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SWEET DESIGN
An article via Rhode Island Monthly about Kevin Cunningham (BArch 05):
Honeycomb is the secret to the next great surfboard.
It’s never made sense that surfboards, used in a sport all about connecting with the environment, are built with earth-unfriendly materials. Which is why Providence architect and surfer Kevin Cunningham wanted to create his own version of the hollow wood surfboard, a board that’s become increasingly popular for its green construction and superior performance. For inspiration, he turned to nature. “Honeycomb is an incredible natural structure — its strength to weight ratio is amazing,” Cunningham says. “I am able to use very thin wood veneers so the boards are lightweight — finished, they’re under ten pounds.” In addition to being long-enduring and biodegradable, wood also makes for a better ride. “Foam doesn’t flex the same way wood does,” he says. “Wood springs back.”
Cunningham shapes his balsa and paulownia wood boards entirely by hand, a process that takes up to thirty hours. His finished boards, often inlaid with abalone shell, are so beautiful (he’s a RISD grad, after all) that they’ve been displayed in local galleries and earned him a design fellowship from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts last year. Still, any good surfer keeps his humility. “Whenever I finish shaping a board, I take it down to Dave Levy at LSD Surfboards in Narragansett,” he says. “He tells me how I can make it better and if it looks okay.”
We know nothing about making surfboards, but the clean lines, sleek wood inlays and artful abalone designs? Yeah, it looks okay. See Cunningham’s work and find more info at spiraresurfboards.com
“Brian Briggs, Architect
On the future of architecture: “It used to be that when you were working with an architect like Frank Lloyd Wright or Philip Johnson, it was all about that architect. But I think it’s starting to encompass both the architect and whomever they work with. Artists, painters, anyone — it’s as much about whom you work with and how you do it as it is about your specific design.”
Two-button wool jacket ($2,535), cotton shirt ($855), and wool trousers ($1,185) by Louis Vuitton; leather shoes ($1,695) by John Lobb.”
Full article, click here.
(Brian Briggs, B.Arch 2008)
DESIGNING AT A DISTANCE, studio publication. See this post to read about the recent panel discussion.
The students who were a part of the studio/whose work is featured in Designing at a Distance include: Ian Armitage, Vincent Bauer, Cassandra d’Alessandro, Claire Davenport, Stefan DiLeo, Chelsea Limbird, Brian Rubenstein, Nicholas Simpson, Damir Vukovljak, and Seth Wiseman. The publication was published and sponsored by
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