Where the Buffalo ROME

Buffalo, Syracuse, Rome...Yes, race fans, I'm talking about the great state of New York. This will be a short post, or a small one, if the word "short" brings nasty connections to your mind or if you are vertically challenged or...

Anyway; I will do a trilogy, I think, in the tradition of the original Star Wars and hopefully of the same epic proportions (although, without the furry little Ewoks) on my stay here in Upper NY.

Got to tell you: LOVE Buffalo. And for all the wrong reasons, too. There are a ton of old, empty industrial buildings all over the city. In addition, you can drive over the Peace Bridge and get crappy Canadian money for every US dollar in good old Canada. (Where do I sign up for that deal?)

Here are some more of the infamous camera phone shots for your amusement. Sorry for the reflections of the Volvo in the windshield (windscreen for you English readers). There is only so much a guy can do when driving 10 miles over the posted speed limit on the freeway while adjusting the radio, drinking soda and taking photos with his phone. Anyway...Like I said in the paragraph above, I love the city and it is 100% due to the old industrial buildings. I am probably the only architect in the world that would rather look at the wasted and aged buildings of monumental scale MORE than I would want to look at the latest, greatest, cover-of-arch-rec buildings that everyone else holds up as art. Not that I don't appreciate them, but there is just something about the composition, decay, age, monumentally awesome proportions, new growth, painterly quality about these buildings that turn my head over and over and over again. Like a beautiful woman who doesn't know that she is beautiful and that everyone else misses because she isn't making an event out of her looks. I know: strange. What can I say?

May the Buffalo be with you.

Disclaimer: Ewoks are annoying, but underneath all that fur there is probably a real living person with a beating heart, so show some respect. I remember seeing the Star Wars with the Ewoks in the Dickinson, North Dakota movie theater that used to be on Villard or Main as a kid. It's gone now, but that is another story all together. I remember thinking If only I had a high powered rifle and a deer scope...

PUT ON YOUR SPURS

si... howdy, amigos. Greetings from the AIA San Antonio show this past week in, who could have guessed, San Antonio, TX. I know that there is a real architectural road show happening in TX, but I became burried at the show with answering questions like, "Can you tell me where the restrooms are?" and, my personal favorite, "Do you know if Al Gore is speaking today or tomorrow?" I did get a chance to eat some great food, look at some nice stuff and dream about projects with unlimited budgets for all the cool stuff at the show. I arrived back in Raleigh with a strained back and shoulder burn from all the crap I picked up at the show. Oh well.

We are introducing a new line and we ended up taking the new line guy out to Mortons for din-din one night. He was so happy that he purchased steak knives for all of us (nice set of six). Pretty cool until TSA gets into your luggage and says, "What the..." For a moment I thought about trying to get them through security under the pretense that they are doctor's orders for a predisposition to dead cow. I felt fairly confident that I could snow the security "expert" with this type of language, but, in the end, checked them through -much to the delight and entertainment of TSA.

We didn't get a chance to see too much architecture outside of downtown due to the ARCHITECTURE convention, but I did manage to slip on over to the library with the ever present coworker. If you get a chance to rent the SpyKids series, you get a pretty good chance to see the exterior of this building on a great sunny day. Unfortunately, when we were there, it was overcast and muggy and very, very humid. I felt like a Cohiba on patrol in a cigar vault. At any rate, the interior has a great sense of color, light and space and is loaded down with art... including one nice glass sculpture by a PACIFIC NORTHWEST artist.

The nicest level in the place, from my limited perspective, was the children's level. They have a nice ceramic-like art bull under a couple of arched walls and some nice water features outside on the roof terraces. Unfortunately, the terraces and even the interior balconies were all closed. I don't know if this is due to suicidal literary fans who think that a library would be a good place to off oneself (????) or if this is due to things like, "I'll get you, Larry. When you go down the lower level I'm dropping War and Peace on your melon. Hardcover, too, you bastard!" Not sure, but a real bummer for architectural fans.

Now, don't hate me. I do like the work of Ricardo (http://www.e-architect.com/news/aiarchitect/jan00/goldmedal.asp) , but for my money, the cathedral like space with the open stairwell ends of the parking garage rocked. The pictures up top side do not do it justice, due to the muggy, sweat dripping day of discovery at the library. Everything looked and was hazy. But trust me. When you go to the Central library, park in the PAY (!!!!!!!) parking garage and check out the center space. It is pretty cool. I liked it for it's honesty and light and sense of shelter. The library was very cool, but the parking garage got me.

The water features in the city are also very cool as most of you may already know. The riverwalk is a cool place to go to when you want to hang out with your special someone. They have the little tour boats which I mistakenly called "Sewer Tours" to the dismay of one riverboat captain. Those look like fun as long as you are not sitting next to 15 other sweaty convention attendees in May. "Ewww... I can see inside your pores!"

The Skies over America did nothing for me. Big tower. I may feel differently when and if I ever go to the top.

The Henry B G. Convention Center was pretty good. Well laid out. Nice details and great color. I highly recommend it for you and 22,000 of your closest friends.

Until the next rodeo...

take good care,

-G

Mini Apples

I went to Minneapolis a while ago and really did not get the chance to get the photos I would have loved to snagged while there. Nice dash reflection on the Guthrie. Sorry about that. Cool building and cool setting. Julie Snow's work is also worth catching when in town... sorry again... none shown. Google her and check out her work... very clean and good.

Minneapolis St Paul is a cool town. I recommend early summer so that you can hit the lake country as well. My favorite city in MN, though, is Duluth. It helps if you have a buddy that lives there or has lived there to act as a tour guide. The drive up the great lake coast heading Northwards is well worth the effort. As strange as it sounds, the lakeshore up there reminds me of parts of the Oregon Coast... or vice versa.

When in MSP, though, check out the riverfront and all the old industrial areas near downtown. Like most places, wasteland has turned into prime r.e. I went to ORAGAMI (a sushi joint) in MSP and it was FAN-FRICKIN-TASTIC, Grasshopper! High marks and a strong suggestion for all you dead raw fish types out there.

More snaps next time... I promise.

-G