Koolhaas Houselife

Recently, Linda and I attended a screening of "Koolhaas Houselife," a film about "the daily intimacy of an architectural icon." The film was shot from the perspective (mostly) of Guadalupe, the woman you see on the screen, who has to deal with maintaining a home in Bordeaux. This home is known as an architectural icon and it presents some very challenging situations for the people who keep it up on a regular basis. Very engaging and it drew a large crowd. The film was shown at the new rooftop venue at The Arthouse in downtown Austin.

Arthouse Becomes Astoria

This is a shot in the interior of the Arthouse at Jones Center. No they aren't renovating so soon after finishing their adaptive reuse of their building. Rather artist Graham Hudson is doing an an art piece that recreates part of the structure of the Astoria Theater, London when it was used for a nightclub music venue. He is using scaffolding to do this. The museum will invite bands to practice here, creating a sort of ghost venue. Conceptual art? Yep.

Art on the Avenue

Wednesday night we were at the Paramount for the Film Festival but Arthouse was swinging with its grand opening festivities. Videos were projecting onto the glass wall of the community room on the second floor.

A Movable Feast for the Eyes

I have been doing a weekly blog for Arthouse at Jones Center since last November. Here is one of my latest photos. This magnificent structure on Congress Ave, our main street in downtown, will be displaying some of the finest and most envelope-pushing artwork in the country. Here you see the huge movable wall in the second floor main gallery that is now hung and almost ready for use.

A Grand Stairway at The Arthouse

One of my volunteer jobs involves taking photos of the construction progress at Arthouse at the Jones Center in the heart of downtown Austin (7th and Congress, to be exact) and posting them in a blog.

One of the architectural features that I find to be especially impressive is the Grand Stairway which leads from the ground floor to the second. This custom-designed staircase is made out of IPE ("EEE-pay") sections. IPE is a Brazilian hardwood which wears like iron. In order to get them installed, each step section had to be hauled to the second floor by means of six strong men maneuvering it onto a specially-rigged winch. Then they were carefully raised. After all of that, each step had to be lowered into place. A tedious feat, but the end result is stunning.

Here you see a workman doing staining and finish work on the stairway.

Art with a Flare

Linda and I were both shooting photos at the Arthouse 5x7 party Thursday night. Here's one I caught of a young lady who came dressed in a fluffy skirt. Lots of people had on clever outfits--it was a creative crowd, for sure.

Arthouse -- a Big Window on Congress Ave

Crews of workers are working at a furious pace to meet the construction deadline of mid-summer on the Arthouse in downtown Austin. This building was a dress shop when I was growing up. Here you see both the current state of the progress and a rendering of what the building will look like when done. I was facing north looking up Congress when I took this photo. The huge opening you see here is the double window that will face east towards Austin's "Main Street," Congress Avenue (that's to the right in the shot), and south.

Organized Graffiti

The avant-garde Arthouse musuem in downtown Austin is undergoing an exciting renovation on Congress. They engaged some artists to decorate their construction barrier with 'graffiti.'

Arthouse takes shape

Linda and I were walking to a breakfast event downtown yesterday around 7:15. As we passed on the other side of Congress Avenue, I took this shot of the continuing construction on this exciting space -- Arthouse at the Jones Center -- on Austin's main street. (Two days ago, I featured the roof.) Completion is set for late June. The big corner space upstairs which looks empty right now will be glassed in and a key architectural element. The random vertical slots in the side wall will be filled with green glass "bricks" which will be lit so that they'll shine at night. On the roof, there will be a movie theater and party space. Here is a link to the blog which I update weekly. http://www.arthousetexas.org/blog/?p=2329

It's interesting for me to remember how, when I was a kid, this space used to be "Lerner Shop," a dress store. How time changes things.

By the way-- if you click on the photo and get the enlarged version, you'll see a rendering above the covered construction walk which shows the finished look of the building.

Rooftop theatre in the making

I'm currently doing a construction blog with weekly updates for The Arthouse at Jones Center in the heart of downtown Austin--7th and Congress Ave to be exact. This is a shot of the roof taken last week. When this space is finished mid-summer, it will be a party area, where guests can view art films and have refreshments. I always have a good time watching buildings taking shape.

Natural light

It's been cold and rainy here and we haven't been able to get many new shots. But here is a photo I took for the Arthouse blog on Tuesday. (My part is called "The Renovation According To Forrest Preece.") The holes in the wall you see here have been carefully cut and will soon hold lighted green glass blocks which will form the signature visual statement of the building on the outside wall. Shot from inside with the construction going on, they yield a ghostly effect.

Wood Always Has Its Place

Sometimes it seems that construction is all concrete, glass and steel. But wood always finds its place in projects. The wood here is the framing around the holes in the south wall of the Arthouse which will soon hold lighted green glass inserts. All told there will be over 170 of these inserts on both the south wall as shown here and the part of the north wall that protrudes above the adjoining building. Forrest is doing a blog about this construction project just as he did the Ballet Austin Butler Dance Education Center.

Today is a theme day for City Daily Photo. The theme is wood as you might have guessed. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

Arthouse getting straight

I am doing weekly posts on the construction progress of The Arthouse at Jones Center, a modern art museum which is located at 7th and Congress. A few weeks ago, I took this shot of the south wall which is being shimmed up to get it in true for further construction. All the vertical shapes make for an interesting visual effect. When done, those vertical rectangular openings in the wall (a couple of them show up here -- there will be about a hundred) will hold lighted green glass inserts which will make the visual signature of the building. It's fun to watch the transformation of downtown Austin. When I was a kid, this building was Lerners Dress Shop.