Hot building type for designers..

Apparently, I need to get into designing restrooms, because there's been some pretty awesome design in that building type recently:

(Hat Tip: ArchDaily)

(Hat Tip: ArchDaily)

Parametric design...done well!

I love the simple execution of a great concept on this project from BKSK Architects.  Most of the time, architects using modern design and fabrication technologies go too far with the geometric freedom that these technologies allow.  This project uses a simple parametric design concept, a gradual transition in the facade from more opaque to more transparent, to make an elegant and dynamic design, without being overwhelming.

(Hat Tip: ArchDaily)

Habitat for Humanity AIARE Build Day

Here is the announcement for a community service event I am organizing:

When: Sat. Nov 2, 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m

Where: Woodland Hills, Cotati

The AIA Redwood Empire is once again partering with Leadership Santa Rosa and Habitat for Humanity of Sonoma County (HFHSC) for a Build Day on Saturday, November 2nd.

The latest home build project by HFHSC is Woodland Hills, a series of 5 new single-family homes in Cotati, and construction is about to begin.  Our group will be framing and raising walls on our Build Day, the most exciting part of the building process in my humble opinion.  However, our group size is limited, so you need to get signed up as soon as possible, or you might miss out on this fun, inspiring, community building experience.  If you’ve got high schoolers in your family, this is a great way for them to get some of those community service hours they need for graduation.  If you’re tired of sitting in the office and you want to get your hands a little dirty for a day, this is your chance!

To sign up, or to get more information, contact Carl Servais at 703-9439 or at carl.servais@tlcd.com.

“The frightening thought that what you draw may become a building makes for reasoned lines.” – Saul Steinberg

There's hope...

Architecture just might survive as a profession after all.  By applying some of the creativity and ambition students develop in architecture school to their careers, architects and architecture can evolve to explore different avenues for building and dwelling.  Witness Hank, the Master of Architecture graduate from the University of Minnesota.  He bought a bus, and turned it into this:

Why Should I Join the AIA?

My AIA Redwood Empire Spring 2013 Newsletter article:

Why Should I Join the AIA?
That's the question every architect has to ask him or herself at some point.  Well, there are plenty of compelling reasons to be an AIA member.  Pragmatically, membership in the AIA gives you access to a plethora of programs and continuing education events, often times at a reduced cost.  I'm a numbers guy, so here's an example. AIA members can save $300 on registration for this year's AIA National Convention and Design Exposition in Denver, and new members can attend for free, a $775 value.  Locally, your AIA Redwood Empire chapter organizes membership lunches, CRAN home tours, wine and learns, and lectures, many of which are reduced cost or free for AIA members.  All that, and you get a subscription to Architect Magazine too!  But seriously, there is not typically going to be enough payback in savings to cover the cost of annual AIA membership fees.  However, there are important reasons to be an AIA member that don't have a payback you can calculate.  What is the value of the AIA's government advocacy that pursues policies that will stimulate work for architects?  What is the value of being part of a network of professionals where you can find support and advice from colleagues who are united in a common purpose?  What is the value of AIA Redwood Empire's mission to advance design and the built environment through education, public awareness, collaboration, and by empowering its members?  As an AIA member, how do you measure the credibility gained when you're looking for a job at a firm, or when you're looking for clients?  How do you calculate the benefit to the profession of the AIA's support for students, associate members, and emerging professionals?  I may be a numbers guy, but I find these immeasurable benefits more compelling than the more pragmatic benefits.  In the end, if you ask me why I am a member of the AIA, the answer is simple:  Because I am an Architect.

Kinetic Art

A pair of recent posts over at the Dish really amazed me.  The videos are incredible, but I would LOVE to see these art installations in person.  They combine kinetic sculpture with projection/video technology to create beautiful, dynamic visions.  Check it out:



(Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan)




(Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan)

Todd Helton deserves to be in the Hall of Fame

Helton bats in Petco Park

Todd Helton of the Colorado Rockies has announced that he will retire from Major League Baseball at the end of this season.  Helton will finish his career having played 17 seasons, all with the Rockies, and having amassed some very impressive career numbers in many offensive and defensive statistical categories.   He deserves to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, but I predict he will not make the cut because he played at Coors Field for half his games, and he never won the World Series.

Depressing

I heard from a colleague at work recently that Architects have the highest unemployment rate of any profession......We're Number 1!!!

I can't say that I'm suprised based on observation and, unfortunately, my own experience.  I spent a little over a year between  architecture jobs.  In the interim, I was a stay-at-home Dad, a Community College Instructor, a U.S. Census Enumerator, a Sonoma State Extended Education Green Building Certificate recipient, a California Architect's Board Supplemental Exam candidate, and all-around busy-body.

Then today, I read an article in Salon about the state of the architecture profession.  Let's just say...not good.  Perhaps the most depressing exerpt:

Taxes as punishment

One of the arguments I always hear from people on the right, is that progressive tax rates are a "punishment" for being successful.  The theory is that people will be less motivated to produce and succeed because as they make more money, they pay more taxes. 

What I want to ask is, Why do you view taxes as a punishment?  Don't we receive goods and services in return for those taxes?  I realize that many of the benefits of government are difficult to see and understand, and therefore difficult to put a true value on.  What is the value of the freedom and safety we receive from our defense department, and how do you quantify it? 

Robots assembling buildings

Some academics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich have put together an incredible exhibition demonstrating building construction using little flying helicopters.  The structure is a simple sculptural assembly of foam bricks, but the demonstration is remarkable for the possibilities it envisions.



I can imagine a future construction site erecting scaffolding around a building perimeter for the use of cameras and recharging platforms.  Would you still need to deliver materials to the site, or would the robots fly directly to warehouses, or directly to the manufacturers to pick up materials?  How many different materials would be developed to accommodate the robots' capabilites, or would different materials require different types of robots?  Would each building material manufacturer also design a corresponding assembly robot that would come with the purchase price or be leased when you purchase the material?  How would flying robots work for concrete, thousands of robots each bringing small quanities, or would they simply handle the equipment we use today?  What about robots that contain a small amound of liquid that quickly hardens into different types of finish material?

And what does this construction method do to architecture as we know it today?  There seem to be lots of limitations, but it also seems to open up new possibilities geometrically.  Would the architect simply deliver a three dimensional model?  Could this be the dawn of a truly paperless design and construction process?

I think what I love about this project is how simple it is and, as a result of this simplicity, how vast the possiblities are.

Sign the apocalypse is upon us...

I have written a blog post two days in a row!!!! 

Pitchers and catchers report February 19 (via Troy Renck).  Last season I was full of confidence in the Rockies, but this year I am full of doubts.  Hope springs eternal, but I have my doubts about the pitching staff this year.

Also, I want to give a shout-out to Rox Walk Off, a new site for avid Rockies fans.  The site was created when Inside the Rockies closed up shop at the end of the year and left a crew of devoted commenters (and contributers) without a virtual home.  Several of the most devoted participants decided to create a site where the community that had been formed at Inside could continue.  They have a pretty sharp lookin' site up and running, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it operates during the season.  Power to the people!

My Annual Blog Post

Apparently, I will be posting new content to the blog on a yearly basis.  Sooooo, here is my 2012 contribution to the blogosphere:

Sarcasm aside, this time, I really will start writing more often.  I am also going to be getting my website back into shape.  I'm thinking it wasn't a good idea to have the year shown so prominently in the design, because I have to do a big wave of editing to every page every year.  But then again, maybe that will encourage me to keep it up to date.  Anyway, I mostly need to finish the portfolio portion and update the resume, and then I should be good to go for a while.

I'm Baaaack

It's been a while, but I think I'm ready to get back to blogging.  There has been a lot of happenings since last I wrote.  Most importantly, I need to do a little bragging, because I passed the CSE the second time around.  I was given one last opportunity to try the oral version of the CSE before it goes extinct, so I took a chance, despite a crazy schedule that did not really allow me to prepare as well as I would have liked.  I passed it anyway, to my great relief.  I have sent in my hundred bucks, and now await my official papers as a licensed architect in the State of California.  Goal.....accomplished.

Diversity

I had to answer a question about diversity several months ago on an application for a leadership program.  I didn't get accepted to the program, but I was quite proud of a paragraph I wrote for that application, and I wanted to share.

Baseball as life, or life as baseball?

During my recent period of unemployment, there has been a lot of political discussion about extending unemployment benefits. Many Republicans have been against the extension based on their belief that people are gaming the system and not looking for work hard enough because the government checks just keep coming. All the right-wing radio personalities have been railing about how the moochers like me are just stealing money from the producers because we're too lazy to go out and produce something on our own. I feel the disgust and resentment and outright hatred in their voices when they talk about people on unemployment.


My feeling, based on my experience, is that financial status has much more to do with circumstance than with merit, particularly for those on the top and the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. We can swim around the vastness of lower and upper middle class expending all our energy trying to make it up to that next financial level, but no amount of effort will ever achieve what many are born with. What bugs me is the people who have been given so much through mere circumstance, and believe they have achieved something through merit. I read a quote the other day, "He was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple." I feel like I hit a single, and got thrown out trying to stretch it into a double. And now that guy on third is giving me a hard time, even though I've got more hits than he does.

Press Release

I recently had to write a press release for a job application.  No resume, no cover letter, no references.  Just a press release.  It was a bit of a challenge, but it was also nice to have a break from the formulaic monotony of sending job applications.  I try to make each application tailored to the position, but it still ends up being cutting and pasting, reworking language, etc.  This application required a whole new perspective and original content.  I hope it pays off.  Here's the press release:

You're Welcome, America

Apparently, my colleagues and I did a pretty good job with the 2010 census. On time and under budget. You're Welcome, America.

"I lost it in the lights"

This is the funniest sideline interview I've ever seen.  The guy jumps out of the way of a line drive and it hits his girlfriend.  Hilarious mockery ensues.

From the department of Google searches

I was doing some leisurely Google searching today and I found an article from the Petaluma Argus Courier written a couple years ago when I was still at Wattenbarger Architects in Petaluma.  At the time, we were still building out our office space.  Actually, we never really finished building, so the fact that we were still under construction isn't a very specific timeframe.  The article was from after we got our much-needed, much-delayed bathroom door, but before the office closed due to the recession.  The picture from the article shows the cabinets we designed being built.  The cabinets will always be a fond memory of my time at the Petaluma office.  The material was purchased by my boss, Ross, at an auction where all the old machinery and things were being sold off from a closed down silk mill in town.  I spent a solid week in the old mill, disassembling the enormous redwood shelves.  The shelves had been built in place and they were too big to move in-tact, so I, a desk-jockey by trade, got to spend some time with a hammer and crowbar.  It was a lot of fun, but a lot of effort.  We came up with a beautiful design, and the furniture shop down the alleyway from our office put the whole thing together.  The final product was, and is, quite beautiful and elegant.  It was great to be a part of bringing those old redwood boards back to life.

BP