cityofsound

Johnston Marklee (Postopolis! LA)

NB: This is a write-up of a talk that took place at Postopolis! LA during April 2009. Notes are taken in real-time, with editing and context added afterward so reader beware. All Postopolis! LA entries are gathered here.

Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee, principals of Johnston Marklee, were interviewed by David A and David B of ArchDaily/Plataforma Arquitectura.

Johnston Marklee are LA-based and were formed in 1998. Their key works include the Sale House, the Hill House in Pacific Palisades (ArchDaily), and the recent Complex concrete house in Argentina. They say the office has a “team of between 7 and 12 people depending on what month it is …”

(I’m afraid I didn’t generally record which answers were from Johnston or Lee, so these answers below might present an accidentally unified view of the practice.)

The David’s now-familiar opening gambit: “What is architecture?”

Whitney Sander (Postopolis! LA)

NB: This is a write-up of a talk that took place at Postopolis! LA during April 2009. Notes are taken in real-time, with editing and context added afterward so reader beware. All Postopolis! LA entries are gathered here.

Another interview by David A and David B of ArchDaily, this time with Whitney Sander of Sander Architects, another LA-based firm. Their work is largely interesting due to the focus on prefab construction techniques - as noted previously, this is a consistent theme in some LA-based architecture.The Davids get Sander to talk about his Living Steel works by way of introduction, investigations into prefab construction. Sander notes that working out such projects would come in at $6000per sq ft was a breakthrough moment.

Sander describes how the prefabricated light-gauge metal building industry is actually about 100 years old, and now highly refined. He states it’s the most mature industry in the country (difficult to prove?); the patents wore out long ago. The Butler Box - or Butler Building - is the most well-known example. As it’s so mature now, the margins are very low. “The product is bullet-proof”, he says. “It’s computerised from the minute you place the order.“

(For more on Sander's prefab products, see their Hybrid House)