Month: April 2009

Me

| mjneal

back when I smoked…

Photo: Magda Bonet

Stopping smoking is the best thing I’ve ever done for my son, the second, I think, is taking him to the KPM Institute’s SAM School

I was elated at this TED conference video on education, besides being allowed to be free and self-initiate his education at SAMS, Kilean goes to ballet 3 times a week and is in two bands. He wrote a Haiku yesterday, though he has completely forgotten it today. I love you more than anything in the world, Kilean. My wish for you is total freedom.

And since I’m posting videos and talking about creativity, see Leonard Cohen in concert. The most fun I’ve had in a decade was on April 1 at the first Austin concert by the sexiest 70 yr old to ever live and the greatest poet of our time. I’ve been reading and listening to him since I was fifteen. It was me yelling “I love you Leonard” as explained in this review. A magic night alright. You can’t describe it with words. Go see the man if he comes by your town… To make this post a full circle, my friend, the writer Magda Bonet, who took my picture way back when and just sent it to me a million years later and a thousand kisses deep, is very good friends with the virtuoso guitarist Javier Mas who is from my home town.

Dance, Architecture, and the Senses.

| mjneal

Just perfect. MJ will like this one when he comes back from Texas Tech.

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Design Award 2009: The Wolfe Den

| mjneal

The American Institute of Architects in Austin has awarded MJ Neal Architects a 2009 Design Award for the Wolfe Den. We started competing for these city design awards in 2003 and we’ve won every year except for 2006, when we didn’t enter.

You can see the winners for the last three years at the AIA site.

Please enjoy the new slide show below. It’s the selection that I’ve put together for the upcoming publication in Dwell and Dwell.com. There are shots that have already been posted here and there are brand new ones! Alex and Jamie look like movie stars:-)

Wolfe Den Slideshow

tsa pool69
Storage everywhere! 

 

 

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FIlm and Architecture anyone?

| mjneal

We, us, MJ Neal, AIA and Viviane Vives, taught a graduate advanced design studio at the University of Texas, Arlington.

This video explores how the use of film as a research tool in architecture informed the students’ projects and changed them. The students achieved a completely different relationship to the site by the use of documentary filmmaking.

Film was also used as a creative expression medium and a presentation element but the emphasis was on it’s use as a knowledge base tool. All self-consciousness was left at the door. We wanted truth, passion, we particularly fought any “architect’s preciousness.”  Focus was on obliterating mythologies and keeping it real, to open them up and to make them reach the bottom of the reality of the site and the people that inhabited it.

All students shared a pool of footage and learned from each other, sharing their findings and drawing their own conclusions.

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Devil’s Backbone’s Taking Shape

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Larkey Addition + Remodel Progress Report

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The house is really fleshing out and I think these shots reflect how the house is starting to feel! We are excited about how this project is turning out.

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