The Cowboy is certainly a likable personality so it is no surprise that we find it rubbing shoulders with fellow members of the 2009 Canadian Architect Annual Awards of Excellence .  Congratulations to D’Arcy Jones Design and their meticulous attention to detail that earned them the prestigious Award of Merit for everybody’s small scale favorite, the Cowboy.  So it’s now official when you escape to the Cowboy for a weekend you are indeed spending your time in very esteemed company.  Click through for more details on the award and the renderings D’Arcy submitted for the competition.  (more…)

Technorati Tags:   awards, Build a Cabin, Cabin Kits, Happiness, prefab cabins, small cabin plans, small cabins

Mention the Douglas Fir Plywood Association and you’re unlikely to conjure up notions of hip leisure living in swell modern digs. However, the Douglas Fir Plywood Association demonstrated an unexpected vision of modern prefab cabins blissfully coexisting with the natural environment when they published Second Homes for Leisure Living in the 1960s. The brochure is a collection of 16 mid century modern cabin plans by various architects including George Matsumoto, Frederick Liebhardt, David George and Henrik Bull . The fantastic illustrations by Bob Wandesforde evoke leisurely summers of suntanning, motor boating, and wildlife photography all within a horseshoe toss of a modern prefab cabin. This collection is terrific proof that the idea of contemporary design blending well with nature is nothing new, and may just be the perfect platform for enjoying nature in the best way possible.

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Technorati Tags:   architecture, Build a Cabin, Cabin Kits, cabin plans, modern cabin plans

At Form & Forest we spend a lot of time thinking of ways and means to make prefab architecture more accessible. It looks like Lego has us beat by a long shot with news that they are introducing two Frank Lloyd Wright masterpieces to their architectural lineup. The Guggenheim model has been available since May 15 and none other than Fallingwater itself will be available sometime in July. So there you have it you’ll be able to build Fallingwater on your coffee table for $45 or so. Not so good for living in, but ideal for looking at, and perhaps the perfect excuse to play with Lego under the guise of serious architectural study. So if you want to build a prefab but are still waiting for the perfect lot to come available or the local authorities to approve your plans you can satisfy your immediate needs with Lego. Perhaps a series of Form & Forest Lego kits will be available in the future…. Lego are you listening?

Click through to see the kits. (more…)

Technorati Tags:   architecture, Lego, prefab

There was a mountain resort my family vacationed at years ago that didn’t have phones. A smart resort developer realized they could save the expense of running phone lines to condos, and sell it as a benefit. Even twenty five years ago this seemed odd and even a little dangerous to my ten year old self. Now it seems radically right.

Cell phones and email have led to a disturbing epidemic of workplace co-dependency. A survey undertaken earlier this year by Ipsos Reid on behalf of Expedia.ca found that 48% of Canadian workers feel that electronic devices such as cell phones and blackberries make it harder to get away from work. This is a 7% increase over last year. If you are taking some time off this holiday season you may experience this problem yourself. It is not unusual to find in the first days of your holiday that your colleagues back at the office are relieving their separation anxiety by calling your cell phone with supposedly mission critical issues like misplaced files, or lunch ordering procedures.

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