For the third straight spring, el dorado is teaching a fifth year studio at the University of Kansas. As eldo studio alums Gavin and Brandon can attest, the course is a spirited, rapid-fire investigation of real and pertinent architectural problems affecting Kansas City. Josh has headed up the studio each semester, with David jumping in and playing whatever part in the good cop/bad cop routine the day calls for. The rest of the eldos have contributed to the studio as well, dispensing wisdom in desk critiques and final reviews. Past projects include a public pool in the Westside neighborhood, infill housing in the Manheim Park neighborhood, commercial development along Troost Avenue, and a community center for migrant workers in the Crossroads. This semester the students will get infrastructural. The project brief asks them to rethink Interstate 35 as it travels through downtown Kansas City. (more...)
GOOD Magazine recently asked a bunch of non-food writers - architects, designers, science bloggers, human rights reporters, etc. - to write about food, or meta-ly speaking, to write about food writing. More than forty pieces were collected by GOOD's Food Editor Nicola Twilley, and the entries are as exciting and diverse as you might expect. Dan chose to write about a "well-designed fluid." In his story, he expounds on the many mysteries of Coke: the universal appeal of the drink, the inherent contradictions of a beverage best enjoyed in moderation, and the relative advantages that drinking a Coke holds over floating in deep space like a sea cucumber. Check out the full article, entitled I Like Coke, part of the week long Food for Thinkers series.
el dorado, GBA, and Derek Porter are working with MoDOT to replace the Broadway Bridge over I-670 in downtown Kansas City. We're no stranger to the I-670 bridges, having completed work on five of them in all. We first tackled the Wyandotte Bridge (Landscaped Edge) with design firm mk12, followed by four more bridges down the corridor (Pedestrian Strands) with artist Jim Woodfill. These projects were intended to reconnect the Downtown Loop with the Crossroads neighborhood and encourage pedestrian movement over the highway, while meeting functional requirements of guardrails and lighting. The Broadway Bridge is no different. (more...)
For many American boys, the Pinewood Derby is a rite of passage. Young Cub Scouts have repeated the ritual for almost sixty years now, retreating to the garage with our fathers, sanding and sawing down a single block of wood, as it becomes increasingly clear that dad is way more excited about this than we are. There's something elemental about it, fashioning a machine from raw materials, harnessing the force of gravity and our rudimentary knowledge of physics, our efforts rewarded or our hopes vanquished in a head to head, winner-take-all tournament. (more...)
el dorado is one of 50 firms featured on Residential Architect's "short list of architects we love." According to editor S. Claire Conroy, "We know and appreciate a great number of other residential architects, but this collection comprises the ones whose names keep rising to the top - of our design awards programs, of our case studies waiting for a place in the magazine, and of our roster of cover profile subjects." With practices like Glenn Murcutt, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson and Koning Eizenberg rounding out the list, we're honored to be in such esteemed company. For the rest of the ra50 and a brief but enlightening interview with David and Doug, check out the full feature.
January 28, 2011