Archinect - News

Trahan Architects Release Short Film of Louisiana State Sports Hall of Fame and Regional History Museum

2015-02-24T13:35:00-05:00

Spirit of Space, in collaboration with Trahan Architects, has created a short film featuring the award-winning design of the Louisiana State Sports Hall of Fame and Regional History Museum in Natchitoches, Louisiana. The museum was recently awarded the prestigious 2015 AIA Institute Honor Award and will be honored at the upcoming AIA National Convention in Atlanta, Georgia.

From Spirit of Space:

The Louisiana State Sports Hall of Fame and Regional History Museum, designed by Trahan Architects, evokes the past as much as it signals the future. Set in the oldest settlement in the Louisiana Purchase, the museum employs 21st century technology to execute a design language inspired by the carving and scouring of the nearby Cane River and the historic architecture of Natchitoches.

The film carries viewers past the historic district's references, around the pleated copper façade and into the sculpted interior. The cast stone panels define a fluid pathway that flows around, up and through th...

Slums, Siza and squatting: ICYMI Weekly News Round-Up for July 21, 2014

2014-07-28T14:45:00-04:00

In Case You Missed It, a look back at the major happenings from last week's News.

Friday, July 25

Families Removed From 'Tower of David' Skyscraper Slum: Venezuelans initially began living in the abandoned office towers in 2007, due to the country's burgeoning financial crisis. They are now being evicted by Caracas city officials, citing safety concerns in the 45-floor building.
Row over Olympic cauldron design settled out of court: Olympic officials settled with designers from Atopia, who claimed the cauldron design relied heavily on their ideas without citation. While Atopia's influence has been recognized, design of the cauldron is still credited to Thomas Heatherwick.

Thursday, July 24

Álvaro Siza donates his architectural archives to institutions in Portugal and Canada: The archive will be divided up between the Canadian Centre for Architecture (Montreal), the Fundação Gulbenkian in Lisbon and the Fundação de Serralves in Porto.
Can a Frank Gehry design help change the dynamic of Wat...

Two new films showcase Steven Holl's addition to the Glasgow School of Art

2014-07-23T19:11:00-04:00

Working simultaneously from the inside out - engaging the functional needs and psychological desires of the program - and the outside in - making connections to the city campus and relating to the Mackintosh building opposite - the design embodies the school's aspirations in the city's fabric.

Just one month before a disastrous fire broke out at the Glasgow School of Art's historic Mackintosh Library, a brand new addition to the campus opened up across the street. Designed by Steven Holl Architects, the new Reid Building is a modernist complement to the Mackintosh, riffing on similar themes a century apart.

In collaboration with Steven Holl Architects, filmmakers Spirit of Space produced two pieces to celebrate the Reid building's opening in April. The first film (see below) features interviews with Steven Holl and Chris McVoy (one of the partners in charge of the project), explaining the structure's symbiotic relationship to the Mackintosh, and its attention to multi-disciplinary socialization. The second film is in Spirit of Space's signature archi-documentarian style, capturing the building at all times of the day, rich with humming activity inside, while carefully capturing pivotal design details.

Daniel Libeskind on drawing; the forgotten Fundamental in Rem's Biennale

2014-06-17T15:14:00-04:00

Daniel Libeskind preaches the importance of drawings for creating architecture, in the latest short film from Chicago-based creative agency, Spirit of Space. Shot at Libeskind's "Sonnets of Babylon" pavilion for the 2014 Venice Biennale, the quick interview reflects on Libeskind's attention to drawing throughout his career, and the potentials it holds for architecture's future.

Spirit of Space interview Jeanne Gang for film on Chicago's historic Shoreland Hotel renovation

2014-05-21T13:50:00-04:00

Spirit of Space are known for their emotive, precisely choreographed short films exploring buildings and urban spaces. Their most recent film reports on Studio Gang's renovation of the Shoreland Hotel, a historic Chicago high-rise on the border of Lake Michigan. SOS's film looks into the guts of the building through renovation until completion, as Jeanne Gang and David Gwinn (Director of Design for Silliman Group) explain how they sought a balance between contemporary updates and historical mood.

Watch the film below:

SHORELAND from Spirit of Space on Vimeo.

Steven Holl Architects presents two new films with Spirit of Space on the Sifang Art Museum

2014-03-11T15:39:00-04:00

Perhaps you remember Spirit of Space's Art in the City film from back in summer of 2013, meditating on the interplay between city life and public art in Chicago. More recently, the architectural film-making creative agency produced two short films showcasing Steven Holl's work for the Sifang Art Museum in Nanjing, China. SOS has previously worked with Steven Holl on five film pieces, featuring his work in both China and the U.S.

The films follow SOS's tried-and-true style -- one with Holl explaining to the camera his design choices, interspersed with languishing shots of the now-open museum:

Sifang Art Museum: A Conversation with Steve Holl

...and a second, more contemplative film that in turn dwells on the architecture itself:

Sifang Art Museum

Spirit of Space presents "Art in the City", a short film honoring Chicago's public art

2013-08-21T20:26:00-04:00

The success of a public work of art is measured not merely by aesthetics, but rather, by its magnetic qualities that inspire interaction. The art is a reflection of the City, the art becomes a part of the City, the art is instrumental in making the City.

Acting as poetic translators between cities and their citizens, the creative agency Spirit of Space uses digital media to showcase humanity's built environment, consequently enhancing the citizen's self-awareness and appreciation of architectural space. Their film for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, entitled Art in the City, visits a selection of public art installations in Chicago, presenting the structures within an engaged society, with quotations from their creators superimposed on the footage.

Art in the City's perspective contextualizes the art as truly part of its city, rather than tightly framing it as an isolated portrait. While not an explicit critique of the public art, the film and featured quotations are bold strokes, meant to inspire dialogue and enthused interaction, but not push a specific argument. In line with Spirit of Space's agenda, the film provokes questions of public art's purpose, civic relationship, and whether it "succeeds". Inherent to these questions ...