Living in the Brownfield - Love letter to plywood

Love letter to plywood. By Tom Sachs. Directed by Van Neistat, 2012.

Spillman was shortlisted for the Kansas State University College of Architecture, Planning, and Design project and we've been fine tuning our message about the importance of material to our practice. Plywood has been a long time personal favorite material for me, and I thought this video communicated some essentials. Congrats to the team and good luck at the interview.

If you want to see more, or learn more about the artist Tom Sachs, I recommend starting at his website...I'll never forget the afternoon I came face to face with the Unite d'Habatation scale model realized in foamcore, dont' miss that one! 

http://www.tomsachs.org/

Material Process Product - The Intern Effect

Part one of a two-part series on summer interns at Spillman Farmer Architects.

Unlike most apprentice programs in other design firms, Spillman Farmer Architects' intern development program nurtures and values thought, while immersing our apprentices into our process of making buildings. Much like their education, our design process starts out as series of abstract and clear diagrams. The final diagram becomes the framework from which all design decisions are made.

Here, you will see a window into our process through the eyes of intern Dan Silberman. Dan recently shared one of his SFA experiences while working on the Visitor's Center for the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary - an incredible 2600 acre setting for one of the world's first refuges for birds of prey.  Dan's thoughts on his experience follow below, this was his first internship at Spillman Farmer Architects and he's returning to his studies at the University of Philadelphia this fall.  His contributions this summer were greatly appreciated by the studio and our clients.

Hawk Mountain Sanctuary is currently updating their master plan with the help of Spillman. The new visitor center is a major component of this master planning process, as it proposes new program space and improved wayfinding. The approach was focused on embracing the sanctuary’s uniquely sacred character that results from its isolation in the forest, its small vernacular structures, and its trail, which winds between layers of historic structures and geography.

A series of studies led to an approach of dispersing the program along the trail. This references the splitting of boulders by ice that formed Hawk Mountain. It also creates an experience that is revealed to visitors in fragments as they weave through the program. It allows the construction to occur in phases. And, it splits the architecture into small-scale structures characteristic of the sanctuary.

Further studies arrived at a scheme that ran the trail through the existing Visitors Center and extruded the new program in pieces along the extended geometry of the existing building. The extension of the east/west axis allowed for passive solar strategies on the architecture’s south face. Also by referencing the form of the existing building, its existence will be inscribed in the geometry of the new structure and one day its own ruins along the trail, building yet another layer of the sanctuary’s history. Lastly, a tall hearth was implemented to create a gathering area for the groups of visitor’s and guide those along the trail while allowing the architecture to keep its burrowed presence in the landscape.

Living in the Brownfield – Second Space Arts Presents Art at Church

Second Space Arts in Philadelphia sent us the following information on their next show, go check it out!   “Second Space Arts invites you to the artists' reception on Saturday, August 11th, from 6-9 PM, for our summer exhibit, Art at Church: an invitational, which features selections from many of the artist/studio-mates of our curator, Tim Gierschick. The group of works include painting, drawing, printmaking, and photography" by the artists listed below.

Tegan Brozyna – painting (collage and acrylic on canvas)

www.teganmbrozyna.com

Keith Crowley – painting (oil on canvas)

www.bridgettemayergallery.com/artists/keith-crowley

Rubens Ghenov – painting (oil on canvas)

www.rubensqghenovworks.blogspot.com

Timothy Gierschick II – painting (latex, enamel on panel)

www.gierschickwork.com

David Johanson – photography

www.davidjohanson.com

Emilie Keim – Painting (oil on canvas)

www.emiliekeim.com

Katy Matich – lithography

www.katymatich.com

Rob Matthews – silverpoint

www.matthewstheyounger.com

Nate Pankratz – painting (acrylic on panel)

www.nathanpankratz.com

Matt Sepielli – painting (oil on canvas)

www.matthewsepielli.com

Benjamin Volta – digital collage

www.benvolta.com

the church studios - the collective above in their own environment
http://thechurchstudios.blogspot.com/

As always, we advocate supporting the arts and the artist.  Stop in to see the show or drop them an email to tell them what you think of their work.  Now is always a great time to add to or begin a collection.

SFA News - Jury Comments

Jury Comments:

The jury loved this building for its design and its

message. The design captures the energy and utilitarian beauty

that the best of industrial architecture once offered. At the same

time, it demonstrates the power that a truly successful marriage of

architecture and program can exert in bringing new purpose and

hope to the most abandoned parts of our urban community.

Living in the Brownfield – MusikFest 2012: Spillman on Tap at Young the Giant

As part of our community service and continued support of the ArtsQuest mission, the team from Spillman Farmer will be volunteering their services and expertise (read, serving beer!) on opening night of MusikFest 2012 at the Young the Giant show.

Come out and see the show and ask us about our “made by spillman” program that we’ll be featuring tonight on some custom t-shirts.  “made by spillman” is the moniker for our ventures into design/build, graphics, and furniture production.

This year the MusikFest Café is open FREE to the public throughout MusikFest 2012, if you have not seen a show here yet now’s the time to do it….a perfect marriage of sound and vision (the view is to die for!).  Go Fest Yourself people and enjoy free live music in one of the premier cultural destinations in the nation.