Cultural Conversations

hanrahan Meyers architects Likes "Amazing Timelapse of a 30-story Building Constructed in Only 360 Hours!"

Repost from Gizmodo:

 

hMa Recommends NYT: "The Fluid Human Dance That Is Grand Central" (re-post)Cultural Conversations with hanrahanMeyers architects

Between 8:30 and 10 a.m., enough people stand still, some in groups, to make the floor of the Grand Central Terminal look like an Italian piazza photo: Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

Excerpt from the article:

By ALASTAIR MACAULAY
Published: August 31, 2011

"Every city has its own choreography, formal or informal. The composer John Cage loved to point out how any street corner is theater of a kind; the dance critic and poet Edwin Denby wrote ardently of how daily life was full of things to see; and when one of Merce Cunningham’s dancers asked what a piece was about, he took her to the window, showed her the view of the sidewalk and said, “That.”

To observe large numbers of people moving and coexisting in complex simultaneity, I chose to make two visits to Grand Central Terminal in August. Its main concourse is among the city’s spectacular locales, giving you the chance to observe the complex patterns made by arriving and departing passengers. Its vast, tall rectangular block of space is framed by high windows, a ceiling embellished with constellations, and double staircases at either end. With its many arches leading to other parts of the station and its central, four-faced clock, it is more than the sum of its exits and entrances: it adds heroic drama to the very thought of travel."

Click here to read the full article on www.nytimes.com

hMa Recommends NYT : A Master of the Stone Wall Discusses the Perfect Fit

photo of Andrew Pighills: Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times

Here is an excerpt from the article:

"Andrew Pighills has devoted much of his life to stone walls. He began building them as a boy, on his father’s farm in the Yorkshire Dales, in north England. Now, at 56, he is the North American representative of the Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain, a group dedicated to the art and preservation of dry laid stone.

“A dry stone wall is a wall built without mortar,” he said. Unlike a mortared wall, which those in his profession refer to as a “wet wall,” he said, “only two things hold a dry stone wall together: gravity and friction.”

Mr. Pighills, who lives in southeast Connecticut, creates landscapes of garden and stone for private and public clients and teaches walling at workshops throughout New England. We spoke with him about his work.

Why did you start building stone walls?

I am the son of a farmer, and I had to build walls to retain the stock on the property. And having had to do it, I found that not only was I good at it, but I also enjoyed it.

What brought you to this country?

I came over to visit a friend, literally for a couple of weeks, and he said, “Oh, no, you should stay at least a month or more.” So I asked him if he knew anybody who might like some stonework done, to pay my way, and he put me through to a gentleman who had quite a large property. I did maybe a week’s work for him. He invited me back the following year to repair all the walls on his property, and while I was there I met my now-wife and eventually moved over here to live full time.

You hold workshops in New England, where there are lots of stone walls. Why is that?

The original walls were nothing more than a heap of stone that was cleared from the land so farmers could plant; they’re what I call clearance walls. Then they became boundaries. Farmers would build a little better than clearance walls to retain the stock, and then, as farming became more profitable and farmers had a little more time — it was probably second or third generation before they got to this stage — they started building actual walls. If you walk through the woods in New England, you will see all three types.

Click here to read the article in full on nytimes.com

 

Below are two views of hMa's Holley House in Garrison, New York, which incorporates an existing dry stone wall into its minimalist tableau.  The house design features two stone landscape walls that grow out of the ground plane.  To either side of this three-dimensional occupied wall, pavilions project into the landscape.  The house is designed as an atmosphere of nature:  the ancient stone wall in the landscape becomes a centering device for dwelling.

Holley House, photo by Michael Moran

stone wall at Holley House click here to see more photos of Holley House on hanrahanmeyers.com

Giant Redwood, California: Collage by Victoria Meyers

Giant Redwood, Ca., collaged photographic study:  Victoria Meyers architect

hanrahan Meyers architects are presenting a series of collages created by hMa principal Victoria Meyers.  The series is titled 'manipulated nature', and the collaged pieces are referenced in various hanrahan Meyers architects (hMa) built projects.  hanrahan Meyers has developed a consistent body of work by placing pieces of nature within abstract minimalist envelops. Manipulated Nature explores the firm's work through manipulated photographs, and the series includes trees, sky views, water views and flowers.

Artist Profile: Cyrilla MozenterCultural Conversations with hanrahanMeyers architects

Havva's last snowball

 

  Polar bear pass II

More saints seen #5

Bio of Cyrilla Mozenter borrowed from the Brooklyn Museum website:

CYRILLA MOZENTER's work is grounded in drawing. Her major work has ranged from large-scale charcoal drawings in the 1980's, to installations made of peanuts, walnuts, beans, and stolen soap-- frequently in combination with thread and (white) fabric-- in the 90's, to the current free-standing, cream-colored, hand-sewn, industrial wool felt sculptures. And always works-on/with-paper... Much of the work of the last eight years has been made in relation to Gertrude Stein's writing; "Four Saints In Three Acts" has provided the basis for two recent projects. Mozenter's solo exhibitions of drawings and sculptures include "More saints seen" at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut, in 2005-06, "Cuts and Occasions" at Dieu Donne Papermill, New York, in 2002, "Very well saint" at The Drawing Center, New York, in 2000, "Secret Ears" at BAM's Majestic Theater, Brooklyn, in 1996, and "Undercurrent" at Espaco Cultural Sergio Porto, Rio de Janeiro, in 1995. Group exhibitions include "Pins and Needles," curated by Lena Vigna, at the Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, in 2003, "Endpapers: Drawings 1890-1900 and 1999-2000," curated by Judy Collischan, at the Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, New York, in 2000, and "Simply Made in America," curated by Barry Rosenberg, at the Aldrich Museum in 1993. She has been artist-in-residence at Dieu Donne Papermill, the Kohler Arts Center, and Instituto Municipal de Arte e Cultura-Rioarte, Rio de Janeiro. She has received two fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts and two project grants from The Fifth Floor Foundation. The Coby Foundation sponsored her solo exhibition at the Aldrich Museum with its accompanying limited-edition artist's book. Mozenter's work was most recently reviewed in the July/August issue of Sculpture by Jonathan Goodman. Her work is in the collections of the Arkansas Arts Center, Birmingham Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Hood Museum of Art, New York Public Library Print Collection, University of Massachusetts- Amherst, Walker Art Center, and Yale University Art Gallery. She is a professor in the MFA program at Pratt Institute.

http://cyrillamozenter.com/

Happy New Year 2011! from hanrahanMeyers architects

2010
What we did:

Infinity Chapel
Grand Opening July 2010
2010 Honor Award Faith & Form Magazine

Won Buddhist Center
2010 Design Award Faith & Form Magazine

Amrhein / Swenson Bridge-Studio
Easton, PA

Digital Water Pavilion (DWiP)
Featured article for Platinum LEED design, Dec 7 2010 New York Post

Victoria Meyers at LISA Salon 11/8/2010Leaders in Software and Art, Digital Water Pavilion, Infinity Chapel, Absolute Zero (Won Buddhist Center)

On November 8, 2010, hanrahan Meyers architects (hMa) Principal Victoria Meyers presented at the most recent LISA (Leaders in Software and Art) Salon (link to http://softwareandart.com), at the Devotion Gallery (link to http://www.areyoudevoted.com)  in Brooklyn, New York.  The evening included presentations by several artists in the New York area, and included works in various media including sound art, glass and ceramic design, virtual gallery and art design, and the design of systems for tracking human and other movements within the environment.  Presenters included:  Phoenix Perry (owner of Devotion Gallery);  Nell Breyer;  Justin Berry;  as well as Ms. Meyers.  For more information about the presenters at the Salon, please visit the links below.

Digital Water Pavilion: final frit pattern on site click here to view more photos of Digital Water Pavilion at www.hanrahanmeyers.com

Ms. Meyers presented hMa’s Digital Water Pavilion (Battery Park City Community Center):  a new 55,000 square-foot building conceived as a ‘built landscape’ in Battery Park City’s North Neighborhood.  The Pavilion features an Interactive Glass Wall that features a patterned interpretation of:  ‘WaTER’;  a commissioned sound piece from New York composer Michael Schumacher (who had presented at a LISA Salon a few months prior).   ‘WaTER’ is accessed visually as a pattern on the glass, and also through sound, through a smart phone application that will allow visitors to listen to bits and pieces of the composition.  Visitors will wave their smart phones at the Pavilion wall and 'play' the glass facade.

 Infiinity Chapel in Greenwich Village, NYC, hanrahan Meyers architects:   click here to view more photos of Infinity Chapel at www.hanrahanmeyers.com

Ms. Meyers' presentation included discussion of hMa’s works and a discussion of how these works of architecture engage science and advanced mathematics.  Ms. Meyers included hMa's design for Infinity Chapel (featured above) as an example of the firm's works that apply mathematics and science to form.  Infinity Chapel was designed by hMa using hypercube and hypersphere forms to carve out space within a given envelop, which became the Infinity Chapel.

Left: Absolute Zero - Won Buddhist Center southwest view; Right: Permanent Residence courtyard view click here to view more photos of Absolute Zero at www.hanrahanmeyers.com

Ms. Meyers also presented hMa’s Won Dharma Center (Absolute Zero), a 20,000 square-foot retreat in Claverack, New York for the Won Buddhist Organization of North America, an organization emphasizing balance in relationship to nature.  The Buddhist Center is on a 550-acre property, and is designed to have a zero-carbon footprint on the site.  The Center’s five buildings are organized around dual concepts of void and spiral.  The Center’s four residential buildings transform in section around a spiral organization, with roofs that transformed from a simple slope in section to a complex triangulated geometry at the buildings' entry porches.  The idea of 'Absolute Zero' emanated from discussions between Ms. Meyers and Dr. Lene Hau, about Dr. Hau’s work in physics using Lasers to control the speed of light (Dr. Hau is included in Ms. Meyers' book:  designing with light). A  key aspect of Dr. Hau’s machines for controlling light includes a ‘bag’ with a Bose-Einstein Condensate’ – matter cooled to temperatures that come as close as possible to Absolute Zero - the name applied to the Buddhist project. 

Below are links to other presenters from the November 8, 2010 LISA Salon.  Thanks to Isabel Draves for putting together an interesting, riveting evening of lively presentations, discussions, good food and drink!

If you are interested in attending a LISA Salon:  the Salons are not open to the general public but interested attendees can send their bios to Isabel Draves at isabel at spotworks dot com.

Phoenix Perry

Nell Breyer

Justin Berry

 

Minimalist Modern Chapel Design: Architecture and Light: Infinity Chapel, NYC Modern Church Design; Cultural Conversations with hanrahan Meyers architects

view of sanctuary: Infinity Chapel by hanrahan Meyers architects click to view more photos.  For information contact:  info@hanrahanMeyers.com.  All photos by Michael Moran. 

hanrahan Meyers architects (hMa) are pleased to announce that Infinity Chapel is opening to the general public on June 30, 2010.  Infinity Chapel is designed around mathematical ideas based on hyper-cubes and infinity. 

The Chapel uses shaped walls, and openings based on precise mathematical forms:  squares; golden section rectangles, and lines -  to create a unique spiritual environment within the chapel:  a perfect cube.  Articulated lines, squares, and shaped apertures flood light into the Chapel from each of the cardinal directions.  The mathematically precise apertures bring formally articulated areas of light into the Chapel sanctuary.  The combination of curves and light create a symphony of form and light. 

curved wall detail: Infinity Chapel by hanrahan Meyers architects.  For information, contact:  info@hanrahanMeyers.com.   Photos by Michael Moran.

Located at 171 MacDougal Street, Infinity Chapel will be open to the General Public after June 30, 2010.  The congregation welcomes visitors to the Chapel.  To tour the Chapel, visitors would check in with the librarian at the Christian Science Reading Room, located in front of the Chapel, facing MacDougal Street. 

The Chapel is visible from MacDougal Street.  The front facade of the building is glass, looking into the Christian Science Reading Room.  Beyond the Reading Room, separated by a floor to ceiling glass wall, is Infinity Chapel.  Beyond Infinity Chapel, separated by a third glass plane, is an outdoor Chapel.  

Standing on MacDougal Street, Visitors can see the Reading Room, the Chapel, and the outdoor Garden Chapel beyond.  

sanctuary view looking toward Reading Room and MacDougal Street.  For information contact:  info@hanrahanMeyers.com. Photos by Michael Moran.

Click here to view more photos of Infinity Chapel on hanrahanMeyers.com

Infinity Chapel and Won Dharma Center win Faith & Form Design Awards for 2010Cultural Conversations with hanrahan Meyers architects

We are pleased to announce that two hMa projects have won awards in the 2010 Faith & Form / IFRAA International Design Awards Program for Religious Art and Architecture.  Infinity Chapel has won an Honor Design Award in the Religious Architecture - Renovation category and Won Dharma Center won a Merit Design Award in the Unbuilt Work category.

These and all winning entries will be published in the Winter 2010 Awards Issue of Faith & Form magazine.  Read more about the awards program, Faith and Form magazine, and the Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture here.

 
 detail: Infinity Chapel by hanrahanMeyers architects click here to see more images of the Chapel at hanrahanMeyers.com

The Infinity Chapel for the Tenth Church of Christ, Scientist features a cubic sanctuary deformed by light. The new sanctuary is a place where the sacred geometries of squares, golden section rectangles, and ‘spheres of light’ will surround worshipers. Three curving walls - one from the south, one from the north and one from the east - suggest the large spheres. These forms evoke the shape of a ‘Klein bottle’ or moebius strip, simple figures that suggest infinity by having no beginning and no end.

view of Meditation Hall: Won Dharma Center by hanrahanMeyers architects click here to see more images of Won Dharma Center at hanrahanMeyers.com

hMa's latest Green project for a spiritual group is the new Won Dharma Center compound to be located in Claverack, New York. This is to be a Green community designed with sensitivity to Nature and issues of Sustainable design.

The Won Dharma Center will be a retreat in rural, upstate New York for spiritual reflection and discussion. The property gently slopes toward the west, offering views of the Hudson Valley and the Catskill Mountains. The buildings for the center, which include permanent and guest residences, an administration building and a large meditation hall, are placed in the northern end of the site, set back from the highway. The buildings are all oriented towards the west and south to maximize view and light, while each building is organized around an internal courtyard.

Digital Water Pavilion: Cloud Architecture: Google, Twitter and ArchitectureCultural Conversations with hanrahan Meyers architects

The Digital Water Pavilion (Battery Park City Community Center) is a new project by hanrahan Meyers architects (hMa) for Battery Park City Authority, in downtown Manhattan, across from Ground Zero.  The project is a 550-foot long digitally interactive facade that will feature a sound composition, 'WATER', by New York Composer and hMa collaborator, Michael Schumacher.  The Pavilion's glass facade will have interactive links, so that music (WATER), and the Pavilion's architecture will link directly to contemporary social networks, Twitter and Google.

sample of arcade wall pattern for Battery Park City Community Center, cover for soon to be released CD for WATER, composed by Michael Schumacher for the Digital Water Pavilion

hMa's Digital Water Pavilion (Battery Park City Community Center) will integrate the cloud into the architecture by using a smart phone app as an integrated part of the building's public facade.  Pavilion's east facing facade is a 550-long glass wall engraved with a frit pattern representation of New York composer Michael Schumacher's sound piece:  'WATER'.  This piece joins Pavilion visitors thru Twitter, Facebook and other social networks, integrating with them through a smart phone app  that will allow visitors to use cell phones to read different parts of Schumacher's 'WATER' as they walk along the glass wall.

The Water Pavilion's main facade is imprinted with digital code, embedded with a digital soundtrack from the hMa / Schumacher collaboration, 'WATER'.  Visitors will wave their smart phones at the Pavilion wall and 'play' the wall.

interactive wall detail : Digital Water Pavilion (Battery Park City Community Center) by hanrahan Meyers architects, collaboration with Michael Schumacher

For more information about hMa's Digital Water Pavilion (Battery Park City Community Center) visit hMa's website:  www.hanrahanMeyers.com.