Build Design

[builddesignmn]

"How to build a modern bath vanity in 6 easy steps!"

[builddesignmn]

It's hard to believe the house I built for my parents is already 10 years old...it still seems like yesterday I was standing in the big hole the excavator dug!

[builddesignmn]

...not bad progress for a week! The room is all rewired, replumbed, insulated, new walls in and taped, plus the bathtub alcove is all tiled. The tight schedule on this project makes me feel like I'm on a hgtv remodeling show...I'm taking the weekend off!

[builddesignmn]

So I started a new project last week...it's going to be another complete gut-and-renovation of a mid-century house here in Minneapolis. It's got a whole lot of cool features, but right now the first step is to get rid of all the nasty...

[allmybadintentions]

Thorp Building, Minneapolis

[builddesignmn]

My very first shop space was in this building back in the 90's...I think I was about 25 and I recall being equal parts terrified and proud of being a grownup when I signed that lease!

[monkijuice]

Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 2015

[builddesignmn]

I miss Sunday afternoon burrito and bar hopping expeditions in the mission!

[builddesignmn]

My parents in front of our hardware store in the fall of 1978.  In 1985, they expanded the hardware empire to include a 2nd store on the other side of the lake.  That’s my Grandpa there posing in front of his new sign.  This building is Hello Pizza now…

[hansburbidge]

I walked past the one at Bryant Ave today. Is it the same one?

[builddesignmn]

It is.  My parents retired about 10 years ago and moved up north, so it’s under different ownership now...but the business continues.

[matt-barber58]

Shinders, Downtown Minneapolis, 1973.

Took this as a lad with my Minolta Hi-matic 7s  (Which I still have! )

[builddesignmn]

I always picture this corner in my mind when I listen to that Tom Waits song “Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis” 

[builddesignmn]

Lawrence Ferlinghetti recounts more than six decades of life in San Francisco

The first time I met Lawrence Ferlinghetti was unforgettable: It was early on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, and Elizabeth Farnsworth and I were working on a story about him for the PBS NewsHour.

[archimaps]

The Hotel Salut, Kiev

[builddesignmn]

I don’t know why, but the forms of mid-centuryRussia are fascinating.  They have the same odd exuberant geometric exploration of what went on in west in that period, but the feeling of the forms is so different.  And none of it was covered in my architecture history classes of the mid-90′s…  

[builddesignmn]

My parents in front of our hardware store in the fall of 1978.  In 1985, they expanded the hardware empire to include a 2nd store on the other side of the lake.  That's my Grandpa there posing in front of his new sign.  This building is Hello Pizza now...

[ambrosevevers]

Barncrest Ltd, prototype development work placement. Bungee chairs made from worktop offcuts, CNC milled chair. 2009

[ambrosevevers]

A chair with hidden bounce. 2011This is my new design of the original “bungee furniture”. The chair has hidden bounce using bungee cord threaded internally through blocks of Oak. The design behaves in curious, unexpected ways.  Luxuriously comfortable as well as durable these limited edition chairs are hand crafted by myself at my workshop in Devon.  Flexible splayed legs allow the chair to sit flat on uneven surfaces such as old farmhouse floors.  Stools and barstools also available.

[builddesignmn]

This is a fascinating design.  I wonder how the bungee cords are attached internally?

[jeisenhauerwoodworks-blog-blog]

[wmud]

charles deaton - architect’s house, genesee mountain, golden, colorado, 1963-66

[builddesignmn]

I remember road trips to Colorado as a young kid and this was the first thing you’d see as you were finally climbing up into the rockies...after an interminably long trek across the flat prairie from Minnesota.  I was fascinated by this foreign land because not only was the earth 3-dimensional on a massive scale, apparently the houses were too?

[ofhouses]

Ralph Erskine /// Lådan (The Box) /// Lovö, Rörby, Drottningholm, Sweden /// 1941-42

Of Houses guest curated by Adam Štěch: “As a link between the prewar and postwar international functionalist style, I chose an intimate Swedish architectural masterpiece by Ralph Erskine. His Red House from 1941-1942, positioned in the wilderness near Stockholm, is one of the first implementations of his long successful career. It is a simple wooden box lined with red slats resembling traditional Swedish rural architecture. The entrance facade opens to the landscape of the rough northern forest. Inside, the architect combined minimalist functionalism with the simplicity and asceticism of the rustic style. The brick fireplace dominates the room furnished with simple wicker furniture. Erskine built this red forest chalet for him and his family. Later, during the 1960s, he built his own house and studio nearby.” (Photos 1-6 © Adam Štěch, Holger Ellgaard, Arvid Rudling, Åke E:son Lindman, The Swedish Center for Architecture and Design)

[builddesignmn]

I love this house.  It has a serenity to it that’s brought on by the sharp contrasts present both within itself and it’s surroundings.

[builddesignmn]

The transformation of my home.