Ivan’s Tea House

PARK(ing) Day 2021

For this years 2021 submission , Ivan Vanchev and KT Lamb decided to design and construct a long term parklet in the Wedgewood - Houston area. With the exponential growth of the WEHO area, the programming responds to the patrons wondering between the various restaurant, bars, and coffee shops. The complicated structure is based off of Michelangelo’s bridge, where joints are held together through tension. It was constructed by 2 people over a 72 hour period, promoting that space making can be easily achieved. The parklet can hold 4 people, with shading to provide comfort for the user at all times of the day. After Parking Day, the structure was moved to its’ forever home at Jackalope Brewing Company.

[re]shaping the dialogue

Nashville Design Week 2020

[re]SHAPING THE DIALOGUE intends to facilitate and amplify the overdue conversation about race and architecture and the associated inequities that are present within the design industry and built environment. The interactive panel discussion will include representatives from a variety of professional backgrounds, focused on creating change through EDUCATION, RECOGNITION, and ACTIVISM. Discussion will be led and moderated with hopes that attendees will leave more aware of past and present INJUSTICES, and understand the opportunities we all need to participate in for a different and better FUTURE.

NEWSTAND

PARK(ing) Day 2019

This years goal within PARK(ing) Day is to talk about the future of literature. In today’s day and age a question of importance within our literature comes to the forefront. Is a meme equally as important as the literary work of Homer? Within parking day we are investigating literature expanding from a binding of a book to a screen of an iPhone. QR codes populate all exterior surfaces, leading to various examples of today’s literature. In the interior we return to the original viewing of information be allowing comfortable spaces to sit and flip through pages of books. Tokens of your attendance scales from a web page opened on your phone to leaving with a new book from our book exchange.

A media overload.

Awards:  2019 NCDC Golden Cones - Best Use of Space

Special thanks to our sponsors in their various efforts to help make PARK(ing) Day happen. GBI Nashville / Knoll / Signcraft / Solomon Builders / Vistagreen

WE ARE WILD

Cheekwood Botanical Garden & Museum of Art / 2019
The theme for Cheekwood’s most recent exhibition was Storybook Houses. Our playhouse was based on the classic children’s book “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak. The playhouse consisted of a Wild Thing head constructed of a geodesic dome sheathed in plywood and rope, along with a boat that allowed children to sail into the land of the Wild Things.

Special thanks to Solomon Builders and Brian Somerville for helping to bring the Wild Thing to life.

what’s your platform?

PARK(ing) Day 2017

For PARK(ing) Day, we designed a system of modular boxes that could be transformed into different platforms to serve the community. The boxes were rearranged every two hours to host a new program. The activities included a yoga studio, a lunch counter to feed the homeless, a walk-up clinic, and a stage for a live music performance.

Awards:  2017 NCDC Golden Cones - People's Choice Award, Best Use of Space, Best Overall

Kyubu Japanese Playhouse

Cheekwood Botanical Garden & Museum of Art / 2016
For the third installation designed by employees of the firm, a playhouse inspired by the international travels of a family visiting 19th century Japan.  The construction studies order and spatial relationships inspired by Japanese tradition.

The Hive

Cheekwood Botanical Garden & Museum of Art / 2014
For the second installation, employees of the firm designed an interactive and inhabitable beehive to accompany an exhibit of larger-than-life insect sculptures at a Cheekwood.

Rainbow Fish

Cheekwood Botanical Garden & Museum of Art / 2012

For the first project at Cheekwood, our team constructed a treehouse—under a very tight deadline—in the form of a huge fish based on the children’s book The Rainbow Fish, covered with several thousand CDs as its outer scales. The firm was one of only two invited back for an encore treehouse two years later at Cheekwood; it would be known as The Hive.