Melby Mashup at access+ENGAGE
The editors at access+ENGAGE asked me to contribute to their most recent issue #19.2. The e-publication is part of the mnartists.org project coordinated by the Walker Art Center. The theme of the issue is "Where We Live."

Here's an excerpt from my essay:

"I’VE BEEN LIVING IN THE SAME CITY FOR A LONG TIME. Maybe that’s why I crave the unusual. I abhor cookie-cutter architecture, which is just as prevalent in urban areas as in cul-de-sac suburbia. (How many three-story brick condos with railed terraces have you seen constructed in recent years?)

"I want buildings that curve, use everyday materials in strange ways, use strange materials in everyday ways, inspire fear or give me pause. I like to nestle next to Moos Tower on a sunny day, bike under the Guthrie’s blue-black cantilever at night and duck into that new box buried behind the Walker Art Center that frames the winter sky."

Read more of the essay and see my "thoughtful collection and image-by-image commentary on dance, architecture, photography and design that offers unexpected insight into what our dwellings reveal about the truth of who we are." Featured artists include Joan Soranno, Julie Snow, Colin Kopp, Black Label Movement and others. Click here to read more. (Photo by Robert Roscoe, Side Wall of Main Street Storefront Building, Virginia, MN)

It's about time
Ever wonder if Minneapolis will get around to fixing the City Hall clock? It's been stuck at about 2:50 for what feels like forever. (WCCO-TV reported on the broken clock in April.) Today, the Star Tribune reports that the city is ready to spend $100,000 to get the hands turning again. A Wisconsin company will install some sort of high-tech system that "will receive impulses from satellites to keep the clocks on time and in sync." The work is due to be completed ... Well, the city is vague about exactly when. The article says "early summer or late fall." The city's Municipal Building Commission has great photos of the clock and other historic City Hall features here. Free tours of the building happen at noon on the third Wednesday of the month; the next tour is scheduled for Aug. 15. (Photo courtesy of Municipal Building Commission.)

Guthrie Theater: Love it or Hate it?
Well, it's been around long enough now for most of us to form an opinion, reconsider that opinion and perhaps, form a new opinion.



When the Jean Nouvel-designed building opened last year, here's what Nicolai Ouroussoff of the New York Times wrote: "The new Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis should offer comfort to those who miss the 1980's Nouvel. Rising at the edge of the Mississippi, its confident forms are rooted in a vision of a muscular industrial America, and its structural bravura will certainly please the techno-fetishists. As a thoughtful response to the American city's evolving role as a haven for cultural tourism, it also coaxes new meaning out of a haggard landscape."



In his recently released book, AIA Guide to the Twin Cities, Larry Millett had this to say: "Large, dark, and rather mysterious, this new riverfront landmark is like a play full of wonderful moments that doesn't quite achieve its full dramatic potential."

Adds Millett, "The new Guthrie ... conveys a sense of mass and power, so much so that you could [imagine] real electricity , as opposed to the theatrical kind, being generated here."




Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal and Arts Journal theater critic, complained about getting lost on his first trip to the new building: "I'm not an architecture critic, but I do spend a lot of time in theater lobbies, and this one didn't do a thing for me: The low-ceilinged public areas are dark, oppressive and laid out with irksome illogic. Rarely can there have been a theater whose interior was less well suited to the purpose of making its occupants feel festive and expectant. The process of getting from the street to the Wurtele Thrust Stage, the largest of the three performance spaces, is so protracted -- not to mention confusing -- that I briefly had trouble focusing on the revival of Neil Simon's 'Lost in Yonkers' that had lured me to town."



A friend of mine couldn't agree more with Teachout. He likens the whole Guthrie experience to walking through an airline terminal. Long escalator rides. Blaring directions from loudspeakers. A sense of unease.



So, what do you think? Is the Guthrie an inviting place to see theater? How does the design enhance or detract from the experience? Other thoughts? (Photos by Todd Melby)

Dwyer fails to make Top 25
John Dwyer's Clean Hub failed in his effort to win the American Express Members Projects competition. But the founder of Shelter Architecture in Minneapolis did make the Top 50 earlier this month. There's more about the Clean Hub here and here.

Thieves nab stained glass windows
Three Minneapolis men are suspected of stealing 157 stained glass windows from homes in St. Paul, Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs. Disguised as construction workers, the thieves calmly dismantled windows during daylight hours from vacant and occupied homes. The Star Tribune reports that one victim was Don Olson of the 1700 block of Marshall Avenue in St. Paul. Five of his windows were unhinged from his historic home while he was at work. "Some of the best things left in [this house] are the woodwork and the windows," Olson told a reporter.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that most of the "windows were valued between $189 and $865 apiece, but one was reportedly worth $2,500." Officers from the St. Paul Police Department recovered the windows after a neighbor reported suspicious behavior to police.

Missing a stained glass window from your house? Hustle over to 830 Barge Channel Road between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. today (July 25) and see if the cops have recovered your window.

Want Frank Gehry's models? It will cost you
Important authors regularly sell their papers to academic libraries for millions of dollars. Frank Gehry, the architect who designed the Weisman Art Museum (and many other more famous buildings) thinks he can cash in on the concept. Gehry told a New York Times reporter: “I don’t want to give it away — it’s an asset. It’s the one thing in your life you build up, and you own it. And I’ve been spending a lot of rent to preserve it.” Although the article didn't cite specifics, Gehry is asking for several million dollars for his collected works-in-progress. Other, less famous architects, aren't holding their breathe, waiting for a big payday. Said Billie Tsien, who works with Tod Williams: “I was hoping for a funeral pyre. The only thing we really care about existing beyond us is the buildings.”

The 'in' calendar for 2008
Minneapolis has a reputation for smashing old buildings in favor of new ones. Preserve Minneapolis is trying to change that. The new advocacy group and AIA Minnesota’s Historic Resources Committee have teamed up to produce a calendar celebrating the state's historic past. The calendar includes 12 images of historic buildings, many of the them in Minneapolis. The buildings include Minnesota Stoneware Company (later part of Red Wing Pottery), Fort Snelling, Mill City Museum, Christ Church Lutheran and the Band Box Diner. The Band Box, photographed by Brandon Stengel, is a personal favorite. The greasy burgers go down easy and the hipster vibe is huge. The owner struts around in a black "Grease for Peace" T-shirt and listens to music on KFAI or the Current.

Bob Roscoe of Design for Preservation designed the Band Box's slight expansion a few years ago. He's also a moving force behind Preserve Minneapolis. If you're interested in learning more about the city's architectural past and preserving it for the future, the group is sponsoring a tour of Water Power Park at 5:30 p.m. on July 25.

Perkins+Will buys Rozeboom Miller
The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reports that Perkins+Will has purchased Rozeboom Miller Architects. Perkins+Will has about 1,200 employees in 20 offices worldwide. The combined Minneapolis architectural firm will employ about 85 people, with about one-fourth of that coming from Rozeboom Miller. The soon-to-be-defunct firm specialized in designing middle schools, high schools and technical colleges.

Moos Tower: Love it or hate it?
Originally called Health Science Unit A, the brutalist tower on the east bank of the University of Minnesota campus isn't an easy building to love.



It's brooding. It's concrete. It looks like the kind of place the East German Stasis would have loved to call home.



In his AIA Guide to the Twin Cities, author Larry Millett clearly loathes it. "The architectural equivalent of a Hummer, the idea apparently being to show just how big and bad a building can be," he writes.



Continues Millett, "With their crushing scale and ominously overhanging upper floors, they certainly convey a sense of the power of modern medicine, albeit in a thoroughly unpleasant way."



Designed by Architectural Collaborative, Cerny and Associates, HGA, Setter Leach and Lindstrom in the mid-1970s, the building, which is now called the Malcolm Moos Health Sciences Tower, now houses the UM's dentistry, medical and public health schools. According to Millett, the structure is connected to the Phillips-Wangensteen Building and is designed to be "read as a single structure."








For me, Moos Tower is not without its charm. Snuggle in close, tilt your head toward the sky and the building creates a key-hole view of the world. On a sunny spring day, the Minneapolis hulk also throws angular shadows across its concrete surroundings. I know that's not much of a defense, but for some reason, I'm drawn to the building.

What do you think? (Photos by Todd Melby)

Historic Preservation v. Environment
People living in historic districts who want to add solar panels or energy-efficient windows are bumping up against aesthetic restrictions designed to preserve the architectural integrity of the their houses, according to a July 12 article in the Wall Street Journal. "Renewable energy and aesthetics don't have to be mutually exclusive," says Frank Rathbun, of the Community Associations Institute. "But agreeing to projects without regard to the architectural guidelines of the community can create divisiveness and can affect property values." Recent examples of the competing values include Al Gore's attempt to add solar panels and geothermal heating to his Nashville home and neighbors fighting over a wind turbine in upstate New York. Nationwide, there are 412,900 "locally designated historic properties." The issue also plays itself out in condo, co-op and homeowner associations, which often regulate changes to the exteriors of buildings.

Twins stadium behind the curve on LEED certification
In a June 29 article, the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reports that the new Minnesota Twins stadium is unlikely to win LEED certification. Those guidelines are designed to make new buildings more environmentally sound by encouraging architects and contractors to make earth-friendly decisions. HOK Sport is pursuing LEED certification on three sports stadiums: the Twins and Washington Nationals ballparks and the Gopher football stadium at the University of Minnesota. But reporter John Vomhof Jr. writes that the U.S. Green Building Council, the nonprofit that administers LEED, doesn't have specific requirements for stadiums. HOK is asking for that. When in use, ballparks tend to slurp up massive amounts of energy, but the $522 million Twins stadium could get LEED points for its proximity to mass transit, existing parking lots, use of local materials (limestone) and other features. Groundbreaking for the ballpark, which will be wedged between a garbage burner and parking ramps on the edge of downtown Minneapolis, is set for Aug. 2. (Photo courtesy of Minnesota Twins)

Architecture Minnesota magazine focuses on livability
Across the state, architects, planners, city officials, community organizations and active citizens are working together to create more livable communities. In its current issue, Architecture Minnesota features four such projects in the latest issue: the new vision for Minneapolis' Washington Avenue, the growth of development along the Minneapolis Midtown Greenway, conservation design along Duluth's Upper Amity Creek and the revitalization of Downtown Willmar.

Milwaukee Avenue tour celebrates neighborhood’s 30-year preservation
Residents of Minneapolis’ Milwaukee Avenue Historic District will host their first-ever Historic Milwaukee Avenue Home Tour, on Sunday, September 23, noon to 5 p.m.

The self-guided tour celebrates the 30th anniversary of a remarkable preservation success story. Visitors will learn about this unique urban district in the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis and enjoy a rare opportunity to look inside an array of charming workmen’s homes, many dating from the 1880s.

At least seven houses will be open for touring, representing a range of housing types that were either restored, rehabilitated or designed as infill. All are in close walking distance along a car-free pedestrian mall, also a notable part of the 1970s preservation effort.

“The effort to preserve Milwaukee Avenue is a great success story,” said Bonnie McDonald, executive director of Preservation Alliance of Minnesota. “Seward neighborhood residents and the City of Minneapolis have remained committed to preserving this very unique avenue lined with the modest workers’ homes. It is a tangible view into the lives of those who really built Minneapolis.”

Tour proceeds will benefit the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota and the Seward Neighborhood Group. Tickets will cost $10 in advance of the event, and $15 on the day of the event. Purchase tickets by calling the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota at (651) 293-9047.

About the Milwaukee Avenue preservation effort: Thirty-some years ago, the City of Minneapolis made plans to raze several city blocks in west Seward in an effort to improve urban housing stock. Visionary neighbors, many of who still live on or near the block, fought to save these homes and succeeded in preserving many of them. In 1977, the avenue earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of its status as an urban district whose homes commonly housed immigrant laborers.

To see photos of Milwaukee Avenue by Bob Roscoe of Design for Preservation and others, click here. Bob Roscoe is also featured in this WCCO-TV report on Milwaukee Avenue. I also found this piece by Julia Schrenkler on Gather.com ... it features photographs of flowers and trees on bucolic Milwaukee Avenue.

About Preservation Alliance of Minnesota: The Preservation Alliance of Minnesota (PAM) is the only statewide, private, non-profit organization advocating the preservation of Minnesota’s historic resources. PAM was established in 1981 by citizens concerned about the loss of irreplaceable segments of our state's heritage: structures, neighborhoods, community fabric. Today, PAM works with groups like the State Historic Preservation Office and the National Trust for Historic Preservation to preserve our communities.

About Seward Neighborhood Group: The Seward Neighborhood Group (SNG) is one of the oldest neighborhood organizations in Minneapolis. SNG was established in 1960 to make Seward a better place to live, work and play and is recognized by the City of Minneapolis as the official citizen participation organization within the boundaries of the Seward neighborhood.

Zaha Hadid does dance
Summer is often a dead zone for art. Theater and dance companies take breaks to rest their weary artistic souls. But there are festivals that break up the monotony. And if I were a rich man, I'd fly to NYC on July 24-26 to catch Metapolis II at the Lincoln Center Festival 2007. Metapolis II is a ballet created by Frédéric Flamand of the National Ballet of Marseille, writes Roslyn Sulcus of the New York Times. And what makes all this architecture-related is that Pritzker Prize-winner Zaha Hadid, the daring architect who created the BMW Building in Leipzig, Germany and the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Arts in Cincinnati, designed the set for this ballet. It's not the first time a designer has created a set for a ballet. In 1948, George Balanchine of the New York City Ballet recruited Isamu Noguchi to design sets and costumes for Orpheus. (Photo courtesy of New York Times)

Dwyer's Clean Hub wins spot in Top 50 of competition
John Dwyer of Shelter Architecture writes that his Clean Hub has made the Top 50 of an American Express competition: "For those who may not know, a couple years ago we began collaborating with Architecture for Humanity and the University of Minnesota on a project of global significance. The vision was to create [an] integrated and self sustaining infrastructure for the over 750 million people worldwide who live without basic sanitation, water or power. What came out of it was an idea we dubbed the Clean Hub, a small scale, but highly replicable solution.

"About a month ago, we submitted the project to American Express for consideration as one of the Members Projects. They received over 3,000 project ideas and ... ours [is] one of the final 50."

American Express cardholders can vote for their favorites. The field will be narrowed to 25 on July 17. The winner will be announced on August 7. American Express will donate up to $5 million to the top proposal, which in the case of the Clean Hub, would help make the project a reality.

Engineers can be creative too
"The traditional role of the engineer is to perform, so to speak, the ideas of the architect." So says Anish Kapoor, an artist. If you think structural engineers are dull number-crunchers, a recent New Yorker profile of Cecil Balmond may change that. He's a trustee at Arup, a huge firm with offices in 37 countries that is widely recognized for its work on the Sydney Opera House and several new buildings in Beijing. The lengthy article shows how Balmond has collaborated with many great architects, including Philip Johnson, Rem Koolhaus, Daniel Libeskind, Alvaro Siza and Toyo Ito. Particularly riveting is the story of the Portuguese National Pavilion, designed by Siza for Expo '98. "The pavilion consists of a simple two-story box with a large covered entrance plaza at one end," writes David Owen. Balmond proposed covering the boxes with a "thin, curving sheet of concrete, suspended above like a broad hammock." A prominent Portugese engineer didn't believe it would stay up. After all, Balmond was proposing that 2,000 tons of concrete in a seven-inch layer hover above the heads of visitors. It worked, of course. The details are all in the June 25 edition of the magazine. The full article isn't online, but an abstract and slideshow are available. It's worth tracking down. (Photo by Arup)

He'd hit you up for money, ignore your work and take all the credit
If you ever read Brendan Gill's delicious biography of Frank Lloyd Wright (Many Masks), you'll get a kick out of an interview with John Geiger, a former Wright apprentice at Taliesin, that was recently published in the Racine Journal-Times. The story has several great quotes from the 85-year-old Geiger, including this one: "This was an autocracy, and we as apprentices, gave up a certain degree of autonomy for the privilege of being there."

Geiger describes Wright ignoring him, not appreciating his work, you know, the usual tantrums. There's also great descriptions of Wright's habit of borrowing money from friends and never paying them back. Ever. Says Geiger, “He had absolutely no conscience about that at all. He was a user of people, there’s just no two ways about that.” (Photo by Albert Eisenstaedt)