snow in the winter. I'm really tired of cold rain.

I met with a plumber yesterday at the house and he's going to get started on the rough in of the plumbing in a few days. I called KUB and they'll be hooking temporary power back up to the house (for tools, ect.) tomorrow.
It's really happening! After all this wait and anticipation, things are really going forward. It makes me very excited.
My first big project starts this weekend, after we get back Saturday morning from Chattanooga (Tyler and Jenn's wedding is Friday), fixing the roof leak at the chimney. The cricket behind the chimney was built wrong, so I'll have to rip it off and frame a new one. And the OSB around the chimney is completely soaked and will have to be ripped out and replaced.
The exterior doors will be here in two weeks. So once the roof is fixed, the doors installed, and the plumbers are finished, drywall can start to go up. Then it will really start to feel like things are moving forward.
In the photos link in the sidebar I'll be posting pictures of the progress over the next few months. And I'll keep you updated here.

Over at the Wigshop, there's been some strange and malevolent commenting going on. My post earlier this month about Cliff Clark has made someone very mad. You won't find the comments anymore, they've been deleted. But they were just nasty stuff. I don't know if it's Cliff himself or someone who has strong opinions on the matter. I chose to address this individual and try to talk to him/her. Alice (who does not like conflict) quoted Proverbs 26:4 at me:

"Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself."

I've thought about this all afternoon and read through Proverbs. She's right, for the most part. I don't think you can reason with a mocker "according to his folly." Proverbs is pretty clear he won't understand and will despise you for it. However, 22:10 says:

"Drive out the mocker, and out goes strife; quarrels and insults are ended."

Also, 19:25 says,

"Flog a mocker, and the simple will learn prudence."

The latter proverb voiced my main feeling about all this. The commenter may never respond to kindness or reason, but other people who see it may learn something. I don't want to "flog" him/her, but I do want to expose their folly and malice, so that other readers can see it and gain knowledge. Blogging is more public than we think- we all put our opinions out here for literally the whole world to see. Sometimes we might draw hate from people we've never seen. I think it's good for others to see the pitfalls and snares of the blogosphere. Hopefully we can all learn something. I pray for wisdom in dealing with this situation, and for good things to come out of it.

Continuing the theme of Rare Sufjan Recordings, I posted the song "What Goes On" in the audio section of the site yesterday (click on "podcasts" in the side bar). It's a Beatles song from the UK release of Rubber Soul, performed by Sufjan Stevens. You got to hand it to the Beatles for structure- who starts with a chorus? Sufjan slows down the chorus and contrasts the rocking verses to it. The bridge builds up to a crescendo and then lands right into the soft grooving chorus breakdown 3/4 of the way into the song- it will definitely get stuck in your head.

Remember: hit the subscribe button and iTunes will automatically upload any new song I post into your computer. Now you have no excuse for not knowing what cool music is out there!