I got a postcard last night, advertising a home that will be on the Twin Cities Charade, I mean Parade, of Homes this spring. “Traditional on the outside, but features cutting-edge renewable energy and home management systems inside,” gunning for that unobjectionable bungalow meets farmhouse meets Craftsman story-and-a-half sweet spot. OMG, geothermal! I’ve heard that’s green! Striving for charm with lots of roof dormers and valleys for the snow to pile up.
What really caught my eye was the Apple iPhone Managed Homes seminar on the back (disclaimer: we’re almost an exclusive Mac shop here.) Get some apps and put that smart phone to work managing your home’s audio and video, security, lighting controls, and much more. I would like to know if I could get an iPhone to control the nightlight, integrated washlet, and heated seat on a TOTO Neorest toilet. Now that would be hands free.
Does anyone else see the irony of the increasing reach of technology brought to us by the same people that so sternly preached about the dangers of sedentary living and disposable culture in Wall-E?
What crucial job would you like your iPhone to tackle next?
Locus welcomes presenters Linda Nelson & Michael Larsen, private practice psychologist & continuous improvement leader, to speak about The House the Land Built.
Join us for the story of two high school sweethearts who, after 26 years of marriage, are transitioning from Minneapolis city life to 60 acres of restored prairie on bluffs overlooking the Whitewater River in Southeastern Minnesota. Locus clients Linda and Michael share their transformative experience navigating everything from material reclamation centers, composting toilet manuals, energy cost spreadsheets and meetings with off-the-grid gurus – seeking a low-impact life. They’ll explain how a transcendent connection to their land inspired it all.
We’ll have a dogeared copy of Humanure on hand if you’re brave enough to touch it.
2X2 No. 4
Saturday February 26, 2011, 7:30 pm
Locus Studio, 1500 Jackson St. NE, Suite 333, MInneapolis
Suggested donation $10, Refreshments provided
November 19, 2010 – Locus Honored by Peers
For years, we’ve designed for our clients, content with the knowledge that we get to do work that we love (not everyone can say that!) and are rewarded for our work by our clients’ appreciation. We’re reluctant self-promoters who would rather create a project and let it speak for itself than look to others for kudos.
Every now and then, however, we submit our work for awards and publications because it’s good for business. In November, three architects from around the country gathered in Minneapolis to judge the work of Minnesota firms. We submitted one project, White Bear Unitarian Universalist Church (WBUUC), and were pleased when it was selected as one of twelve projects to receive an AIA Honor Award, the top design award given in the state. In fact, this is the second award for the project. We also received a national award from the Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture in 2009.
For us, the positive comments from the congregation members and staff who live out their lives in the space every day are the most important validation and reward we can ever receive. However, as we ride the ups and downs of the business cycle, with changes in staffing and an acute sense of uncertainty in our industry, we also appreciate a gentle pat on the back from our peers. It just feels good.
#1 Locus Honored by Peers.
#2 sam is born.
#3 Completed Projects
#4 Real Architecture Workshop
#5 Public Art, Public Gatherings
#6 Ongoing Explorations
#7 RAMinn Tour – Wahpeton to St. Croix
#8 2X2 No. 2 on Local Food
#9 Adam Jonas Does It All
#10 New Design Collaborations
#11 Melody Gilbert at Movie Night
#12 Nice Ride MN
November 4, 2010 – Locus has triplets; sam 1.0, sam 1.5, sam 2.0
At Art Attack, we unveiled sam (sustainable attainable modern), a kit house available in three sizes: S, M, & L (as opposed to XL, XXL, & XXXL) Energy efficient, durable, economical, classic, and smart, sam makes sense today.
sam isn’t another modular-house toy for the well-heeled. sam leverages standard carpentry skills to build smarter homes quicker. The simplicity of building means sam comes within reach for all sorts of people in all sorts of locations. From lake front property to inner city neighborhoods to middle class suburban enclaves, sam doesn’t discriminate.
While it could be used as a trinket – pool cabana, tea house, yoga studio, or man cave – we designed sam for everyday use even in the harshest climates. Adaptable for different interior and exterior finishes, your sam can be customized to accommodate you and your space, even if your thing is a big pantry stocked with herring. Homes should be familiar places that bring happiness and support your relationships. sam offers the freedom to focus on the important things in life, whomever and whatever those might be.
sam is waiting for you. Are you ready?
#2 sam is born.
#3 Completed Projects
#4 Real Architecture Workshop
#5 Public Art, Public Gatherings
#6 Ongoing Explorations
#7 RAMinn Tour – Wahpeton to St. Croix
#8 2X2 No. 2 on Local Food
#9 Adam Jonas Does It All
#10 New Design Collaborations
#11 Melody Gilbert at Movie Night
#12 Nice Ride MN
2010 – Reused wine barrels, barn boards, thinking small
2010 dealt a brutal hand to our industry, architects and contractors continued to compete over scraps amid a lousy credit market and very high construction-related unemployment. Many business owners protected cash reserves in lieu of building projects; homeowners who did build focused on small improvements.
These smaller projects kept us humming. We helped clients imagine new ways of storing and preparing food in new kitchens, relax on summer porches, and create a better home for the tractor.
Architects have a reputation of being inaccessible spendthrifts, unafraid to blow large sums of other people’s money on frivolous details. At Locus, we’re aware of that perception, and eschew it. We’ve done a handful of exquisite high-cost residences, and we’re proud of that work, yet the majority of our clients are middle-class people who want the very same things as more affluent clients: intelligent design worthy of the investment. All clients want beauty AND value. We expect to achieve that whether we’re designing a palace, church, the neighborhood restaurant, a mudroom, or locating the outhouse window.
#3 Completed Projects
#4 Real Architecture Workshop
#5 Public Art, Public Gatherings
#6 Ongoing Explorations
#7 RAMinn Tour – Wahpeton to St. Croix
#8 2X2 No. 2 on Local Food
#9 Adam Jonas Does It All
#10 New Design Collaborations
#11 Melody Gilbert at Movie Night
#12 Nice Ride MN
Carefully located
Summer 2010 – ”A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.” M. Twain
RAW’s inaugural workshop in August brought students from around the country to the Black Hills of South Dakota for a two week design/build experience. Paul, along with Adam, Justin and Nate, led the team as they clung to the side of a granite mountain, creating the Abode – a sweet little shack perched high above the treetops. With presentations by Craig Howe, creator of CAIRNS, local photographer Paul Horstad and Vernon, a salty old miner with stories that would make your hair curl, we learned about Lakota history, burnt Ponderosa Pine tree stumps, tourmoline mineral deposits and Tucson peacocks. Stay tuned as future workshops include a T-shack on the St Olaf College campus, an ecotourism treehouse in Oaxaca, MX and the Hearth in the Black Hills.
In a panel discussion after a screening of Citizen Architect at the Walker Art Center, Paul discussed the value of a design/build experience for architects.
#4 Real Architecture Workshop
#5 Public Art, Public Gatherings
#6 Ongoing Explorations
#7 RAMinn Tour – Wahpeton to St. Croix
#8 2X2 No. 2 on Local Food
#9 Adam Jonas Does It All
#10 New Design Collaborations
#11 Melody Gilbert at Movie Night
#12 Nice Ride MN
Summer 2010 – 6-mile gallery, stop in at AxMan, dinner at Ngon.
image courtesy of Wing Young Huie
In the September/October ’10 issue of Architecture Minnesota, Wynne recaps Wing Young Huie’s urban art installation, The University Avenue Project (TUAP): The Language of Urbanism, a Six-Mile Photographic Inquiry. The short article, “Mixed Emotions”, offers thoughts on the experience of viewing the project and attending TUAP’s free cabarets; the cultural significance of the photographs having already been widely documented. (article).
In October, Locus invited Huie to the studio to speak alongside Dr. Anna Tahinci for 2X2 No. 3. The two shared their thoughts about public art, both local and international. If not familiar with it, take a look at the work of JR.
2010 seemed to be a year with more open public gatherings, from TUAP’s monthly cabarets to make-your-own pizza evenings to neighborhood BYOB Thursday nights. Let’s see more of these community social events in 2011. If you know of one, post it here and we’ll be there.
#5 Public Art, Public Gatherings
#6 Ongoing Explorations
#7 RAMinn Tour – Wahpeton to St. Croix
#8 2X2 No. 2 on Local Food
#9 Adam Jonas Does It All
#10 New Design Collaborations
#11 Melody Gilbert at Movie Night
#12 Nice Ride MN
2010 – “Give me a couple months to consider that.”
A shout-out to Locus clients who like their architecture simmered like a crock pot on low. Despite our own impatience to get things built, we admit that projects can benefit from careful fermentation. It’s a rare – and engaging – project where we have the time to study every corner and material choice in detail, tinkering with a design to make subtle improvements.
For Linda & Mike – carbon neutral acreage near Winona, MN; Kristen & Scott – modern multi-generational passive/active solar home outside LaCrosse, WI; Unitarian Universalist Church of Minnetonka – a building for worship, meeting, and business that reflects the congregation’s low-impact values, culture of inclusion, and love of design. And we can’t forget sam, a sustainable attainable modern home for vigorous living.
Building in 2014? Don’t delay!
#6 Ongoing Explorations
#7 RAMinn Tour – Wahpeton to St. Croix
#8 2X2 No. 2 on Local Food
#9 Adam Jonas Does It All
#10 New Design Collaborations
#11 Melody Gilbert at Movie Night
#12 Nice Ride MN
June 15, 2010 – (rural road east of Lake Mille Lacs)
WYNNE: Do you think maybe we ought to find shelter?
ADAM: Nah, it’s not that bad.
PASSING MOTORIST (shouting into the rain) FIND SHELTER! TORNADO WARNING!
ADAM: They always say that.
Starting in Wahpeton, ND, Adam and Wynne begin RAMinn v.2, a stateline to stateline cycling tour of rural MN. We saw it all – Shriners’ go-carts at Fergus Falls’ SummerFest, Zorbaz on Otter Tail, a pristine orange Ford Pinto coupe (FOR SALE!) in Henning, Lefty’s Liquors in Staples, Mickey’s in Brainerd, and Mille Lacs Kathio State Park fire tower near Vineland.
Mother Nature put her foot down at Interstate 35, an epic opening of the sky, stopping the two 25 miles short of Wisconsin. If not for the hospitality of Honey Hill Farms near Hinckley, the cyclists might have been swept away in the currents of a swollen creek.
We’ll make another attempt this year – Grand Forks to Beaver Bay. Another unique Locus experience. Who’s in?
#7 RAMinn Tour – Wahpeton to St. Croix
#8 2X2 No. 2 on Local Food
#9 Adam Jonas Does It All
#10 New Design Collaborations
#11 Melody Gilbert at Movie Night
#12 Nice Ride MN
See ya’ later Pillager!
April 17, 2010 – Crash course in sustainable food
image courtesy of Mette Nielsen
The second gathering of Locus’ 2X2 series – pairing local pioneers to talk about passions, inspirations, and relationships – draws a standing-room-only crowd. Not hard to believe given the topic. EATING!
Restauranteur Tracy Singleton (Birchwood Cafe) and organic farmer Greg Reynolds (Riverbend Farm) offered thoughts about soil building, the benefit of locally sourced food, managing supply chains dependent on weather and rainfall, and how the Twin Cities is becoming a center for Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). The evening was moderated by Mark Wheat. We’re grateful to all of the presenters that partner with us bringing important discussions to a public forum.
#8 2X2 No. 2 on Local Food
#9 Adam Jonas Does It All
#10 New Design Collaborations
#11 Melody Gilbert at Movie Night
#12 Nice Ride MN
2010 – Yoga instructor, cyclist, designer, permaculturalist…
What doesn’t this guy do? In 2010, Adam 1. Completed his first house, 2. Batted 1.000 on his licensing exam, 3. Unveiled paintings at a two-person show at Vesper College, 4. Built a free-standing pavilion at the MN Arboretum, 5. Completed a straw-bale cabin on his aunt’s property in Iowa, 6. Starred in a web video for TraceProduct and 7. Found a really good reason to start going home at a reasonable hour. And then there’s all the stuff he does with us in the studio.
#9 Adam Jonas Does It All
#10 New Design Collaborations
#11 Melody Gilbert at Movie Night
#12 Nice Ride MN
Late 2010 – “Hey, can you design ___________ ?”
Yes. Sustainable architecture – constructed art – for residential, commercial, religious, and educational uses has been our sweet spot for 15 years. After a couple sluggish years, the last few months have brought new client collaborators that have us sketching feverishly.
New projects on the boards include homes in Stillwater and Swede township, an alleyway balcony for drinking scotch in historic Rochester, a woodworking studio in Lexington, VA, and the expansion of the treasured Birchwood Cafe. How can we help you, your business, your church, or your school in 2011?
#10 New Design Collaborations
#11 Melody Gilbert at Movie Night
#12 Nice Ride MN
January 16, 2010 – “Nocturnal walk in the sewer anyone?”
Locus welcomes Movie Night and Twin Cities filmmaker Melody Gilbert to the studio for a showing and post-film discussion of Gilbert’s Urban Explorer, a documentary about subterranean wanderings. Randall Davidson, a local composer and educator, promotes Movie Night on MPR’s Art Hounds. What movie should we be showing in 2011?
Thanks Steve Appelhans and Azin Adjoudani for bringing Movie Night to all of us.
#11 Melody Gilbert at Movie Night
#12 Nice Ride MN
Everybody has a Top 10 for 2010, so we decided to join the herd and see if we could actually come up with ten things that were significant for us. As it turned out, that was the easy part.
The issue? We immediately started to argue over the arbitrariness of ten. Why not a dozen? Let’s redeem thirteen. It’s hardly unlucky, it would represent the annual full lunar cycles. Who says eight isn’t enough? What happened to Adam Rich? And so on.
After discussing the merits of prime, root, factorial, and Fibonacci numbers, we gave up. We picked 12, one for each month. We’ll post one every work day until they’re gone.
Let us know if you made it to any of these events. Send us a photo, we’ll post it alongside one from our archive.
#12 – June 10, 2010 – “Now, that’s a nice ride!”
Locus mounts a few Nice Ride MN bikes, joining hundreds of other cyclists for the inaugural group ride down Nicollet Mall. At exactly noon, Minneapolis joins Denver as one of only two large-scale bike sharing systems in the U.S.
At 12:30, Bill Dossett, Executive Director at Nice Ride, delivers a rousing speech at Peavey Plaza (we couldn’t really hear anything from the meager PA). Pretty sure Bill was enthusiastically recounting his participation in Locus’ tread print project for ARTCRANK ’09 based on his animated gesticulations.
Some stats from Nice Ride’s debut season
100,817 trips, 2 bikes lost or stolen
Congratulations Minneapolis! In shape and pretty damn honest.
Please check out the wonderful article in Architecture MN about our work with the White Bear Unitarian Universalist Church (WBUUC) in Mahtomedi, MN.
WBUUC_Article
Our studio is in the Northrup King complex, within the NE Minneapolis Arts District. The initial Thursday of every month is First Thursdays in the Arts District. Hundreds of artists here open up from 5-9 p.m., giving the public a glimpse at the creative process.
As long as we’re here those nights, Paul and I offer free design consults in our studio. We’re not selling anything, just passing time while we improve people’s lives, beautify spaces, and make thoughtful connections. You know, the usual.
Your business. Your home. Your church. Your garage. Your kid’s cardboard fort. We help you make it better.
Ground Rules
1) Sign up in advance. We offer 1 architect for 1 hour, at either 5:00, 6:15, or 7:30.
2) Come to our studio in the Northrup King Building.
3) Bring in no less than four bottles of an interesting beer or cider. We share, but you leave the leftovers!
4) Bring in all the relevant background information so we can be helpful.
Email us to get your time slot. [email protected] Why wait to make your experiences better?
