whoa, guys, we're slipping down the page again! No bueno.
I'll disclose that the irrational man and I are looking into a real estate endeavor. We're trying to find a small multifamily place to fix up and live in to diversify our income and let us put down roots in a neighborhood that is only going to keep getting more expensive if we wait. So I'm spending my weekend investigating the consequences of unpermitted work and reading landlord/tenant law. Fun fun!
Track suit to a national conference?!? As if. I'm debating bringing a pair of dress trouser jeans or not, they might be too casual. Of course, as at any AIA conference, there will always be the older guys, long registered, in jeans or corduroys, all earth tones, longish grey hair, leather jewelry...they're the guys who can calculate the appropriate sun angle for your site anywhere on the planet in seconds, tell you why pine, oak, or aspen is better for your application, and hand sketch circles around anyone else.
Actually the best dressers at AIA conferences tend to be the non-architects - the PR people and the product reps.
Sarah, I wasn't thinking of Snook when I wrote that but I think you're probably right. Actually it's not far off from describing a professor Snook and I both had, Professor MacNeil at UofA. (I suddenly can't remember his first name, Jim?)
Donna I have been personally been wearing gray a lot lately...
Also, that description is definitely not, how i have always pictured snook. Or anyone on TC really. Although i would love to have that guy as an uncle/old friend...
Donna I believe it was James Mac Neil. One heck of a professor and he was always in a western cut shirt or heavy 100% cotton shirt with pearlized buttons, cowboy boots, and Levis..
lol Sarah...yep someone saw me in a tie and suit not long ago and well they were taken by full surprise. Mrs. Snook she makes me put on the Zoot Suite once and awhile. Even though I'm lacking in the hair department she loves a fresh cut man. So I do it to please her. She has to put up with the rest of me 24/7 since we work together and live together.
Yes, it was James MacNeil - I thought so but wanted to see if you would confirm before I said it. He was an excellent professor and taught me so much. A true cowboy, though I don't think he was an Arizona native?
I'm nervous about Baltimore, and by extension the country. Things are not very good right now.
Donna, I've participated in public open-houses where I wore both the "ask me a question" lapel pin and the architect name tag. It's amazing, for example, how some people think they can re-route light-rail tracks 90-degrees (and into someone else's backyard) just to avoid cutting one particular (mostly dead) tree.
"No, you're right random crazy stranger, that team of engineers over there totally did not consider this during the last few months or work. Here's the key to the city."
Non Seq, you summed up exactly the tenor of the meeting last night. Thankfully the head of the committee - who is no doubt a volunteer who has to spend one night a month doing this thankless job of democracy - shut it down pretty quickly by saying "We've been discussing this project for months and have heard all the objections. Does anyone have any NEW issues to raise? If not, it's a waste of time to rehash the same objections over again."
To which one objector said "How many of YOU committee members live on OUR block?!?" Thankfully a committee member responded 'We won't answer that because it's not relevant." Done.
I mean, it goes again to this whole distrust of expertise we have in our society right now. Like educated, experienced people are some sort of "elite" who shouldn't be trusted. Well, yeah, that label can be applied with either negative or positive connotations, but isn't the point of learning about certain topics that you are then able to speak on them with authority? Don't we, as a society, want people who are knowledgeable to be the ones explaining and guiding the discussion?
Special bonus treat at this meeting: an objector who loudly proclaims his "design background" (graphic design, as far as I can tell) built a friggin' model, bless his heart, with a chunk of houseplant representing the big tree that might be killed by this project (the tree is in the public right of way, not the owner's property, meaning the City could take it down at any moment since it's on its last legs anyway, but this guy has never let a fact get in the way of his argument). The silent eyerolling on the committee was pretty epic.
i think the distrust of expertise is probably an interesting topic to explore
if someone announced 'i am a teapartier, here is my opinion on the tree,' would you be inclined to assume they probably don't know what they're talking about? whereas if they said 'i am an engineer who has been working on this project for months' or 'i am an architect who has bee working on this project for months' then you might be more inclined to respect their opinion, whereas a tea-partier might be inclined to think they are part of the elite liberal media conspiring to expand government and increase the deficit.
what if the engineer/architect was also a tea-partier?
i've come to the conclusion that we just shouldn't trust baby boomers.
Donna, were you at the same open house as I was? You must have been because if not, the only other logical explanation is that all such events are identical... and I can't live in a world where the mis-informed loudest minority groups control city-wide public infrastructure investments everywhere and everytime.
I had one guy come up to me with a tablet where he "artfully" painted over one of the proposal with green blobs and re-routed tracks.
"Ah, let's ignore the vomit commit that this train would become as it banks that curve for a moment... are you aware that the change you're suggesting would require the relocation of a water pipe that serves 50% of the city's residents?"
I've had groups come and argue proposals that were long-gone. Would it kill them to inform themselves before staining my sports jacket with their foaming-at-the-mouth sloganistic chants?
Eugh, I have little time for these. I've realized not too long ago that having an opinion on construction, urban planning and professional design practice is popular. It's the do-it-yourself mentality that, when well informed, is useful but given the scale and cost of many of the projects open to public discussion... no one outside the "evil experts" have a clue in how to manage say... $100 million dollars for an new on-ramp.
Like educated, experienced people are some sort of "elite" who shouldn't be trusted.
I think it's more about distrust of public officials who have generated a well deserved reputation for being bought off. In my town it's common knowledge that you can buy pretty much whatever you want from town hall. The local Zoning Board of Appeals is affectionately known (by developers) as the candy store. It works pretty much the same as Albany and D.C.
I once had the town supervisor try to solicit a bribe from me. Later the same guy made a bribery charge against a communication tower developer some six months after the fact. It went to court and the judge couldn't decide from audiotape evidence whether a bribe was being offered or solicited. After the guy left office he went to work for - wait for it - the communication tower developer.
Miles, I do think it's the same in Indy, though maybe not particularly so in this meeting before this committee. The higher up the authority chain you go, the more that distrust exists, I suppose, but that's also where the more knowledgeable, long term visionary minds of the community operate. We have for the most part a city authority that is interested in doing good things, right now, which I'm happy about (a few major boondoggles are in the works, yes, but they likely won't all pan out).
What's most frustrating about this specific project is it's a small-time, neighborhood resident developer trying to put 3 units on a lot that's only zoned for 2 maximum. The site is at the end of a key visual axis in a very popular neighborhood - it's a gateway lot, which is a term the local NIMBYs seem to think is witchcraft, BTW. If this *slightly* more dense proposal doesn't get approved, I know for a fact there are other developers poised to pick up this lot *and* the four lots adjacent to it and put in something that might be as big as 30-50 units! And *those* developers would be the politically well-connected ones who will be able to push whatever they want through the "candy store". My NIMBY neighbors are cutting off their nose to spite their face.
In fact, the very next developer on the agenda last night was someone proposing 125 units in 3-4 stories on a lot that currently houses a one-story warehouse. It was continued, but I'm certain it will eventually be approved. Our neighborhood is changing, rapidly (and positively IMO) but people just want to cover their ears and yell lalala I can't hear you.
I think the mentioned "do it yourself" mentality (Home Depot educated) makes everybody an expert... very germane topic for practicing architects.
Then there's "The Take" underscored by Miles which dilutes creditability for everybody. Case in point:
Got a big manufacturing commission, they used vast amounts of fresh water & needed more supply... which was down the street. We needed to extend the line just up to the edge of our clients property, but the rule was that if you extended it you had to extend it across your whole property, which in our case was a over a mile. Went to the water department for an exception, they said "nope", went to city council, "nope", went to the mayor, "nope" again.... project was dead... waterline cost would have been close to $1 million.... just didn't make sense, what about all the jobs that would be created with the plant expansion? Then my then partner said "I've got an idea" and called a friend of his who was a big shot for the Democratic party... told him the fix we were in, he said "I'll call you back".... he called back and said the head of the water department said "no problem", all we needed to do is give him (the friend)$54,000 in small bills and we could proceed to do whatever we wanted... got the cash, put it in shopping bag, called the friend, showed up, move the cash from the bag to his suitcase, talked about our horses for 15 minutes and built the line to the edge of the property..... we didn't even need to pay for a permit or submit anything.
I'd like an answer to two questions: #1 - Why in the hell haven't they yet figured out how to build a road that lasts?, and #2 - Why in the hell are there no warranties for road construction?
There is a group in Michigan suing the state over #2.
#1 - Concrete is an incredibly durable material. Unfortunately it isn't great at resisting corrosion from alkaline environments, especially under repeated and cyclical thermal stress. A good 60% of the United States uses salt on the roads. I have a hard time believing that it wouldn't balance over the life cycle while being drastically more sustainable to use radiant heat in all roads and walkways in temperate and cold climates - constant temperature, no snow or ice, no salt, safer.
They can build roads that last, the tech has been around for millennia. They don't because of the economics, typically backasswards, with the idea being of spend as little as possible building the road so they can spend as much as possible maintaining it. It is a variation of planned obsolescence.
Meanwhile if your oil tank leaks it can require DEC, EPA and expensive remediation, but they can pour liquid bitumen over thousands of square miles and nobody makes a peep.
They can build roads that last, the tech has been around for millennia. They don't because of the economics, typically backasswards, with the idea being of spending as little as possible building the road so they can spend as much as possible maintaining it. It is a variation of planned obsolescence.
Meanwhile if your oil tank leaks it can require DEC, EPA and expensive remediation, but they can pour liquid bitumen over thousands of square miles and nobody makes a peep.
concrete cracks. that's a part of what it means to be concrete. like, if you said to concrete 'what do you want to be,' concrete would say 'i like crack.'
when water gets into a crack and then freezes, the water expands and makes the crack bigger. i'm pretty sure that the freeze-thaw cycle is where potholes come from; a big part of why most roads go bad.
Mostly asphalt around here, assume same rules apply….do know there is something fishy going on….worked for an EA years ago doing mostly airports…owner/architect got smart with the ebb & flow of airports and got into road work to keep everybody on the E side busy, then he got even smarter and hired the retiring head of the state DOT…..guy never even came to work…got to be friends with my VP boss and he told me how things work….guess I could have answered my own question, the roads are deliberately designed to fail. Think those folks in Michigan are on the right track.
We have a slew of WPA roads, two lanes in concrete that lasted close to a century before they started to crumble in some areas. Instead of repairing the concrete the town simply poured asphalt over it. Now every year there are huge potholes that get patched repeatedly until they resurface the whole road, which lasts maybe 5 years before it too turns to shit again.
When I was at RISD the city dug up a corner of rotten sidewalk in October. In January they poured concrete, which froze immediately and turn to powder upon thawing in March. It sat like that until the following October, when it was dug up again, and so on for the four years I was there. Forgot to check if it was still like that when I last visited my daughter.
Yes, some days working in a museum is very cool. I spent a lot of today with Jason Torchinsky, Jalopnik writer and car art enthusiast, figuring out how we could work on the project described in this blog post - basically a car driving video game rendered in full scale in our outdoor amphitheater.
Last night I went to our Dream Cars opening and spoke with a woman who went ot a members preview of the new Whitney earlier this week - she is a great art collector with an excellent eye and knowledge and she LOVED the building.
I get to do lots of cool things, I must say. Pretty fortunate, especially for someone who lives in Indiana.
Thread Central
Nice, but I'm not really a motorcycle person. I like this one better.
Ahh, yes, the one with the brand new Mattel hammer and Rolex.
whoa.... TC was the last thread on page 1.... can't let it dip further.
Damn you indecisive students and their need to have others make life choices for them.
whoa, guys, we're slipping down the page again! No bueno.
I'll disclose that the irrational man and I are looking into a real estate endeavor. We're trying to find a small multifamily place to fix up and live in to diversify our income and let us put down roots in a neighborhood that is only going to keep getting more expensive if we wait. So I'm spending my weekend investigating the consequences of unpermitted work and reading landlord/tenant law. Fun fun!
Sounds like fun rationalista. I'm watching Wargames.
Bought some new clothing for the AIA National. I'm very close to being ready!
I assume it's all black.
Black, navy, or grey, yep.
Donna did you find a silver track suit?
Track suit to a national conference?!? As if. I'm debating bringing a pair of dress trouser jeans or not, they might be too casual. Of course, as at any AIA conference, there will always be the older guys, long registered, in jeans or corduroys, all earth tones, longish grey hair, leather jewelry...they're the guys who can calculate the appropriate sun angle for your site anywhere on the planet in seconds, tell you why pine, oak, or aspen is better for your application, and hand sketch circles around anyone else.
Actually the best dressers at AIA conferences tend to be the non-architects - the PR people and the product reps.
What - no cape?!
All I have to say is: Bolo ties.
Fantastic article from one of the partners at OMA:
http://archinect.com/news/article/126213162/architecture-is-now-a-tool-of-capital-complicit-in-a-purpose-antithetical-to-its-social-mission
Brad Pitt Gets Beat Up By A Pair of Flip Flops.
See, Steven Ward?!? See? I told you flup flops are the devil.
Oh my, now I'm swooning over House of Testoni women's shoes almost as much as I swoon over Brad! I had never heard of them before.
I mean, OMG, look at this pink pump. Look at it!!! My life wouldbe different if it included that shoe.
Hi TC!
Donna I have been personally been wearing gray a lot lately...
Also, that description is definitely not, how i have always pictured snook. Or anyone on TC really. Although i would love to have that guy as an uncle/old friend...
Donna I believe it was James Mac Neil. One heck of a professor and he was always in a western cut shirt or heavy 100% cotton shirt with pearlized buttons, cowboy boots, and Levis..
lol Sarah...yep someone saw me in a tie and suit not long ago and well they were taken by full surprise. Mrs. Snook she makes me put on the Zoot Suite once and awhile. Even though I'm lacking in the hair department she loves a fresh cut man. So I do it to please her. She has to put up with the rest of me 24/7 since we work together and live together.
Yes, it was James MacNeil - I thought so but wanted to see if you would confirm before I said it. He was an excellent professor and taught me so much. A true cowboy, though I don't think he was an Arizona native?
I'm nervous about Baltimore, and by extension the country. Things are not very good right now.
Wait! I just noticed my profile page says Doug MacNeil. I think it was Doug, in fact!
OK, the internet is amazing, all knowledge at our fingertips: J. Douglas MacNeil.
I went to a local land use development committee tonight. It was both hilarious and painful listening to the NIMBYs froth.
Donna, I've participated in public open-houses where I wore both the "ask me a question" lapel pin and the architect name tag. It's amazing, for example, how some people think they can re-route light-rail tracks 90-degrees (and into someone else's backyard) just to avoid cutting one particular (mostly dead) tree.
"No, you're right random crazy stranger, that team of engineers over there totally did not consider this during the last few months or work. Here's the key to the city."
Non Seq, you summed up exactly the tenor of the meeting last night. Thankfully the head of the committee - who is no doubt a volunteer who has to spend one night a month doing this thankless job of democracy - shut it down pretty quickly by saying "We've been discussing this project for months and have heard all the objections. Does anyone have any NEW issues to raise? If not, it's a waste of time to rehash the same objections over again."
To which one objector said "How many of YOU committee members live on OUR block?!?" Thankfully a committee member responded 'We won't answer that because it's not relevant." Done.
I mean, it goes again to this whole distrust of expertise we have in our society right now. Like educated, experienced people are some sort of "elite" who shouldn't be trusted. Well, yeah, that label can be applied with either negative or positive connotations, but isn't the point of learning about certain topics that you are then able to speak on them with authority? Don't we, as a society, want people who are knowledgeable to be the ones explaining and guiding the discussion?
Special bonus treat at this meeting: an objector who loudly proclaims his "design background" (graphic design, as far as I can tell) built a friggin' model, bless his heart, with a chunk of houseplant representing the big tree that might be killed by this project (the tree is in the public right of way, not the owner's property, meaning the City could take it down at any moment since it's on its last legs anyway, but this guy has never let a fact get in the way of his argument). The silent eyerolling on the committee was pretty epic.
i think the distrust of expertise is probably an interesting topic to explore
if someone announced 'i am a teapartier, here is my opinion on the tree,' would you be inclined to assume they probably don't know what they're talking about? whereas if they said 'i am an engineer who has been working on this project for months' or 'i am an architect who has bee working on this project for months' then you might be more inclined to respect their opinion, whereas a tea-partier might be inclined to think they are part of the elite liberal media conspiring to expand government and increase the deficit.
what if the engineer/architect was also a tea-partier?
i've come to the conclusion that we just shouldn't trust baby boomers.
Donna, were you at the same open house as I was? You must have been because if not, the only other logical explanation is that all such events are identical... and I can't live in a world where the mis-informed loudest minority groups control city-wide public infrastructure investments everywhere and everytime.
I had one guy come up to me with a tablet where he "artfully" painted over one of the proposal with green blobs and re-routed tracks.
"Ah, let's ignore the vomit commit that this train would become as it banks that curve for a moment... are you aware that the change you're suggesting would require the relocation of a water pipe that serves 50% of the city's residents?"
I've had groups come and argue proposals that were long-gone. Would it kill them to inform themselves before staining my sports jacket with their foaming-at-the-mouth sloganistic chants?
Eugh, I have little time for these. I've realized not too long ago that having an opinion on construction, urban planning and professional design practice is popular. It's the do-it-yourself mentality that, when well informed, is useful but given the scale and cost of many of the projects open to public discussion... no one outside the "evil experts" have a clue in how to manage say... $100 million dollars for an new on-ramp.
Like educated, experienced people are some sort of "elite" who shouldn't be trusted.
I think it's more about distrust of public officials who have generated a well deserved reputation for being bought off. In my town it's common knowledge that you can buy pretty much whatever you want from town hall. The local Zoning Board of Appeals is affectionately known (by developers) as the candy store. It works pretty much the same as Albany and D.C.
I once had the town supervisor try to solicit a bribe from me. Later the same guy made a bribery charge against a communication tower developer some six months after the fact. It went to court and the judge couldn't decide from audiotape evidence whether a bribe was being offered or solicited. After the guy left office he went to work for - wait for it - the communication tower developer.
Maybe things are different in Indy?
Miles, I do think it's the same in Indy, though maybe not particularly so in this meeting before this committee. The higher up the authority chain you go, the more that distrust exists, I suppose, but that's also where the more knowledgeable, long term visionary minds of the community operate. We have for the most part a city authority that is interested in doing good things, right now, which I'm happy about (a few major boondoggles are in the works, yes, but they likely won't all pan out).
What's most frustrating about this specific project is it's a small-time, neighborhood resident developer trying to put 3 units on a lot that's only zoned for 2 maximum. The site is at the end of a key visual axis in a very popular neighborhood - it's a gateway lot, which is a term the local NIMBYs seem to think is witchcraft, BTW. If this *slightly* more dense proposal doesn't get approved, I know for a fact there are other developers poised to pick up this lot *and* the four lots adjacent to it and put in something that might be as big as 30-50 units! And *those* developers would be the politically well-connected ones who will be able to push whatever they want through the "candy store". My NIMBY neighbors are cutting off their nose to spite their face.
In fact, the very next developer on the agenda last night was someone proposing 125 units in 3-4 stories on a lot that currently houses a one-story warehouse. It was continued, but I'm certain it will eventually be approved. Our neighborhood is changing, rapidly (and positively IMO) but people just want to cover their ears and yell lalala I can't hear you.
I think the mentioned "do it yourself" mentality (Home Depot educated) makes everybody an expert... very germane topic for practicing architects.
Then there's "The Take" underscored by Miles which dilutes creditability for everybody. Case in point:
Got a big manufacturing commission, they used vast amounts of fresh water & needed more supply... which was down the street. We needed to extend the line just up to the edge of our clients property, but the rule was that if you extended it you had to extend it across your whole property, which in our case was a over a mile. Went to the water department for an exception, they said "nope", went to city council, "nope", went to the mayor, "nope" again.... project was dead... waterline cost would have been close to $1 million.... just didn't make sense, what about all the jobs that would be created with the plant expansion? Then my then partner said "I've got an idea" and called a friend of his who was a big shot for the Democratic party... told him the fix we were in, he said "I'll call you back".... he called back and said the head of the water department said "no problem", all we needed to do is give him (the friend)$54,000 in small bills and we could proceed to do whatever we wanted... got the cash, put it in shopping bag, called the friend, showed up, move the cash from the bag to his suitcase, talked about our horses for 15 minutes and built the line to the edge of the property..... we didn't even need to pay for a permit or submit anything.
Think Miles is right on this one.
50 years of failed urban renewal projects doesn't earn a lot of trust
Maybe if we drew giant penises around those urban renewal projects they would get fixed?
(I can't believe how few people are joining in with me on the dick jokes.)
(That link is safe for work.)
Sorry Donna, but I don't have time to be dicking around.
must've missed it, wiener jokes are the best kind, slightly ahead of fart jokes
What? No NJIT?
Princeton, Rutgers, MIT, but no NJIT.
Another feather in Urs Gauchat's cap.
shuellmi, as genius Louis CK says, you don't have to be smart to laugh at a fart joke, but you have to be stupid not to.
hit a pot-hole last night and thought to myself: "that's a big dick".
That is all.
Happy thursday.
Yay!! Happy Thursday to you too Non Seq! That made me laugh.
Donna, If only you saw our "Crack Problem in New England"
I'd like an answer to two questions: #1 - Why in the hell haven't they yet figured out how to build a road that lasts?, and #2 - Why in the hell are there no warranties for road construction?
There is a group in Michigan suing the state over #2.
Carrera -
#1 - Concrete is an incredibly durable material. Unfortunately it isn't great at resisting corrosion from alkaline environments, especially under repeated and cyclical thermal stress. A good 60% of the United States uses salt on the roads. I have a hard time believing that it wouldn't balance over the life cycle while being drastically more sustainable to use radiant heat in all roads and walkways in temperate and cold climates - constant temperature, no snow or ice, no salt, safer.
#2 - Do #1 and you won't need #2.
They can build roads that last, the tech has been around for millennia. They don't because of the economics, typically backasswards, with the idea being of spend as little as possible building the road so they can spend as much as possible maintaining it. It is a variation of planned obsolescence.
Meanwhile if your oil tank leaks it can require DEC, EPA and expensive remediation, but they can pour liquid bitumen over thousands of square miles and nobody makes a peep.
They can build roads that last, the tech has been around for millennia. They don't because of the economics, typically backasswards, with the idea being of spending as little as possible building the road so they can spend as much as possible maintaining it. It is a variation of planned obsolescence.
Meanwhile if your oil tank leaks it can require DEC, EPA and expensive remediation, but they can pour liquid bitumen over thousands of square miles and nobody makes a peep.
concrete cracks. that's a part of what it means to be concrete. like, if you said to concrete 'what do you want to be,' concrete would say 'i like crack.'
when water gets into a crack and then freezes, the water expands and makes the crack bigger. i'm pretty sure that the freeze-thaw cycle is where potholes come from; a big part of why most roads go bad.
No cracks, and if it breaks, change the tile (plus some other benefits)http://www.solarroadways.com/intro.shtml
Mostly asphalt around here, assume same rules apply….do know there is something fishy going on….worked for an EA years ago doing mostly airports…owner/architect got smart with the ebb & flow of airports and got into road work to keep everybody on the E side busy, then he got even smarter and hired the retiring head of the state DOT…..guy never even came to work…got to be friends with my VP boss and he told me how things work….guess I could have answered my own question, the roads are deliberately designed to fail. Think those folks in Michigan are on the right track.
We have a slew of WPA roads, two lanes in concrete that lasted close to a century before they started to crumble in some areas. Instead of repairing the concrete the town simply poured asphalt over it. Now every year there are huge potholes that get patched repeatedly until they resurface the whole road, which lasts maybe 5 years before it too turns to shit again.
When I was at RISD the city dug up a corner of rotten sidewalk in October. In January they poured concrete, which froze immediately and turn to powder upon thawing in March. It sat like that until the following October, when it was dug up again, and so on for the four years I was there. Forgot to check if it was still like that when I last visited my daughter.
Yes, some days working in a museum is very cool. I spent a lot of today with Jason Torchinsky, Jalopnik writer and car art enthusiast, figuring out how we could work on the project described in this blog post - basically a car driving video game rendered in full scale in our outdoor amphitheater.
Last night I went to our Dream Cars opening and spoke with a woman who went ot a members preview of the new Whitney earlier this week - she is a great art collector with an excellent eye and knowledge and she LOVED the building.
I get to do lots of cool things, I must say. Pretty fortunate, especially for someone who lives in Indiana.
Mint Juleps this weekend, you'all!!
going to the derby?
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