DAM right

And just so we don't forget why Howard started this blog in the first place...

Here's a photo taken 10 days ago of the expansion to the Denver Art Museum, designed by architect Daniel Libeskind. That's Mrs. Howard in front admiring the remarkably dramatic forms and mass of the titanium-skinned addition housing the more modern and contemporary collections of the art museum.

The outside is stunning, dynamic, and exciting to see and walk around. Even if it looks like it was plopped down on the site by a UFO. The inside? Not so successful. Displays and circulation space are quirky and uncomfortable. The lighting is very good, however.

Still, Howard's a fan of such boldness. He just won't be emulating it in his own work. He's more a fan of the Denver Public Library expansion, visible at right, designed by post-modern architect Michael Graves.

We have a family tradition that the birthday boy or girl gets to select where we go and eat on their special day. Mrs. Howard says that we'll all be going to the DAM expansion every year on her birthday for the rest of eternity.

For dinner, Cheesecake Factory. Yum.