I was sitting in a meeting the other day where everyone was asked what was on their minds about work, life, and architecture in general. I looked around the room, and for a moment I didn't think anyone was going to give an answer. It wasn't that anyone didn't have anything on their mind, it …
A winding path
In some regards my path to becoming an architect is what some would say, a pretty typical journey. In other ways though, the parts I don't typically talk about, it's definitely been a bit of a winding journey to get to where I currently find myself. This is the 41st blog post in the #Architalks …
What was I thinking?
V = ╥ r² h Remember that one from early geometry? I do, it's one I will never forget. I guess it was sometime around the end of elementary school, beginning of middle school time frame when I learned how to figure out the volume of a cylinder. I'm definitely not a math genius or …
Communication – What, How, Why?
Architecture is all about the drawings, right? Ummm, no. Wait, say what? Architects draw all the time whether it is by hand or on the computer. I don’t think you can possibly count the number of posts on the internet about what drawings should look like, what line-weights to use, what font works best for …
A million choices
It's December, the holidays are everywhere, and the deadlines are relentless in their quest for completion. It seems as though every project I am working on has someone consistently asking for an answer to the most question the world has ever seen and could cause the entire project to collapse. Or at least until tomorrow's …
Starlight, moonlight – tick tock
I've really only worked for 4 different firms in my career, and 3 of them had pretty much the same philosophy about moonlighting. As long as it doesn't compete with the types of projects the firm does, than by all means, knock yourself out. The 4th firm I was with was during undergrad and if I …
I’ve got a lot to learn
I've been involved lately in a bunch of conversations about the changing role architects are playing in a typical project. You used to be able to go to an experienced architect and be able to ask them about design, drafting, flashing details, or numerous other things that are involved in projects and you would get …
Drafting Lessons 2 – Notes
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, …
House or Home? – Depends
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 …
Priorities
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 …