Passive Architect
American Earth Rim
Leopard print hills are just
out in the Mohave desert
south and east of Las Vegas.
To the north of The Rim
sits St. George among steeples
of church and mountain.
Four times a year eighteen
galleries open to the night
to be closed by curfew.
Architects build on black lava rock
just beneath the peaking faces
of snow canyon
the quilted hills
diminish a climbing figure and crawl
slowly back into a covered earth.
Just miles away from the spotted hills
stained south of The Rim.
Ohio Summer Storm
At the ledge of the river
a storm swells in the distance
the lamplight flickers on and off with every gust
a tornado touches down 100 miles from here
makes a green sky.
The trees hold their bent positions
when everything releases.
Here in Ohio
Turn on the faucet and I get the fresh
mouth of spring open at my fingertips.
The shot at the end shows a little break in the desert with the Virgin River as it streams through Zion.
Zion National Park is the closest place to heaven I’ve ever been.
We stayed with the gracious hosts at Under the Eaves in nearby Springdale.
I wonder if Tag Galyean, a self-described master builder, who moved onto the Greenbrier grounds in southern WV over thirty years ago knew where his career was headed. In the two years that followed his move he became integral not only within the design world but also that of the hotel business. Following his time at the Greenbrier, Tag moved to Hawaii to work with what are now the Rock Resorts. Since 1989 he has been the designer of architecture, landscape architecture, art and graphics working on the executive committee as a design professional at the Broadmoor, -the luxury resort in Colorado Springs.
I’m lucky, I’ve only just met the gentlemen and now I am on his team. The day I met him he described his privilege for working for private entities, the really nice families, and by the end of the day I was left with the same sense of what working with him would be like. We met over breakfast to discuss a project we are collaborating on. While in his presence I had the opportunity to observe how he analyses with his questions. His vision for each client encompasses making decisions based on the point of profitability. He described that it was not his intent to leave his signature, but focus on pulling out the strong elements established in each place. In his words he becomes a custodian to each business, understanding how design affects these historic properties.
During a recent meeting I attended with Tag he maintained the conversation by discussing the reach of design. He referenced Dorothy Draper to emphasize a full vision, such as the one Mrs. Draper provided for The Greenbrier designing match book covers, bath mats and the landscape. The importance of one designer lies in the absolute necessity for continuity in a guest experience.
During our conversations about The Broadmoor I was reminded about the details from my visit four years ago. I remember the ceiling of the porte cochere and the stunning mural that smiled down on me. While spending time with Tag I picked up on a few of his quips and wrote them down. For example, when others in our group mentioned the art installations of Bruce Munro’s work Tag said ‘I’ll look into it, it’s nice to know.’ In this way his demeanor continued to be encouraging throughout the whole day of fresh ideas.
Tag was asked by our clients what the impression their place left on him and he replied, ‘There is some magic here. The imagery is strong and appropriate of the area. The Interiors can be more fetching, some place that says not that I am home, but I am somewhere special, somewhere I want to be again.’ Certainly anyone who has ever worked with or around Tag feels the same way about him. He is someone I want to continue to be around too.
These pictures were taken by me in 2011 during an April trip to Colorado Springs.
Every other Monday construction involving floor plank begins at the new Courtyard by Marriott in Morgantown, WV. Waller Corporation, the GC for this Courtyard, organizes the rising of the floors left to right across the building, orchestrating plumbing, electrical, concrete and other sub contractors to work out from beneath the floating floor. The final piece to the puzzle of precast floor plank is fitting in place. Mills Group worked with Mack Industries last fall to initiate the coordination of the hollow core floor.
Our team chose to use MACK Industries because they can provide a 30′ long span by 80″ wide plank. This means we have less seams at the ceiling and floor. Mack worked with Mills and Waller to develop a starting point strategy, locate cuts to allow future shafts, and assure edge conditions would align with the exterior wall assembly.
The design takes a life of it’s own as a view from the job trailer shows below. Tractor trailers loaded with 4-6 planks arrived on site in succession. Each truck took about 45 minutes to an hour to unload. Two workers attached the crane chains from the truck bed into preformed lifting bars in the plank. The plank was lifted, and arrived without incident to the upper floor. From there two tethered men aligned the plank just right before releasing the hooks.
The next day three of us from Mills Group were able to walk up to see the view first-hand. Gashes in the floor show areas where the plank was lifted and how two parallel planks are reinforced together.
The view is spectacular and we enjoyed pointing out construction details in such a beautiful setting.
I wish I’d come up with the name Views and Brews. A northeastern US club, Views and Brews, has the same philosophy as my husband and I do: vacations that are coordinated around where we can hike, and if we’re lucky, where we can enjoy a cold local craft beer to commemorate it.
As someone who enjoys all kinds of brew, I also look forward to breakfast with coffee too! The best combination of place has all three, a good coffee shop, a local brewery and a mountain nearby. I’ve had this app on my list of things to discover for a while – the Best Beer at Untapped.
Morgantown has recently added to the list of breweries to try in the state of West Virginia with the opening of Chestnut Brew Works. What’s the thing I heard most while enjoying the flight at the bar? I’ll have a Halleck, I’ll have a Halleck, I’ll have a Halleck… it may be the beer of choice for the whole city.
Places we’ve tried:
Lost River Brewing Company in Wardensville, WV
Marietta Brewing Company in Marietta, Oh
Morgantown Brewing Company in Morgantown, WV
Mountain State Brewing Co. in Morgantown, WV in Deep Creek Md, and in Thomas, WV
Blackwater Brewing Company in Davis, WV
Rivertown Brewing in Pittsburgh, PA
Portsmith Brewery in Portsmith, NH
The Vermont Pub and Brewery in Burlington, VT
Woodstock Inn and Brewery in North Woodstock, NH
Lexington Avenue Brewery in Asheville, NC
Wedge Brewing Company in Asheville NC
Deschutes Brewery in Portland, OR
Weasel Boy Brewing Company in Zanesville, OH
Church Brew Works in Pittsburgh, PA
Fat Head’s Brewery in Pittsburgh PA
Crean’s Brewing in Ireland
Flagstaff Brewing in Flagstaff, AZ
Lumberyard Brewing Company in Flagstaff, AZ
Bridge Brew Works in Fayetteville, WV (via Pies n’ Pints)
Wheeling Brewing Company in Wheeling, WV
Chestnut Brew Works in Morgantown, WV
The Natural Bridge in Slade, Kentucky
It’s summer, which to me means late evenings spent outside. My husband and I drove to Kentucky in the fall to visit the Red River Gorge area. What we found in the forest was unexpected -many natural stone arches. They cut across the sky, and were conversely, hidden in brush. What we uncovered in that trip continues to feed our enthusiasm to travel into nature’s forests.
The Red River Gorge in the Daniel Boone National Forest
We stayed in a remote cabin that could only be accessed by foot.
We found this area to be the favorite of many rock climbers. Miguels, below, was a hot-spot for many. The decor surrounding the bus-seat booths were lengths and lengths of rock-climbing rope.
Sky Bridge Station
Photo by Krag Ky
The Red River Rock House Restaurant
Photo from Sustainable Ky
Welcome to summer and the adventures waiting!
It’s summer, which means everyone is getting married and having showers. A few years ago I attended a shower at the Narcisi Winery in Gibsonia, Pa. It is a lovely winery set in the flat lands of a wide hollow. The building seemed to come from the ground, intertwined in the landscape with the grape vineyard. It is a large venue that hosts a restaurant and many meeting rooms under one roof. They host events throughout the summer on the lawn which I look forward to attending some day. The shower is not the only reason I want to bring up this winery and restaurant. It turns out that the proprietors are Giulianova natives!
What I noticed lately is that shower attire has really become much more elegant. After attending two in the past few months, one wedding and one baby, I thought I’d share my thoughts about what women wear. One piece dresses, black tights, and high high heels are now the standard.
Inspiration comes from dresses as this grey number below. Shift dresses found on Amazon, or bold block prints are also popular. With a bold glass of wine in one hand, we congratulated the bride-to-be and enjoyed an afternoon among her friends and family.
A baby shower I attended recently in Pittsburgh, Pa was hosted by the lovely family of the mother-to-be at Andora Restaurant. Welcome to Andora.
The renovated home comfortably sat the family and friends of my beautifully pregnant friend. Center-pieces for the day were frilly girls dresses. I enjoyed the company, the atmosphere and again, the attire. Pearls, thick gold bangles, silk skirts, and little girls in poofy dresses.
In September I will attend a colorful-tie event at Oglebay celebrating a close friend’s wedding. What’s a colorful tie? Well, I’m not sure -we’re still trying to figure out the language. What do you call a formal event, where you want girls to wear long dresses, but the men aren’t required to wear black tuxes? Developing what to wear should be fun!
I’m not talking about fireworks, I’m talking about sculpture in architecture. The Curving Marble Bar at Macy’s Stella 34 Trattoria in NY (Photo and full article at Architectural Record.) I learned about the artist Bruce Monro recently. His lit sculpture makes the forest even more magical by night.
Architectural Record presents ‘Dining by Design’ – The Floor
