Esoteric Survey

La Gardo Tackett for Architectural Pottery Doyle Lane beads There's something sweet about this painting Tripod pot It's the tough picking time of the year.  So much so, I even forgot to post "stuff" last week.

I used to half-jokingly refer to Paolo Soleri as "Saint Soleri." I have even spent Christmas at Arcosanti  a couple times. His work is some of my favorite; whether it's the sculptures I live with, his architecture I visit over and over again, or the bells which have become my personal litmus test of whether someone is truly "in the know"  of good design and architecture. It turns out he was far from a saint.  Image: The Guardian Daniela Soleri, Paolo's daughter shared her story of abuse on  Medium : I used to dream the same thing over and over. I am a child at home, and there in our living room is my father, Paolo Soleri, in a large cage, fuming. We, my mother and sister and I, quietly hand paper, pencils, crayons and charcoal to him through the bars, or we hand in clay, or Styrofoam and a woodburning tool, or large flat trays of moist, densely packed silt with knives to carve it, powders and washes to color it. He draws, forms, carves, s...

The oldest operating McDonald's is located in Downey, CA. It was the 3rd McDonald’s built, and opened in 1953. It was the second restaurant franchised by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald. The first McDonald's was in San Bernardino.  In the early 1950s, Richard and Maurice McDonald hired commercial architect Stanley Clark Meston to design a drive-in (as opposed to drive thru) hamburger stand. Meston and his draftsman, Charles Fish, came up with the prototype franchise design in 1953.  Fish ended up moving to San Diego and teaming up with James Bird and Walter Fujimoto. See their profile at Modern San Diego .  Source: (Charles Fish collection) via Alan Hess  - Which also includes a more in depth post about the Downey McDonalds. Roger Williams and Bud Landon purchased franchise rights for the Downey stand from the McDonald brothers in 1953, prior to Ray Kroc's buying the chain in 1961. Therefore, they were not required to adhere to standard McD...

Palacio de los Deportes (1968)  by Félix Candela, Antonio Peyrí Maciá, and Enrique Castañeda Tamborell It's visible from the air when flying into Mexico City. I stopped by on my ride back to the airport. The construction of the Palacio de los Deportes began in 1966 and was completed in 1968. Just in time for the 1968 Olympics. I wish they kept the Lance Wyman sign up.  The geodesic roof is covered in copper.  Nuccio Bertone designed Lancia Stratos HF Zero (1970) The future is always better in the past.

"El Altillo" or Chapel of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad (1955) by  Felix Candela and Enrique De La Mora Located in Coyoacán, Mexico City Candela was the master of the thin-shelled concrete hyperbolic paraboloid. The stained glass was designed by Kitzia Hoffman The sculpture of the Virgin Mary on the altar is by Herbert Hoffman

A pair of Althea Cochrane (Brimm) collages from 1966 Someone did a number on this Clay Michie Lamp No. 8 for Knoll. It's OK, you're safe now. Jens Quistgaard Dansk tray in Wenge Good paper Yes, that Pilot House It got a little weird this weekend. 

The Jardines del Pedregal de San Ángel was a deserted area outside central Mexico City. The area is covered in dense lava from the Xitle volcano, which erupted thousands of years ago. Luis Barragan saw the potential in the landscape, purchased some property, and in the 1940s created a plan for Pedregal. This included land for development and open space. Some of Mexico's great modern architects, Like Max Cetto, Francisco Artigas, Enrique Castañeda Tamborrell, José María Buendía, Antonio Attolini, Fernando Ponce Pino, Oscar Urrutia and Manuel Rosen constructed homes in Pedregal. This included the Casa Prieto-López (1949) by Luis Baragan.   The house belonged to the Prieto family until art collector and businessman César Cervantes purchased it four years ago. The house, now called Casa Pedregal, has been restored by Cervantes. Alterations have been removed and the original paint colors have been replicated. Although much of the furniture in the house now...