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.
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.
November 7th, 2008 § Karynn
3six0 is proud to boast two premiere educational institutions as its neighbors; RISD, the Rhode Island School of Design, is a block from our office, and Brown University is right up the hill from downtown. This weekend Brown and RISD have come together to put on A Better World by Design conference. Over the next 3 days, students, educators, and professionals will examine the intersections of design and technology and look at ways in which the two are being married to improve our world and solve economic, environmental, and social problems.
1 Comment