MoCA used to not let us have pens. Even when we were sketching in pencil we had to stay like 3 feet away from anything.
I think the no-camera policy on the skywalk is for outright financial benefit, though. See, they'll take a picture of you out there for like $20. If they didn't ban cameras, then nobody would fall for that.
This is also probably why low level employees don't usually get to see the numbers, because I can bring it up at raise time when I'm told that business is tough and whatnot and they can't afford to give me a raise:
Anyways, for a TI job, I just found out the MEP engineer's fee was MORE than ours. We get 12k and they get 20k (from us). On top of that, they are delaying us 2 weeks, going on 3, (I'm finished and they haven't started YET), plus I did the power, switching, and lighting plans in CAD and e-mailed it to them. The fees are based on politics, but little does my employer know my policies are to negotiate myself more than a standard of living raise come January and use this as leverage. WTF? Business IS tough! (when you are a fucking pushover).
by the way, update on the job we propsed to do for 1.5% of construction cost, the developer decided that wasn't so bad, signed the contract, and now I'm the project manager. Everything else about this job is great, what can I do to tactfully let the boss know he is gonna drive us all crazy doing things this way? How can I do a good job and grow professionally with this type of leadership? I hate this profession, beer can't fix this.
i think the reason for the no camera thing would have to do with the fact if you let one photo, you'll have to let evryone, and if everyone at the same time posed for a photo, you'd some safety issues....
Today has been a day of the world's most mind-numbing work. I've been what I call a human copy machine all day.... transferring some very extensive redlines from one set of shop drawings to the five copies of it.
Don't ask me why we don't do this by sending out for copies. I've asked people around the office, and nobody has given me an answer that I consider to be satisfactory, therefor I have no satisfactory answer to pass on to you.
rationalist, I used to have to do that, I asked the same thing, didn't get a good answer either.
techno, it's common to have all consultants paid out of the architect's fee. We are supposed to get a proposal from them and include it in our fee, they are under our contract as a sub/consultant. I don't think that happened this time. There is no structural as there is no structural work.
ahhh damn - I think its been a while since I've been in private practice, but I see the MEP definately seemed to strike gold with the negotiations of fees
Rationalist.....that is alot better than what I have been doing today..... It has been fire alarm day....This morning I spent pissing around with a set of drawings modifying the foot print by 8" just to be sure I was not in a rear yard setback ( the eave of the roof being the dictating factor) Who the hell writes zoning regulations where you don't consider the foot print of the building and then allow for a maximum roof overhang of say 2 feet before you have to start considering it as being in the rear yard setback. I looked thru the zoning book a number of times...and damn if I can find it but that is what the zoning enforcement officer is telling me. I have already been to the zoning board asking for a variance which was denied, so I know there is no answer there. I aso know my client wants to be dryed in before the snow flies. Then I get a call about another project where I have house builders working on a commerical project with a client wanting to move the project along. The local building inspector calls me and gives me the heads up, there are alot of wood studs on the site. Then he ask me the loaded question, what type of construction you going for and I say 3B, and he says no wood studs at the exterior walls.....even if they are not bearing. So I call the owner and tell him I thought we had talked about metal studs and he says well my guys are more comfortable with wood than metal....yikes! I set him straight by telling him, if he wants to use
the second floor for mercantile then he needs the type 3b construction. Problem solved. Then I have another call from another client's contractor. Where I have been in negotiation for two weeks with the local building inspector about the remodel of a project which is office space on the first floor and two apartments on the second floor. The builder wants to pull the permit cause he has guys at the place working...oh Boy! So as you can imagine I have been burning up the keys today trying to get a bunch of things under control, when all I want to do is work on some design.
we get 5% above our own fee to pay the engineer and do MEP ourselves (small projects so is esay). if we didn't we would make 0 money.
1.49 is insane. can you even break even with that? my old boss complains about getting 3% on 30 mill job cuz it used to be 4 or more...and he doesn't get the construction ovdersigh job either, which also used to be 4% (now the client hires someone else)...architecture business is a very hard one.
i won't even get into what my partner gets as developer...but it aint 3%. it aint even single digits. architects are often wussy when it comes to money.
my day was waiting for translations of the client meeting, transcribing the translation from korean to english, getting edits/second pass at the translation then issuing the minutes (in english) to our project team and a second abridged version to our feasibility consultant. this is worse then a game of telephone...
What was a ritzy golf resort is turning into a concentration camp for the wealthy, lots of walls/fences, guard houses and paranoia. There is still hope that I can make it green though...
r- that's one of my fav films, congrats... those zztop dudes on roller skates with the intertwined beards have always made me smile... other then mdler on your tail, their isn't much of a race for #4 of top posters. down here in the teens/ mid-2k posters, we've got quite a pelaton...
today at the office, as we heard the security requirements, I started thinking about apartheid south africa and the settlements in the west bank. Why do people live in/visit places and yet want to remain isolated from the locals?
Did anybody else read this latimes story about the wave of burglaries in bel aire and beverly hill that are enabled by how isolated everybody their is with their tall fences and never meeting the neighbors?
lb sorry to hear your still under the weather. get well soon.
ratio- congrats on your 5000. keep the quality posts coming.
Has anyone ever seen Sergei Bondarchuk's film "War And Peace"? It is spectacular. It took five years to film and is 403 minutes long. It was released in 1968. It cost 100 million bucks to make, accounting for inflation it would cost a billion bucks in todays money. The battle scenes actually use the real number of troops that were actually engaged in the real battles against Napolean.
Over 40 Soviet museums and libraries supplied paintings, books, art treasures and weapons. 47 different businesses worked full time for five years to supply clothing and equipment used in the picture. All of which was historically accurate.
We are talking about over 100 thousand extras! The camera work and stylization blew me away.
Dr T struck a particular chord with me, because I was forced to continue with music lessons long after my interest had died out... the natural choice for 5k to be sure. I'll be fine with mdler catching me up in the fall, though. 5k is a ricockulous postcount. But then again, vado joined on the same day as I did, and is a good 3300 posts in the lead, so that makes me feel a little bit better.
tk, I hadn't seen that, but it makes complete sense by jane jacobs-type logic. We had a similar problem with one neighborhood I lived in back in Phoenix- there was a more affluent area smack in the middle of much less affluent areas, and the neighborhood never congealed and became a community, and there was a huge burglary problem partially as a result. We went to a neighborhood watch meeting once there, and they asked you how many times your house had been broken into, and used a marker to indicate it on the map... we were dark red, with a ring around it. I think we were getting up on a dozen times in six years living there. I would've traded that big house, pool, trees, and all that came with it, for the 800 sq. ft. home I spent my extreme youth in, in a heartbeat. No question which was the better house, because there was no question which was the better community.
Taken this evening outside the Kimball Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas:
Hi gang. Just checking in. I'm exhausted, too tired to blog. This trip is hilarious though. Also, Steven Ward and n_ are wonderful and have some good karma coming their way!
rationalist, I'm sorry but I'm not bringing you a Wii. However, I am bringing you free alcohol!
It was _n who wanted a Wii. Whisky is a perfectly acceptable offering for me, although we probably shouldn't start in on it until we've unpacked some boxes.
I'm freezing cold working inside the cafe that I'm doing a reno job for. But the poor US Postal delivery worker just staggered in dripping sweat reminded me - it's 96 outside!
Oh what a day....but glad to see WonderK is alive and travelling well. I loved the Kimbell I found it spiritual when I visited. As well I think I might consider it Kahn most sedated work in the US. Moot point of course. I hope she gets a chance to see the deMenil museum as well - its worth the journey althought I know its not planned on her route. Its a few hours east if you dare.
Now on to my day. We met with a contractor and his representative (foreman) and our legal rep (lawyer). Well it was simple and civil throughout most of it until the foreman starting slinging mud - ofcourse in the wrong direction. He ended by verbally abusing both architects in the room (me and my 2nd). Even calling us snakes. It was really quite nasty.
mmm, at the end of another day of manual copy hell, I was granted a short break, during which I splurged on organic cotton and bamboo clothing that has actual sleeves, to help prepare myself for the cold northwest.
Straw, that means that with under half an hour left til quitting time, my project manager said he wouldn't have any more work for me until tomorrow morning. So I got to relax for the last little bit of the day.
interesting day today: i ran a design charrette of 25 people working on brainstorming for a new 100 acre parks project; we got shortlisted for a new 1500 seat catholic church and church k-8 school; and we learned that a coworker has been put on involuntary leave to recover from something that could very well kill him. ups and downs, it all comes together in a strange way. i hope tomorrow is a little less eventful.
According to a police officer tonight on the National Mall (you know, THE National Mall), beer drinking is no longer allowed there - even discrete drinking - because the homless people have been complaining, "We can't drink but the 'rich' people can? WTF?"
How am I supposed to make it through the week if I can't have a few beers on the greatest lawn in America on Wednesday nights??
i posted this on another thread, but two buddies of mine were ticketed in rogers park(chicago) for drinkin beer on a public beach. 140 buck fine. and it wasn't even imported. i have hardly drunk at all this summer.
whiskey can fix what beer leaves behind. Oh that rich liquid that simmers down the throat how its been. I was flying back home one shoulder wrapped up, the other still dislocated but able enough to throw 2 glasses of irish whiskey down my gullet. I was floating soon there after as I accidentally forgot that I had taken two pain killers
fastest flight i was ever on...the plane flight I mean
oh the horror!!! thread central was almost off the first page... c'mon people we just narrowly averted disaster... quit working diligently and waste some time here...
if we're going to march on the national mall with beer, could we do it sometime between september 13-15th? i'll already be there for the weekend...
steven, the charrette sounds fun... can you tell us a little more?
rationalista, congrats on cracking the 5K barrier...
killa, i thought about this before, but never really said anything... how are you planning to make a golf course green? aren't they notoriously un-green as a result of the monoculture and all of the chemicals and fertilizers and stuff? i'd be interested in hearing how you're dealing with those issues...
architphil, your spot on, green and golf course are mutually exclusive, but I'm still trying to mix the oil and water. right now our best hope is to make the resort and housing facilities low impact, small footprint, energy efficient, and dealing with the stormwater in a sensitive manner (3m of rain/year over the 6 month rainy season - that equals 10' of water/20" per month). All this rain brings small scale hydropower into play (no wind potential in the region, and PV seems out of reach, though solar hot water is a go). the site is currently a coffee plantation, so the monoculture of turf will be replacing a monoculture of coffee- and we'll be adding botanical gardens, native plantings, native riparian/wetlands zones, and maybe even green roofs to bring biodiversity back to the site. the chemicals/intensive mowing break my heart still. this may be another project that I have sold out on - but there is still hope.
Tonight I have two tasks: calculate the tile required for the historic house I'm renovating for one client, and sketch up some "alternatives that add value" to four builder-designer "home plans" (aka McMansions) for another client.
Neither sounds very fun, but I'm leaning toward the tile calcs. I thought I could do this floor plan exercise fast and quick for easy money, but my heart just isn't in it - I look at these plans and see everything I don't like about the built environment.
I guess that's why I'm six months behind on that little project - at this point I can't even ask the guy to pay me, I just want the project out of my life.
Sigh. But the good news is: Guess I'm not a complete sell-out yet!
Thread Central
MoCA used to not let us have pens. Even when we were sketching in pencil we had to stay like 3 feet away from anything.
I think the no-camera policy on the skywalk is for outright financial benefit, though. See, they'll take a picture of you out there for like $20. If they didn't ban cameras, then nobody would fall for that.
hey rationalist you are on the cusp of 5k posts - cool; you should make it significant
This is also probably why low level employees don't usually get to see the numbers, because I can bring it up at raise time when I'm told that business is tough and whatnot and they can't afford to give me a raise:
Anyways, for a TI job, I just found out the MEP engineer's fee was MORE than ours. We get 12k and they get 20k (from us). On top of that, they are delaying us 2 weeks, going on 3, (I'm finished and they haven't started YET), plus I did the power, switching, and lighting plans in CAD and e-mailed it to them. The fees are based on politics, but little does my employer know my policies are to negotiate myself more than a standard of living raise come January and use this as leverage. WTF? Business IS tough! (when you are a fucking pushover).
by the way, update on the job we propsed to do for 1.5% of construction cost, the developer decided that wasn't so bad, signed the contract, and now I'm the project manager. Everything else about this job is great, what can I do to tactfully let the boss know he is gonna drive us all crazy doing things this way? How can I do a good job and grow professionally with this type of leadership? I hate this profession, beer can't fix this.
we'll do that job for 1.49%
i think the reason for the no camera thing would have to do with the fact if you let one photo, you'll have to let evryone, and if everyone at the same time posed for a photo, you'd some safety issues....
you must be an architect...
vado, you got a deal at 1.49%, I need CD's in 5 weeks. Call if you have questions, thanks!
Today has been a day of the world's most mind-numbing work. I've been what I call a human copy machine all day.... transferring some very extensive redlines from one set of shop drawings to the five copies of it.
Don't ask me why we don't do this by sending out for copies. I've asked people around the office, and nobody has given me an answer that I consider to be satisfactory, therefor I have no satisfactory answer to pass on to you.
Besides, my brain feels like it's been pickled.
why would you pay the MEP and not the client? Did you pay the structural engineer as well
rationalist, I used to have to do that, I asked the same thing, didn't get a good answer either.
techno, it's common to have all consultants paid out of the architect's fee. We are supposed to get a proposal from them and include it in our fee, they are under our contract as a sub/consultant. I don't think that happened this time. There is no structural as there is no structural work.
ahhh damn - I think its been a while since I've been in private practice, but I see the MEP definately seemed to strike gold with the negotiations of fees
Rationalist.....that is alot better than what I have been doing today..... It has been fire alarm day....This morning I spent pissing around with a set of drawings modifying the foot print by 8" just to be sure I was not in a rear yard setback ( the eave of the roof being the dictating factor) Who the hell writes zoning regulations where you don't consider the foot print of the building and then allow for a maximum roof overhang of say 2 feet before you have to start considering it as being in the rear yard setback. I looked thru the zoning book a number of times...and damn if I can find it but that is what the zoning enforcement officer is telling me. I have already been to the zoning board asking for a variance which was denied, so I know there is no answer there. I aso know my client wants to be dryed in before the snow flies. Then I get a call about another project where I have house builders working on a commerical project with a client wanting to move the project along. The local building inspector calls me and gives me the heads up, there are alot of wood studs on the site. Then he ask me the loaded question, what type of construction you going for and I say 3B, and he says no wood studs at the exterior walls.....even if they are not bearing. So I call the owner and tell him I thought we had talked about metal studs and he says well my guys are more comfortable with wood than metal....yikes! I set him straight by telling him, if he wants to use
the second floor for mercantile then he needs the type 3b construction. Problem solved. Then I have another call from another client's contractor. Where I have been in negotiation for two weeks with the local building inspector about the remodel of a project which is office space on the first floor and two apartments on the second floor. The builder wants to pull the permit cause he has guys at the place working...oh Boy! So as you can imagine I have been burning up the keys today trying to get a bunch of things under control, when all I want to do is work on some design.
we get 5% above our own fee to pay the engineer and do MEP ourselves (small projects so is esay). if we didn't we would make 0 money.
1.49 is insane. can you even break even with that? my old boss complains about getting 3% on 30 mill job cuz it used to be 4 or more...and he doesn't get the construction ovdersigh job either, which also used to be 4% (now the client hires someone else)...architecture business is a very hard one.
i won't even get into what my partner gets as developer...but it aint 3%. it aint even single digits. architects are often wussy when it comes to money.
my day was waiting for translations of the client meeting, transcribing the translation from korean to english, getting edits/second pass at the translation then issuing the minutes (in english) to our project team and a second abridged version to our feasibility consultant. this is worse then a game of telephone...
What was a ritzy golf resort is turning into a concentration camp for the wealthy, lots of walls/fences, guard houses and paranoia. There is still hope that I can make it green though...
concentration camp for the wealthy, that's funny. it's 7:30, time to go home.
...because I can't think of a better place for post #5000.
rationalist that's brilliant! Dr Zuess is hoot, a what? A hoot! In a boot? A boot? A boot!
Congrats rationalista.
As I stated here, I learned sketchup today. I think it will be valuable for many of my clients.
ANd I have a cold and feel like crap, so goodnight now.
beta, so sorry about your house, but there will be another opportunity, either on that one or another project entirely.
r- that's one of my fav films, congrats... those zztop dudes on roller skates with the intertwined beards have always made me smile... other then mdler on your tail, their isn't much of a race for #4 of top posters. down here in the teens/ mid-2k posters, we've got quite a pelaton...
today at the office, as we heard the security requirements, I started thinking about apartheid south africa and the settlements in the west bank. Why do people live in/visit places and yet want to remain isolated from the locals?
Did anybody else read this latimes story about the wave of burglaries in bel aire and beverly hill that are enabled by how isolated everybody their is with their tall fences and never meeting the neighbors?
lb sorry to hear your still under the weather. get well soon.
ratio- congrats on your 5000. keep the quality posts coming.
Has anyone ever seen Sergei Bondarchuk's film "War And Peace"? It is spectacular. It took five years to film and is 403 minutes long. It was released in 1968. It cost 100 million bucks to make, accounting for inflation it would cost a billion bucks in todays money. The battle scenes actually use the real number of troops that were actually engaged in the real battles against Napolean.
Over 40 Soviet museums and libraries supplied paintings, books, art treasures and weapons. 47 different businesses worked full time for five years to supply clothing and equipment used in the picture. All of which was historically accurate.
We are talking about over 100 thousand extras! The camera work and stylization blew me away.
Dr T struck a particular chord with me, because I was forced to continue with music lessons long after my interest had died out... the natural choice for 5k to be sure. I'll be fine with mdler catching me up in the fall, though. 5k is a ricockulous postcount. But then again, vado joined on the same day as I did, and is a good 3300 posts in the lead, so that makes me feel a little bit better.
tk, I hadn't seen that, but it makes complete sense by jane jacobs-type logic. We had a similar problem with one neighborhood I lived in back in Phoenix- there was a more affluent area smack in the middle of much less affluent areas, and the neighborhood never congealed and became a community, and there was a huge burglary problem partially as a result. We went to a neighborhood watch meeting once there, and they asked you how many times your house had been broken into, and used a marker to indicate it on the map... we were dark red, with a ring around it. I think we were getting up on a dozen times in six years living there. I would've traded that big house, pool, trees, and all that came with it, for the 800 sq. ft. home I spent my extreme youth in, in a heartbeat. No question which was the better house, because there was no question which was the better community.
i can barely see you in my rear view mirror.
Taken this evening outside the Kimball Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas:
Hi gang. Just checking in. I'm exhausted, too tired to blog. This trip is hilarious though. Also, Steven Ward and n_ are wonderful and have some good karma coming their way!
rationalist, I'm sorry but I'm not bringing you a Wii. However, I am bringing you free alcohol!
I have to sleep now. Tomorrow, aliens!
good shot of the kitty wk.
has anyone read that ad for andreozzi architects? its hilarious with several talking heads quotes. "i'm writing bout the ad i read" paraphrase.
It was _n who wanted a Wii. Whisky is a perfectly acceptable offering for me, although we probably shouldn't start in on it until we've unpacked some boxes.
Yay for the road update, DubK!
I'm freezing cold working inside the cafe that I'm doing a reno job for. But the poor US Postal delivery worker just staggered in dripping sweat reminded me - it's 96 outside!
Oh what a day....but glad to see WonderK is alive and travelling well. I loved the Kimbell I found it spiritual when I visited. As well I think I might consider it Kahn most sedated work in the US. Moot point of course. I hope she gets a chance to see the deMenil museum as well - its worth the journey althought I know its not planned on her route. Its a few hours east if you dare.
Now on to my day. We met with a contractor and his representative (foreman) and our legal rep (lawyer). Well it was simple and civil throughout most of it until the foreman starting slinging mud - ofcourse in the wrong direction. He ended by verbally abusing both architects in the room (me and my 2nd). Even calling us snakes. It was really quite nasty.
mmm, at the end of another day of manual copy hell, I was granted a short break, during which I splurged on organic cotton and bamboo clothing that has actual sleeves, to help prepare myself for the cold northwest.
you were "granted" a short break? what does that mean?
just went for an after dinner walk/run. closing in on the 20 pound loss number. its freakin oppressively hot out there.
*sigh* Great quote. I'll have to use it sometime. (Tomorrow? Everyday?)
...because really there is so little that beer can't fix. that really hits close to home, ya know?
Straw, that means that with under half an hour left til quitting time, my project manager said he wouldn't have any more work for me until tomorrow morning. So I got to relax for the last little bit of the day.
interesting day today: i ran a design charrette of 25 people working on brainstorming for a new 100 acre parks project; we got shortlisted for a new 1500 seat catholic church and church k-8 school; and we learned that a coworker has been put on involuntary leave to recover from something that could very well kill him. ups and downs, it all comes together in a strange way. i hope tomorrow is a little less eventful.
According to a police officer tonight on the National Mall (you know, THE National Mall), beer drinking is no longer allowed there - even discrete drinking - because the homless people have been complaining, "We can't drink but the 'rich' people can? WTF?"
How am I supposed to make it through the week if I can't have a few beers on the greatest lawn in America on Wednesday nights??
have a beer.
The homeless people have a point.
And congratulations, vado! I know how much work it takes to achieve that sort of number, and am proud of you.
are we gonna have to march on washington with our brown paper sacks in hand?
Think bigger. We're gonna be pullin' the coolers.
one beer may not fix what a six pack can... (though I'd prefer a real pint from a keg.)
i posted this on another thread, but two buddies of mine were ticketed in rogers park(chicago) for drinkin beer on a public beach. 140 buck fine. and it wasn't even imported. i have hardly drunk at all this summer.
whiskey can fix what beer leaves behind. Oh that rich liquid that simmers down the throat how its been. I was flying back home one shoulder wrapped up, the other still dislocated but able enough to throw 2 glasses of irish whiskey down my gullet. I was floating soon there after as I accidentally forgot that I had taken two pain killers
fastest flight i was ever on...the plane flight I mean
oh the horror!!! thread central was almost off the first page... c'mon people we just narrowly averted disaster... quit working diligently and waste some time here...
if we're going to march on the national mall with beer, could we do it sometime between september 13-15th? i'll already be there for the weekend...
steven, the charrette sounds fun... can you tell us a little more?
rationalista, congrats on cracking the 5K barrier...
killa, i thought about this before, but never really said anything... how are you planning to make a golf course green? aren't they notoriously un-green as a result of the monoculture and all of the chemicals and fertilizers and stuff? i'd be interested in hearing how you're dealing with those issues...
architphil, your spot on, green and golf course are mutually exclusive, but I'm still trying to mix the oil and water. right now our best hope is to make the resort and housing facilities low impact, small footprint, energy efficient, and dealing with the stormwater in a sensitive manner (3m of rain/year over the 6 month rainy season - that equals 10' of water/20" per month). All this rain brings small scale hydropower into play (no wind potential in the region, and PV seems out of reach, though solar hot water is a go). the site is currently a coffee plantation, so the monoculture of turf will be replacing a monoculture of coffee- and we'll be adding botanical gardens, native plantings, native riparian/wetlands zones, and maybe even green roofs to bring biodiversity back to the site. the chemicals/intensive mowing break my heart still. this may be another project that I have sold out on - but there is still hope.
Liberty....one day sketch up Ninja master......love the thought of you sketching like mad......and I'm sure the clients will also!
maybe you could make it a reeeeeeally difficult golf course by putting in the world's biggest sand trap?
archi....I liked the bathrooms at the kahn's kimbell.....they guy new it was important to have a break while looking at staggering Olmec Art.
r- that is really really funny! but where would the sand come from? (at least there would be no grass to mow.
Tonight I have two tasks: calculate the tile required for the historic house I'm renovating for one client, and sketch up some "alternatives that add value" to four builder-designer "home plans" (aka McMansions) for another client.
Neither sounds very fun, but I'm leaning toward the tile calcs. I thought I could do this floor plan exercise fast and quick for easy money, but my heart just isn't in it - I look at these plans and see everything I don't like about the built environment.
I guess that's why I'm six months behind on that little project - at this point I can't even ask the guy to pay me, I just want the project out of my life.
Sigh. But the good news is: Guess I'm not a complete sell-out yet!
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