DESIGN IS HUMAN WEEK Includes Bjarke Ingels Group’s YES IS MORE Booksigning

YES IS MORE-An Archicomic On Architectural Evolution (Taschen)


YES IS MORE, published by TASCHEN and the first monograph of its kind devoted exclusively to the trailblazing practice of BIG, a Copenhagen-based group of architects, designers and thinkers operating within the fields of architecture, urbanism, research and development. Unlike a classic architectural monograph, this book is more of a manifesto of popular culture, in which BIG s methods, means, processes and approach to the concept of architecture are revealed as being as unconventional, unexpected and result-producing as the world in which it exists, continually reaffirming its mission with a resounding YES.

This is BIG’s first YES IS MORE booksigning in the United States.
YES IS MORE can also be purchased at MA Guerrilla Store, located at White Provsion during DESIGN IS HUMAN WEEK.



In YES IS MORE, BIG shows how its members respond to the polymorphous demands, complex rules and highly specialized knowledge of society, creating tangible solutions through artistic processes: solutions that time and again attract the interest of the population at large while earning the respect of aficionados across the globe.

YES IS MORE speaks the language of popular culture, allowing the sublime to shine through in the commonplace. It enables readers to gain insights into Big s processes, methods and results through the most approachable and populist means of communication the cartoon.


Bjarke Ingels at TED

BJARKE INGELS GROUP…did you know

BIG has repeatedly attracted public attention and triggered political debate with projects such as a three-kilometerlong wall of social housing wrapped around a park of soccer fields in Copenhagen, the proposal to consolidate all of Denmark s harbor activities in a star-shaped superharbor along the bridge between Denmark and Germany and recently by proposing to move Denmark s national symbol, the Little Mermaid, to China for six months as part of the Danish Pavilion for the Shanghai World Expo in 2010 and getting to do just that!

Want more BIG in Atlanta? Click here!

Don’t miss a multimedia presentation of Poggenpohl’s new kitchen design collaboration that was unveiled at Eurocucina in Milan this past April, presented by Ted Chappell, president of Poggenpohl U.S., Inc.

Ted Chappell, President Poggenpohl U.S.


Poggenpohl Kitchen by Hadi Teherani Premiered at Eurocucina part of the Milan Furniture Fair in April.

The space creating concept was developed in collaboration with the renowned Hamburg, Germany architect and designer Hadi Teherani. The new kitchen from Poggenpohl is distinguished by an all-embracing solution in which room architecture and the kitchen merge into one. “ The new kitchen’s identity is characterized by a unification of furniture design and architecture,” emphasizes Elmar Duffner, Managing Director of Poggenpohl Mobelwerke GmbH. The kitchen concept from designer Hadi Teherani will be available in a number of different versions – taken from a basic model.

Born in Teheran, 56-year-old Hadi Teherani is one of the world’s most sought-after German architects. With Hadi Teherani AG, the company he founded in 2003, and his BRT Architekten Hamburg team of architects, he has made a name for himself on the international stage with industrial design and interior design made in Germany.

In addition, the latest Mineral-Inspired cabinetry colors and finishes and new shelving system will be presented. Here’s more info below:


Poggenpohl +SEGMENTO Kitchen with Curite


Poggenpohl’s mineral-inspired colors in melamine or lacquer cabinetry have never before been seen in a kitchen:

· Cubanite – a beige tone

· Oxide – a light blue

· Fluorite – a modest green

· and Curite – a fresh coppery orange (as shown in the shelving area in the photo)

They can be ordered either as a complete kitchen or simply as a "dash of color." A cool Polar White, a wood finish in Sand Pine (as shown in the photo, with or without aluminium edges) as well as a Holm Oak wood veneer round off the new cabinetry selection.The new shelf system creates a perfect visual and functional link between cooking and living areas.

For images of the different finishes available, visit www.poggenpohl.com/en/service/bilddatenbank.php.

Ted Chappell

President, Poggenpohl U.S. Inc.

For the last three years, Ted Chappell has been president of Poggenpohl U.S., Inc. During his tenure at Poggenpohl, he oversaw the expansion of Poggenpohl’s retail business from 6 to 13 corporate showrooms, plus over 20 independent dealer showrooms. Previously, Chappell was president of ERCO Lighting, where he brought Germany’s ERCO high performance commercial lighting to the U.S. market for museums and outdoor lighting and worked on such projects as: Relighting of the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial, Air Force Memorial, The New York Times headquarters and Petronas Twin Towers in Kuole Lumpur, Malaysia. His background includes international sales management roles at Lutron Electronics and global leadership positions, including CEO and founder of his own architectural lighting company. He earned his bachelor’s degree in history from Harvard University.

Poggenpohl
Wed., 2 June 2010
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Terminus Bldg
3280 Peachtree St., Atlanta, GA

Want more Poggenpohl Atlanta? Click here.

MA10 Design Is Human & Modern Atlanta Home Tour Launch Night is 1 June

2010 Modern Atlanta Home Tour is 5-6 June 2010

MA-ology PARIS & CARE INTERNATIONAL Fundrasier is 4 June 2010

…and lots more!

There is so much more to design culture in Atlanta just waiting to be discovered!

Welcome to 2010 Modern Atlanta (MA) Design Is Human, a multi-tiered and socially conscious platform of elevated design-related activity focused on the powerful idea that DESIGN is after all, a five-letter word-“HUMAN”.

From 1-6 June 2010, architects, designers, academia, and the public at large will come from all over the southeast and nationwide to converge upon Atlanta, returning home with so much more. And because design really is human, modern Atlanta is poised to become a catalyst for positive change and opportunity in contemporary culture in the southeast and beyond. Design Is Human is your chance to see firsthand contemporary design at its finest and celebrate Atlanta’s future in urbanism.This is the spirit of the MA revolution, won’t you join us!

Here’s your special sneak peek of what makes June the best DESIGN IS HUMAN ever!

“Yes Is More” Talk by BIG Partner Kia-Uwe Bergmann

Bjarke Ingels started his own office in 2005, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), after having co-founded PLOT Architects in 2001. In 2004 Ingels received the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Biennale for the Stavanger Concert House , and the following year he received the Forum AID Award for the VM Houses. His latest completed project, The Mountain, has already received numerous awards including the designation as the World’s Best Housing project at the World Architecture Festival and again with the MIPIM Residential Development Award. BIG’s architecture emerges out of a careful analysis of how contemporary life constantly evolves and changes. Not least due to the influence from multicultural exchange, global economical flows and communication technologies that all together require new ways of architectural and urban organization.

Yes Is More (TASCHEN) Booksigning

YES IS MOREis published by TASCHEN and the first monograph of its kind devoted exclusively to the trailblazing practice of BIG, a Copenhagen-based group of architects, designers and thinkers operating within the fields of architecture, urbanism, research and development. Unlike a classic architectural monograph, this book is more of a manifesto of popular culture, in which BIG s methods, means, processes and approach to the concept of architecture are revealed as being as unconventional, unexpected and result-producing as the world in which it exists, continually reaffirming its mission with a resounding YES. This is the first YES IS MORE booksigning in the United States.

CLAYDIES

Karen Kjældgård-Larsen and Tine Broksø work together as Claydies. The pair creates conceptual ceramics and design and are situated in Copenhagen, Denmark. Claydies will be exhibiting objects from its collection and performing on the catwalk. Claydies products can also be found at Normann Copenhagen.

Awards:

2008: Best of Year Award Merrit Winner -the american Interior Design Magazine (Grass).

FFF - Fun Fearless Females. The Design-award at the Cosmopolitan awardshow.

Boligmagasinets Design Awards. Winner of the category: Best Arts and craftsmen.

Form, Decorate Life - Frankfurt International Fair (Grass).

2005: The most beautiful booth at The Crafts Fair at Copenhagens Frue plads.

John Portman and Associates Talk

Portman strives for an architecture that is more than just the design of a building, but rather a creation of a place for people, that consciously uplifts a person through an enhancement of the human condition. Vision, creativity, and an entrepreneurial spirit are the fundamental factors that influence our design philosophy. Understanding human values and the human response to space, nature, and light is integral to the work. Nature and space both external and internal are indigenous to the firms architectural approach.

DESIGN SHOWROOM EVENTS & OPEN HOUSE

Here is a great opportunity during Design Is Human week to satisfy your curiosity and appetite for desirable objects and design excellence. As part of Design Is Human week, participating Atlanta top design showrooms are hosting events, exhibiting at MA launch night, and are absolutely at your disposal to answer specific questions about their products and design-related services. This activity is only open to official MA participating showrooms as presented in all our digital and printed resources.

Participating showrooms during Design Is Human week are Atlanta’s top new, established, and international brands including ENVIRONMENT, ROOM & BOARD, POGGENPOHL, SCIC, SieMatic, bulthaup, and PEDINI, just to name a few. This special MA activity is part of the excitement of Design Is Human week and we highly recommend you check them out and make it a big part of your Design Is Human experience too!

4TH ANNUAL MODERN ATLANTA HOME TOUR (above “Lightcatcher” by Lightroom)

Now in its fourth successful year, the 2010 Modern Atlanta Home Tour is a huge favorite, attracting thousands of fans of contemporary architecture and design to Atlanta. This year’s tour will be no different and promises to showcase the latest residential design trends including new sustainable materials and powerful ideas in interior design and modern furnishings from Atlanta’s top design showrooms. All this and more awaits you this year in modern Atlanta!

NORMANN COPENHAGEN

Through out the years many new and fascinating Normann Copenhagen products have seen the light of day, including items from designers with roots in Denmark’s creative growth layer. The launch of these products has consolidated Normann Copenhagen’s position as a venturous partner in the world of design. Since its founding, Normann Copenhagen has collaborated with craftsmen, Danish Craft, Danish designers like Ole Jensen and Rikke Hagen and international names such as Marcel Wanders and Odoardo Fioravanti.

BeDo Presentation by Founder Marc Mathieu

BeDo started from a belief that there is good in all human beings, but our society, culture and world make it difficult for us to tap into our innate nature. Pushed by a growing pressure for change, which was dictated by our environmental, economic and societal challenges, a group of (reasonably unreasonable) people gathered.

MA Film Screenings (above VISUAL ACOUSTICS)

Narrated by Dustin Hoffman, VISUAL ACOUSTICS celebrates the life and career of Julius Shulman, the world’s greatest architectural photographer, whose images brought modern architecture to the American mainstream. Shulman, who passed away this year, captured the work of nearly every modern and progressive architect since the 1930s including Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra, John Lautner and Frank Gehry.

CARE Fundraiser

CARE International works in more than 70 countries around the world tackling poverty wherever the need is greatest. Across five continents, CARE’s work has an impact on more than 55 million people worldwide. Woman are at the heart of CARE’s community-based efforts to improve basic education, prevent the spread of HIV, increase access to clean water and sanitation, expand economic opportunity and protect natural resources.

MA’s concern about global events that especially negatively impact the lives of innocent women and children is very real and is in part why our annual event is called Design Is “Human”. CARE’s own Derek Kayongo returns for 2010 MA-ology “PARIS” to speak passionately on behalf of CARE’s work with women to create permanent social change. Proceeds from MA-ology “PARIS” go to help support CARE’s unwavering work with women and children in Africa. Derek and CARE staff will also be available to answer questions.

We ask you open your wallets, join us in Atlanta and witness firsthand how design can change the world, we look forward to seeing you in June!

Design Is Human and MA Home Tour official guide

Big, better than ever and sure to be a collectors item “again”, the 2010 MA publication is Atlanta’s pride and number three in the coveted Design Is Human series! We had so much fun putting this book together for our attendees. Features include exclusive interviews from Atlanta’s creative leaders, international architecture & design, calendar of events, and the highly anticipated 2010 Modern Atlanta Home Tour program. For the fourth straight year, Creative Direction by Kevin Byrd and the talented design team at Armchair.

SUPAKITCH & KORALIE

Supakitch and Koralie are two acclaimed street artists from France who share equal success in their own right. Now based in New York, both have joined together in love and as a talented duo sharing their unique creative styles with the rest of the world. Heavily influenced by contrast, Japanese art and culture, much of their work is seen on urban canvases. But that fact is rapidly changing as their art and commissions are in high demand and increasingly finding its way onto the walls in famous galleries on three continents.

PEOPLE OF RESOURCE

David Vanarsdale founded People of Resource in the summer of 2009. He is a graduate of the School of Industrial Design at Georgia Tech’s College of Architecture. Prior to founding the firm, by day, David taught Industrial Design at Georgia Tech and was Creative Director and Co-Founder of thing farm. By night, he was a DJ and semi-pro reckless fixed-gear cyclist.

David’s work has garnered numerous design awards and recognition from blogs, publications, and design institutions. His firms have served a wide range of clients, from giants like Coca-Cola and Fossil Inc. to innovative start-ups like the Center for the Visually Impaired and No Brakes Atlanta.

PAPRER-CUT-PROJECT

Nikki Salk and Amy Flurry’s custom-made paper art installations are intricate and fueled by a love of fashion and an appreciation of the grace and nuance of this humble material. To much acclaim, Paper-Cut-Project installations were recently exhibited in Jeffrey New York and Jeffrey Atlanta. PCP is currently working on high-commissioned projects in Paris, France.

DRAW!

Drawing does something wonderful for the soul, and that is a very good thing, even if you have no particular talent for it. What does matter however is it makes you feel happy. So, why not have a day during Design Is Human Week where we can draw in the company of family, friends and strangers, all gathered for the same fulfillment, to simply draw. MA thought why not too, sounds like fun, having a special moment to embrace humanity’s goodness. DRAW! takes place in the piazza designed by Renzo Piano at Atlanta HIGH Museum, exact date and time coming soon.

YAF (Young Architects Forum)

To advocate architecture and encourage artistic endeavors throughout Atlanta in the future, YAF is encouraging the opportunity to design and build a temporary outdoor installation. Codename “10UP CHALLENGE”, this installation for public enjoyment will heighten the purpose and exposure of architecture, in order to construct a more educated and encouraging public.

MA Guerrilla Store (MA Limited Edition Apron by JAMILY)

AMAZING BRANDS WITH SOME AMAZING STORIES!

Our MA pop-up “Guerrilla” Store has a definite growl to it. It’s fun and one more special way you connect and grow with MA. “We’ve always had this idea of punctuating the MA experience in special partnerships with our various exhibitors during the Design Is Human week, extending our attendees the opportunity to take home a little piece of MA”, says MA founder, Bernard McCoy. In true MA fashion, you can help support MA and enjoy the kinds of unique and beautiful objects that inspire what we do best, bringing people together and showcasing design excellence from around the world. Most of whats on offer at “Guerrilla” are inspired by Design Is Human Week activities and only available in small runs and one ofs, making the procession that more special. Some of our contributors to Guerrilla include MA-edtion kitchen apron (pictured above) with mitts by London-based JAMILY; ceramics by Danish design duo CLAYDIES, Norman Copenhagen, MA-ology PARIS “action-drawings” by famed illustrator Jarno Kettunen, just to name a few. And while at Guerrilla, visit the YAF installation 10UP, a first for Atlanta. One more fact about the MA Guerrilla; is to further the careers of young designers, MA dedicates approximately 30% of all its activity to this important sector and wish to elaborate on more.

DESIGN IS HUMAN Website

Additionally, our website is a magnet for relevant information and we are proactively embedded in promoting Atlanta and international design-related businesses, just one of the many ways MA engages our community and we are very proud to contribute in this manner

Bjarke Ingels Group’s Kia-Uwe Bergmann Talks “Yes Is More”!

BIG’s Kai-Uwe Bergmann tells Atlatna why “Yes Is More” in a powerful talk about how contemporary life changes and evolves. BIG “Yes Is More” presentation takes place at Atlanta High Museum, Saturday, 5 June 2010. This will be BIG’s first time coming to Atlanta and could be considered a Georgia homecoming for Bergmann who spent 11 years of his life in LaGrange.

The first Yes Is More (TASCHEN) booksigning in the United States follows Bergmann’s presentation. For more details, click here.


Kai-Uwe Bergmann, Associate Partner, BIG

BIG is a Copenhagen based group of architects, designers, builders and thinkers operating within the fields of architecture, urbanism, research and development. The office is currently involved in a large number of projects throughout Scandinavia, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.


Bjarke Ingels on cover of ICON

Bjarke Ingels started his own office in 2005, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), after having co-founded PLOT Architects in 2001. In 2004 Ingels was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale for the Stavanger Concert House, and the following year he received the Forum AID Award for the VM Houses. His latest completed project,


The Mountain, Image courtesy Traeprisen

The Mountain (pictured above and background), has already received numerous awards including the designation as the World’s Best Housing project at the World Architecture Festival and again with the MIPIM Residential Development Award.


Expo 2010 Danish Pavilion in Shanghai, China. Image, courtesy BIG

YES IS MORE

Pragmatic Utopianism: Historically the field of architecture has been dominated by two opposing extremes. On one side an avant-garde of wild ideas, often so detached from reality that they fail to become something other than eccentric curiosities. On the other side there are well organized corporate consultants that build predictable and boring boxes of high standard. Architecture seems entrenched between two equally unfertile fronts: either naively utopian or petrifyingly pragmatic. Rather than choosing one over the other, BIG operates in the fertile overlap between the two opposites. A pragmatic utopian architecture that takes on the creation of socially, economically and environmentally perfect places as a practical objective.

Kai-Uwe Bergmann

Kai-Uwe Bergmann AIA, RIBA, MAA, LEED AP is an Associate Partner at BIG. Kai-Uwe brings his expertise in business development and in project management to proposals around the globe, including work in Scandinavia, the Middle East and Asia. He is a leader in developing BIG’s presence in Asia, where his current ongoing project includes Central Asia’s first Carbon Neutral Master Plan Zira Island.

Alongside his architectural duties, Kai-Uwe Bergmann has been active as a Visiting Professor at Inha University in Incheon, South Korea and the University of Washington. In addition to teaching, Kai-Uwe has spent the past decade studying glass art and creating his own cast glass pieces.

Want more BIG? Click here.
YES IS MORE Atlanta booksigning? Click here.

photography by Kevin Byrd

Architect Matteo Caimi, Curator-MA-ology and MA Director of Architecture & Design (seated center left) 

It was serious business and lots of fun in May when the MA09 Design Is Human launch night made it clear to the nation that the state of contemporary design in Atlanta is flourishing and steadily maturing. The kickoff served to showcase leading and emerging international and Atlanta-based creative talent while celebrating what in the minds of many makes Atlanta a destination for thoughtful and elevated design locally, nationally, and from around the world.

Architecture exhibit by Gernot Riether

Launch Night highlights included the much anticipated 2009 Architect Scale Models/ Renderings Exhibition by Atlanta studios Phobos 7, Philip Babb Architects, Dencity, Harrison Design Associates, Surber Barber Choates & Hertlein Architects, Lightroom, and Robert M. Cain Architect, just to name a few; from Italy- Zanotta’s 40 Years of Sacco chair exhibit and paintings by the acclaimed Milan-based painter Marco Grassi; Atlanta-based contemporary furniture design exhibits; display of amazing sustainable wall and panel products by 3form; installations by designer and architect- Georgia Tech professors Claudia Winegarden and Gernot Riether; contemporary children furniture exhibit by The Seed Factory, and for the first time-a Georgia Tech Industrial Design student designer exhibit.

Claudia Winegarden, designer and assistant professor Georgia Tech Industrial Design Program demonstrates her installation during MA09 Launch Night

MA09 Launch attendees enjoying themselves inside Zanotta lounge celebrating 40 Years Sacco chair. Sacco courtesy courtesy Zanotta Italy

Caught in attendance Donna McCoy (Former Senior Fashion Editor, Essence Magazine ) and Terry Enoch 

3form delighted MA09 Launch attendees with its cutting-edge sustainable products for home and office

Acclaimed Italian and Milan-based painter Marco Grassi

SMFD side table

The Seed Factory’s Children Contemporary Furniture Exhibit

MA09 Launch Night was attended by over 1500 creative professionals and lovers of contemporary architecture and design and took place in a very cool and large raw space in the mix-use White Provision development, located in Midtown West next to Star Provision.

Lamp by student designer Michael Gluzman

MA10 Design Is Human is May 2010!

To get more details about MA10 Design Is Human and learn ways your design-related business can exhibit, sponsor, and advertise, contact info@modern-atlanta.org

MA’ology “The Italian Style” Set The Mood for MA09 Design Is Human

photos by Kevin Byrd

MA-ology “The Italian Style” & CARE Fundrasier was a huge success. This headliner event was a fundraiser benefiting CARE International and its work with women in Africa. The Italian Style is an all-inclusive exhibtion about Italy’s elevated status in world of international design.  For design, “The Italian Style”’ featured Zanotta celebrating 40 years of the revolutionary Sacco chair. On the fashion side, it was serious business and all Marni with some very cool and eclectic ensembles taken from Marni 2009 Spring/Summer collection, all courtesy Jeffrey Atlanta and Jeffrey New York. Italian art ramped up the fun serveral notches as acclaimed Milan-based painter Marco Grassi held his first major one man show in the USA. The Atlantan was MA-ology’s official media sponsor.

MA10 Design Is Human is May 2010!

To get more details about MA10 Design Is Human and learn ways your design-related business can exhibit, sponsor, and advertise, contact info@modern-atlanta.org

photos courtesy Kevin Byrd

Features include writer Moria Dashpande’s story on Atlanta-based architecture studio “bldgs”, MA-ology celebrating The Italian Style and featuring 40 years of Zanotta’s Sacco chair, Marni, acclaimed Italian painter Marco Grassi, and CARE INTERNATIONAL fundraiser.

In partnership with HIGH Museum of Art, MA09 publication previews the Atlanta screenings of famed Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas’s acclaimed film HOUSELIFE and our CRAFTdesign Talk that included host Linda O’Keeffe, creative director at Metropolitan Home and panelists Smart Desgin’s Dan Fomosa, Poggenpohl’s chief designer Manfred Junker, and GA Tech professor Dr. Claudia Winegarden, both took place at Atlanta HIGH Museum.

Love contemporary architecture or looking for the right architect? Then the MA09 publication also features 2009 Modern Atlanta Home Tour, the southeast region’s largest and most sought-after design event focused exclusively on modern Atlanta’s cutting edge contemporary residential architecture and interiors.  All of this and more is waiting at a click of your mouse!

Click here to see MA09 publication online now!

Featured interview in the MA09 Design Is Human publication, written by MA contributing writer, Moria Deshpande. Photography by Jorge Menes unless otherwise stated.

BLDGS INTERVIEW by Moria Deshpande

Bell and Yocum are Mack Scogin Merrill Elam alums that come from a background of large public projects, which makes them well qualified to push the boundaries of residential architecture. Large institutional projects are very complex and involve many disciplines. On this aspect of their practice, BLDGS says, “You can’t deliver a project that has holes in it. You can’t leave it to someone in the field to figure out, because there is too much at stake. Our training is to figure out everything, down to the smallest detail. We enjoy it and bring that level of coordination and thinking to the smallest of our projects.”

This is good news indeed for residential clients hungry for more than a impressively rendered exterior sketch. Every BLDGS project is fully engineered. Bell and Yocum consider it their obligation to educate the contractor about design intent. “The moment you move off the norm, and start proposing alternative structural approaches or waterproofing details, the contractor doesn’t always have that expertise. Our interest is in creating architecture that is not necessarily something we’ve seen before and that goes beyond standard building techniques, so we have an obligation to figure it out.  If we don’t it puts the design at risk.”

The extra time and effort involved in such an approach is not something in which every potential client will see value. “Our clients have all been very cognizant, very aware and want something different. They want the follow through that assures them of getting what we designed up front on paper. Inventive, perhaps even experimental, architecture is not without due diligence. It takes dedication on both our part and the client’s.”

BLDGS begins every project with a research phase. Its almost an historical approach, considering previous uses of the site and the people involved, in order to understand the unique conditions around each project. “Research gives us a critical frame of reference. The proposals that come out of this process feel appropriate and suitable and capitalize on the discoveries we’ve made. We never start a project simply by inventing an idea or approach we are looking for ideas that are as convincing to us as to anyone else.”  The ideal BLDGS client is moved by ideas and believes that while everyone has to put a roof overhead, it’s how one does it that counts.

BLDGS on Ansley Park Glass House

Such a meeting of the minds happened recently with clients in Ansley Park. The Ansley Glass House emerged from an old structure the owners loved. The house has a uniquely urban relationship with both the nearby park and the glass towers of the Midtown skyline.

“The big constraint for the Ansley Glass House was the site,” Brian Bell explains. “There was limited ability to maneuver. Lot coverage was way beyond the zoning allowance.  While this was grandfathered in, our goal was to work within the pre-existing footprint.” Yocum remembers how the project started. “The clients asked for two things, to get more light into the kitchen and to put a new stair in the back that connected the 1st and 2nd floors. Eventually, for numerous reasons, this led to replacing the whole back of the house.” “To get from the old addition to the new was not an immediate leap,”  Bell adds. The decision to keep the original house was not based on a strategy of fitting in with the neighborhood aesthetic. “The clients simply liked the old house,” Yocum says. “It has good bones and presence. The old house fits the trajectory of their lives up to this time – they had always lived in old houses. But their kids are now out of college, and they have become increasingly interested in contemporary furniture, art – and now architecture. They wanted a compelling relationship between the old and new.”

The glass theme resonates in many ways throughout the house. The owners feel a visual connection with the glass in the surrounding skyscrapers and are also collectors of Steven Rolfe Powell’s glass sculptures. BLDGS honored these connections with an addition that utilizes open expanses of glass to let in the city. The new glass-walled bedroom is itself a sculptural element. It’s an engineered marvel that hangs within a much larger space, defining the room below it and interacting with the rest of the house in an explicitly non-traditional way.

Besides glass and art, books are also central to the Ansley Glass House. “Instead of a library,” Yocum explains, “bookcases are sprinkled throughout the house so the owners are always running into their books. They acknowledge that they may not yet have read them all, but love being surrounded by the things they aspire to.”

BLDGS own aspirations include a practice mixed with both residential and large scale public projects. “It’s compelling to have a vast contrast in size. There is satisfaction in completing something quickly, but we also enjoy the long view. It’s the difference between a two year project and a four to ten year one.” Bell and Yocum are energized by projects that are part of the city and spaces that aren’t cordoned off or privatized.

BLDGS also thrives on constraints. “Part of the beauty is how the constraints have been handled, understanding how things were accomplished. We enjoy having something to push against.” BLDGS measures each structure they have designed against four conditions. “One, that’s it’s buildable. Two, it is within budget. Three, it will stand up over time and four, that it meets our design objective.”

When asked to define their architectural style, they shy away from the word modern. They have a tremendous respect for the Modern movement, historically. “It serves as the foundation of our education and how we practice, but the term has become diluted. Today you can’t call yourself a modernist because we are past that point in time. It’s used as a sentimental term. We are more comfortable with the term contemporary. We are practicing in our time, influenced by things in our time. But we don’t think we’ve achieved contemporary. We’re a young practice and are still searching. There are contemporary challenges, technologies and approaches to design that we have yet to fully engage.” Given the speed with which BLDGS is becoming entwined with Atlanta’s cultural and architectural community, it won’t be long before BLDGS has secured their position at the vanguard.

On location at BLDGS studio, MA interview with Brain Bell and David Yocum of BLDGS (seated). MA contributing photographer Jorge Menes (standing) has a chat with Brain and David.  Photo courtesy, Moria Deshpande.

Learn more about the office of architects Brian Bell and David Yocum by visiting www.bldgs.org

Moria Deshpande is a freelance writer and design enthusiast. See more at www.stilettocreative.com