The Bird house project continues. Here are all seven of our bird houses on display primed and ready to be painted. The bird houses are going to be set up at the back of our new offices, which is the old San Angelo bus station. We are going to paint the bird house in a monchromatic style with bright colors. We will have pictures up shorlty of the finished product
- Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 1:45PM
The old Greyhound bus station in downtown San Angelo is officially on its way to becoming Kinney Franke Architects' new home. It is exciting for us to be able to work in a space that was once a starting point--and ending point--for journeys. We'd like to think of the process of architecture as a sort of journey as well. In the photo below, you can see where travelers have left proof of their travels on a limestone window ledge.
Construction has begun and the building has now been framed.
Working out the design has been great fun for our office. Some of our "Fun Fridays" have been spent drinking beer and trying to sketch how the space should work. Here are some of our goals:
Another benefit of moving our office to this location is that we will be across the street from the lovely and historic Wendland building which has been transformed into an artist's studio. We caught a few of San Angelo's trademark sheep, waiting to be painted and peeping at us on our way out.
We'll keep posting updates on the progress of our new office. It's a great opportunity for us to create something good for our office and, hopefully, for downtown San Angelo.
-Tuesday, March 6, 2012 at 1:25PM
Last Fun Friday, Kye showed us all how to build a bird house like the boy scouts do! It was the first thing I have ever built and it turned out really well, with the help of Kye! I can't wait until next Friday when we paint them!
-Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 4:51PM
What once hosted many retail car operations such as 'The Used Car Lot', then 'Tito Kustoms', and then possibly 'Fat Pop's Shop' is now the future site for the San Angelo Area Foundation's new office building. There is something unique and almost humorous about the tiny, asymmetrical 50's shack plopped on the spacious corner lot of Concho and Irving St. downtown. It seldom gets noticed. Now it is about to be demolished to make room for the San Angelo Area Foundation. We wanted, however, to document what we believe is a vintage piece of architecture.
'The Used Car Lot' in all its vacant, rundown glory. The flat, straight lines in the building recall a bygone era...and echo the West Texas landscape.
There are still spare parts laying around. Anyone need a windshield replacement?
The great, bold shapes give the building forward momentum. We are hoping to translate this momentum and sense of place into the new foundation offices. We intend to reuse the red roman brick in the new facade for the foundation.
The graffiti and paint jobs remaining gave us a taste of what the building's past lives may have been like.
We feel that it was important to document these buildings and the site so that they can help to inform what happens in the future.
From one life and generation to the next - such is the nature of buildings... and people! Much excitement comes from being able to be a part of these transitions as architects.
- Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 12:24PM
This is new. I have never “blogged” before
My architecture career was born when the computer was programmed using punched cards inserted into a large mainframe. Computer Assisted Drafting was considered a novelty relegated to the Future. REAL architecture was done by hand, laboriously and painfully, with mechanical lead pencils needing constant attention—you sharpened them by whirling them in a whirlygig device. Neck muscles were sacrificed bending over drafting tables to reach details at the top of white vellum sheets. It was considered ART.
Now, our firm uses BIM software to produce Construction Documents. There are two interns in our office that are wizards on Revit or most any other program that architects might use: Maxwell, Rhino, SketchUp, Photoshop, FormZ, InDesign, Illustrator, etc. etc. Pencils sit on our desks in cups. Roll sketch paper is hidden in drawers, ready for the rainy day.
This is not a nostalgic rant. I don’t miss the pain in my neck or the graphite on my hands
The computer has eased the pain of so many tasks that seem oxen-like nowadays. So, here I sit typing into the Cloud or wherever it is that blogs like this live (where is that?). This is a B-L-O-G. Welcome to the world, as it is, say “yes.”
- Wednesday, March 2, 2011 at 3:29PM
