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.
Hey there! This is kind of off topic but I need some guidance from an established blog. Is it tough to set up your own blog? I’m not very techincal but I can figure things out pretty fast. I’m thinking about setting up my own but I’m not sure where to begin. Do you have any ideas or suggestions? Cheers
Merely a smiling visitant here to share the love (:, btw outstanding style and design .
Wow, marvelous blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you made blogging look easy. The overall look of your site is fantastic, let alone the content!
Good web site you have here.. It’s hard to find good
quality writing like yours these days. I seriously appreciate people like you!
Take care!!
I have learn some just right stuff here. Definitely price bookmarking for revisiting.
I surprise how so much effort you put to create this kind of
great informative website.
Hello my family member! I want to say that this post is awesome, great written and come with approximately all vital infos. I’d like to look extra posts like this.
It’s an awesome paragraph in favor of all the online visitors; they will take advantage
from it I am sure.
Merely a smiling visitant here to share the love (:, btw great style .
What i don’t understood is in reality how you are no longer actually a lot more well-liked than you might be right now. You’re so intelligent. You recognize thus significantly relating to this subject, produced me personally believe it from so many numerous angles. Its like women and men are not involved unless it’s one thing to do with Girl gaga! Your own stuffs excellent. Always maintain it up!
that would be the end of this post. Here you will come across some web-sites that we think you will appreciate, just click the hyperlinks over
Mould spores will not survive in dry climates.
It¡¦s actually a great and helpful piece of information. I am satisfied that you simply shared this helpful info with us. Please stay us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.
F*ckin’ remarkable issues here. I’m very happy to peer your article. Thanks so much and i am having a look ahead to contact you. Will you kindly drop me a mail?
Hey There. I found your blog using msn. This is a very well written article. I’ll make sure to bookmark it and return to read more of your useful info. Thanks for the post. I will definitely return.
What a material of un-ambiguity and preserveness of precious familiarity
about unexpected feelings.
Terrific article! That is the type of information that are meant to be
shared around the web. Disgrace on the search engines for not positioning this publish
higher! Come on over and visit my web site . Thank you =)
very few internet sites that come about to become detailed below, from our point of view are undoubtedly nicely worth checking out
Very good article! We will be linking to this particularly great post on our site. Keep up the good writing.|
We’re a bunch of volunteers and starting a brand new scheme in our community. Your site provided us with valuable info to work on. You have done an impressive job and our whole neighborhood can be thankful to you.|
Howdy! I simply wish to give you a huge thumbs up for your great information you have got here on this post. I will be coming back to your website for more soon.|
I quite like looking through an article that will make men and women think. Also, thank you for permitting me to comment!|
Wonderful goods from you, man. I’ve understand your stuff previous to and you’re just too great. I really like what you’ve acquired here, certainly like what you are stating and the way in which you say it. You make it entertaining and you still care for to keep it smart. I can not wait to read much more from you. This is actually a terrific website.|
Thanks for some other great post. The place else may just anybody get that type of information in such an ideal approach of writing? I have a presentation next week, and I am on the search for such info.
Hi, Neat post. There’s a problem with your website in internet explorer, might test this¡K IE nonetheless is the market chief and a huge component of people will leave out your magnificent writing due to this problem.
I like reading a post that can make people think.
Also, many thanks for allowing for me to comment!
Restore moldy, moisture-broken partitions.
F*ckin’ amazing things here. I am very satisfied to see your post. Thank you a lot and i am taking a look forward to contact you. Will you kindly drop me a e-mail?
I’d definitely advocate Ok.C. Waterproofing.
I have recently started a blog, the information you offer on this site has helped me greatly. Thank you for all of your time & work. “The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.” by Jean Paul.
I like this website very much, Its a very nice position to read and incur information. “The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places.” by Ernest Hemingway.
I like this post, enjoyed this one thanks for posting .
I am continually browsing online for posts that can aid me. Thank you!
My brother recommended I might like this blog. He was entirely right. This post actually made my day. You cann’t imagine simply how much time I had spent for this information! Thanks!
always a significant fan of linking to bloggers that I enjoy but really don’t get a good deal of link appreciate from
I wanted to post you one little bit of observation so as to give many thanks once again on your beautiful tricks you have shown here. This has been simply strangely open-handed of people like you in giving openly precisely what many of us could have supplied as an electronic book to get some bucks on their own, most importantly considering the fact that you could possibly have tried it in case you desired. These tactics also served to be the easy way to be certain that some people have similar dreams just like my very own to grasp whole lot more regarding this problem. I’m certain there are lots of more fun instances in the future for those who start reading your blog post.
Hey There. I found your blog using msn. This is a really well written article.
I’ll make sure to bookmark it and return to read more of your
useful information. Thanks for the post. I’ll definitely return.
Some truly fantastic content on this site, appreciate it for contribution. “A liar should have a good memory.” by Quintilian.
It might be time for a tree trimming.
Great site. A lot of useful info here. I’m sending it to a few pals ans additionally sharing in delicious. And naturally, thank you for your sweat!
Hi there! Do you know if they make any plugins to protect against hackers? I’m kinda paranoid about losing everything I’ve worked hard on. Any suggestions?
I just like the valuable info you supply for your articles.
I will bookmark your blog and check once more here
regularly. I am fairly certain I will be told plenty
of new stuff right here! Good luck for the next!
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.
After reading your blog post I browsed your website a bit and noticed you aren’t ranking nearly as well in Google as you could be. I possess a handful of blogs myself and I think you should get 1000 backlinks from http://speedrankseo.com/IB/speedrankseo
Hi! 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. Many thanks
Have you ever considered creating an ebook or guest authoring on other sites? I have a blog centered on the same information you discuss and would love to have you share some stories/information. I know my visitors would value your work. If you are even remotely interested, feel free to send me an e-mail.
one of our visitors just lately encouraged the following website
Amazing! Its actually awesome paragraph, I have got much
clear idea on the topic of from this post.
Also visiot my weeb site … acheter des vues youtube pas
cher; Virginia,
Have you ever thought about adding a little bit more than just your articles?
I mean, what you say is valuable and everything. Nevertheless think of
if you added some great pictures or video clips to give
your posts more, “pop”! Your content is excellent but with pics and video clips, this blog could undeniably be one of the very best in its field.
Awesome blog!
Hi outstanding website! Does running a blog similar to this take a great deal of work? I’ve absolutely no knowledge of computer programming but I had been hoping to start my own blog in the near future. Anyhow, should you have any recommendations or tips for new blog owners please share. I know this is off subject but I just had to ask. Appreciate it!
Great article! We are linking to this great content
on our site. Keep up the great writing.
My web site … windows