January 19th, 2009 § Karynn
Today is Martin Lurther King, Jr. Day, and I decided to dig through 3six0’s archives and dust off a project we submitted to a competition for the National Martin Lurther King, Jr. Memorial back in 2000. Unfortunately, I was unable to locate the specific details of the project online, but the competition ran from February 15, 1999 until a designer was selected on September 12, 2000. It attracted over 900 submissions from 52 countries. 3six0 was proud to submit a design to this competition and contribute to memorializing one of America’s greatest leaders.
Paths from all directions take one through a “foundation of great building”. Dr. King’s message is carved sequentially into the vertical faces of the foundation stones and leads the visitor into the memorial and up a ground swell. As one ascends, one “surfaces” through the tops of the stones along with others from other paths. From this level, the stones present a continuous surface of water that reflects the sky: an event horizon of sight and sound. A statue of King arriving stands at the summit.
The winning design is available on the MLK memorial’s website.
Unfortunately, the memorial has faced numerous delays over the last 8 years and is still not complete. You can help by donating to the memorial at MLKmemorial.org.
January 16th, 2009 § Karynn
While exploring the intersections of faith and design this week, I came across this article from Theooze.com, “The ‘Body Art’ Of Emerging Church.” The article explores the relationship of architecture to spirituality, and intrigued by this, I emailed the author, Paul Fromont, about 3six0’s Shepherd of the Valley project. Paul replied with a gracious email and offered to include us on his blog, Prodigal Kiwi. Check out his latest post, “Architecture, Space, Spirit and the Journey of a Church Community,” which highlights Shepherd of the Valley and links to his reflections on architecture, the church, and spirituality.
January 9th, 2009 § Karynn
As you may know, both Kyna and Chris are faculty at RISD in addition to being the principals of 3six0. Recently, the Shepherd of the Valley project was featured on RISD’s blog, which is written by RISD president John Maeda and staff.
Maeda was also recently interviewed by Dezeen, a magazine featuring architecture and design. Click below for the full interview.
December 10th, 2008 § Manuel
The sun hangs low in the sky, the brisk breeze stings our cheeks, the lethargy of the ever darker afternoons takes over…we are approaching the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. As somebody who grew up much closer to the equator (where there is much less seasonal variation in the sun’s position in the sky) I love the immense variation of the sun and the shadows it casts: the impossibly long shadows cast by the sun throughout the day.
This morning as I walked into the office the sun cast a shadow of a model (sitting on the window ledge) onto one of our translucent window blinds. This simple projection of a model into a shadow-line drawing was striking in its stark and simple beauty. But what drew me in was also the expression of a time of year, a time of day, a quantity of light, and a quality of light.
As an architect it is always wonderful to discover (and employ) the ever changing palette that nature washes across our buildings and spaces.
December 8th, 2008 § Karynn
November 17th, 2008 § Chris
We stumbled on this little “Vicinato” (neighborhood) A few years ago in the then abandoned cave dwelling area of Matera, Italy. Astonishingly, at one time, in the late nineteenth century this courtyard and its attached dwellings were home to over one hundred inhabitants. The families were large, mothers often having a dozen or more children to counter the odds of childhood death due to disease and malnourishment.
In such dire circumstances we would expect the role of architecture to be useless, peripheral, and unaffordable. Look a little more closely at the photo, especially at the railing/wall between the conjoined stairs which lead up to two dwellings. Right there, whoever built that stair understood something of the critical role architecture plays in giving form (as in order) to society. The builders, acknowledging the importance of social order, especially in such close bound circumstances, made adjustments to the rail separating the two stairs. Instead of the rail staying the same height, it was built so as one climbed the stair the degree of privacy was adjusted. At the courtyard the stairs start their rise from different points, a subtle perhaps accidental degree of separation. As the stairs climb, the rail rises to slowly separate the two families first bodily and finally from view. This small detail speaks volumes about privacy, grace, respect and the rich territory of negotiation between private and public life.
We’ve become accustomed to thinking of architecture as fashion, style, somehow separate from the essential fabric of society. We take the functioning of our social order for granted, because it more or less works. The built environment forms that order no less than our laws, customs and cultural practices, but is too often overlooked, in the dash to build more office parks, highways, malls, and suburbs.
November 14th, 2008 § Manuel
Circa screen @ Eddy and Westminster
I just found out that Providence Art Windows (PAW) is seeking proposals for 2009. For those of you who are not familiar with PAW, it is a program that exhibits art and art installations in several empty and occupied retail spaces in Downtown Providence. The juried exhibits change three times a year and feature a variety of local and national artists. In the past the installations have varied a great deal in their materials and engagement with the street.
But the most exciting prospect of this program is that is seeks to engage citizens, flaneurs and tourists alike, bring art down from its soapbox, and at the same time activate Providence’s streetscape. I have often wandered down the all too familiar downtown streets on my way home or just grabbing some food, when out of the corner of my eye something peculiar grabs my attention. The ever changing PAW streetfronts challenges the blandness that stems from the quotidian…
SO…
Proposals are due by December 12, 2008, which is plenty of time to prepare…(suspense builds)…
A 3six0 proposal!!!!
What better way for our third story office to establish a street presence on Westminster.
Check out the link below and the teaser below that:
http://providenceartwindows.blogspot.com
November 7th, 2008 § Karynn
3six0 recently unveiled its first church, which was created for the Shepherd of the Valley Church. On Wednesday, William Morgan over at the Providence Journal wrote a review of our work entitled, “A treasure of a new church.”
Morgan writes
Consecrated in October, the chapel is small and unassuming — an inexpensive addition to an ordinary church on a road far from “downtown.” Almost in spite of itself, the 60-seat chapel achieves a quality and dignity that fancier buildings with huge budgets rarely achieve.
. . .
[3six0] imagined the building as an endless spiral. The floor, ceiling, and tapering, slightly pitched walls — built of cedar and Brazilian mahogany — form a continuous container, almost as if the chapel interior were the inside of a wooden bowl made on a lathe. These details are as thoughtful as they are understated: Not obvious, they play on the subconscious and offer a slight tension, perhaps necessary when contemplating the metaphysical.
We are very appreciative to William Morgan and the ProJo for their review of our work.
November 3rd, 2008 § Karynn
Without trying to pat the firm on the back, I have to commend my fellow coworkers and bosses for taking this dive with me into the blogosphere. It is never easy to take something as unfamiliar and unregulated as blogging into the structure of a business. During the next few weeks, my fellow writers will likely push and prod the blog until they find their own comfort level with the medium. Having just joined this firm a few weeks back with relatively no architecture background, I’ve been drawn into their world – materials, designs, colors, textures – and am beginning to see, what I hope you will come to see, the world as seen by architects.
