The Longest Now

I had the great fortune of attending a workshop recently with a provocative MIT architect, Neri Oxman, whose artistic work I have seen showing up in museums across Europe and the US – it is truly awesome.

I was struck by the excellent practical end results produced from designs with varying textures/ colors/ qualities that are defined by artistic parametric equations. The group’s past prototypes include some armor and body sheaths – presented as art, not as fashion – that were very much what I was looking for years ago when I wanted better load-bearing clothes.

Future projects promise to include living structures and buildings… and, I hope, a line of designs suitable for the public. Work like this deserves to be shared, and should not be hidden in museums and universities.

From the Oxman files

My brother Sebastián Gray Avins, architect and essayist, have a lovely new website up for their architecture firm, Bresciani Gray Arquitectos.  Now you can see their recent projects, from municipal buildings to the Chilean display at the Venice Biennales.  They include both images and floorplans in most cases.  I should find out if they have high-resolution images up to complement the overviews.

One of my favorites is Librería Ulises — a bookstore with the glory and scope of a library.  What I wouldn’t give to have such a store in my city!  You can also see it in the upper-left of the gallery below.  And I learned a few things from their design of the new Psychology building at the  Pontifical University of Chile. Props to the architects – browse some of their work if you need a break from the everyday.

My dear cousin Simon (of Lynch / Eisinger / Design) is an inventive architect and the inspiration for some of my own passion for design work.  His firm put together a showroom for Herman Miller recently, and over the summer it won two serious awards — the highest architecture award in New York State, and California’s state award for Adaptive Reuse.  It’s nice to see this work recognized! See below for some view of it.

Herman Miller building interior

Front view of the building

One of my brother’s latest projects, Chile 8.8, is a reflection on the act and goals of architectural reconstruction of cities, for this year’s Architecture Biennale. If you are near Venice while the 2010 Biennale is on, stop by the Chilean Pavillion and take a look.

17 soluciones arquitectónicas fueron seleccionadas para participar del encuentro titulado “La gente se encuentra en la arquitectura”… Los proyectos, que ya fueron construidos o lo serán en el corto plazo y se expondrán en un gran biombo de 130 metros, siguen tres pilares de reconstrucción: patrimonio, prefabricación y organización social.

17 architectural solutions (to destruction) were chosen to participate in the Biennale, where this year’s subject is  “People Meet Architecture”.  The projects, which have been or will shortly be built, and displayed on a 130 meter screen, focus on one of three pillars of reconstruction:  heritage, prefabrication, and social structure.