A look at all the playhouses – 2012 Parade of Playhouses

The playhouses are built, in place, and on display … my work is finally done (for at least 7 months.) When the construction dust settled, there were 15 playhouse designed and built for the 17th Annual Dallas CASA Parade of Playhouses and all are now on display and any one of them (except for 1) could be yours for $5.

Since a majority of the people who swing through here aren’t necessarily from the Dallas/ Fort Worth area (wass’up Melbourne!!) the likelihood that you will be able to come into town and see all the playhouses is remote. No worries, I went to the mall this morning – dodged the mall walkers – and took some photos of them all. I did have a Paul Blart eyeballing me until I told him who I was … and when that didn’t work I told him I worked for (mumbling) and he told me “Okay, but keep it moving.”

So, in the spirit of keeping things moving, here are all of the playhouses for this year – let me know which ones are your favorite. (If you click on the pictures and then click again, they will open up at twice the size so you can get a really good look at them if you want.)
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The Front Line Diorama Playhouse was designed by somewhat frequent Life of an Architect conspirator Scott Taylor – this was the second year Scott has designed a playhouse for the event. I am here to tell you, once you start designing these playhouses, you start to look forward to the next year’s playhouse event so you can try out some new ideas.

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This is Bruce – one of the partners in the firm where I work. He came along to help set up all the figures within Scott’s playhouse (not that Scott needed the help, I think Bruce just likes playing with toys.)

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This is the finished version of the Beacon Playhouse – one of the Life of an Architect Playhouse Design Competition winners. You can’t win this playhouse with a $5 raffle ticket, this was selected to be the online auction playhouse.

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This is the other Life of an Architect Playhouse Design Competition winner – a very modern looking playhouse that so far seems to be very popular. While I’m sure the clean lines and intriguing geometry are part of the interest, a contributing reason might be what’s on the inside …

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HEXBUG’s!!! It just so happens that my office is currently designing a house for the guy who invented these things – Bob Mimlitch. Last year Bob donated a skajillion of these toys to my playhouse and there seemed to be a good fit for this modern playhouse and these HEXBUG’s. I called Bob M. up once again and he sent a trunk load over and they are all (except the one above which is now a permanent resident on my desk) inside the playhouse as an added bonus to the lucky kid who will win this playhouse.

Thanks Bob.

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And this was my contribution to this years event – The Dugout. In a similar manner as the Nooks and Crannies Playhouse, the inside of the Dugout is outfitted with all sorts of Texas Ranger gear – shirts, jersey’s, baseballs … I even have a pro-sized container of sunflower seeds.

What I want to end with is something a little funny – well, it will be funnier if you know a little about my love for glass block …

Despite my feelings towards glass block, I think I’ll keep these two.

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