A little known fact is that it takes as much as 4 million litres of water to make a typical North American detached house. Is there a story to tell about making a house with just water? This is in the works right now for Science World. Stay tuned to find out what we can do with water bottles and pool noodles.

This fall we’ll be teaching a building technology course at the UBC School of Architecture. Building technology is one of these things that often falls under the shadows of grander formal moves when it comes to design both in school and in professional practice. Building technology is often perceived as a necessary but tedious aspect to building design. On the contrary, we feel building technologies is an important, and often under exploited, part of the architect’s design palette. It is with this in mind that we’re approaching how we teach this course.

John recently returned from a couple of weeks in Spain. He came back with a slide show which included Herzog and de Meuron’s CaixaForum. It’s a great example of ambiguity between structure and skin: weathering steel is expressed as structure holding the masonry building; and expressed as thin veneer at the top, perforated screen around the roof patio. Beautiful. Another first-rate project by the Swiss Masters.

On May 31st, we participated in a Blanket Ceremony for the Xthum space at Kwantlen University. A Blanket Ceremony is a kind of appreciation, or at least in this case that was how we interpreted it (this new for us). Nonetheless, it was a great and unique way to finish a project. It’s not often as designers we have the opportunity to see how our work, and the spaces we create, really touch people. Clearly there is more to this space than just the design, it provides a much needed place where First Nations students can find resources and support while attending Kwantlen University. All in all, is was a really special project to be part of.

Intern Architect, designer, musician, physicist, baker, and general go-to guy for all questions regarding the arcane world of computer programming, David Zeiben is our in-house renaissance man. He has been instrumental in developing our web presence. Thanks David. You can find all things David at his blog Cakelife.

Douglas & McIntyre have published a new guide to contemporary architecture in Vancouver. This compact volume contains lots of buildings – some expected and a few surprise nuggets. It’s worth sticking in your back pocket next time venturing out into the city. I’ll note it features the pavilion that houses Rodney Graham’s Millennium Time Machine designed by our own John Wall in collaboration with his former partner Timothy Newton.

Saturday night Public Design garnered an AIBC Innovation Award for "Xthum", or the Aboriginal Gathering Space at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. It was a big evening, lots of people and familiar faces, everyone dressed to the nines. Impressive all around. After dinner came the awards. We liked the idea of hoisting a trophy, but were happy and humbled by the recognition. After all, it was the first project that came to us, almost two years ago. Thanks AIBC, and Kwantlen.

Next up for the Aboriginal Gathering Space is the "Blanket Ceremony" on May 28th. More on that when the time arrives....

As part of the BC Forest Innovation Investment program, we were asked to create a series of twelve case-studies documents on the use of BC wood in architecture. The series features a number of high profile architecture projects from across the province. Take a look...

When we first entertained the idea of a Public "blog", we were intrigued but equally a little nervous about committing to idea. We got a little philosophical about it going straight to the big questions:  What is a "blog"? What should it say? What should it look like? I can't say we came up with definitive answers to the big questions, but we agreed that "blog" is a funny sounding word. 

We also agreed why the name "Public" appealed to us in the first place. It was rooted in the idea that design does not happen in a vacuum. We wanted to get away from the myth of a singular design genius. Public is a partnership between architects, industrial designers and graphic designers that enjoy working together, sharing space, and sharing ideas. And well, a "blog" has become a natural extension of this idea. Where it's going to go, we're not really sure. And that's what we like about it.