Category: Blog Management

Where have I been this past two months?

I just realized the other day that it has almost been 2 months since I last updated this blog. Who would have thought that I would be able to keep a normal writing schedule while I was working 50 hour weeks, but once I became unemployed I would struggle to write something ever few weeks, let alone months?

So what have I been up to? Well, I have been writing an architecture criticism column for DC Metrocentric (check out the ArchiCritic category) and while at first it was every week that seemed to be nigh impossible to keep up. Now I have settled into a new post every other week, which is totally doable. I just wish that I didn’t wait until the last minute every time to write my article.

The next big piece of news is that tomorrow is my last ARE exam, at least of this go-around. So far I have taken 6 exams and passed three. I am waiting on my scores for the rest. Tomorrow is Schematic Design. If the exam is anything like the practice problems I should be OK. Hopefully, with this one down, that means all I have to do is wait 2 more months and I’ll have my license.

And the last big event (and the one that is most likely going to get me back into the saddle of writing on this blog) is that a good friend and colleague of mine, Andrew Merlo, and I have started our own design firm — studioSML. For right now our website is just a splash page at studioSML.com but in the next few weeks I hope to get it fully flushed out and start the daily chore of posting to a blog there and here as well as updating multiple twitter feeds. At least I have my facebook status repeating my twitter status, otherwise that would be one to many social media updates for me to make each day.

So, if you are looking for design work in the DC area and want to give a new design company a much needed break please think of us. In a few months I hope to be able to say that we are Architects, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens with my test results.

I’ve been cheating on my own blog!

I’ve been harboring a secret for the past few weeks and been dying to post about it but had to wait until it went live. I am now a weekly feature writer for the DC architecture and property blogDC Metrocentric. Its one of the reasons O haven’t posted on here very much, that and just plain laziness. I’ve spent quite a bit of time trying to develop a writing identity for that site. I will be analyzing and criticizing local architecture within the beltway. If anyone has any suggestions I would welcome the input.

You can find my first post, a criticial analysis of the architecture of the Metro system, live on the site now. Feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Back from my break

I am back from my blogging sabbatical.

The holidays are come and gone, my play was a success, and I am now fully cleared to take my exams.

I have started studying in my free time, and in the coming weeks I plan on devoting some space here to things I learn in my ARE studying as well as plugging myself back into the on-line architectural discourse.

Happy Holidays

The next few weeks are going to be a bit crazy for me. As you can see by the new banner ad on the main page, the community theatre show I am producing opens in three weeks, so a lot of my time will be spent on that (if you are going to be in the DC area come and see it!). In addition, the holidays will throw a wrench in my writing time, especially because there are some applications i need to get filed by the beginning of January. Add to all of this, I just got my ARE test prep materials, so I may need to take a break from posting regularly for the next few weeks.

I will still be twittering, and If i find something interesting while wasting time online or reading an architecture journal i may post it.
(if not sooner)

Whatever you are or are not celebrating, have a happy holidays, see you next year!

Adaptively reused Circuit Cities, here we come!

With the recent closing of many of the area’s Circuit City stores and the bleak financial forecast, this Sunday’s Washington Post article about what to do with big box stores after they close down, seemed to be fortuitously timed to impact the local planning discourse. For this article, the Post assembled a collection of local architects and artists, such as Darrel Rippeteau, Roger K. Lewis, Esocoff & Associates, et al., and asked them how they would reuse a big-box store.

The graphics in this article are intriguing and open an sub/urban planning discussion on what to do with the trappings of early twenty-first century American development once this business model has changed. The proposals include luxury housing, gardens, vineyards, and other adaptive reuse measures. This is all green and good, but I have to question the safety and cost of reusing these big box stores. Like fast food franchises, big box stores are not built to last. They are not constructed with any concept of their permanence, instead they are meant to go up quick and cheap and come down the same way when the new mega-ultra-super mart opens around the corner. The advantage of reusing old warehouses and factories is that theses large masonry structures were built to last and much of these structure can be re-purposed for less a strenuous program. This advantage would not be present in the Circuit Cities which will soon find themselves lacking a purpose.

There was one proposal that stood out to me, instead of re-imagining the big box store, it adapted the parking lot to a more urban context. The design called for two “linear buildings” surround a “parking module.” This strategy is closely related to one of the common forms for multifamily construction – the Texas Donut. In this strategy the parking garage is surrounded by the program, hiding it from view and creating a “safe” place for parking. This is a strategy that has become quite common in urban fringe development and could be beneficial in creating density within the big box context. The other reason this strategy caught my eye is that in my Thesis project for architecture school, I repurposed the parking lot of a Wal-Mart in New Orleans to create a public plaza and a municipal library. Part of the goal of my project was to acknowledge the big box stores as the modern equivalent of the urban market and to reintegrate them into the civic context.