Project Could be a Dream — Sh Boom
Remember a time when music, people and life was light-hearted and pleasant. Ah, Life Could be a Dream, Sweetheart, but how about architectural projects? The dream project is the project that compensates the provider, in my case the architect, after design and construction completion and continues to pay dividends. Why would you need a project that pays and continues to pay? Because, architecture is a labor-task profession. A design firm exerts an amount of time/labor to finish tasks and receives compensation for design or consulting task completion. It’s a laborious trade similar to other Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) trades. Effort exerted = money received, but what if the initial architectural effort paid in perpetuity? read more →
Ugly is in the Details
Enemies are the factions that want the opposite of your best intentions. Your right is their wrong. Their action is your reaction. This polarity is especially true regarding your friends-in-survival, air and water who ironically can be a building’s worst enemies. I call this gang The infiltrators, most notably the air assassins & wiley water who lurk in the environment ready to attack your building nooks and crannies. When infiltrators attack they leave mayhem and destruction in their wake. Air and water damage is ugly. What can you do to prevent damage? Ugly is in the details! read more →
Dear Future Architects — Remember Then
A time capsule is a treasure left today for a generation tomorrow.
–It’s insight…
–it’s artifact…
–it’s knowledge…
–it’s history…
All of us either intentionally or inadvertently leaves a footprint for the next generation to follow. If I can’t be here 100 or 200 years from now to share my hope for future architects of the world here’s what I hope they remember… read more →
What’s This GREEN Stuff?
I’m an architect and I’m green! Well, I think I’m green or at the very least I like what some people in the construction industry call “green behavior”. By “green behavior” I don’t mean new or inexperienced. I mean earth-friendly, but I didn’t always think this way. It was my perception of the biggest problem in the industrial world that inspired my environmental awareness. Like many people who have nothing better to do, I think about nothing and a wandering mind dangerously analyzes problems — at least mine does. Anyway, my perception of the industrial world’s biggest problem is a theory called — the generation gap. Some behavioral historian (this is casual writing no credible references available) defines the generation gap as “the time it takes from the moment we realize we have a problem to do something about it”. And I think it’s this perception that the world has an environmental dilemma that drives this green stuff. read more →
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle — The Responsible Remodel
In the movie First Knight, King Arthur (Sean Connery) said, “There’s another kind of peace on the other side of war”. That is my perception of home remodeling projects. You have to endure some pain to reap the reward. Remodeling is rarely fun because it is disruptive, challenging and costly but “after the war” you have a rejuvenated space and in my experience, the best way to rejuvenate a space is to follow the “Four R’s” reduce, reuse, recycle and responsibility. read more →
Sustainability — My Self Assessment
Sustainability is not new; it’s not different nor is it reinvented. It feels new because it receives top billing at building trade shows, home improvement magazines and do-it-yourself television programs. You could argue that publicity increased awareness, but true sustainability (not to be confused with the marketing hype) is identical in spirit and practice today as it was in early civilization. Sustainable meant providing for your basic necessities (food, clothing, shelter) with the resources available. Most often, economics drove one’s sustainable lifestyle. The major difference today is sustainable living is a choice whereas it used to be the natural way. read more →