Weisman Art Museum Public Plaza design competition win!

The Weisman Art Museum (WAM) at the University of Minnesota announced that VJAA (Jennifer Yoos and Vincent James), working with HouMinn Practice (Marc Swackhamer and Blair Satterfield), and artist Diane Willow, Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota, is the winner of the design competition recently conducted by the Target Studio for Creative Collaboration. The competition focused on the bridge plaza at the east end of Washington Avenue Bridge. Notable for its magnificent views of the Mississippi River and access to the west bank campus as well as the new Science Teaching Student Services building and WAM, more than 20,000 people pass through this space on a daily basis. (Excerpted from the official announcement, available by clicking on the image above)

HouMinn at Parsons

HouMinn returns to Parsons the New School for Design as part of the Global Issues in Design lecture series. The HouMinn lecture will be held on Tuesday October 11th, 6:00pm at the Tishman Auditorium, 66 West 12th Street in Manhattan. Thanks to Susan Yelavich for the invitation!

HouMinn contribution to Matter

An essay by Marc and Blair appears in the recently published book Matter: Material Processes in Architectural Production, edited by Gail Peter Borden and Michael Meredith. The essay, titled "Built to Change: A Case for Disintegration and Obsolescence," positions HouMinn's prototype work in relationship to conventional stick frame construction and makes a case for an architecture that is organically rebuilt many times over in its lifetime (think human skin). You can order the book here.

Mississippi River Bridge Plaza Competition Finalists

HouMinn has teamed up with VJAA, Diane Willow, and Mark Mielke of VAA Engineering to form a team that has been selected by The Target Studio for Creative Collaboration at the Weisman Art Museum to submit a proposal for the redesign of the Mississippi River Bridge Plaza on The University of Minnesota's Twin Cities Campus. Our team was one of four interdisciplinary teams chosen, all of whom will have their work on display at the opening of the Target Studio on October 2, 2011.

We are thrilled to be a part of this dynamic, exceptional team of artists, architects, and engineers and look forward to sharing the work at the conclusion of the competition.

HouMinn Interest Sites

The internet offers lots of things to love. In the spirit of St. Valentines Day, HouMinn is offering some of its favorite links for your surfing enjoyment. Some are random finds and some are linked to friends. All are of HouMinn Interest.