Tom Hurt Architecture

At Grandview House, things have gone up on walls, separated into 2 groups, things that go on walls and things that don’t.

Plaster shape in bathroom ( a correction of a wall plane issue ) , the bathroom sink , picture on lathe where original plaster removed , floating but tethered astronaut , electrical switches on lathe , car phone , boat .

Our surgery into the residence originally created by Donlyn Lyndon FAIA-ACSA. This part of the work: expansion of covered patio with cantilevering deck, light steel structure and Kalwall panels.

A chance to work with the subtle, tense geometry that Prof. Lyndon established in the large white wall that screens the interior and exterior living from the harsh afternoon sun. From above , it is clear that Mr Lyndon’s wall was mostly the one angular line , but split into a variation of that same line, a move that created a brilliant change in thicknesses of the large screen wall.

A tense line, like a vibrational upset and resettling.

In our slight reworking of this area, we reshaped the openings in the wall from curve-topped to square-topped — hereby asking forgiveness from Professor Lyndon.

Image 3 __ from last sequence from the movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) where protagonist journeys through space (?) towards the movie’s resolution.

Last Image __ the original house and screen wall shape by Donlyn Lyndon, FAIA, ca. 2002

More on the panel-ization of shapes of vehicles around us. It’s a big part of our visual landscape (and becoming more so as car designers use the joints to demarcate and compose multi-colored cars).

Not having those lines, these precisely and mechanistically engineered assemblies , would make for a very different , if inconvenient , world.

Firetrucks and Dodge Chargers use the smooth hinging forms to good effect , the firetrucks taking it to another level of hinging.

Mark Mothersbaugh ( of Devo fame ) does conceptual art that puts a focus on these smooth forms divided, divided into puzzle pieces for handy access and ease of assembly.

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Images: Nissan NV 200 CV mini-cargo van; 2019 Dodge Charger; Spartan Pierce Pumper firetruck; modified Scion [Toyota]: from markmothersbough.com/pages/sculptures

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House at 9th and Shelley Ave, Old West Austin, recently Re-completed

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Notes from China:

Flying into Langzhou, Gansu Province, 2 elements stood out.

1. Infrastructure being built for the new elevated high speed rail system: a widely repeated , narrow, elegant bridge system that snakes through the landscapes , allowing the landscape and drainage surface to remain minimally affected compared to a surface-built system. New construction of this system is everywhere we visited despite apparent already completed bullet train connections between so many cities that just 15 years ago were remote and hard to reach with slow bus transportation along small rural highways.

2. Secondly , the approximately 25 story apartment buildings — built in groups of 10, 20, or 50 — lining the outskirts of major cities , smaller cities, suburban communities, and even villages. My previous prejudice that these structures seem dystopian, out of scale, and impersonal gave way to an admiration for their lighter touch on the landscape, compared to , for example , the US’s development model of low density sprawling communities connected by massive wide strands of highways.

An aecdotal assessment: a sensible way to handle housing for large populations, with connections to street life and amenities within a relatively modest footprint. The strategy of using a widely repeated design : approximately 25-story narrow towers with apparently ample space and light between them with relatively fewer highways and feeder roads, must make for a far smaller environmental footprint than our US development model.