I told Isabel, "It's like a dagger to an Atlantan's heart if you..."

After her extraordinary talk I told Isabel Castilla, "It's like a dagger to an Atlantan's heart if you..."

"If you don't say the Atlanta BeltLine is the coolest thing EVER."

"I didn't say anything about the BeltLine," she replied.

"Yeah that hurts just as much."

"But no two (corridor reclamation projects) are the same."

"Certainly not, but it still hurts."



Kate Allen with Isabel Castilla for the poster signing. Isabel Castilla is Principal at James Corner Field Operations currently the lead designer and project manager the for Section 3 of New York’s High Line; Miami Beach’s Lincoln Road District; and The Underline in Miami, a 10-mile long corridor of parkland, trails and neighborhood connections. 

I'm embarrassed for Atlanta that you weren't there. It was the annual Doug Allen lecture, and we had a High Line designer.

“Landscape architecture concentrates on anything open to the sky.” - Isabel Castilla

Make plans right now, clear your calendar for the Fall of 2018 or have an excuse from the doctor.

Deprovincializing BeltLine-Like Projects

The is my first lecture about a BeltLine-Like project that wasn't given by Ryan Gravel.

More on that another time.



You should'a been there. Look who is building on the High Line.



Who knows when there will be a pop quiz on peel-up bench typologies?

See ya'

I wasn't sure what caught my eye on Rocky Ford

I stopped, turned turned, and took a picture. There was something familiar, something that triggered memories.

Rocky Ford is a street in Edgewood Kirkwood (thanks to Anonymous for straitening me out. Edgewood's boundaries go from Moreland to Arizona and I-20 to La France). I presume it "forded" Sugar Creek to the south. Folks just live there. Drivers just look straight ahead.

You'll never see it on a tour unless you are touring with me.

The flare on the verge board caught my eye at 30 mph. When I looked closely, I found this massive architrave with details galore. The chipboard in the gable window didn't put me off at all.


It's a 1930(?) hip-roofed bungalow with a leafy minimal landscape and a double-wide next door. This could be anywhere in the south.



There's a very grand portico with a hint of Tudor-asian-classical-craftsman, painted out in white. The chimney is proud and handsome, the foundation is unfussy and sturdy. The porch pokes out and is recessed in. The steps are massive. The verticals of the chimney and columns, the diagonals of the roof and half-timbering look just right with the horizontals of siding, sill, and eave. The gable, the pointy hip roof, and chimney reach for the sky.


You could build this today, don't you think?

Rocky Ford is not historic, not high style, not designed, not planned, not gentrified, not balanced, not harmonious, not zoned into conformity, not messed with too much.

But it has rewards for architecture tourists. I'm glad I stopped.

House Crunched by Crane Today in Morningside

I was just lollygagging on my way home from CVS this afternoon. This just didn't look right. Thank goodness there were no injuries.

(Update on Crane Crunched House 2012-11-28 )

It was so quiet.


The neighbors had started gathering. It was right in front of us. It was so odd.


Eerie.


The next door neighbor said there was a BIG noise and she grabbed the kids.


The crane was reaching over the house removing a dangerous tree chunk by chuck.


The last chuck didn't cooperate, the chunk that broke the ridge's back.

It's supposed rain tonight.


Some knock on the door.


Boutte Tree has a great reputation in the neighborhood. I know they'll make this right.

Rick Anderson said I should see the Prickett Chapel

Last Wednesday I found myself following the security guard's truck. I was looking for the open air chapel and I was lost.

The day before I'd asked landscape architect Richard Anderson what I should see. He said, "The chapel at Westminster." So There I was.

It's the Barbara Johnson Prickett Chapel at Westminster-School Atlanta. If you aren't from Atlanta, Westminster is among the most pretentious private schools in Atlanta. The campus is wooded, hilly, and beautiful.

The security gaurd led me to the driveway of the president's house and there was the chapel, modest and picturesque.


It's new, dedicated April 19, 2010, but the building technology is ancient.


Just 4 rows of pews.


It's open air.


It doesn't impress with size or decorative details. It's the stones.




It's the stones.


You can see it all in a few minutes. But the longer you look, the more you see.


Slow down and linger.


Look up to see the scissor beams. The ceiling reveals its age, needs another 100 years of patina.


Look up to see the inscriptions.


The roof slate is all shadow grids and diagonals.


Smooth, variegated, rough beveled edges, craftsmanship galore.


They built it in New York, and shipped it to Atlanta for reassembly.
"The chapel consists of eight arches made from Adirondack granite and a twenty-seven foot granite tower located at the rear of the building. Originally commissioned to Terry Lamphere, the Westminster Chapel was primarily carved by Alan M. Webster Jr and Curt vonSchilgen. All stone is granite from the Adirondack region in upstate New York."


The tower door is in shadows. Make sure to give it a good look.


Look closely.


Thanks to Rick for the suggestion. Thanks to the kind Westminster guard for showing me the way.

Nota bene:  Rick Anderson did the landscape design pro bono. He didn't ask me to blog it. My impression:  I didn't "notice" the landscape. Chapel and landscape seemed like one integrated thing.