Posts Tagged architecture
Trailer Court Developer Plans to Replace Aluminum Homes-in-a-Can with Mies van der Rohe Modernist Replicas
Posted by Administrator in Lifestyle on October 9th, 2010
In a brave attempt to clean up the nefarious image of trailer trash parks along freeway frontage roads, a Twin Cities metro area trailer court developer will soon be replacing worn-out trailer houses with new replicas of high style modern residential architecture.
Randy Dandee, owner of several north suburban mobile home parks, says the modernist architectural philosophy of Mies van der Rohe will influence trailer home owners to rid their surroundings of trash and ticky tack in the spirit of the great architect’s well-known dictum: Less is more. The mid-twentieth century world-renowned architect espoused clean minimalist forms free of unnecessary ornament, which Dandee says will convert trailer home owners to find fish houses, boat trailers, barn-roofed utility sheds, stacks of worn out tires, broken down swing sets, and assortments of lawn ornaments unnecessary for living. Instead, their spiritual quest will seek accordance with “architectural disciplined restraint in a mode of unostentatious nobility.”
Are You Ready for Geatteauclad Vinyl Siding?
Posted by Administrator in Real Estate on June 22nd, 2009
A
re you looking to increase your hipness to impress your suburban neighbors? Do you want your ranch house or split level to stand out from all the other plastic-like look-alike places around you?
Just wearing faded denim isn’t way enough. What you need is to cover your house with Geatteauclad – the vinyl siding with the replica tough urban area gritty patterns – just like those run-down inner city houses have.
You can get Geatteauclad in several patterns: “Stoned” that simulates the asphalt roll siding that imitates stone. Or “A-peeling” – the pattern looking just like deteriorated wood lap siding. Maybe you just might be cool enough for “stick n’ brick” vinyl looking like real imitation brick that has random wood stick patterns giving the effect of careless fix-ups.
With Geatteauclad, you can attain that urban cool and feel like you are living on the edge, while knowing that you – after all – are safe. Look for Geatteauclad – coming soon in the big box home center stores in your suburb!
Confederacy of Chickens Inc. Plans to Convert Block E into Chicken Coop
Posted by Administrator in Local, Real Estate on June 7th, 2009
Vacancy posters and for lease signs continue to proliferate in the store windows of Block E, the soon-to-be vacant and once-ballyhooed downtown Minneapolis retail showpiece. Mall owners and city government are finding no buyers in their offer to sell the troubled retail behemoth to take-over mall entrepreneurs. Nonetheless, one development group is planning a serious offer to take over the trouble spot—the Confederacy of Chickens Inc, who plan on converting the pseudo-glitzy complex into an organic chicken coop. To borrow a bit from tradition, the confederacy plans to name their enterprise Cluck E.
“This mall is a very appropriate nurturing environment for raising healthy organic chickens,” say Confederacy representatives. “Rather than being crowded together in the industrialized chicken farms, Cluck E will give these fowl room to roam around in free-range mode, which gives opportunity for a proper chicken life-style growth.” A Confederacy of Chickens spokesperson adds, “This shopping mall architecture was designed to be conducive for small-brain creatures to thrive, so it should work well for chickens.”
Wines With Architecture
Posted by Administrator in Art & Design, Food & Dining on May 11th, 2009
For many years, gourmets and wine connoisseurs have built reputations recommending which wines go with what foods, and many Americans have relished their acquired sophistication. But the Journal of American Rocket Science wants to carry this culture climbing to the next level.
Which wines are proper to consume with important architecture? When in Minneapolis, use this handy guide and impress your friends:
Target Tower on Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis
White Zinfandel. Both the wine and the architecture have a two-dimensional character.
Weisman Art Museum, U of M Campus, Minneapolis:
Merlot. Many well rounded tastes, bright finish.
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis:
Any wine you have never heard of before, so you won’t understand what you are tasting.
Quarry Shopping Center, Northeast Minneapolis:
Woodbind. Made from fermented sawdust recycled from Home Depot lumber sales department.
Hennepin Avenue Bridge, Minneapolis:
Burgundy. A few spikes of high flavor but short delivery to finish.
Minneapolis Art Institute Recent Expansions
Any cheap wine easy to digest.
Guthrie on the Riverfront
Off-dry champagne. Opened for a short time to produce low fizz.
Ivy Tower
Petite Syrah with Vodka chaser. Diminutive but distinct taste notes overwhelmed by strong indistinct sensations.
Minneapolis Historic Buildings
Claret. Decorous taste hints, interior tannins, reminiscences of tobacco, all not long lasting.
Thunderbird Hotel in Bloomington
Thunderbird.
I-35W Bridge
Two Buck Chuck, from Trader Joe’s. Mild and smooth, but not what you would die for.
Endangered Species – Hummer Dealerships
Posted by Administrator in Local on March 9th, 2009
A prominent and potent symbol of the culmination of Twentieth Century American culture – the Hummer – is disappearing from the highways and parking lots of this nation.
Inevitably, those ostentatious Hummer dealership show places that sold them will likewise become endangered roadside architecture. When these provocatively designed structures located near freeways, disintegrate into the fields, America will have lost the spirit that defined who we are – or were.
Many Hummer dealerships have closed, and their signature overtly curving up and down ramps, with their old-time timber fences, no longer display mighty Hummers humping up at their moment of climax. Instead, weeds sprout through parking lot asphalt, and wind-blown McDonald wrappers are scattered against the large glass show windows that now only reveal a history of lost ideals.
Historic preservation should step up to the plate, and rescue these Hummer Dealerships; convert these structures into Hummer Interpretive Museums, so that future generations can gain the sense of what late Twentieth Century America was all about.
