Spring???

I hope...

Deaf Ears

Daddy, do you like my building?

Nothing...

Daddy, come see what I did!

Silence...

Daddy, what did you think?



Sometimes I hear, and act as though I don't.

Sometimes I listen, and respond with just a quick nod.



They try so hard to please their parents,

To make them proud of what they are about to become,

But unfortunate as it always seems to be,

The wonder of a child lands on deaf ears.


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Thanks for the wonderful model, Breanna -

~Dad

A mini sandwich

I was hungry this afternoon, and not just any snack would do.

I picked up the girls from school.

And made my way down the street when it hit me...

Bread?...no good...

Lettuce?...never a substitute..

Sandwich? Of course...

A van for the crown, and Volkswagen for the heel...

But what should I put inside for the most perfect meal?

Why a Mini, of course...

For nothing else would do..

The soil that grew the building

In the Fall of 2008 (seems just like yesterday), Sinclair Hille was selected to design the new Army Reserve/National Guard Readiness Center out in McCook Nebraska. With the office's two lead designers preoccupied with other projects, I was given the role of lead-designer for this particular job...a trial-by-fire opportunity for one such as myself.
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Now, McCook is not known for much in the way of architecture, yet it does happen to boast itself as home to one of Frank Lloyd Wright's many homes: the Sutton House. That being the case, one of the requirements very early on was to in one way or another pay homage to this lone relic of the State of Nebraska.

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First question that we threw around the office was: Would Frank Lloyd Wright design a building in 2009 the same as he did in 1909? Of course not, yet iteration after iteration of our early schemes were compared and critiqued against every single one of his early homes. We went through 2-story schemes, split-level schemes, and option with dis-joined buildings litterring the site. We looked into brick masonry, insulated precast, metal panels, and countless other material combinations and ideas.

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Last Thursday, 18 months later, I found myself enroute to McCook aboard a UH-60M Black Hawk for the pre-construction meeting. The mandatory crew of 4, along with 10 civilians and 1 member of the reserve made the hour and a half long flight maintaining an altitude of about 1200 ft above ground...which allowed for amazing views of Nebraska, believe it or not. Grazing just below the clouds, we had constant visuals of cities, farmsteads, cars & trucks...something I always miss when flying aboard a plane.

Taking full advantage of our $10,000 government issued joy-ride, we made numerous passes around a similar readiness center just completed in Hastings as well as around the site upon which the new one in McCook is to be built.

While flying overhead of our site, it dawned on me that I had missed out on an amazing opportunity during the early design phase of this project, namely, visiting the site. Time and again we were stressed in school the importance of visiting a site prior to putting down on paper even the very first conceptual gesture. Yes, I'd seen pictures and replicated the terrain with our 3D modeling software to approximate viewing angles...but there really is more to it than that.

The wind.

The sounds.

The smells.

The cold...

I had ridden through McCook years ago on my motorcycle (right past our site in fact) and remember it being extremely hot and windy. What of that? What of the blinding sun beating down upon you...with sweat pouring down from above...what becomes of the site then?

I strove to incorporate textures and colors akin to the area. I swept the building broadly across the plains to hug the earth as Frank had done years ago. I extended the eaves out as far as the pre-cast supplier said was structurally feasible and wrapped the upper story with as many clerestory windows as budget would allow. In the end, they were happy as long as the building was in under budget. Was I? Not at all...but then again, we never are. We are never finished...so we pick up the pencil and begin again.

Till next time...