The FORM 13: A Conversation with Griz Dwight

Griz Dwight's D.C.–based practice specializes in restaurant and retail projects, including Barbatella. Photo by Amber Fredericksen/Courtesy Grizform Design Architects.

At FORM, we really like to know what makes architects and designers tick. What inspires them, delights them, even what aggravates them. It helps us understand their own work and gives us a better understanding of the current states of the profession. We're pleased to inaugurate a new series on FORMmag.net today—brief conversations with architects and designers, where we take their pulse—and the pulses of their industries. Up first is a q-and-a with Griz Dwight, the principal and owner of Grizform Design Architects, based in Washington, D.C. He gives us plenty to think about.

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Preservation: A Conversation with Leo Marmol, FAIA

Richard Neutra's Kaufmann House in Palm Springs, which was restored by Marmol Radziner. Leo Marmol, the firm's managing principal, will speak on the restoration of Modern architecture on Thursday in Los Altos, California. Photo by David Glomb.

To hear Leo Marmol, FAIA, speak on the restoration of Modern architecture is to hear one of the most accomplished, thoughtful practitioners of the craft. With the award-winning restoration of Richard Neutra’s Kaufmann House in Palm Springs, he and Ron Radziner, his partner in the firm Marmol Radziner, established themselves as key players in the then-nascent realm of Modernist preservation. Where before little attention had been paid to the significant structures (resulting in countless sad losses), the work they undertook was part of a groundswell of appreciation and awareness. On Thursday, March 14, Marmol will speak on Modern preservation in Los Altos, California, as part of the Los Altos Neutra House Architecture Speaker Series. We had the chance to talk with him recently about his firm’s restoration work, his philosophy on restoration, and why living in an historic building doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice modern conveniences for authenticity.

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Showroom: A Look at the New Elements Collection from KnollTextiles

The new Elements Collection from KnollTextiles includes three designs by creative director Dorothy Casonas. Image courtesy KnollTextiles.

For some of its newest fabrics in its 2013 Elements Collection, KnollTextiles’ Dorothy Cosonas turned to her library. "I collect lots of books and use them constantly as source material for my work as creative director for KnollTextiles,” she says. “With Ikat Square, Ikat Stripe, and Origins, I was initially inspired by patterns that I found in some Japanese textile books. I was also inspired by the traditional ‘Ikat’ concept—an intricate and labor intensive process of binding and dying sections of yarn, then weaving them together to create a fabric with multi-colored tones. The result is three patterns which speak to this old-world technique but have a truly modern twist."

The three fabrics by Cosonas, in addition to additional drapery and upholstery fabrics and wallcoverings will be beloved by architects and interior designers specifying fabrics that emphasizes color, texture and large-scale pattern.

If you happen to be in LA for the Pacific Design Center’s Westweek events, be sure to stop by the new KnollTextiles showroom opening then—just the company’s second textile-only destination. A Knoll Luxe showroom, the space is geared toward residential, hospitality and executive office designers and carries the full line of Knoll Luxe textiles, along with an assortment of other KnollTextiles (including Cosonas’s new designs) intended for residential and contract applications.

Books: A Preview of Leslie Williamson's Handcrafted Modern Europe

Bruno Matthson's house in Varnamo, Sweden, will be featured in Leslie Williamson's forthcoming book Handcrafted Modern Europe. Image courtesy Leslie Williamson.Our own homes reveal so much about us and about the inner-workings of our minds. Is there clutter? Is everything carefully stowed away? Which rooms have been best thought-out? The kitchen with a well-worn batterie de cuisine? A library with perfectly organized, floor-to-ceiling stacks of books?

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Awards Report: California Firm Receives Coveted P/A Prize

CRO Studio's design for a library in Tijuana, Mexico, also serves as a civic hub. Image courtesy CRO Studio.

While Modulo Prep Library’s footprint may be small and its construction budget tiny, its mission is anything but. Instead, the library, located in Tijuana and designed by CRO Studio partners Adriana Cuéllar and Marcel Sanchez (along with a design team of Gabriela Bendeck, Arturo González and Joseph Ruiz Tapia), represents a major re-thinking of the idea and function of a library and its role in a public space. So compelling was the project and the ideas behind it recently received the 60th annual Progressive Architecture Award.

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