Site Title

  • American Space / American Architecture Victoria Meyers architectArchitecture and film; Holley House; Minimalist Residential Architecture; Houses in Garrison, NY

    John_ford John Ford on location in Monument Valley; reputedly his favorite shooting location

    American filmmaker John Ford photographed the rough-hewn American landscape and inspired by creating film sequences that juxtaposed domestic interiors to vast exterior landscapes.  hMa offers clients access to the American landscape through carefully constructed interiors and exterior connections as well.

    0560-15A Intimate domestic interior; Holley House by hMa

    The stair at Holley House offers an element that engages a natural site.  The stair engages an outdoor path to the east of the house that wends its way west down, through the living room, past a rough hewn stone fireplace, and out through a living room door, and down to a pond 30 feet below. 

    0560-15B Opening to outside; Holley House by hMa

    Photos show two wall planes at the edge between the kitchen and dining area.  These planes engage a domestic aperture that – in the closed position – block the path and create an intimate, domestically scaled interior;  or open to allow the extension of the space of the house’s site.  The house was designed to open itself to its fifty acres of wooded landscape that extend the house boundaries into an unbounded landscape, but also to close itself off, when a more intimate setting is desired. 

    0560-15C Fully connected to Nature/path; Holley House by hMa

  • Victoria Meyers : Waterfall Table Dune Furniture ICFF Exhibition; furniture design

    2004AV15.4Victoria Meyers' Waterfall Table on view at Wonder Women exhibition, 2004

    In 2004 Victoria Meyers, founding principal of hanrahan Meyers architects, designed the Waterfall Table as a winning entry for ‘Wonder Woman', an international furniture design competition.  Victoria's WaterFall Table was selected from a field of entries in an international design competition sponsored by Dune Furniture, a celebrated contemporary furniture design studio and manufacturer based in New York.  Each year Dune presents a new furniture collection by noteworthy designers from around the world.

    Eva Zeisel was hosted as the special honoree of the event.


     

  • How Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger influenced my architecture

    Due to its popularity and to an earlier technical error, we are re-posting a lecture made by Victoria Meyers in 2007 at the American Institute of Architect's Spring Lecture in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania called "Design is a frame to Nature."  Link to full slide show below.

    Bob dylan Bob Dylan is a legend of American folk music

    To view the full presentation click the link below:

    May 2007 presentation

    Pete seeger     left: hMa's Hudson River House; right: American Folk singer Pete Seeger

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  • Architecture, Mathematics and PhysicsEinstein and Space; Infinity and Architecture; Einstein and Architecture


    Geometry_hMa left: Ojai Festival Performance shell design by hMa; right: A curved wall of hMa's Infinity Chapel,  in construction

    Continuing hanrahan Meyers architects' (hMa's) discussion around ideas about Infinity and spatial design, we are showing below excerpts from Einstein’s essay, ‘Geometry and Experience’. (from a lecture before the Prussian Academy of Sciences, January 27, 1921)

    ‘Can we visualize a three-dimensional universe which is finite, yet unbounded?  
    The usual answer to this question is ‘No’, but that is not the right answer.’

    We find this statement provocative and inspiring. What a sense of profound revelation, freedom, and expansion to hear that the bounded universe that we live in is, by being unbounded, infinite.  Back to Einstein:

    ‘The purpose of the following remarks is to show that the answer should be ‘Yes’. I want to show that without any extraordinary difficulty we can illustrate the theory of a finite universe by means of a mental picture to which, with some practice, we shall soon grow accustomed.’

    hMa has pursued infinity within their architecture, through architectural designs that incorporate specific mathematical paradigms.  Being within spaces with these specific constructions, the mind can freely wander, within the paradigm of an infinite, unbounded construction.  Examples within hMa’s work that display these concepts:

    Ojai Festival Shell (a shell based on studies of infinite structures, including turtle shells);  Infinity Chapel, based on a hyper-cube with shifting shapes related to occupancy and sound waves;  and Battery Park City Community Center Sound Wall:  a building with an edge as thin as glass, embedded with bird songs.

    Park04_FritTest_073008 hMa's Battery Park City Community Center, featuring a curved glass 'Sound Wall'

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  • Art on Air Radio Interview with Victoria Meyers

    Header

    Late next month, Victoria Meyers will be featured in an interview for Art on Air on Art International Radio (AIR) (formerly WPS1 Radio).  Check back for details.

    A little background on AIR from their website www.artonair.org:

    AIR, Art International Radio is an Internet radio station and free online audio archive for cultural programming. AIR’s Performance Gallery hosts ten major performances annually as well as installations, cultural symposia, and workshops. The studio rooms provide production and development facilities for audio art and music, radio theatre, spoken word projects, interdisciplinary works and new media innovation.

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  • Urban Design: American Campus Design Glass and Steel Building Design – campus master plan design; minimalist building design

    Juliana Curran Terian Pratt Pavilion

    Phase 5 : Finished Building – Timeline 2007

    Pratt_Narrative_4_13-7

    06-057-20C 

    We are showing the finished Juliana Curran Terian Pratt Pavilion.  The project is depicted in various states of finish on this blog, where we posted a chronical of the construction process for the building. To see the building in progress, go to posts dated: July 20, 2009; July 10, 2009, and July 6, 2009.  Pratt Pavilion opened to international acclaim and attention in the fall of 2007.  Pratt Pavilion is a key part of an overall campus planning strategy for the Pratt Institute campus. 

    Prior to Pratt Pavilion opening, the 'front doors' of the two adjacent industrial loft buildings opened onto DeKalb Avenue, an adjacent street, instead of opening toward the Pratt Campus.  hanrahan Meyers architects were part of a larger effort by Pratt Institute to reorient the Institute's buildings toward the Institute's central campus space.  In addition to contributing to master plan efforts at Pratt Institute, hanrahan Meyers architects are just finishing their work on Battery Park City's North Neighborhood Master Plan, where hMa have been master plan architects since 1997.  At Battery Park City's North Neighborhood, hanrahan Meyers architects wrote all of the design guidelines for several million square feet of sustainable construction, including the design guidelines for the world's first built LEED certified residential tower, the Solaire. To see more about hMa's efforts at Pratt Institute, as well as for Battery Park City, visit hMa's website:  www.hanrahanMeyers.com.  To see more about Pratt Institute as well as hMa's experience designing green masterplans, go to 'projects';  educational spaces / masterplans and landscapes. 

    Pratt Pavilion acts as a new 'front door' to two larger loft buildings that house several of the Institute programs, including Fashion Design, Graphic Design, Industrial Design and Interior Design.  At the rear of the Pavilion is a new 'bridge'  of sloping corridors that connect the formerly disconnected loft buildings together, so that all of the programs are now housed within a single, connected building.  The second floor of the Pavilion, above the clear glass entry, houses a gallery to showcase work by Pratt students, faculty and alumni.

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  • hMa on the WeatherWeather Report, Sustainability and Design, Contemporary Ideas about Climate Change and Architecture

    JET_STREAM Jet Streams (winds)

    Suddenly – everywhere -  architecture that is cutting edge is regional and sustainable.  ‘Sustainable’ means that the architecture is related to the climate, or the weather, of the region.  As weather has taken on major significance, hMa will dedicate part of their blog to 'the weather'.  To commemorate the new posting, we reference writings from Vitruvius and John Cage.

    Atlantic_coast_view Weather satellite view of the US Atlantic Coast

    Vitruvius wrote the first discovered treatise on architecture:  De architectura.  In Book 1, on the 'siting of a City', Vitruvius takes pains to note the importance of the weather in choosing building sites:  ‘The choice of a heathy site (is paramount and related to prevailing winds).’

    Fog0001 Coastal advection fog

    Updating Vitruvius, hMa references John Cage's 'Lecture on the Weather' performed in 1989:  'Twelve performers simultaneously read texts taken by chance operations from Henry David Thoreau's writings…  Types of wind, rain and thunder (and lightning) are played.  This … is not about the weather; it is weather.'  (Perloff John Cage:  Composed in America).

    Lightning Lightning strikes

    For more about John Cage, watch hMa's new blog, Cultural Conversations – where we will post excerpts from John Cage's Mud Book:  How to Make Pies and Cakes.  For more about the weather, watch the hMa blog for regular 'weather' updates.

    Nyc thunderstorm-thumb A thunderstorm above New York City

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  • Urban Design: American Campus DesignJuliana Curran Terian Pratt Pavilion; Phase Four : Pavilion Construction – Timeline 2006

    Construction

    hanrahan Meyers architects are showing their Juliana Curran Terian Pratt Pavilion in construction.  To see the finished building, go to hMa's post of the same project, posted on this blog on July 23, 2009.  The Pavilion is designed as a new 'front door' to two existing loft buildings on the Pratt campus.  Prior to constructing the Pratt Pavilion, the front doors to the two loft buildings faced out toward the adjacent street.  The Pavilion reoriented the entry toward the Pratt Campus. 

    Pratt Pavilion is phase one of a larger master plan for the Pratt Campus to reorient all buildings from having entry doors that open to the adjacent streets, to having entry doors that open to the Pratt Campus. 

    To see more about Pratt Pavilion, visit hMa's website:  www.hanrahanMeyers.com.   hanrahan Meyers architects specialize in producing green buildings and green master plans. At this time, the firm is also finishing their work on the sustainable and green master plan for Battery Park City's North Neighborhood.  To see more about hMa's Master Plan for Battery Park City, visit hMa's website, or go to their blog posting dated January 9, 2009, or go to the hMa website, and click on 'Master Plans and Landscapes'.

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  • Urban Design: American Campus DesignPhase Three: Experience – Timeline 2005 – 2006

    Juliana Curran Terian Pratt Pavilion

    Phase Three:  Experience – Timeline: 2005–2006

    Final physical model. – Choosing Materials

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    Refining the use of natural light, adapting the gallery to art. – Framing Nature, toward the campus

    Victoria Meyers architect for hanrahan Meyers architects.  Green campus Design

    07-10-c

    In 2003 hanrahan Meyers architects were hired by Pratt Institute to design the Juliana Curran Terian Pratt Pavilion.  Pratt Pavilion was commisioned to create a new 'front door' for two existing Institute buildings where Pratt Institute Pratt design programs are housed:  Industrial Design, Fashion Design, Graphic Design and Interior Design. 

    To see more about Pratt Pavilion, go to hMa's website:  www.hanrahanMeyers.com. 

    The images above present hMa's working process for designing the building.  Images 1 and 2 (starting from the top) show hMa's earlier version of the building massing model.  Images 3 and 4 show the final model, where hMa chose the final materials.  Images 5 and 6 show hMa's computer model of the final building massing;  Images 7, 8 and 9 show hMa's perspectives of the building interiors.  Images 10 and 11 show computer images of hMa's final building massing and gallery interior.

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  • Walls: Modern American House: Holley HouseGreen Home Design; American Houses; Modern American House

    Walls are basic building blocks of architecture and architectural form.  At a certain moment, every architect needs to confront the idea of ‘the wall’ – and decide how they see this basic construct philosophically.

    0560-11_01Holley House: looking down the stone Farmer's Wall toward bedroom wing  Click here to view all photos of Holley House on hanrahanMeyers.com

    Wallclose-up view: final approved sample wall construction

    At Holley House, hMa spent close to six months having stone masons construct various walls, using different stones, all of which came either from the house site, or from a local quarry.  What we are showing on the blog today are a handful of the many variations that we produced in pursuit of the final wall details.

    Questions arose:  how to make the wall:  with varying stone sizes (rejected – as this seemed to make the wall way too figural);  with regularly sized stones, with varying degrees of roughened edges (selected finish for final house design);  how thick to make the joint lines (we experimented with joint sizes from 1/2” to 1/8”.  We settled on 1/8”.);  how to detail the connection between the top of the wall (which was meant to read as an object in its own right) –  we wanted to install the wall with glass @ the top surface.  This approach was rejected by our client who did not want to make his ceiling height exceed 11’ in his living room areas. We settled on installing a deep ½” reglet at the top of the wall, separating the wall from the ceiling plane).

    What we are presenting here is a catalogue of the various stones and stone configurations that hMa studied during that difficult period of critical design decision making.

    Holley_House_hMa_Stone-Wall

    This image (above) shows where the house design began, with the client and the architects admiring existing farmer’s walls on the site.  Part of the construction process included hiring local stone masons who excelled in rebuilding these walls.  The original walls were rebuilt and renovated as part of the overall design for the property. They also became the inspiration for the design for the house, which was organized around two 65-foot long walls built from stone local to the Garrison, New York area.

    3-stones

    Bbluestone-pavers

    Stacks of the stone that the architects looked at to make the final stone wall samples.  The architects looked at a variety of widths and lengths of stones prior to making a final selection.  They also investigated the use of varying lengths of stones, as well as patterns that mixed varying thicknesses of stones.

    Constructionthe stone wall for the bedroom wing; in construction – Holley House by hMa

    Wall-two-photosstone wall for the pool area; in construction – Holley House by hMa Click here to view all photos of Holley House on hanrahanMeyers.com

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