Sketchbook
A Different Kind of Developer
The words “daring and creative” are rarely heard when decribing today’s housing developers. When confronted, it is not unusual to hear the almost automatic response, “I’m only building what the public wants”. But are they? This book tells the story of one post World WarII developer named Joseph Eichler who decided to build modern homes for the [...]
October 16th, 2009 | Tags: Current, Housing | Posted in Between Pages
The Education of Design, Part 2
We welcome you to visit our favorite local resource for what’s going on in and around Redding, California these days. Following is an excerpt from the second part of our article on the new Redding School of the Arts:
I have said in the past that for us to “get it”, we need to see examples of what is [...]
June 10th, 2009 | Tags: Art, Community, Energy, LEED, McConnell, Schools | Posted in By Lines
Stone by Design
Lew French is our staff’s pick for Today’s Featured Artist. He moved to Martha’s Vineyard over twenty years ago and has worked on his own stone designs exclusively since. His work has been featured in the New York Times, House Beautiful, The Boston Globe Magazine, Architectural Digest, and Metropolitan Home.
”I had just turned nineteen when [...]
June 3rd, 2009 | Tags: Art, Current, Video | Posted in Through Art
The Education of Design, Part 1
We’re back to our favorite local resource for what’s going on in and around Redding, California these days. Following is an excerpt from my newest article on the new Redding School of the Arts:
If you have ever watched a disaster movie where a giant asteroid is hurtling toward the earth, bringing with it death and destruction [...]
June 2nd, 2009 | Tags: Community, Energy, McConnell, Schools | Posted in By Lines
For the Glory
The 2009 Kinetic Grand Championship on California’s north coast was held on Memorial Day weekend, the 40th time this race has taken place since its modest beginnings in 1969. We were there with friends to watch the beginning of the race, and it’s difficlut to imagine a more fun way to spend a few hours. [...]
June 1st, 2009 | Tags: Art, Community, Current, Energy | Posted in As Random As
A Flash of Genius
Competing in a 1981 national competition against 1,420 other entries, an unknown undergraduate at Yale University named Maya Ying Lin was selected as the winner for her design for the Vietnam Memorial. Her concept was simple and inspirational:
She wanted to create a park within a park – a quiet protected place onto itself, yet harmonious with [...]
June 1st, 2009 | Tags: Art, Current, Video | Posted in In Reality
If Cars Could Fly…
If you’re looking for the perfect gift for someone who has everything, this may be it. The idea of flying cars goes back to the 1930′s, well before we were treated to the Jetson’s flying car on TV. The latest entry into car – plane hybrids is the Terrafugia Transition designed by MIT – trained [...]
May 29th, 2009 | Tags: Current, Energy | Posted in Beyond Ideas
Inspiration Revisited
If you are an architect and you are not inspired by this building by the twentieth century architectural icon Louis Kahn, then you need to change professions. The Exeter Library, with Kahn’s typically dramatic interior spaces framed in powerful but simple forms is a potent reminder that what is inside a building is as much (or more) about architecture as [...]
May 15th, 2009 | Tags: Current, Video | Posted in In Reality
Art of The Brick
Nathan Sawaya is our staff’s pick for Today’s Featured Artist. In fact, we enjoy Nathan’s art so much TRILOGY is one of the sponsors of his exhibit, “The Art of the Brick” at the Turtle Bay Exploration Park , showing from May 16, 2009 through January 3, 2010. Anyone who ever played with LEGO blocks as [...]
May 12th, 2009 | Tags: Art, Community, Current | Posted in Through Art
Intensely Wood
Ben Butler is our staff’s pick for Today’s Featured Artist. We find his sculptures of patterned wood especially appealing.
“The spirit of science, of discovery and illumination, is central to my art. Ultimately, everything made is first found. Yet, for both art and science, successful work must allow others not to simply rediscover what you have [...]
May 5th, 2009 | Tags: Art, Current | Posted in Through Art
The Architecture of Ruins
If you’ve ever driven along California Highway 299 in Shasta County past the small town of Ingot (population 30), you’ve probably wondered about the story behind these ruins. All that remains of what once was a functioning and robust enterprise, these sketetal ”bones” only hint at what once existed here.
“In 1873 Marcus Peck purchased the Copper Hill Mine group [...]
May 3rd, 2009 | Tags: Community, Current | Posted in Across Town
The Perfect $100,000 House
This book is a very personal look into how a very small segment of home building is slowly evolving toward prefabrication, while at the same time the construction industry as a whole remains as the status quo. The author, founding editor in chief of Dwell magazine Karrie Jacobs, embarks on a search across America for a [...]
April 30th, 2009 | Tags: Current, Housing | Posted in Between Pages
Finding Treasure
Celeste White is our staff’s pick for Today’s Featured Artist. As we’ve said before, Northern California has some wonderful artists, and Celeste is another great example.
“In my work, I have two main purposes: In my individual pieces, I strive to create beauty where there might be perceived ugliness, to redeem materials that otherwise might be [...]
April 27th, 2009 | Tags: Art, Community, Current | Posted in Through Art
An Extreme Staircase
This year is 2007. I am a fifth year architecture student at Montana State University, and my assignment is to design a staircase. I decide to use this as an opportunity to explore the artistic notion of a stair connecting land and water within Guerney State Park in Wyoming. Not wanting to obstruct the park’s [...]
April 24th, 2009 | Tags: Art, Current, Park | Posted in During Class
I wish I was a Hollywood Architect, Part 2
This scene from the 2001 movie Life as a House features an encounter with a building inspector that is completely unbelievable. However, we include it under the category of “wishful thinking”, because most architects only wish they could take care of building code issues this easily.
April 23rd, 2009 | Tags: Current, Video | Posted in In Reality
Wouldn’t it be Nice…
if as architects we lived long enough to be able to see our work age
within the confines of its
natural environment, suffering neither deterioration nor neglect…
and in the process
actually become the better for it?
12/25/2003
April 20th, 2009 | Tags: Art, Current | Posted in After Thoughts
All That Glitters is Not Green
Here is a brief excerpt from my conference talk:
These days it seems as though “Green” is everywhere we turn. Environmentally friendly living ideas have finally made it to mainstream America, or at the very least, Good Morning America. The message being broadcast is clear from coast to coast: “Green is good, and it’s here to stay”. [...]
April 16th, 2009 | Tags: Current, Energy, LEED | Posted in Out of School
It should come as no surprise…
that
rebuilding our cities
often begins with what seems
like a backward step:
It’s called addition by destruction.
12/25/2005
The removal of the first section of roof over the Redding Downtown Mall, Redding, California.
April 14th, 2009 | Tags: Art, Current | Posted in After Thoughts
What Timeless Really Means
From its opening on April 22, 1939 in Racine, Wisconsin, the SC Johnson Wax Administration Building by Frank Lloyd Wright was destined to become one of the finest examples of 20th century American architecture. The Great Workroom, covering nearly on-half acre, must be seen in person (as I have) to be truly appreciated and the entry foyer [...]
April 13th, 2009 | Tags: Current, Video | Posted in In Reality
Is Nuclear Fusion Finally (almost) Here?
When it comes to research into new energy sources, this may just be “The Next Really Cool Thing”:
If you hang around the renewable-energy business for long, you’ll hear a lot of tall tales. You’ll hear about someone who’s invented a process to convert coal into vegetable oil in his garage and someone else who has [...]
April 11th, 2009 | Tags: Current, Energy, Video | Posted in On The Frontier
A Satisfying Map of the Journey
Bryan Tedrick is our staff’s pick for Today’s Featured Artist. Northern California has some wonderful artists, and Bryan Tedrick certainly fits into this category.
“While I may have a general idea in mind when creating a sculpture, the passages that constitute the whole are a surprise to me. Any durable material is fair game in this [...]
April 7th, 2009 | Tags: Art, Community, Current | Posted in Through Art
The Prefabricated Home
Architects have long been fascinated with the idea of designing prefabricated housing. The question remains, however, as to why they haven’t experienced as much success as might be expected. This book offers a clear explanation of the often dysfunctional relationship between architect and prefabrication while offering examples of both their successes and their failures. While the author offers [...]
April 7th, 2009 | Tags: Current, Housing | Posted in Between Pages
The Art of Creating Creatures
This fascinating video was discovered by one of our own designers, Josh. Is it art or is it science? You will have to decide for youself, but as you watch try to imagine the possible applications for this “evolving lifeform”. We can think of several.
April 6th, 2009 | Tags: Current, Video | Posted in On The Frontier
The World is Flat
This is not a new book – in fact, it was published to great acclaim back in 2005 – but it’s worth featuring again as the best-selling author has just released his newest book Hot, Flat and Crowded. This is a book of ideas, a thought-provoking dissertation on how the world has become more interconnected, [...]
April 5th, 2009 | Tags: Current | Posted in Between Pages
Land Art
Andy Goldsworthy is our staff’s pick for Today’s Featured Artist.
“I enjoy the freedom of just using my hands and “found” tools–a sharp stone, the quill of a feather, thorns. I take the opportunities each day offers: if it is snowing, I work with snow, at leaf-fall it will be with leaves; a blown-over tree becomes [...]
April 4th, 2009 | Tags: Art, Current, Video | Posted in Through Art
It’s ironic…
that while architecture is generally thought of
as a creative process, what we really do as
architects is to “recreate”, whether it be
a feeling or fantasy, mood or memory;
architecture is often more about imagery
than
about images.
12/25/2002
Fantasy Fountain, Redding, CA
April 1st, 2009 | Tags: Art, Current, Park | Posted in After Thoughts
Beach House
Shelter comes in many forms, and its builders are often anonymous. We think that the ad hoc nature of this creation makes it all the more impressive.
March 29th, 2009 | Tags: Current, Housing | Posted in Beyond Ideas
The Language of School Design
In our opinion, this book should be required reading for each and every architect who designs schools. It attempts to answer the questions, “why do schools look the way they do? Why is there a chasm between widely acknowledged best practice principles and the actual design at a majority of school facilities? Why has the disconnect [...]
March 28th, 2009 | Tags: Current, Schools | Posted in Between Pages
I wish I was a Hollywood Architect, Part 1
There are architects, and then there are architects as portrayed in the movies. Although the celluloid architect is often an outrageously inaccurate caricature, sometimes Hollywood actually gets it right. In this clip from the movie Sleepless in Seattle, any architect who has ever designed a custom home will recognize the truth of this scene.
March 26th, 2009 | Tags: Current, Video | Posted in In Reality
Paper Works
Peter Callesen is our staff’s pick for Today’s Featured Artist.
The paper cut sculptures explore the probable and magical transformation of the flat sheet of paper into figures that expand into the space surrounding them. The negative and absent 2 dimensional space left by the cut, points out the contrast to the 3 dimensional reality it [...]
March 25th, 2009 | Tags: Art, Current | Posted in Through Art
Nature…
possesses all the elements of great art;
it remains
for man to believe that it can be
manipulated to create a more beautiful art form.
The question we must ask
is whether this is the
result of man’s arrogance toward his environment
or the mere
playfulness of a creative spirit?
12/25/2001
March 25th, 2009 | Tags: Art, Current, Park | Posted in After Thoughts
Turtle Bay Museum and Visitors’ Center
Trilogy acted as the local associate firm under Bohlin Cywinski Jackson on the Turtle Bay Museum and Visitors’ Center in Redding, California. This new $25 million centerpiece to the Turtle Bay Exploration Park opened its doors to the community in 2000. Here’s what BCJ says about this project:
Turtle Bay Exploration Park is a private, non-profit organization dedicated
to education and interpretation [...]
March 23rd, 2009 | Tags: Current, Institutional | Posted in Among Friends
America’s Top Architecture Schools
…at least according to Design Intelligence. We don’t have the results yet for 2009, but we have to admit to a bit of inter-office grumbling over last year’s results. Why did Cornell fall to #2 and why isn’t Montana State in this survey? Anyway, here’s an excerpt from the 2008 publication:
Every year for the last nine years, the Design [...]
March 23rd, 2009 | Tags: Current, Schools | Posted in During Class
Weird & Cool Houses
If you think you understand people, then you need to think again.
If you think these houses are unusual, check out this site – hemmy,net
March 22nd, 2009 | Tags: Art, Current, Housing | Posted in Beyond Ideas
Time and Architecture
The inspiration for this mixed media creation of our own Josh and Emily comes from our mission statement:
“No more can we applaud designs that fail
to take our planet into consideration.
The time has come to let go the architecture of convenience
and to embrace an architecture of connection.”
Soft Toilet Paper is Rough on Forests
It seems as though toilet paper is no longer flying beneath the environmental radar. It cannot be denied that America has a love for soft tissue…
But fluffiness comes at a price: millions of trees harvested in North America and in Latin American countries, including some percentage of trees from rare old-growth forests of Canada. Although toilet tissue [...]
March 20th, 2009 | Tags: Current, Energy | Posted in On The Frontier
Last Child in The Woods
Everyone who has children needs to read this book. As parents we have become afraid to allow nature to remain a refuge for our children to play without constant supervison. Developers, architects and city planners as well need to read this book. The way we plan, design and legislate our outdoor space too often leaves no room for imagination, and no place [...]
March 19th, 2009 | Tags: Current | Posted in Between Pages
Thomas Friedman on the John Stewart Show
Thomas L. Friedman won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, his third Pulitzer for The New York Times. Mr. Friedman’s book, “The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century,” was released in April 2005 and won the inaugural Goldman Sachs/Financial Times Business Book of the Year award. His latest book, “Hot,Flat and [...]
March 15th, 2009 | Tags: Current, Energy, Video | Posted in Upon Further Review
A New Stage for Downtown
In our office, every project starts with a sketch, and the Carnegie Stage in downtown Redding’s Library Park is no exception. But before the sketch came the idea, based on a project done by the architect Robert Venturi in the 1970′s. With his Franklin Court “ghost structures” project Venturi created a sketetal structure to evoke Benjamin Franklin’s [...]
March 14th, 2009 | Tags: Community, Current | Posted in By Lines
A Polar Bear in London
No, it’s not what you think.
If you went down to the Thames today you were sure of a big surprise. This giant sculpture of a polar bear stranded on a block of ice floated 7.5 miles from Greenwich towards the centre of London to highlight the problem of melting ice caps. - Daily Telegraph
March 13th, 2009 | Tags: Current, Energy | Posted in Beyond Ideas
Plan B 3.0 Mobilizing to Save Civilization
If you could read only one book on climate change and how to survive the next 100 years, this should be it. Lester Brown has clearly laid out each of the many challenges our planet faces now and in the near future. He backs up his cautionary statement with enough documentation to satisfy any reader who has the desire to probe more deeply into this subject. But [...]
March 12th, 2009 | Tags: Current, Energy | Posted in Between Pages
Are You a Hypermiler?
If you own a Hybrid car, chances are you have changed your driving habits at least a little bit to see how high you can get that miles-per-gallon average. Well now several car companies are taking this idea to an entirely new level:
When new hybrids from Ford and Honda roll into showrooms this spring, drivers will find flashy [...]
March 11th, 2009 | Tags: Current, Energy | Posted in On The Frontier
To Create an Architecture…
that does not diminish its
natural surroundings, but rather says to those
who observe it, man does have the ability to
enhance his environment instead of
simply destroying it…
That is a goal worth striving for.
12/25/2000
Buttermilk Falls State Park, Ithaca, N.Y.
March 10th, 2009 | Tags: Art, Current | Posted in After Thoughts
The Downtown Redding Mall Circa 2008
This is by far our favorite part of Redding’s Downtown Mall. Redding’s version of Main Street is Market Street, covered over in the 1970′s in an attempt to revitalize retail sales in the downtown area. Briefly successful, by the 1990′s the mall was in disrepair and most stores were either vacant or replaced by offices. [...]
March 9th, 2009 | Tags: Community, Current | Posted in Across Town
Superheroes and Shade Trees
This is a favorite local resource for what’s going on in and around Redding, California these days (As Doni Greenberg, who along with husband Bruce was the creator of this online treasure, likes to say, “friend disclosure”). Following is an excerpt from my article on the new Redding School of the Arts:
This school will serve as a giant demonstration [...]
March 8th, 2009 | Tags: Community, Current, LEED, McConnell, Schools | Posted in With Words
Book Autopsies
Brian Dettmer is our staff’s pick for Today’s Featured Artist. Here is an excerpt from a 2007 interview with the artist, including more examples of his work:
Brian utilizes existing books, cassette tapes, and video tapes to create completely new works of art. When dealing with books, Brian cuts into the pages revealing fragmented images and words, and [...]
March 7th, 2009 | Tags: Art, Current | Posted in Through Art
West Coast Green 2009
If you live in the northern California area and you are interested in sustainable design and building, this is the conference for you. Held in the Bay area every year, this three day event features great speakers, seminars and exhibits. But beware, you need to be prepared for passionate people who are happy to be in the now not-so-exclusive [...]
March 6th, 2009 | Tags: LEED | Posted in Out of School
Working with Your Local Building Department
In the early 1930′s, architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed a building for the Johnson Wax Company based on a radical structural system. Building officials (they’re not too hard to identify in the video) scoffed at the idea that this would work, and required a demonstration of the load-bearing abilities by the architect and owner before allowing [...]
March 5th, 2009 | Tags: Current, Video | Posted in In Reality
Dragon Day 2009
As an alumnus of Cornell University’s School of Architecture, I am always reminded at this time of year of an annual tradition at our school called “Dragon Day”. It’s difficult to explain how freshman architecture students and dragons go together, but this year marked the 108th anniversary of the first celebration:
Believing that there should be a [...]
March 4th, 2009 | Tags: Art, Current, Schools | Posted in During Class
Redding Library
At Trilogy, we enjoy working on projects with other architects. Recently, we acted as the local associate firm under LPA, Inc. on the Redding Library. This new $20.6 million facility opened its doors to the community in February of 2005. Here’s what LPA says about this project:
The 55,000-sq.-ft., two-story county library incorporates spectacular views of Mount Shasta, state-of-the-art [...]
March 3rd, 2009 | Tags: Civic, Community, Current | Posted in Among Friends
No more can we applaud designs that fail to take our planet into consideration, the time has come to let go the architecture of convenience and to embrace an architecture of connection.
Portfolio
Riverfront Playhouse
The Riverfront Playhouse is currently raising funds to complete their facility in downtown Redding, CA. For more information on the playhouse, or to help with the funding effort go to http://riverfrontplayhouse.net/
March 1st, 2012 | Posted in In Progress
Library Park Renovation
The only existing park in downtown Redding, this tiny outdoor space has been transformed over a five year period, using lighting, misting fans and an outdoor stage to attract thousands of residents every summer to what has become a very popular gathering place.
The Carnegie Library first opened in 1903, only to be torn down in [...]
December 30th, 2011 | Posted in Urban Design
East Street Senior Affordable Housing
_Depending on income, the one- and two-bedroom apartments rent for $261 to $688 per month, said East Street Manager Dawna Perry. All 21 units have been taken, and there are 50 people on the waiting list. “It is pretty typical. There are a lot of people looking for affordable housing in the senior population,” Perry [...]
November 28th, 2011 | Posted in Architecture, Portfolio
Sheraton Redding at the Sundial Bridge
Trilogy Architecture and Turtle Bay are working to complete Redding’s first Sheraton hotel. The Sheraton Redding at the Sundial Bridge will provide visitors and guests of Redding California a unique opportunity to stay near the world famous Sundial Bridge and the Turtle Bay Exploration Park. The hotel will be designed to achieve LEED certification and [...]
November 28th, 2011 | Posted in In Progress, Portfolio
The Stirring
Only a brief visit to their website thestirring.org is needed to know that this is no traditional church.
This 21,000 SF project was originally a bookstore. We were approached to convert the facility into a modern performance space. Acoustic quality was at the forefront of the project’s design. The complex programming requirements and high level of [...]
November 9th, 2011 | Posted in Architecture, Portfolio
Redding School of the Arts – **Wins Second National Award for School Design**
Press release dated 4-19-12
The American Institute of Architects has announced that Trilogy Architecture Urban Design Research
has been selected to receive a Design Excellence Award for its project “Redding School of the Arts”. The AIA
award is the second national design award to be given to Trilogy Architecture this year for the school.
Trilogy Architecture, headed by architect [...]
January 28th, 2010 | Posted in Architecture, Featured
Turtle Bay Amphitheatre
Challenged to create adequate shade for an existing outdoor amphitheatre at the Turtle Bay Exploration Park without obscuring existing views within this natural setting, our solution was to design a series of canvas “louvers” suspended between thin structural piers. These louvered panels were angled to best protect the audience from the host summer sun, while allowing [...]
January 4th, 2010 | Posted in Architecture
McConnell Maintenance Facility
In order to minimize the impact of the 18,000 square foot building on the adjacent neighborhood, this concreate and steel structure was designed to be cut deeply into the existing slope. An adjustable canvas and steel shade canopy was inserted along the street frontage to counter the typical image of a maintenance building.
Photos ©2006 Steve [...]
November 10th, 2009 | Posted in Architecture
Mayor’s Memorial Plaza
In 1999 Trilogy volunteered its services to the Rotary Club of Redding for the design of a memorial in honor of Patricia Anderson, who died while serving as Mayor of Redding, and to acknowledge all of the community leaders who over the years have given their time to serve on the City Council. Our solution was based on a “water wall” rising out [...]
October 13th, 2009 | Posted in Urban Design
McConnell Arboretum
How does an architect end up designing a garden?
We like to think in this case it’s because we are “generalist” architects who are viewed more as problem-solvers than specialists in any one type of design. Our task with this project was to help with the realization of the long time dream of a dedicated group of local garden enthusiasts. The concept for [...]
October 12th, 2009 | Posted in Urban Design
AgreePark 850 Home
In January 0f 2007, the local builder’s exchange, in partnership with the Redding Redevelopment Agency commissioned three local architects for a unique design project. Each was to design a single family housing prototype to promote affordable, energy efficient alternatives within our community. For our part, Trilogy accepted the challenge of designing a home that was not only the most affordable possible, [...]
October 7th, 2009 | Posted in Architecture
The Carnegie Stage in Library Park
The Carnegie Library first opened in 1903, only to be torn down in 1962 to make room for a parking lot. Built mostly by volunteers, the steel, canvas and glass block structure known as the Carnegie Stage was designed as an abstract reminder to the memory of the historic library on whose site it now [...]
October 6th, 2009 | Posted in Urban Design
The Cascade Theatre
An important piece of Redding’s heritage, this 1935 Art Deco style movie theatre was purchasd in 1999 with the intention that it be completely restored for use as 1000 seat performing arts venue. That required a balance between historical restoration and the performance requirements necessary in the 21st century. The result combines elements such as [...]
October 5th, 2009 | Posted in Architecture
Turtle Bay Administration Building
This 13,760 SF project houses a large non-profit foundation. It is located on an abandoned drive-in theatre property that was converted to an office campus site with multiple building pads surrounding a central plaza and public gardens. Our primary goal was to create a model for “affordable sustainability” in the hopes that the ideas showcased in its [...]
September 29th, 2009 | Posted in Architecture
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