Beer. Design. Two awesome things all mashed up together.
The Society’s Beer + Design series recently held its fifth event on Sept. 18, 2013, at Balliceaux in Richmond. Over 90 attendees enjoyed Beer + Design 5: Hammer & Pencil, which featured three presentations by architects working in the Design/Build arena. Dan Zimmerman, AIA, of Alloy Workshop in Charlottesville stepped in at the last minute to substitute for theatre scene-designer Brian Barker, who was unavoidably detained (Brian promised to speak for the program another time). Dan talked about the path that led him to found Alloy and some of the intricacies of running design and construction under the same roof. John White and Heather Grutzius of 510 Architecture discussed the growth of both their business and personal partnerships, including the challenges of raising a family and a business at the same time. Keith Zawistowski, AIA, and Marie Zawistowski showcased the work of their firm Onsite as well as their teaching and projects created by their students at the design/build LAB at Virginia Tech.
Beer + Design is an occasional series of gatherings, where the design community gathers to hear a few brief presentations by interesting people doing cool work — and to chat with friends and colleagues over a cold beer or two. The series began at the Virginia Center for Architecture as Wine & Design: Details, Details, with presentations on design details that inspired further work. For the second offering the series moved to Hardywood Park Craft Brewery for Wine Beer + Design 2: Depth of Field, considered the importance of scale and place, featuring architects Damon Pearson AIA, Emily Smith, and Kevin Jones, and photographer Ansel Olsen. B+D3: Get Outta Here, hosted by the Storefront for Community Design, solidified “Beer” in the series title and visited design that was “out there,” with presenters Thom White, AIA, Fred Wolf, Dave Ackerman, musician Nelly Kate, Peter O’Shea, and Giles Harnsberger. B+D4: Get In Here, hosted by Richmond Bicycle Studio, offered presentations by John Quale, Assoc AIA, Craig Dodson, Gwen Murray, Assoc. AIA and Ben Murray, luthier Tom Rodriguez, and camera-truck photographer Shaun Irving.
The B+D Drinking and Planning team are currently nursing their hangovers and beginning to plan for B+D 6, probably in early 2014. Keep an eye here, on beeranddesign.com or the B+D Facebook page for information on future events.