The 2015 July/August Texas Architect Magazine features "Seed, Trees, People", a project that Metalab completed for the Hermann Park Conservancy in collaboration with artist Randy Twaddle. Set within the context of other "Small Stuff" architecture projects, the series of three, sequentially sized curvilinear benches carved from solid block of limestone allow for "far greater experimentation in form, materials, and construction methods."  Link to the article online.

Jim Isermann was just in Houston for the opening reception of Cougar Pride, a outdoor public artwork at the new UH Stadium. We unleashed the drone and got overhead where the legibility of the mega text can be read. Nice views of downtown from up there!

LINK TO VIDEO

The 2014 International Journal of Interior Architecture + Spatial Design (ii) Volume III features "Continuous Tension" by Andrew Vrana. Conceptualizated as a reinterprestation of avant garde architect Frederick Kielser's Grotto for Meditaiton, New Harmony Grotto is chronicled in the article from intial concept design, to the digital fabrication process and final installation.  View the full article here.

Cloud Code & Memory Cloud are both featured in the peer-reviewed 2013 TxA Interactive Conference Proceedings. Held during the Texas Society of Architects 74th Annual Convention and Design Expo, the conference chose to focus on discussions of all things digital in the field of architecture.  View full article here.

Water and power service have been connected to Chroma Booster by Matthew Geller in El Paso at the new baseball stadium.  About 60' tall, the "cloud generator" emits mist and water with programmable LEDs in the new plaza.

PV-Pod is featured in a Architect Magazaine examining the progess made since winning the 2012 R+D Award. View the full article here.

We are very excited to share these photograph's of Jim Isermann's Cougar Walk with you! The weather cleared up two weeks ago and photographer Pete Molick brought out his drone to capture some wonderful images of Jim's piece.

This outdoor public art work is installed at the University of Houston's new football stadium. Consisting of a series of eight foot square pre-cast panels, each of the nineteen panels features patterns of interlocking U's and H's. These were erected as walls and groundwork at the southwest corner of the stadium, and greet visitors as they  exit from the new rail line extension that runs through the campus. The design utilizes recycled glass and black onyx, giving the letters a sparkling appearance in the light.

Metalab oversaw design optimization, fabrication documentation, and project management of the work, with panels manufactured by Gate Precast. The site also features Metalab's signature solar powered lighting product, Ringo.

In this February 2015 article for the Houston Chronicle, Andrew Vrana emphasizes the emerging importance that plastics and plasticity will have in creating profoundly new opportunities for designers in the near future. "Plasticity", a symposium at the University of Houston Gerald D. Hines college of Architecture, focuses on investigating these materials and digital technologies. View the full article here.

Radiance is our latest collaboration with artists Shane Allbritton and Norman Lee of RE:site. The elaborate hanging piece is to be installed in the airport in El Paso, Texas, and makes use of the iconography of a mix of the local cultures, translating them into a three-dimensional Mandala. Layered acrylic pieces with a dichroic film in the middle form the physical manifestation of the Mandala, which is mirrored in the supporting structure. Suspended from a steel canopy, the colorful and shifting material of the installation plays in the light, evoking the stunning vibrancy of a southwestern sunset.

This mock-up installation is one-quarter of the final piece, and was installed over the last week at Silver Street Studios. We were fortunate to find a room with a skylight, which is really cool as there will be a skylight over the final piece. Our friends at Merge Studios handled the installation of the steel canopy, and Jesse Meza came in from El Paso to hang all the pieces.

We busted out a new trick as well and shot a photo-sphere of the piece. Take a virtual tour of it!

The sculpture by Jesse Lott with heavy lifting by Blumenthal is complete and installed next to the light rail line on Scott St.  The layering of engineered pipe assembly making up the "bones" and Jesse's additional "visera" made from thin wall stainless tube was well integrated into the final work.