my very architectural summer

My summer break is nearly over and I haven't blogged at all, shame on me.  It has really been a great summer, and while I have done a lot of interesting things (more to come), most have been more architecturally related than I had originally anticipated.

INTERNSHIP: Belzberg Architects

PROS:  

• The best office I've ever worked in. Everyone is really friendly and awesome, the boss (Hagy Belzberg) is smart, talented, and kind.
• We sometimes ate lunch on the beach.  Working on Main Street in Santa Monica, there is never a problem finding a good place to grab lunch or after work drinks.
• They are really busy and the work is great.  Perhaps you have heard of the Museum of the Holocaust?  If you've picked up an Interior Design magazine in the past two years you have probably seen their work at Club Nokia, the Kona Residence in Hawaii, or the Stone Residence in Toronto.  While highly known for their residential work, Belzberg is stepping into the civic realm and I think they will be a firm to watch in the upcoming years. 

LA Museum of the Holocaust, courtesy BA website

The Conga Room at Club Nokia, LA Live, courtesy BA website

Kona Residence, Hawaii, courtesy BA website

CONS:  

• The commute from downtown to Santa Monica every morning, but worse, the commute back in the evening.  One Friday I began to cry angry tears when after 45 minutes I had yet to make it East of the 405 :(
• They are in an interim office that is not very nice, but they have a new office next to Urth (SM) that will be underway shortly.

WHAT I WORKED ON:  

• A facade and slight interior renovation of a commercial building in Westwood Village, which should be underway within the next year.  This will be the first time I have worked so single-handedly on something and will actually get to see it manifest.  Very exciting!
• The preliminary schematics and programming for a library renovation at a cancer research campus North of Los Angeles.  Super fun, tons of line drawings and diagrams, loved it!

I also scored a second part time job that began in June...

RESEARCH ASSISTANT:  Getty funded SCI-Arc Exhibition, working with Todd Gannon, Ewan Branda, and Andrew Zago

PROS: 

• I will continue to work on this until the exhibition opens in next spring.
• It pays a fair wage.
• I pretty much pick my hours.
• It has been really fun looking back in the history of architecture and researching a show that I knew nothing about, now feeling that I know everything about it.
• Getting to sit down and chat with Thom Mayne, Frank Dimster, Craig Hodgetts, and Robert Mangurian.

Thanks to my bestie, Scotty Carroll, I have immersed myself in architectural reading where I would normally have read girly beachy novels and magazines all summer.

WHAT I'VE READ:

"Collage City" Colin Rowe and Fred Koetter
"The Architecture of the City" Aldo Rossi
"Invisible Cities" Italo Calvino
"Los Angeles: the Architecture of Four Ecologies" Reyner Banham
Log 21, 23, 24, 25
"Toward An Architecture" Le Corbusier- a re-read for me, but a much needed one
"The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture" Pier Vittorio Aureli
"House of Leaves" Mark Z. Danielewski- though fiction and not academically architectural, still a good "architectural" read, specifically the way it is written.

And that's how I spent my summer vacation :)  Next up: GREECE!!!

Vegans unite!!!

Veg News is a great magazine which I highly recommend.  A girl from my high school is an editor, check out her blog Saavy Abby.  Anyway, I have checked out their website frequently since I found out about it from her working there, but I had yet to see the actual magazine (in fact, I actually thought it was only an online mag...)  But alas, I was in Sprout's checking out and there it was.  I had to pick it up, and I am glad I did, it is great! There is just something so different from reading articles online and holding the actual magazine.  I am a big magazine fan.  I may just have to subscribe to this one!

I am not vegan, but as a vegetarian I appreciate vegan food and if I had the patience in the kitchen and at the grocery stores I would love to cook only vegan.  That is where Veg News comes in.  They offer great articles and recipes to help you kick-start your vegan diet, or keep it going for long time vegans.  I am of the sort who likes to be a part time vegan, and I suggest everyone try to eat vegan at least once a week, it's so much better for the environment and your health.  Plus it can be really delicious if you make it right or go to the right restaurant.  Forget fake meat and salads, there is so much more to being vegan and Veg News tells us all about it.

P.S.  If you are in LA, you have to try Real Food Daily.  Their sea cakes are to die for!

Veg News, you get an A+!