Blog — "architecture"

I've been meaning to share this awing architectural design for quite a while when I stumbled upon it a few months back. This structure, designed by J. Mayer H. Architects is incredibly unique in that it is the world's largest wooden structure. Located in Seville, Spain, the Metropol Parasol is a complete makeover of the Plaza de la Encarnacion. Complete with bars, restaurants, and a plaza below, and a terrace on the top of the structure, this piece of architecture leaves me longing to make another trip to Europe in the near future.







Photo sources J. Mayer H. Architects / HomeDSGN

I'm a bit of a lover of architecture-- some of it inherited from my father and some (ok, maybe a lot) from Andrew. One of my most recent discoveries is a beautifully rustic and modern house located in Belgium by Bruno Erpicum. Roly, as it is named, is a small brick and stone structure that has been converted into a house in which the indoors and outdoors meet. A living room of glass is perhaps one of the most wondrous features and seems quite cozy on a wintry day despite displaying all for an outsider to see. The features of the interior boast rustic stone finishes with clean, modern lines-- a beautiful contrast.





Best yet? It's currently used as a bed and breakfast. Add that one as a place to stay next time I take a trip to Belgium. :)

I have a bit of a thing for Frank Lloyd Wright. Not the man himself (he was quite a crazy man and beyond egotistical, but then again aren't most architects?), but his architecture. I blame my father for this, not that it's a bad thing, because he too loves Frank Lloyd Wright.

In fact, in the 20 years that I lived in my childhood home, my dad rehabbed nearly the entire house from top to bottom with an arts and crafts flavored style-- simple designs and lines, wood built-ins, stained glass light fixtures in the arts and crafts style. And when my parents moved, I was crushed. Not only because it was my childhood home, but because the house was beautiful and I worried that the next person to buy it would change it all. So what did my dad do with their new house? Began the process over again, naturally.

Maybe it's cliche to say that Frank Lloyd Wright is your favorite architect, but I'm ok with that. And just as it happens, Andrew (who is an architect himself) claims Wright as his favorite as well. In fact, in the process of redoing small parts of our row house in Baltimore, we've toyed with adding little Wright-esque features here and there. The most recent being our staircase. The stairs have been completed, but our banister remains unfinished with an architectural debate at hand. We'd love to take it out and install something like this:
But wouldn't that stray from the more traditional style that these Baltimore row houses are supposed to maintain? Maybe it's a deliberation of a nerdy architect sort, but at the same time shouldn't a house be stylistically the same throughout, rather than a bit of this and that throughout? Such a tough decision.

Needless to say, during our time in Indiana this past Thanksgiving weekend, we spent a morning in Oak Park, outside of Chicago, at Frank's home and studio. While we weren't able to take photos inside, I got some shots of his home and studio exterior as well as some of the other homes he designed in the neighborhood.


















While I love most of what Wright designed, I must say that my favorite are the Usonian homes with the cantilevered roof lines and balconies, similar to the characteristics seen in Fallingwater.



Do you see a trend here? We tend to include architectural visits in our travels. Maybe one days if I get rich, I can buy a Frank Lloyd Wright home, but somehow I'd guess that I'm more likely to own a home designed by Andrew. At $875,000 a pop, buying a Wright home is no small investment!

It's been a whirlwind week or so here and I've had little time to blog during it all. Last Wednesday afternoon, we packed up our bags and headed to Cleveland to stay an overnight with Andrew's parents on a long haul back to Indiana. Thursday morning, we made the rest of our trek to my hometown to enjoy a long weekend with my parents.

While at my parents house we were able to enjoy woodfired pizza and roasted veggies from their own backyard oven (they loved the one at my mom's bakery so much my dad decided to build a second one in their yard).







I got to visit with my childhood cats, Mick and Gabby.



On Saturday we spent the morning in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago, checking out a lot of Frank Lloyd Wright including his home and studio (more photos to come from that!).


And in the afternoon we drove into downtown Chicago to do some of my favorite things I used to always do in Chicago like get caramel popcorn at Garrett's, eat dinner at Bandera, check out the Art Institute (this time the new modern wing), stroll through Millennium Park and see the Cloud Gate.



Oh, and in case I forgot to tell you, we also got engaged in the Lurie Gardens in Millennium Park that same afternoon! No big deal or anything! :)