8,000 sf community center. About 1 yr. out of school, Project designer, with help on the details from the old guy in the office. Mostly wood frame construction, a couple interesting details, Assume its still standing, Haven't seen it in years. Fun but very immature as it had way more potential to be a much more significant piece of work for me but got to be involved early on and got to do a ton of design work.
about 27-29, did about 8 or 9 buildings in that period. all still standing. most of them are public so i expect them to still be there for another few decades or so (gods help me). very busy time and i had no friggin clue but was made senior designer anyway bout a year out of undergrad; did design, development, and cd's, then helped out on site to see them dun (but mostly just watched and explained what the hell my drawings were supposed to mean). 2 of the projects still don look too bad, the rest are really embarrasing. but an amazing experience. talk about jumping into the deep end. learned a shitload, and discovered whole new levels of sleep deprivation. i think it would kill me if i tried to do it now.
Immigration and Naturalization Services, existing radio station gut and redesign, adding of elevator (which I didn't do), securing the site etc. 3rd year of school (1999) the engineer I worked for thought since I was an architect it would be the perfect job for me (more architectural than engineering type of work which we usually got, ex: grain elevatiors and egg farms and stuff.) He didn't really know how much I knew so just let me go. I got a packet of information so it was pretty much just area, adjacencies, sound and security requirements. Holding cells in the basement for detainees, mens was twice the size of the womens, prison type fixtures. I got to consult with a government architect in Chicago who approved my plans, which were all hand drawn and very messy because I kept erasing and redrawing. I told the boss I was done one day and he said ok, picked up the phone, had a conversation, hung up and told me the developer was waiting for me. I was wearing jeans and a dirty T-shirt and had cat hair on me from brushing the office cat (my other duty). Upon meeting with the developer in a huge fancy board room, I went to take the rubber band off the drawings and it shot across the room and the drawings spilled onto the table. I didn't even have them bound. He laughed. The contract was negotiated with a contractor, my best friend's dad, so he was really patient with me. I went back to school before it was finished. It is still standing, I had nothing to do with the exterior as it was existing, but it is pretty bad. I lived not too far from it so walked by it often and it was scary to think about what went on inside.
Just reached a similar level of responsibility 3 years into working for the architecture firm. Library/Community Center, under construction, 14,000 s.f. Got some neat thing going on.
A hut in my backyard made of chicken wire with pine needles stuffed in the wire. I was into recycling and sustainability back then and didn't even know it.
The summer before my last year of college. I would've been about 23.
A small 3 story, masonry construction, school building for a satellite technical program. I did the schematic design, collaborated w/my boss through DD's and helped with CD's. My first project to learn the business but the overall design was mine, with much DD input as I was quite green at it.
i hadn't really realized this before, but now that i consider how many forts myself and friends built when we were kids i guess it makes sense that i grew up to be an architect.
i was probably between about 7 and 12 years old, but it was rather common for us to venture into "the trails" behind our houses and spend a week or two on a given project. some were tree houses, but most were on the ground. the funny thing is that we chopped down quite a few trees and thought nothing of it.
of course, presaging the age of global terrorism, security was a major concern for us as inevitable some punk would vandalize the structure when we weren't around and then we'd have to build over. today those woods (actually, more like clusters of brush in scattered about fields) have been developed into suburban housing. attractive homes, too small to be called mcmansions but i wonder where those kids will play now that "the trails" are nothing but a memory.
jabber: thanx for the reminder , I didn't mean to imply that getting a building done is not a collaboration- so central role, critical position , significant involvment all that yes.
UGLY adult learning centre in a very remote location, almost a decade ago.
Boring except for a few subtle connection details.
Responsible - just what the client wanted - they used it as an example for one of their internal training seminars.
Far from home, so no-one can chew me out for it.
it was in 1987, about 5 years after school (sci arc/santa monica). i was freelancing drafting/design jobs for decorators, designers, architects, set designers.
i met a recent cal-arts graduate photographer who had a thing for art books and collected many rare books.he,his wife and the brother in-law. they were from texas, and inherited 40K from the granma. they wanted to open a art and architecture bookstore and found a 800sq ft storefront on robertson in west hollywood near melrose. to remind you, there were no amazon books, internet, barnes and nobles those days, art and architecture books, monograms were hard to find/order and they had some collectors items of printed material. this was like a book boutique if you will, with sections on, new arrivals, architecture, art and monograms, film, literature and out of print rare art books.
they hired me to the design and do the drawings (i made a basswood model as well, which came really handy for selling the project) for 1200$ for a 8500$ construction budget, with 400$ installments. i had to design so they could built themselves with some skills they had, ie; use of router, table saw, hammer and paint brush. he built some of the cabs in cal-arts wood shop which was the best school shop at the time in los angeles area.
it was in business for 1.5 years than in-laws had a fist fight over money and it was closed and demoed for an indian antique store. if it lasted a little more i could have got more projects out of it. you never know, this first project of mine came out of the blue without really expecting/promoting.
these are my snapshots of 'Metropolis Art & Architecture Books'.
treehouses, pillow houses, forts and legos/lincoln logs don't count guys. what are you afraid of? My first project was ugly as hell.
nice pics abra.
First creative project: allowed only two weeks to design & document, most stressful two weeks ever, but I had full control and designed everything including the clothing/jewelry displays. Price came in at 3 times the estimate, but the owner, a rare jewel who adored the design and me, didn't want to cut a thing. Too small of project for the architects in the firm, so got passed down to me. Favorite thing I've ever done. The drywaller loved it too!
1st project - 2001 US Customs offices at a small airport in Hawaii. Basic rectangular building. CMU construction. Maybe 2000sq. ft. Standing seam metal roof. The most complicated thing was the hundreds of feet of chain link fencing that went everywhere. The best part was the kennel for the dogs. I think I detailed the hell out of that. LOL I hated everything else but the dogs.
A Beach House. About 18 months ago, when I was 27. Located in the Coromandel [Whangamata to be precise]. Area approximately 180m2, budget approximately $120,000.
I have seen it once during construction and havent yet been back [it was completed in January]. Will see it this summer.
Initially, the project was intended to be a speculative development to sell, but the clients could'nt part with it. I'm happy about that. I was effectively a sole practitioner at the time.
Her name was Kelly. She totally took advantage of me. She had slept with a guy before, but I had not been with a girl yet. She liked this and felt it would bring out the best in her to have someone that would wait with her.
But one day she just lost her mind and had to have it. Pinned me down and everything. Pretty cool in hindsight, but damn I was a total mess mentally when it happened.
Interior clothing store, the design was ok, budget horrible. Got killed by our client, changed hands, value engineered from barely something to 'hey, they built the desk'. Still trying to get the rest of the cash, which was almost nothing.
Next project is in the works now and has the potential to be pretty good.
just realised my first is online, so here are pics, such as they are. apologies for the quality.
coolest thing about this project was that i got to visit it with my daughter (above, though she is much bigger now). don't know why exactly but taking my kids to buildings is better than being published (well, personally, anyway).
it is btw a public washroom made with cast in place concrete. the concrete is beautiful. the design? well it looks better in reality than the photos. and i did get better...oh, and my boss threw in the prime geometry round the fountain cuz he had to get his hand in somewhere (it was his office after all). still hate that bit, though am sure there are many out there who think its the best part...
hmmm I've had a few built projects but won't admit to them for various reasons, some being that they had active clients or construction managers who fancied themselves designers. But the one project I call my first is this...this is my baby
freshman year in architecture, 2003, a nice little villa near the coast of the Caspian Sea.
i admit i got some help..... O.K. a lot of help, but it kinda "jump-started" my career in Architecture, although i haven't had any "design and build" jobs since...
when I was an intern during my secong yr of college, I worked for a well known office in NYC that does skyscrapers. I was building study models and was building them faster than my bosses could come up with schemes. I was told to come up with some schemes of my own. i did and the client when with my scheme.
After graduating from college I went to London and saw the building that I had come up with the study model for.
Although I wasnt 100% involved in the building, It was really cool to see something that I had essentially come up with the esquis for
Ha. 2 years ago I totally designed a pool house and back yard layout for my uncle. He went with the cheapest contractor who never really finished it. So, about 3 months ago my father in law picked up the job very begrudgingly and finished her out. I just collected my final check maybe 2 weeks ago.
first architecture job was the summer of '89 interning for a well know boston office that has since changed names. didn't get to design or draft anything, but I did a sweet job repainting their main conference room and spackling all the pin holes in the drywall.
next architecture job was over my final quarter at the KSA ('94) working for a queer (their term and market) design-build office. Designed a job-site sign for them and detailed a few home remodels. favorite one was an attic conversion into a master suite - the bathroom had a window over the toilet looking into the stairwell ;-)
next job was for FOG- build a few models including the final Bilboa presentation model.
my first set design credit was for :
that wall was plastic glass block...
my first flick with a union card was Spawn. had loads of fun designing that set will all the tanks and pipes... little did I know at that point that ten years later, I'd be using those using those tanks for their intended purpose of storing storm water.
I just got 2 referals over the past 24 hours off of that project I mentioned a few days ago. I just finished drafting one up. We'll get started in the morning on the next.
I'm just designing some outdoor kitchen/living areas. The billable hours are next to nothing. ~6 for the first and probably ~12 on the second. I'm gonna try to fetch a percentage, but we'll see.
your first time....
so Corb built his first building when he was 18 or so, kahn was about 35 I think, Foster maybe 32? ( when he started team4) .......
Your first built project: what was it, when was it? still standing? love it ? hate it? pics?
(I only wish i had one to post)
Age: 6
Type: single family house
Materials: Lego bricks
Current condition: demolished
**Sorry. No pictures to post.
8,000 sf community center. About 1 yr. out of school, Project designer, with help on the details from the old guy in the office. Mostly wood frame construction, a couple interesting details, Assume its still standing, Haven't seen it in years. Fun but very immature as it had way more potential to be a much more significant piece of work for me but got to be involved early on and got to do a ton of design work.
In the backseat of a Volkswagon.
Oh, wait.
.mm
watch out for the door handles.
about 27-29, did about 8 or 9 buildings in that period. all still standing. most of them are public so i expect them to still be there for another few decades or so (gods help me). very busy time and i had no friggin clue but was made senior designer anyway bout a year out of undergrad; did design, development, and cd's, then helped out on site to see them dun (but mostly just watched and explained what the hell my drawings were supposed to mean). 2 of the projects still don look too bad, the rest are really embarrasing. but an amazing experience. talk about jumping into the deep end. learned a shitload, and discovered whole new levels of sleep deprivation. i think it would kill me if i tried to do it now.
A warehouse burnt down, I did an exact replica as a replacement. Design aspirations were within safe limits back in 2001!
keep em coming....
& while you're reminiscing , any advice for those who might be starting out on a job. ....?
just to add - the architecture is located in the far right corner of the image - toilets, reception and office.
how do you determine your first time anyway? there are a lot of buildings my boss designed but i did all the CD work for, does that count?
can we try to remember that architecture is a "team sport" ...
this persistent "my building" syndrome is at the root of so many problems in our profession ...
maybe the question ought to be "what was the first built project on which you played a significant role ?"
Immigration and Naturalization Services, existing radio station gut and redesign, adding of elevator (which I didn't do), securing the site etc. 3rd year of school (1999) the engineer I worked for thought since I was an architect it would be the perfect job for me (more architectural than engineering type of work which we usually got, ex: grain elevatiors and egg farms and stuff.) He didn't really know how much I knew so just let me go. I got a packet of information so it was pretty much just area, adjacencies, sound and security requirements. Holding cells in the basement for detainees, mens was twice the size of the womens, prison type fixtures. I got to consult with a government architect in Chicago who approved my plans, which were all hand drawn and very messy because I kept erasing and redrawing. I told the boss I was done one day and he said ok, picked up the phone, had a conversation, hung up and told me the developer was waiting for me. I was wearing jeans and a dirty T-shirt and had cat hair on me from brushing the office cat (my other duty). Upon meeting with the developer in a huge fancy board room, I went to take the rubber band off the drawings and it shot across the room and the drawings spilled onto the table. I didn't even have them bound. He laughed. The contract was negotiated with a contractor, my best friend's dad, so he was really patient with me. I went back to school before it was finished. It is still standing, I had nothing to do with the exterior as it was existing, but it is pretty bad. I lived not too far from it so walked by it often and it was scary to think about what went on inside.
Just reached a similar level of responsibility 3 years into working for the architecture firm. Library/Community Center, under construction, 14,000 s.f. Got some neat thing going on.
I made a fort out of pillows in my living room
A hut in my backyard made of chicken wire with pine needles stuffed in the wire. I was into recycling and sustainability back then and didn't even know it.
The summer before my last year of college. I would've been about 23.
A small 3 story, masonry construction, school building for a satellite technical program. I did the schematic design, collaborated w/my boss through DD's and helped with CD's. My first project to learn the business but the overall design was mine, with much DD input as I was quite green at it.
Still standing and used as a school.
i hadn't really realized this before, but now that i consider how many forts myself and friends built when we were kids i guess it makes sense that i grew up to be an architect.
i was probably between about 7 and 12 years old, but it was rather common for us to venture into "the trails" behind our houses and spend a week or two on a given project. some were tree houses, but most were on the ground. the funny thing is that we chopped down quite a few trees and thought nothing of it.
of course, presaging the age of global terrorism, security was a major concern for us as inevitable some punk would vandalize the structure when we weren't around and then we'd have to build over. today those woods (actually, more like clusters of brush in scattered about fields) have been developed into suburban housing. attractive homes, too small to be called mcmansions but i wonder where those kids will play now that "the trails" are nothing but a memory.
damn puddles, sounds eerily like you were my next door neighbor.....
20 years later and my best summer weekends are still spent leaving my house in the morning on a bike with a shovel and bag of tools.
lego posts are irking.
jabber: thanx for the reminder , I didn't mean to imply that getting a building done is not a collaboration- so central role, critical position , significant involvment all that yes.
UGLY adult learning centre in a very remote location, almost a decade ago.
Boring except for a few subtle connection details.
Responsible - just what the client wanted - they used it as an example for one of their internal training seminars.
Far from home, so no-one can chew me out for it.
it was in 1987, about 5 years after school (sci arc/santa monica). i was freelancing drafting/design jobs for decorators, designers, architects, set designers.
i met a recent cal-arts graduate photographer who had a thing for art books and collected many rare books.he,his wife and the brother in-law. they were from texas, and inherited 40K from the granma. they wanted to open a art and architecture bookstore and found a 800sq ft storefront on robertson in west hollywood near melrose. to remind you, there were no amazon books, internet, barnes and nobles those days, art and architecture books, monograms were hard to find/order and they had some collectors items of printed material. this was like a book boutique if you will, with sections on, new arrivals, architecture, art and monograms, film, literature and out of print rare art books.
they hired me to the design and do the drawings (i made a basswood model as well, which came really handy for selling the project) for 1200$ for a 8500$ construction budget, with 400$ installments. i had to design so they could built themselves with some skills they had, ie; use of router, table saw, hammer and paint brush. he built some of the cabs in cal-arts wood shop which was the best school shop at the time in los angeles area.
it was in business for 1.5 years than in-laws had a fist fight over money and it was closed and demoed for an indian antique store. if it lasted a little more i could have got more projects out of it. you never know, this first project of mine came out of the blue without really expecting/promoting.
these are my snapshots of 'Metropolis Art & Architecture Books'.
Project: Treehouse 2
Location: Olathe, Kansas
Construction: 1987-89
Destruction by law enforcement\concerned citizens: 1989
Materials: found at nearby construction sites.
treehouses, pillow houses, forts and legos/lincoln logs don't count guys. what are you afraid of? My first project was ugly as hell.
nice pics abra.
First creative project: allowed only two weeks to design & document, most stressful two weeks ever, but I had full control and designed everything including the clothing/jewelry displays. Price came in at 3 times the estimate, but the owner, a rare jewel who adored the design and me, didn't want to cut a thing. Too small of project for the architects in the firm, so got passed down to me. Favorite thing I've ever done. The drywaller loved it too!
the first, and perhaps the only time, the client agreed with whatever I said.
1st project - 2001 US Customs offices at a small airport in Hawaii. Basic rectangular building. CMU construction. Maybe 2000sq. ft. Standing seam metal roof. The most complicated thing was the hundreds of feet of chain link fencing that went everywhere. The best part was the kennel for the dogs. I think I detailed the hell out of that. LOL I hated everything else but the dogs.
A Beach House. About 18 months ago, when I was 27. Located in the Coromandel [Whangamata to be precise]. Area approximately 180m2, budget approximately $120,000.
I have seen it once during construction and havent yet been back [it was completed in January]. Will see it this summer.
Initially, the project was intended to be a speculative development to sell, but the clients could'nt part with it. I'm happy about that. I was effectively a sole practitioner at the time.
Her name was Kelly. She totally took advantage of me. She had slept with a guy before, but I had not been with a girl yet. She liked this and felt it would bring out the best in her to have someone that would wait with her.
But one day she just lost her mind and had to have it. Pinned me down and everything. Pretty cool in hindsight, but damn I was a total mess mentally when it happened.
img]http://www.abbeville.com/gardening/images/decorating-treehouse.jpg[/img]
Interior clothing store, the design was ok, budget horrible. Got killed by our client, changed hands, value engineered from barely something to 'hey, they built the desk'. Still trying to get the rest of the cash, which was almost nothing.
Next project is in the works now and has the potential to be pretty good.
One step at a time.
just realised my first is online, so here are pics, such as they are. apologies for the quality.
coolest thing about this project was that i got to visit it with my daughter (above, though she is much bigger now). don't know why exactly but taking my kids to buildings is better than being published (well, personally, anyway).
it is btw a public washroom made with cast in place concrete. the concrete is beautiful. the design? well it looks better in reality than the photos. and i did get better...oh, and my boss threw in the prime geometry round the fountain cuz he had to get his hand in somewhere (it was his office after all). still hate that bit, though am sure there are many out there who think its the best part...
hmmm I've had a few built projects but won't admit to them for various reasons, some being that they had active clients or construction managers who fancied themselves designers. But the one project I call my first is this...this is my baby
freshman year in architecture, 2003, a nice little villa near the coast of the Caspian Sea.
i admit i got some help..... O.K. a lot of help, but it kinda "jump-started" my career in Architecture, although i haven't had any "design and build" jobs since...
when I was an intern during my secong yr of college, I worked for a well known office in NYC that does skyscrapers. I was building study models and was building them faster than my bosses could come up with schemes. I was told to come up with some schemes of my own. i did and the client when with my scheme.
After graduating from college I went to London and saw the building that I had come up with the study model for.
Although I wasnt 100% involved in the building, It was really cool to see something that I had essentially come up with the esquis for
Ha. 2 years ago I totally designed a pool house and back yard layout for my uncle. He went with the cheapest contractor who never really finished it. So, about 3 months ago my father in law picked up the job very begrudgingly and finished her out. I just collected my final check maybe 2 weeks ago.
first architecture job was the summer of '89 interning for a well know boston office that has since changed names. didn't get to design or draft anything, but I did a sweet job repainting their main conference room and spackling all the pin holes in the drywall.
next architecture job was over my final quarter at the KSA ('94) working for a queer (their term and market) design-build office. Designed a job-site sign for them and detailed a few home remodels. favorite one was an attic conversion into a master suite - the bathroom had a window over the toilet looking into the stairwell ;-)
next job was for FOG- build a few models including the final Bilboa presentation model.
my first set design credit was for :
that wall was plastic glass block...
my first flick with a union card was Spawn. had loads of fun designing that set will all the tanks and pipes... little did I know at that point that ten years later, I'd be using those using those tanks for their intended purpose of storing storm water.
and you even made imdb treekiller...congrats.
very similar experience mdler...twice! still havent been around to see the realized projects yet. someday...
I just got 2 referals over the past 24 hours off of that project I mentioned a few days ago. I just finished drafting one up. We'll get started in the morning on the next.
I'm just designing some outdoor kitchen/living areas. The billable hours are next to nothing. ~6 for the first and probably ~12 on the second. I'm gonna try to fetch a percentage, but we'll see.
Architechnophilia....beautifullllllll........!
I had a couple of ads I've designed published, but they're in magazines nobody's ever heard of...
age 5 digging mixing and making adobe bricks. super grunt kid
i have pictures but not on me
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