When I wrote the original Cullen House article I never imagined it would gain the popularity it did. As promised, I have been in contact with Jeff Kovel from Skylab Architecture and have prepared the following interview/bio along with a few more images for all the mad fans!
“I am in architecture, development, and rock and roll.”
– Jeff Kovel
Jeff Kovel grew up just outside of New York City and lived there until he attended Cornell University’s Architecture school. Since then he has made his way to the West Coast and in 1996 he finally settled down in Portland, Oregon. However, it was while growing up in New York that Jeff realised he wished to become an architect. His family had begun work on a new home and a young Jeff thus developed a new fascination for both building and design.
It was three years after arriving in Portland when 26 year old Jeff founded his own architecture firm, Skylab architecture. He admits that he started his practice at a very young age and wishes that he’d worked under other architects beforehand. Nevertheless, Skylab Architecture has grown into a fully fledged successful firm. When asked what the most rewarding aspect of practicing architecture is, Kovel explains “We [architects] have carved out a niche that allows us to explore and innovate. The most rewarding part of this career is the work which we are able to create with this open format.”
Kovel likens his own design philosophies to storytelling. “We bring concepts to life, each of these concepts is a story,” he says. “The paragraphs are like spaces, the words, materials. Each project is a unique deep investigation into this story telling…
Our process is research based, and iterative. We look for authentic meaning and relationships. We do not rush aesthetic conclusions.”
Kovel explains that his inspiration comes from many different architectural sources. “I love many progressive architects from all eras of modernism, I appreciate the periods prior as well. There isn’t a subject I would rather talk about.”
As I’m sure many of you can relate, Jeff Kovel and Skylab architecture became known to me through the film Twilight; what many of us have come to know as the Cullen residence is actually the ‘Hoke Residence’, so I asked Jeff about how the house came to be.
“The Hoke residence was originally built as a ‘spec’ house [This simply means it was built, with the speculation of finding a suitable buyer], or a project built without a client as a development for sale.
After two days on the market, the house was purchased by the director of footwear design at Nike, John Hoke. Following a cover story in a northwest architecture publication, The Hoke’s were approached by a film location scout, a little film called Twilight.”
“We designed the house in 2006, completed construction in 2007. We have designed an additional residence next door that will begin construction once we locate another vampire”
“This December, we took our staff to see the movie to start our holiday party. We all loved it. We have been receiving fan mail from all over the world, including many inquiries for the house plans – contacts from Croatia, The Philippines, Buenos Aires, and Melbourne Australia among others.”
There is more to Skylab architecture beyond the Hoke House – amoungst Skylab’s impressive folio is also the following..
Montgomery residence
Nau Webfront
‘North’
12 + Alder
More images on these projects and more can be found at Skylab Architecture’s website.
hello there and thank you for your information – I’ve certainly picked up something new from right here. I did however expertise several technical issues using this website, as I experienced to reload the site lots of times previous to I could get it to load correctly. I had been wondering if your hosting is OK? Not that I am complaining, but sluggish loading instances times will very frequently affect your placement in google and can damage your high quality score if advertising and marketing with Adwords. Anyway I am adding this RSS to my e-mail and can look out for much more of your respective interesting content. Ensure that you update this again very soon.|
I like the valuable information you provide in your articles. I’ll bookmark your weblog and check again here regularly. I am quite certain I will learn many new stuff right here! Good luck for the next!|
If you are going for best contents like myself, just go to see this site daily as it provides quality contents, thanks|
I don’t know whether it’s just me or if everyone else experiencing problems with your website. It looks like some of the text within your content are running off the screen. Can somebody else please provide feedback and let me know if this is happening to them too? This could be a issue with my browser because I’ve had this happen before. Thank you|
With havin so much written content do you ever run into any problems of plagorism or copyright violation? My blog has a lot of exclusive content I’ve either authored myself or outsourced but it looks like a lot of it is popping it up all over the web without my permission. Do you know any solutions to help protect against content from being stolen? I’d really appreciate it.|
Wow, superb blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your website is excellent, let alone the content!|
There’s definately a great deal to find out about this topic. I like all of the points you have made.|
I constantly read your site content carefully. I am furthermore curious about how to get followers on instagram, maybe you could discuss that from time to time. Good bye!
I do not know if it’s just me or if perhaps everyone else encountering problems with your website. It seems like some of the written text on your posts are running off the screen. Can somebody else please provide feedback and let me know if this is happening to them too? This might be a problem with my browser because I’ve had this happen before. Appreciate it|
Hey I know this is off topic but I was wondering if you knew of any widgets I could add to my blog that automatically tweet my newest twitter updates. I’ve been looking for a plug-in like this for quite some time and was hoping maybe you would have some experience with something like this. Please let me know if you run into anything. I truly enjoy reading your blog and I look forward to your new updates.|
I’ve been browsing online greater than three hours as of late, yet I by no means found any interesting article like yours. It’s lovely price sufficient for me. Personally, if all website owners and bloggers made excellent content material as you did, the net will likely be much more useful than ever before.|
whoah this weblog is fantastic i love reading your posts. Keep up the good work! You know, many people are hunting round for this info, you could aid them greatly. |
But a smiling visitor here to share the love (:, btw outstanding style and design .
the time to read or check out the content material or sites we have linked to below the
Hmm it appears like your site ate my first comment (it was extremely long) so I guess I’ll just sum it up what I submitted and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog. I as well am an aspiring blog blogger but I’m still new to everything. Do you have any points for first-time blog writers? I’d definitely appreciate it.|
Whoa! This blog looks exactly like my old one! It’s on a entirely different subject but it has pretty much the same page layout and design. Outstanding choice of colors!|
here are some hyperlinks to internet sites that we link to mainly because we assume they’re really worth visiting
Hi, i feel that i saw you visited my site thus i came to go back the want?.I’m trying to in finding things to improve my site!I suppose its adequate to use a few of your concepts!!|
Every weekend i used to pay a visit this web page, because i wish for enjoyment, since this this website conations really nice funny stuff too.|
What’s up to all, how is everything, I think every one is getting more from this web site, and your views are good in favor of new people.|
It’s really very complex in this busy life to listen news on TV, so I only use web for that purpose, and get the latest news.|
Awesome issues here. I am very glad to look your article. Thanks a lot and I am taking a look forward to contact you. Will you please drop me a mail?|
I had two carpets steam cleaned and stretched.
Hi, just wanted to mention, I enjoyed this blog post. It was helpful. Keep on posting!|
Quality articles or reviews is the main to attract the visitors to go to see the web page, that’s what this site is providing.|
Hiring a company like Schulhoff Tree & Lawn Care, Inc.
Post writing is also a fun, if you know then you can write if not it is complicated to write.|
check beneath, are some completely unrelated websites to ours, nonetheless, they’re most trustworthy sources that we use
When I originally commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get four e-mails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove me from that service? Thanks a lot!|
Nice 1 i like it 10K much buddy!
Hello colleagues, its wonderful post about teachingand completely defined, keep it up all the time.|
Hi there! Would you mind if I share your blog with my zynga group? There’s a lot of people that I think would really enjoy your content. Please let me know. Thank you|
I’ve been exploring for a little bit for any high-quality articles or weblog posts on this sort of house . Exploring in Yahoo I finally stumbled upon this website. Studying this info So i am happy to convey that I’ve an incredibly excellent uncanny feeling I discovered exactly what I needed. I so much for sure will make sure to don?t fail to remember this site and give it a look regularly.|
Nice article i like it 10K much my friend!
This paragraph is truly a good one it assists new net users, who are wishing for blogging.|
Great, thanks for sharing this blog post.Thanks Again. Awesome.
I like the valuable info you provide in your articles. I will bookmark your blog and check again here regularly. I am quite certain I will learn many new stuff right here! Best of luck for the next!|
First off I want to say wonderful blog! I had a quick question which I’d like to ask if you don’t mind. I was interested to know how you center yourself and clear your head before writing. I’ve had difficulty clearing my thoughts in getting my thoughts out. I truly do take pleasure in writing but it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are generally wasted simply just trying to figure out how to begin. Any suggestions or tips? Thank you!|
My spouse and I absolutely love your blog and find almost all of your post’s to be exactly I’m looking for. Would you offer guest writers to write content for you personally? I wouldn’t mind publishing a post or elaborating on most of the subjects you write related to here. Again, awesome blog!|
I’m gone to convey my little brother, that he should also visit this blog on regular basis to obtain updated from newest reports.|
Great post. I used to be checking continuously this blog and I am impressed! Very helpful information specially the last part :) I care for such info a lot. I was seeking this particular information for a very lengthy time. Thanks and good luck. |
“The next time I just read a weblog, Lets hope that it doesnt disappoint me as much as this blog. Come on, man, Yes, it was my replacement for read, but I really thought youd have something fascinating to convey. All I hear can be a few whining about something you could fix should you werent too busy looking for attention.”
Appreciate this post. Let me try it out.|
Right here is the perfect site for anyone who really wants to understand this topic. You know so much its almost hard to argue with you (not that I actually would want to…HaHa). You definitely put a fresh spin on a subject which has been discussed for a long time. Excellent stuff, just wonderful!|
Hello to all, the contents present at this web site are actually remarkable for people knowledge, well, keep up the nice work fellows.|
Really enjoyed this blog post.Much thanks again. Awesome.
Hello everybody, here every person is sharing these kinds of know-how, so it’s nice to read this blog, and I used to visit this blog all the time.|
Hey There. I found your blog the use of msn. This is a really neatly written article. I’ll be sure to bookmark it and return to learn extra of your useful info. Thanks for the post. I’ll definitely comeback.|
Strain washing is nice on your gear, too.
Great post. I was checking constantly this blog and I am impressed! Very useful info specially the last part :) I care for such info much. I was seeking this certain info for a long time. Thank you and best of luck.|