Spirit of Place wins 3 awards from Inform Magazine!

Spirit of Place - Spirit of Design is honored to receive 3 awards from Inform Magazine, selected from 160 entries.

2011's Nepal memorial was the sole recipient of the Honor Award. Jury comments:

“This student design-build project for a memorial in Nepal is an extraordinary example of how a deep understanding of a place and its local building and religious traditions can lead to a very powerful and evocative structure,” commended the jury. “The stonework in the memorial is very beautiful and the simple forms and the central void have an almost primeval quality.”

The Mythic Modern now available!

The time has arrived! Travis Price's new book about the backstory and theory of The Spirit of Place - Spirit of Design, The Mythic Modern, is now available for sale on Amazon and arrives in bookstores on February 14th. The book provides a beautiful narrative of the history of the project from its conception until our most recent Nepal expedition. The pictures are gorgeous and the text meaningful, inspiring and provocative. I can't wait to get my paws on one and read it from cover to cover. 

2012 Location announced!

Travis Price has just returned from scouting the Spirit of Place 2012 project site in, drumroll please.......FLORENCE, ITALY! The project will be an international memorial to commemorate Amerigo Vespucci, the Florentine explorer for whom America was named. In July-August 2012, the Spirit of Place team will build the project at the Renaissance-era Belvedere fortress (seen above) overlooking the city of Florence and the Duomo.

If you'd like to become involved with Spirit of Place - Spirit of Design by participating in the build or contributing to this great cause, email Kathleen Lane at kathleen@travispricearchitects.com. To read about our last build in Nepal, click here. You can donate by clicking on the "Donate" icon above right.

Stay tuned for more news! 

Winners!

Wonderful news! The Spirit of Place - Spirit of Design Finland and Nepal projects were both selected for design awards from the American Institute of Architects/DC Chapter. The Kalevalakehto of 2010 in Helsinki, Finland received an Award of Merit for Architecture and the Memorial to the Ancestors in Namje-Thumki, Nepal of this year received the highest award, the Award of Excellence in Architecture. Congrats to the Spirit of Place -Spirit of Design team!

Continue following along as we prepare for our next adventure in 2012!

Spirit of Place - Spirit of Design Nepal 2011 time elapse

You are invited! "Design Story Tales"

You are cordially invited to a wonderful series of events including a fantastic evening with your architect/design friends at Travis Price Architects. This series of unique evenings described by photographer Ken Wyner as "Design Story Tales" will be spent with some of Washington's finest architects, designers and entrepreneurs. 

Monday, September 19, 2011

National American Institute of Architects

Travis Price will present his newest book, The Mythic Modern

RSVP ken@kenwyner.com

Post-build interview with Evan

Nearing the end.

in ArchDaily

Spirit of Place - Spirit of Design made it into ArchDaily. Check it out here.

9th and final work day video

But don't think this is all, we still have celebration day

Day 8 in video

Day 7 in video

Internet finally started to work so I spent most of the day down with the ladies after the community women's meeting and not up with the students on site, though you'll see how the students ended their day.

Day 6 in video

Day 9 on site

The landscaping was installed on the final day of construction along the beautiful rock paths surrounding the memorial. Hydrangeas, which grow plentifully in the area, lined the borders.

 The reflecting grave to the open skies is immediately put to use.

 Butter lamps kept in the niches.

The day ended with a game of volleyball: Nepali vs. Americans but ended up a blend of the two teams, no score kept, though competition was fierce.

Day 5 in video

Day 8 on site

And we're back in our respective homes and ironically enough, the internet has been out ever since arriving back. Go figure! There's still a bit to report on so be on the lookout for how the memorial wraps up. Believe me, you'll want to see the beautiful closing celebration.

Day 8 began to see the wrap up of the project. With an added fire pit made of stone and finished in slate, the memorial can now be used as a destination and resting place for visitors. The glass was installed on the grave and the inside painted black to symbolize the void looking in and the reflection to the heavens looking up. The locals created pathways and prepped the area for the landscaping. 

4th day in video

Day 7 on site

Day 7 saw the near completion of the flooring. The slate tiles were laid down while Karna, the master mason, carefully cut the pieces down to form a perfect puzzle piece grid. With extra materials, a fire pit was conceived with stone and slate. 

Our daily transport from our hotels in nearby Bhedatar to the site in Namje:

School children from a local village dropped by for the afternoon and formed an assembly line to bring more rock up while singing their favorite tunes.

 The fire pit:

Third day video

I'm still catching up from the chronology of the videos so please bear with me.

We spent the day in nearby Bhaktapur visiting the beautiful and plentiful temples and royal palaces before heading to a reception at the US Ambassador's, Scott H. DeLisi, residence.

2nd day video

We arrived back to Kathmandu yesterday after a beautiful and rainy inaugural celebration for the memorial to the ancestors of Namje Thumki. The village planned a beautiful ceremony complete with song and dance and even handed out certificates and beautiful gurkha knives to all the participants. More on the celebration once the chronological posts line up. Yesterday we spent the day at Tamal, a touristy shopping district where it's just as much bargaining as it is to look. We also had wonderful tour of the Odegard rug factory where we were shown the full process, from raw silk/wool to beautiful finished rug. Today we toured Patan and its immaculate museum which provided us with a more in-depth view of the spiritual culture of the area. This afternoon we attended a speaker series at the Institute of Engineering, Pulchowk in Lalitpur hosted by Spaces magazine where Travis spoke about Spirit of Place and Professor Sudarshan Raj Tiwari from the Institute spoke about the meaning of spaces of the sacred sites of ancient Kathmandu, followed by a tour of the architecture facilities.