Today I came across an e-mail informing me that Autodesk had released the new 2011 versions of their CAD and BIM software, AutoCAD and Revit. If you are familiar with these products feel free to skip the following two paragraphs for my opinion about BIM and CAD, if not, read on. For those of you who are not familiar with the world of architectural software it is broken into two different conceptual models: Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) and Building Information Modeling (BIM). CAD software has been around since the 1980′s and is a digital analog to hand drafting. In it, users work in either a 2-D or 3-D environment defined by points and lines (or vectors). CAD software is a time saver in that instead of each drawing being an independent sheet that needs to be redrawn whenever changes are made, the drawing lives virtually within the software and changes can be made rapidly without effecting other areas of the work. In addition drawing elements can be quickly scaled larger or smaller to create details or other drawings. Since CAD is a replication of the drawing process it is used by many different industries. For three dimensional work it can [...]
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Today I turned another year older, and I think a little retrospective is in order. In the course of a year its sometimes hard to see the little things and I sometimes have a habit of overlooking all that I’ve accomplished. After sitting down with my employer yesterday for a yearly review I decided that maybe I should do the same for my life outside of my day job, so as a little experiment I figured I would list all of my quantifiable achievements and deficiencies over the past year. I: spent 7 months unemployed spent 5 months employed by NCARB sat for 7 sections of the ARE waited over 2 months for my last ARE result to arrive passed 7 sections of the ARE was licensed as an Architect in 2 jurisdictions (Virginia and Washington, DC) started my own architecture firm, studioSML, LLC wrote 40 posts to this blog had a gap of almost 5 months between posts wrote 2 posts for Greater Greater Washington wrote 15 posts for DC Metrocentric visited 3 homes by Frank Lloyd Wright wrote 0 articles about those homes (which I plan on remedying as soon as possible)
One of the things that has been the most disturbing to me since I graduated and joined the world of working architects is how little our craft seems to be understood in the United States, not to mention how little demand there is for architects to work on projects. There is a discussion raging over on archinect about the public conception that architects are wealthy, well paid, and always in high demand; while in reality compared to most of the other white collar professions (doctors, lawyers, et al.) it is the opposite. I for the past three weeks I’ve been trying to figure out how to explain why I think this is the case without devolving this post into a history lecture, and I think I’ve finally figured out how to do that. The root behind all of this confusion is two fold. First, while architects work in the twenty-first century world, we still base our business on a nineteenth century business model. Unlike other doctors and lawyers who offer a mix of relatively small fee quick services (like sick visits and legal consultation) and large fee longterm services (complex procedures and trial and business law) architects perform mostly large [...]
There has been a number of posts recently online decrying planning moves by Fairfax City that have been seen as anti-pedestrian and pro-vehicle. I believe that Fairfax Circle is the perfect place for Fairfax to make some planning changes that can be both car and pedestrian friendly.
I was not able to post anything yesterday, because I had a job interview. Now I present you my weekly links of interest. I have a new article on DC Metrocentric This one is a further exploration on my opinions of the Solar Decathlon. In case you missed it last week, I wrote an article for Greater Greater Washington about using the Washington & Old Dominion Trail for a new VRE/Dulles Express line. This article kicked off a big discussion about metro and the silver line. You can see the rest of the articles here. Archipreneur has a link to a presentation by Mickey Jacob, FAIA to House Committee on Small Business. This video highlights the goals of the AIA’s Rebuild & Renew Plan, which primarily calls on congress to make available low or no interest loans which would be useable for design fees as well as construction. This is the kind of boost that the A/E industry really needs to stay alive. Treehugger has an article on a Prefab Portable Green Roof Installed In Toronto. I love the idea that companies could install removable green roofs on buildings that they are leasing without having to make permanent physical changes. [...]
Today I headed down to the Solar Decathlon on the National Mall. While there I was able to tour 15 of the 20 homes. I was happy to see that the Mall was crowded with people braving the wet and cold to visit these houses, even if that meant that the lines for some of the more award winning homes (like Germany and California) were so long that I chose to see 8 other houses instead of trying to get into them. These houses all had innovative design solutions to create energy efficient and responsible homes. Interestingly enough, most of the homes used off the rack products, but just assembled them in innovative ways. Where I found the homes to be lacking was that most of them did not fully address their sites. Many of the homes did not interact with the portions of their lots that faced away from the main walk-way (those on the North were predominantly South focused, and those on the south were mainly North focused). Now I know a lot of this had to do with strategic window placement, but for homes which were little more than 15′x50′ rectangles it felt like opportunities to fully [...]
It took me a while to find an app that could successfully translate any business card into a contact. I tried out apps that limited the number of contact fields and the types of fields (e.g., no e-mail addresses or job titles), but eventually decided to bite the bullet and pay the rather hefty price of $18.99 for Beach House Software’s CardSnap. This application will translate any business card regardless of orientation or text arrangement into an iphone contact. The only drawback is that it can take up to 24 hours, this is because the application sends the photo of the business card that you’ve taken with the iphone to a server where a “proprietary process for processing and mapping the cards” creates a contact without using OCR. Now as far as I’m concerned that proprietary process is probably an offshore customer service center in Bangalore, but it works and thats what’s important. I have had to correct one or two letters in a company name on occasion. But for the most part this is a great app. It is definitely a time saver, if you are willing and able to wait a day to have a full contact automatically [...]
I’ve always been a fan of transformer furniture, Treehugger has a post about an auditorium chair that transforms into a solid sloped plane when not in use. I could image using furniture like this to make a studio apartment have multiple uses. Archipreneur highlights an apartment in NYC which is centered around a ribbon of concrete. I have long been interested in concrete in residential applications, and i feel that this project does a really good job of integrating the material into the space. I especially like the interplay of concrete, wood and brick. clips …Build Blog has a post highlighting how to integrate both modern and traditional architecture into the same project … I love this Slope Sink on Materialicious … SEPTA has some very cool benches coming … Icebergs are stripped, who knew?
So last night I had a really interesting dream. In it, there was a national requirement that once you received your architecture license you had to return to Architecture school for an additional “Comprehensive” studio, but this time include all of the practical knowledge that your license conveys. While I have to say, the concept of being in the high stress world of studio again would be off putting, the opportunity to have an all out academic architectural discourse and project would be welcomed. I think this need to find a creative solution to a problem is the reason I got into architecture, and I have found more and more often lately that it is not part of the actual practice. Creative solutions are good, but they seem only useful during academic planning exercises. Instead, most people want proven quantifiable solutions. If only there were more Design Charettes that were open to public participation instead of by invitation, I think we would see a lot more inventive architecture.
So, in addition to putting together our first permit set this week and having our first paint color consultation with a client, I have been feeling really sick. This is why I haven’t updated the last two days. I’ve been exhausted and had no appetite (yay! Weight loss!) and been having a series of fevers that give me a much better understanding of what women go through during menopause. At first I thought this was all allergy related, but after my first visit to an allergist yesterday (I’m allergic to dust mites, cats and all plant life here in northern Virginia) she seemed to think that it was something better suited to an internist to look into. So I’ve spent the morning being poked, stuck and x-rayed so they can try to figure out what is wrong with me. I can’t help but think that a week ago I found out that I am an Architect, which at the time seemed like such a weighty matter and that it changed the course of my life. While now it seems like a small bump in the road compared to my physical well being. I just have to hope that they find [...]