Thoughts, ramblings, and mental abstractions of an individual emerging in the Architecture profession.
I took a class at the convention a few years back that was all about how architects should talk to non-architects, because apparently we are actually really bad at it. Who knew? We were provided a list of 10 things we should all do. Don't worry, I'm not going to go over all 10 here, …
Continue reading "Drafting Lessons 2 – Notes"
I’m going to have to be completely honest right up front, in my architectural career I have worked on a grand total of zero houses. Nada, zip, zilch. I’ve worked on projects that consisted of remodeling a single room up to hotels that wound up costing in the hundreds of millions. I think maybe the …
Continue reading "House or Home? – Depends"
Maybe I've been listening to way to much pop music when I came up with that title, but it seemed appropriate after I spent the last week trying to determine what I was going to write about. And let me be totally honest from the beginning, I was not following my own advice up until.... …
In a completely unexpected way, a couple of days ago, I got the afternoon off from work. Well, let me phrase a little more accurately. I got the afternoon away from the office, not working on construction drawings or alternate product proposals from the contractor. E-mails with clients and co-workers along with research for an …
Continue reading "An Afternoon Off?"
There is a saying in the architecture profession that if you ask a hundred different architects for an opinion on something, you are going to get a hundred completely different responses. I mean we work in a profession filled with opinions and preferences mixed with science and mechanics, would you expect any less? So with …
Do you remember back in school when you went to your studio and were given some sort of amazing project to work on? Ok, maybe at the time it didn’t feel so amazing, but whatever it was, you were supposed to study and research the bageeziz out of it until you could rationalize every single decision …
Continue reading "From Goodbye to Hello"
"The key to success is to give it all away." I have no idea who gets the credit for that quote, and up until I started thinking about this post, I really wasn't sure how it applied to me. I mean I get the gist of it, but working at a larger firm, I …
Continue reading "Drafting Lessons – Volume 1"
I think that most architects have that one, well maybe not just one, project that wakes you up in the middle of the night wondering how it's going. Depending on the type of firm you are at it could be anything from a million square foot mixed use multi-building project to a single family residential …
Continue reading "Difficult Projects"
It almost sounds like the title to a politically charged action thriller. Well, almost. This month's #ArchiTalks subject, and an interesting one at that. The American Institute of Architects defines "Citizen Architect" as one who uses his/her insights, talents, training, and experience to contribute meaningfully, beyond self, to the improvement of the community and human condition. …
Continue reading "Citizen Architect"
It's Labor Day, the unofficial end to summer; And to be honest, this year, I'm glad it's over. I'm not sure if it was the stress from a couple of the projects I was working on, the heat from a relentless Texas summer, or the brand new experience of kidney stones that made this a …
Continue reading "Father, Husband, Architect – typically in that order"
The Emerging Architect 