ouch

I'd find the person who sent me that message and punch them in the groin. Repeatedly.

Paraphrasing I hope or someone very oblivious...?

paraphrasing ... though somewhat oblivious as well.

hits close to home - a client of us wanted to get appointed to the design review committee just so she could change the rules and adopt a more californian type of visual code. she believes she's an architect/interior designer/realtor since we built the first house for her, now going on the third.

It's the same problem with state building codes... some of them (for example, energy codes) often take a lot of their input directly from insulation manufacturers, which results in classic headaches such as "You can't use the R-value of the concrete wall as part of your insulation requirements."

Concrete is R-0.08/in. In what situation would or should that count toward thermal requirements?

@WG depending on your climate zone in California, apparently it's kosher.

It could matter in the case of South Florida (climate zone 1), where your prescriptive R-value requirements for mass walls are R-5. Often times my engineers would be able to run performance metrics on the building and calculate out that we wouldn't need any additional insulation beyond the material of the wall (not that you'd want to use no insulation down here for many other reasons, but for energy codes it's... debatable as to its necessity for actual thermal reasons).

A practical example: even without using the performance-based values... an 8" 125pcf block carries an R of 2.21 (non-insulated). That's practically nothing in colder climates, but in Zone 1, that's nearly half of the prescriptive requirement just for the block itself. Yes it's a pedantic hill to lay claim to. I was just using it as one example where a lot of modern codes are built with manufacturer's needs in mind, sometimes counter to the humans who live in those buildings. I'm not suggesting that we should do away with insulation in modern buildings.

wrt archanonymous's comment, I've done work in California where you can get away with an uninsulated, fully grouted 8" CMU wall. Depending on the climate zone and building use ... perfectly fine according to the energy code.

Which is kind of sad that the worst possible building you're legally allowed to build just needs the insulative value of an 8" CMU wall. I feel like we could try a little harder.

@EA - we need better carbon lifecycle analysis tools and more awareness, but I'm pretty sure if you assume no heating and cooling, just ventilation, the embodied carbon in insulation will far outweigh energy savings in a non-heating and non-cooling climate. However, Americans are stupid and will still install AC in their 70-78 degree F year-round Cali house because.... because? I don't know. 

I think US comfort standards or just what is seen as baseline in real estate is so unnecessary. Bumping our acceptable indoor high-low temps 1* C through education would have an enormous effect on energy usage. (OMG I'm becoming Jimmy Carter)

Good point. Also, whole building LCA's are coming to CALGreen. Well ... a whole building LCA or a prescriptive requirement to get some EPDs showing you meet a reduction in GWP that the state set at a level that I think is so super easy to achieve that the requirement is to basically collect some paperwork. But I'm sure someone will try to do a whole building LCA at some point.

Then Foster is correct.

He's very reductive in his answer. Basically "Oh architecture can't be a tool that's used to impose capitalism, look at these examples of non-traditionally capitalist ("Socialist!") countries that have architecture!"

Foster may be reductive, however he is correct on this.

maybe not capitalism, but it sure has become a tool for globalization/homogenization, I mean, every new project anywhere looks the same boring wavy tower or transparent box with sprinkles.

Oh hush pessimistic old person. ;)

Now excuse me, I have some clouds to yell at.  

Foster's point, which I briefly and glibly agreed with, is that architecture reflects and expresses culture. It doesn't impose anything on its own. It reifies it. In re globalism / capitalism / neoliberalism / managerialism or whatever else you want to call our ruling oligarchic order, architecture is expressing that in physical form as a consequence of its dominance, not a cause. That culture/order is sterile, homogenous and dehumanizing, yes. So is the architecture produced in response to that. QED.

that's an interesting point, makes me think of what happens after wars in bombed cities. berlin is the prefect example of how many ways you have to afford the issue. My experience from a highly seismic country is that you lose a lot of history to developers just for the sake of making money. New urbanism on the other hand has been a tool for installing a foreign model in several parts of the world.

As you said JLC, it's about the money. Not the architecture.

Look at Prague - they are actively doing developments that look like the architectural style pre WW2.  It's all done with modern assemblies/ codes and use historically appropriate materials.  

I spoke with a few architects while in Prague about this development.  All agreed that it costs between 1.5 and 2x what a modern aesthetic would.  

I think the money thing is a second-order effect. The deeper issue is our global managerial system's view of ideal social order and human nature, where everything is easily quantifiable in spreadsheets and the ideal citizen is an interchangeable, fungible economic unit to be moved around in a universal, logical system under managerial expert direction with maximum predictability and efficiency and minimal deviation or personality. Money comes into it because as a ubiquitous medium of exchange, it meets all of those idealized requirements as a basis for social order and interaction.

Money then becomes the universal proxy measure of value in our society simply because it is quantifiable, universal, and fungible. Real human values are typically none of those things, which makes managers and bureaucrats and accountants extremely uncomfortable.

gwharton, you're not saying this view of the world is *good*, correct? Just that it is what it is?

That's correct. I am simply describing it how it is.

It would be good if we as people could assess Value in another way. But we have yet to articulate it in a way that makes it compelling to society as a whole. And we end up measuring everything in dollars whether that is the correct measuring tool or not.

TBH, I think we are driven as a society by emotion as much as by money (maybe even more). Teams, political groups, points of view, are all about emotion. Money is entangled, but especially right now even money will not sway opinions (FWIW, neither will a rational argument). But switch on the right emotion and the world goes nuts. That's how Sam Bankman-Fried was able to swindle so many, and in the end its why a politician can lose two court cases on sexual assault charges and still be a contender for president of the USA. Its also why so many people spend so much time making sure everyone knows which group a person is supposed to be in. Threads on archinect are filled with those kinds of comments. FWIW, I think the question to Foster was naive and leading, and he gave a good answer.

I think the majority of people are driven by ego. IE - the emotion of wanting to be important and / or unique. If someone can appeal to that aspect of other then it's easy to direct them to do or believe almost anything.

Thanks for the great discussions and thoughtful engagement folks! To be clear I tend to agree with the larger points made but also agree that his answer was glib and that a counterpoint could be that almost every profession/service provider is in some way used by capitalism to impose "it's" will...

Or perhaps more simply the problem is not architecture its capitalism...

Yes, nice discussion. The answer was not really glib in my opinion. The question was based on a political position with a specific point of view and he didnt agree. He implies it is a lot of words without actions, and just wrong when looked at factually. Maybe he could have spoken to the ideas behind the point of view, but at the level of architecture as a practice he is pretty much correct. Architecture is political but it is not the head, its the tail.

I think it's important to distinguish between capitalism, which is really only just an organizational system of economic relationships/transactions and nothing else, with the political ruling order under which modern "capitalism" is just a small part of its "political formula" and is operating (something far broader and more comprehensive in its form and function). The creation of architecture, as an economic activity of design and construction, is definitely shaped by and reflects the constraints of capital economy. But its reification of the ruling order's culture and political formula is distinct from that. "Capitalist" architecture in the 19th century was vastly different from "capitalist" architecture now. What changed is the ruling order and its institutional culture.

gwharton, China is the prime example of your point, the communist country by definition expanding their influence in africa and southamerica through capital construction projects.

It's on my list. It seems that having someone to punch down on is human nature...

I don't know if I could handle a movie like that right now.

It's ultimately pretty hopeful, IMO, Chad, if that helps (the glimpses of Trayvon Martin in it are heartbreaking). It's well worth seeing.

I'm sure it is. I just can't deal with anymore death right now. Yeah, I know I sound wimpy.

and this https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2iT8kFyCLU/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

The river is pretty filled up, Im gonna go see at lunchtime. I hope there were no unhoused people in there when the flash floods started. It is sad to see all the water just drain to the pacific when it could have been conserved for use.

As for the mudslides etc, they mostly happen up in the hills where the wealthy live, so even though its sad, I have a tiny violin I use for them

I'm curious how much of the flood water could be salvaged for reuse. I think that some amount of fresh water runoff is needed to balance the hydrological cycle.

Some amount is, for sure, but the way the river has been engineered with a concrete base in about 95% of its length ensures that there is almost no ground water recharge, except in some limited areas. 

There are numerous plans to "soft-bottom" the river bed but it has been done in only about 3-4 miles of the nearly 100+ miles. In any case it is sad to see all the water run off then us having to pump water from Northern California and the Colorado River to run LA.

california is weird, in tahoe you can't cover more than 30% of your land with house or impervious surfaces - I'd be curious to see what's the ratio in the hills of LA.

Thanks for the info SOD! I appreciate your insight on this. I've only lived out west (CO) for nine years. It's still weird to me how this part of the country deals with water.

Then again, I used to live next to Lake Superior so not having enough water wasn't an issue.  ;) 

I'll explain it to you Chad from the perspective of someone born in Colorado: 

All the water falls on Colorado. California and Arizona steal it. The end.

I'm sure the Colorado River Compact 1922, and the fact that no one listened to the hydrologists when it was written had nothing to do with it.

Pity to let all that water go...

LA's stepchild, the concrete lining of LA River once again saved the city's ass. Great pictures doc! I agree, we still need to implement ideas to retain some of that water going to the Pacific.

Wow thanks for the pics, thats wild

Soft-bottoming more and more of the river would go a long way Orhan

"Can you please explain what that means, without using the jargon?"

when I moved to the states 21 years ago I couldn't understand half of the architects' jargon and none of the acronyms. Language is a virus.

Oh right Donna, I thought architects were bad but working with MBA types is a whole another trip. Too much jargon, too little work (at least in my experience)

working for government "clients" is even worse. Everything has it's own 3 to 6 letter acronym and people keep regurgitating listicles of requirements using nothing but letters yet hardly anyone knows what they are. (very very few who work for the government actually know what they are doing. Most are there simply to fill seats). It gets worst with security terms. We had to adopt acronyms for certain parts of buildings to mask their true use... then the acronyms become so common that we had to further abbreviate them. Now we simply can't talk about them at all.

If I ever hear someone saying that we need to circle back to make sure we have synergy and ensure strategic implementation our core mission I'd probably punch them in the face.

Chad, we need to circle back on your attitude.

LOL Josh.

After listening my rant about this, an administrative friend told me “b b baby you ain’t seen nothin yet” !

Not to be a negative nancy, but I am gonna have you guys do a pencils-down on this issue. Lets circle the wagons in the morning.

::cracks knuckles:: I warned you all.

Chad I need to send you a HR training video regarding unwarranted micro-aggressive behavior. This type of "outta the box" thinking is what we do not need thanks.

.

The same thing that happened x-jla.

wasn't beta an admin too? is this something donna can chip in info?

I didn't know he was an admin. I hope he's OK.

X popped in last week to post a picture in the food thread.

I know x is back. His time out is over.

We were concerned too so we reached out. He's fine, he just changed his screen name, and seems to be taking a break. Rumors of him being banned are about as false as all other moderation rumors posted in the forum.

That's good! 

Just to be clear - when I said time out - I meant taking a break from the forums, NOT a banning.  Sorry that was confusing.  

Now I kind of want to know about the other moderation rumors.

 Come on Archinect, gossip! ;)

and the big green head graces us once more with it's holy presence.

I love when Big Green Head checks in! b3ta is fine, we've texted this week. Thank you guys for the concern! Non I wish I knew some good rumors. Instead I'll give you this, ins't at least one of these folks Canadian? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3ywicffOj4

Come on Donna, we all suspect the the BGH (all praise its glory) and the admins are in some type of secrete cabal like a cross between the Illuminati and Scientology. :)

Hang in there Chad! I've been working every weekend in 2024, some longer hours than others, but the end is in sight for both of us! You got this!

Sorry to hear, Chad. Hope you can get a quick break to hit some fresh pow
der, it's dumping today!

I'll be going cc skiing tomorrow morning before coming into the office. I hope to get in 8-10 miles.

@chad how long is the commute? Sadly my would-be route doesn't yet have any snow, but I'm thinking about it for next year. By roads it's 7km, probably 5km (3mi) by frozen river from my house to office

It's up on the Grand Mesa - about an hour from my house. I got in ten miles today.

Wow. Those views alone are worth it! Feeling jealous from the prairies.

Winter in my area is measured by the number of days our canal skating is open. Last year was zero days. This year was less than 48hr. Almost no more snow… hopefully this does not mess up the maple harvest. Nice pics Chad.

Thanks for the kind comments. It's all above 10,00 ft (3,048m) so some days I feel the elevation. I live at 4.800 ft. If anyone is in the area and wants to do some cc skiing just let me know! I'm happy to take people out and / or recommend trails.

Cool to see that in the winter…do you climb the road? Or is it cleared and you just ski the top?

That's not a road. It's a groomed skate / Nordic ski trail right at the trailhead. Hence why it's so wide.  ::insert joke here::

There are around 60 miles of groomed trails in that area. There are another 25 miles of backcountry (not groomed) trails. I'll ski both when I can. Of course you go slower on the backcountry stuff with 6' of snow and fatter skis but the downhill sections are much steeper. ;)

I downhill skied as a teen but wasn’t a fan. I CC skied a few times in my 30s and loooooved it. Chad your pics are beautiful! So glad you got some time out in nature, it helps!

Well the fire station project drawings went out yesterday. Not the real fun begins as the contractor bids it and creates a GMP.

What a great reminder about alternatives for enjoyment and stress reduction.

But if Patrick Swayze joins you at the potter's wheel, be careful   ;O]

Or be happy? No judgement.

I'd let Patrick join me.

ya, no. we need patrick swayze defending us in red dawn, not messing up pottery.

Ive been preaching similar ideas to young architects around me the last few years. Get a hobby that you enjoy for the shear enjoyment of it. Not everything needs to revolve around architecture. Make friends who aren't architects. You're allowed to be a multi-dimensional person.

I'll take that one step further Bench. Have friends outside of the architectural field.

Bencharoni hitting the nail on the head. multi-dimensional person. When you ask an American what they do they will tell you, I am an Architect! When you ask a European what they do they will tell you they swim, play instruments, laugh at silly Americans! but in all seriousness, hobbies and friends outside of the profession is a critical way t o live this life and not be overwhelmed and consumed with the industry.

I had to think about this for a minute. I only have four friends who are architects. One of them is a sibling. One I work with. The others live on opposite sides of the country than me. Other than that I don't socialize with anyone in the field outside of the office.

Probably?

I was just reading the thread on the rapist and saw you. You do rock as well as mountains?

I only do rock climbing. No mountaineering or ice.

Nice. I stopped when my daughter was born but I really miss it.

whatever happens, let us know. what is it un-professional right now?

My orientation was given to me someone wearing sandals and jeans... in November. I guess it's technically a legacy firm now, but both the kids are the CEO and CTO with no architectural background. Maybe I'm a little more used to a more enforced business casual, but this is just plain casual. It's also not a small firm either, like 300 people or so. Our logo sucks too, like we even need one LOL.

I got HR to let me redo the survey, so this time I'll be gentler too.

I really want to know what firm this is . . . .

I do too! I love a bad logo!

Can I change my vote to Dick Busch on the Pritzker discussion?

That green thing at the tip doesn't look good. They might want to get it looked at.

Also went through this recently. Can commiserate. Took over 2 years to sort everything out.

Sorry for your loss

Sorry for your loss

I'm sorry for your loss, Donna. As annoying as the process may be, it could be worse. My dad died penniless in 2011; we didn't even bother with the probate process. Wells Fargo let him take out mortgages worth far more than his home, with no way to pay them back, and hounded me for years afterwards to repay his loans. Fuck that company.

I'm sorry, Wood Guy, that sounds awful. One of the people we spoke with today said to my sister "I sent you the form by email. Look for the email with a little paper clip on it." Um, yeah, lady. I've opened an email since 1996, I know how attachments work.

Thanks, I didn't mean to make it about me, just that when someone dies the aftermath sucks no matter the situation. I'm not sure whether it's funny or sad that they thought your sister didn't know how to operate her email!

Mom passed just before the pandemic here in CA, but we are from a different country where her bank accounts etc still exist. Still havent closed them as it will take quite a while to get things sorted. At least she still lives on in the Bank's records!

My dad passed a year ago January, and I am STILL trying to sort out all the accounts and other financial bullsh*t. Sigh.

I'm sorry for your loss Donna. I'm probably going to loose my father in the next year. I can relate to what you're going though. No matter how old you are you never think of your father as a mortal who gets hurt or sick. It's tough.

Exactly, Chad. Growing up the attitude of my sister and me was always “Daddy can do anything!” And he did, he was an amazing and supportive father in every way. He actually went out on his own terms, surrounded by his grandchildren, and it was as good a death as one could hope for.

I'm sorry to hear about your dad, Donna. Bless you and your whole family.

my sympathies Donna. my parents both died during the pandemic. even for a middle aged adult it changes your life and understanding of the world.

wood guy - my mom opened a handful of credit card accounts in her last year and maxed them all out before dying. i kind of admire her fuck-you to the world on the way out - it's amazing banks let people do this. 2 years later and the estate is still in probate... our lawyer is from providence and has a wicked strong boston accent, which cheers me up because it's so appalling. we're strangers IRL, but i cherish all of you - a toast to the grief of love.

I'd lend you the 30 extra degrees we have on mine, but then I'd need to put on pants.

^ What are these "pants" of which you speak?

This weekend it hit 70 degrees in the midwest!

The design brief of those images has a 'unique' take on reality.

I'm trying to be more positive in my life.  ;)

There are a few places where man's utter inhumanity to man is evident. Dresden is one of those places. Defacing it with this nonsense, even as a plan, is really obscene. Do not these people even have an elementary education?

You know I only did one all nighter in school. Other than that I was in bed by 10:30pm most nights. Then again all I did was school and work. Really no social life. ;)

I think if was in college when you were allowed to use software for studio and laptops were cheaper and more powerful I would have gotten a lot more done on the weekends and wouldn’t have had to pull all-nighters. I was on an athletic scholarship so my weekends were often spent traveling.

the last time I was working past 6 pm was in 2001, time flies!

I do stay up until 11pm quite often - 3-4 times a month, uptil 2-3am say couple of times a year...its SO not easy when we are older...

Curvy.

greenwash goes pro -- maybe it will attract all the "texans", preventing them from wandering out into western black/dbl black terrain

Just garbage all around

Designed by people who’ve never skied a day in their lives.

In a place where never snows

It's really horrifying, as is my enjoying a 70 degree F. day outside yesterday, in South Bend Indiana, in early March...there should still be snow on the ground but instead it felt like June. We're screwed.

Its due to north America having a El Nino weather pattern while Syberia was frozen with La Niña

Per NOAA, El Nino is fading. ENSO neutral conditions expected by May with probabilities leaning back to La Nina conditions starting in the summer

I'm spending the week in the UK. Honestly I'm not sure if there's any difference than normal. Every day here ends up with me at the pub

*banned asbestos, not the discussion thread

We already erased it from history up here in the frozen thundra.... see, renaming of cities is not just to erase political history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Val-des-Sources

I think most US citizens are surprised to learn it wasn't technically banned here already. It's essentially been banned by litigation for most uses, but still survived primarily in the chemical industry for chlorine production. This apparently bans its use there.

I still have some in my house... in several places and in different forms. Just don't go around liking random surfaces

The risk is so overblown as to be ridiculous. There's essentially zero risk of having it in your home unless you're actually crushing it and inhaling the dust. If every dangerous job was outlawed, there would be no mining, no scaffolding erectors, no underwater welding, no commercial fishing.... It's horrible that people got cancer from working as processors, but that was the extent of the damage. It's never made any sense to me.

I frequently find asbestos while doing facility assessments and almost never tell people they need to abate it. Generally encapsulation and “don’t lick it” is enough.

My maternal grandfather ran a heating and air conditioning shop back in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. They used a lot of asbestos for fireproof insulation in ducts and furnaces, and there were piles of the worst kind of it laying around everywhere: friable asbestos. When she was a kid, my mom would play in piles of the stuff. Two of my uncles worked in the shop for decades. None of them ever had any issues with asbestosis, mesothelioma, or related illnesses. My mom is now 80 and in good health. Which is not to say that asbestos isn't dangerous, but rather that the whole blanket ban and "OMG U R GOIN 2 DIE" response to exposure as if it was plutonium or something is way overblown.

OMG asbestos gave your family super powers! Asbestos is literally the fountain of youth! Everyone, buy my ground-breaking asbestos suppositories and candles, it'll cure everything!

Have to say I'm a bit surprised at the comments here, but I think I was also confusing discussions at my office of articles on Fast Company (here) and The Architect's Newspaper (here and here) with discussions on Archinect (here and here) so my surprise is probably unfounded.

One of those links has an unhealthy amount of Brad Pit pics.

We've lost Donna for the rest of the day

*unhealthy for anyone except Donna

Remember the no liking rule mentioned above?

vitamin p

Non what is the “no liking” rule? There hasn’t been nearly enough Brad Pitt around here lately IMO.

I'm guessing it was supposed to be a "no licking" rule

Donna, should have been "no licking rule".... missed a letter

I am concerned about the amount of licking going on in this thread. We're degrading the family dynamic of the site. Won't someone think of the children?!

Chad is thinking about licking children now. Please keep it to Brad.

I'm disappointed how long it took the community to respond like this. Now back to having Brad lick asbestoses .

Asbest-toes. Licking. It’s like 1997 in here.

You're thinking about a 19978 Brad aren't you Dona? ;)

In 1978 I would have been 11 and Brad about 13. Come to think about it, that is about the age at which I had my first kiss! But his name was Lance.

That was supposed to be 1997 not 19978. ;)

Too much talking about licking, not any actual licking. No wonder everyone says architects talk too much.

I'm not sure how to respond to that without getting canceled.

I'll just leave this here.  

One of his worst movies (bad writing) but the car crash is spectacular.

I'm not ashamed to say that I laughed hard at the car crash scene. Such a f-you to the romantic comedy trope at the time.

Chad have you seen the movie Hereditary? it has a spectacular car crash scene that also made me LOL.

hey, that's here!

I agree Donna. One such proposal is here in LA but is facing a lot of opposition from the NIMBY types. Funny that liberal hipsters pretend to be environmentalists until it comes to their backyard. Personally I love it and think it could even be extended.

LA City Council puts Dodger Stadium gondola project on hold for further study

Yea, sameold, I saw the news item and it reminded me I'm hot for urban gondola projects.

JLC, it looks gorgeous AND acoustically brilliant!

that ride is 15 minutes, and yes, the cabins are like recording booths - a bit expensive for sightseeing in the summer, $37 a head, but still very busy all the time.

In Telluride they have a free gondola that runs seven days a week connecting Mountain Village to Telluride.  The key is to be located in a super costly famous ski area.  Rather simple.  

"free" means paid for by rich tax dollars, we have free buses between the ski areas too, but this is the main access for skiing and be seen at aspen mountain. There was a project in the 80's to connect all 4 mountains with aerial trams, but there wasn't "enough" money then.

It's all paid by taxes. You'd be surprised how little the 'rich' pay in taxes in those ski areas though. :(

Took the steps up (and back down) Montmartre tonight instead of the lift. These prairie legs are tired! Should have used the gondola.

Did you watch John wick 4?

I've never seen any of them TBH but I'll check it out. It's actually a funny story - one of our friends who lives here told us that we "have to walk up the stairs, drink a bottle of wine and enjoy the sunset with the locals.". Joke's on us, it was a tourist trap so we enjoyed our wine, then left and found a great little dive bar where we got drunk and shared cigars with some locals. Couldn't have been a better ending, minus the food poisoning I got later that night. Ha.

Urban politics and strange bedfellows. Billionaire developer McCourt's 300 lofty acres of parking lots surrounding the stadium will skyrocket in value with the gondola. He's essentially pulling a Henry Huntington over a century later-- but getting the locals to pay rather than cough up the costs himself.

Separately... I remember working on a very early, conceptual version of this fifteen years ago. Time flies faster than a gondola, for sure.

Getting drunk and smoking cigars always seems to give me "food poisoning" as well...

Nah WG, nothing like that. Was most likely the steak tartare later on. Half a bottle of wine and a pint of beer doesn't even register as a hangover risk for me. That's lunch.

bb, it's just the last scene that happens in that stair.

BB after lunch: 'dis iS your MaSter bEdrOm. iZ a tEnt!' ;)

Hey I'm on holidays!

Every day is a holiday if you do it right! ;)

BB, you're the one who said you got drunk ;-)

Drunk, sober. It's all relative.

^ If it's all relatives, then drunk it is!

:: ba dunk da ching::

AHAHAHA busted! No regrets!

I so want to know details! ::gossip::

axon, I don't like the layoffs but I do like the idea of snapping p the experienced folks quick!

Mind if I ask in what region or city your former firm is in?

Sorry - I don’t want to dox myself.

Just heard of a bunch of layoffs at HOK LA office

Totally understandable axonapoplectic.

same. the question annoys me a lot though i have to admit there is a common style to all of them - but it's more a style of illustration and mood-setting than of architecture. the architecture is irrelevant in these. it's like asking what style is a pizza hut. it's totally synthetic and dissociated from any "natural" emergent style or intentional way of thinking about design. it's just associative image making. like generative AI, actually.

They all just look like they were given the grand theft auto poster-edge filter treatment.

This is what most of the images made me think of:
https://www.wikiart.org/en/cas...

There's so much of this GARBAGE one can generate very quickly from AI its not even funny anymore...

It's not going away. You'd better learn to use it properly to create good things.

The basic issue is - it can be used to create rather evocative REFERENCE IMAGERY, but beyond that it is hard to use it effectively for a designed product.

That's part of learning to 'use it properly'. The vast majority of AI available to architects are just for reference imagery and writing outlines. I've used it for both and it can be helpful. There are some companies using AI on code analysis.

and now that thread has been commented on by two AI bots, the second regurgitating the utterly inept assessment of the first. i don't see this kind of intelligence being sufficient to do even a perfunctory code analysis.

ah but just wait. We are in the early stages, maybe akin to when DOS became "Windows" with Win95. That wasnt even that long ago. Now we are moving much faster. Lately I keep getting adds for AI upscalers that are way beyond upscalers. They are impressive, especially when they turn the shitty people in enscape or twin motion to real-looking humans. Havent used this yet in my office, but I am pretty interested. It gives us a chance to make more professional looking work without the price tag or the time cost.

For context, here's the studio at UMich. Enormous.

I wish❤!

Dinosaurs have to watch these things, you know what happened in the past.

Dinos hiding from humans: "Oh crap, not again" ::furiously digs a hole::

we're likely to find out at some point. it would depend a lot on how close to a major city it hit - if this had hit taipei i'm sure things would have been much worse.

Thousands. BeCuhZ th3 Gubermnt cant TelL mE wHat to DO!

Then they'll say, "there should have been more government oversight!"

People before: "this is all a liberal infringement of my rights! You can't tell me how to build on MY property!  This is just a political ploy!"

People after:  "We need to set politics aside and give us money to rebuild our property!  Where is the government when we need them?!"

Communities are still trying to rebuild after the fires from several years ago.

look at the sun at 12:40!

look at the sun at 12:30!

3:30 here in central Maine. I'm driving a little over an hour to get a clear view. It's been snowing, raining or otherwise cloudy for the last ten days but perfectly clear and sunny today!

my office window faces north... don't think I'll see much but I also might completely forget about it anyways.

I could look out my window and get 98.3% occlusion but apparently there's a big difference between that and 100% occlusion. I hadn't been excited about it, as it's just a cosmic coincidence, but it's not a long drive. And it's something I can do with my mom, who's getting up there in years.

Here in LA its supposed to be only Partial - hope you guys get to see the 100% (or 98.3%) occlusion

I'm prepped! I came over to my husband's studio, the former Indiana State Mental Asylum, where there is lots of grass and trees and open space but we're right in the city. We've got camp chairs and eclipse glasses and I'm completely giddy and wired! I'm working remote today, but I can barely concentrate!

with inverted binoculars

That was SO WEIRD and beautiful.

Hey... who turned off the lights over here?

Several hours later and I'm honestly feeling serious depression. Like millions of us just enjoyed a global happening that reminds us of the vast wonder of the universe and our tiny little place in it and we're supposed to just go back to our 9 to 5 job for survival and the constant meaningless consumption and polluting we engage in daily? Why do we live like this?!? (Pours more wine)

The 3.5 hour drive home that would usually be a little over 1 hour wore off some of the glow for me but it was still a fun experience. Many parts of northern, rural Maine had traffic jams that had literally never had a traffic jam. It was cool to share the experience with friends and strangers all over North America. The last time I felt a similar, shared feeling was after 9/11; I was living in Boston and the drivers that day were downright polite!

donna, the answer is mobs, we live like this because of the mob's power thirst. I always say the worst mobster of all time was Christopher Columbus.

One day of unemployment looks a lot like all the others.

Easy question. You spend a few days after figuring out how you got into 80hr work weeks in the first place and make a plan never to repeat it again. There is no project, ever, that is so important that it needs that level of work. That screams terrible management.

Yes, but with terrible clients this happens all the time. And most PMs/Principals are too complacent to push back

This kind of thing is just bad business management. Period. Go find a company that is run by people who actually understand how to operate a real business.

Yeah, there is something up there. No one planned out workload.

I agree with what others have said. I'll add in - update your drafting standards / families that were lacking - look at the project hours and determine what should of been scheduled / billed for the project.

Get out of the office, go have coffee, lunch with friends, hiking, miniature golf, catch up on home activities, cook, have sex with your partner but for the love of all that is good in the world don't sit around updating some fucking drawing standards after working 80 hours a week for a bunch of weeks.

Not every firm allow 'flex' time archanonymous. Hence the 'update standards / families that were lacking'.  This is especially true when you're not in upper management.  

Just have long lunches for a week, Crow

Thanks all! I appreciate the kind words and support. To address some of the concern the project management wasn't the best that got us into the pickle, but honestly we had a same experience level PA flounder and quit a month before the deadline leaving to me having to pick up the workload for two. Wasn't an ideal scenario, but we got through it.

Go to your boss, remind them of the extra hours you put in to fix their mismanagement, and take a week off. Maybe soften it a bit but you know what I mean. We have one designer in the office who's constantly trying to work overtime with nothing in return, and sometimes we have to actually force her to take time off. Nobody can work that much and not get burned out.

Sadly, what a lot of us do in that situation is get laid off and look for another job.

h-vac

Depends on the context. I generally change my vocabulary whether talking with clients, builders or engineers/designers. Within the industry I say H-vac. With clients, I say H.V.A.C. and try to remember to include an explanation the first time I use it. Including the fact that it should include a "D" for dehumidification.

I say mechanical. Covers all the things with the doodads that wrilllllls and bzzzzzz.

In my world, "mechanical" includes plumbing which is usually, but not always, a different contractor than heating/cooling. Then again, ventilation is often a different contractor or contractors as well.

You Canadians are weird. ;)

Actually, that makes sense Non. Especially with VRF and in ground heat pumps. 

"Mechanical" is standard up here, since it's pretty self-explanatory. Though with the crazy level of systems integration required by our most recent code, I'm almost wanting to lump electrical into the as well.

"MEP"

I just roll in the room wearing a bathrobe and holding a long cold black coffee and smouldering cigarette. I lower my sunglasses and look around the room. "Building Systems." I walk out.

I'm bitextual - I sometimes say it both ways. I think I lean more toward spelling it out, though. I mostly say "MEP" though, since we all know all engineers look alike

Oh cool, I'm glad you went! Is Peter actually launching a new website? He co-founded Green Building Advisor, which should really be called Building Science Advisor.

And for you Canadians, the next BS+Beer Symposium is coming right up in Toronto: https://bsandbeerkc.org/toronto-2024, April 23 and 24.

I’ve been to one of Yost’s seminars. Good stuff. Snag some swag.

Peter's an excellent educator. At the seminar Proto attended he was one of several speakers, part of a series of 6 annual symposiums that grew out of my BS+Beer Show, thanks to friend and co-host Travis Brungardt. Not that I had anything to do with the symposiums but it's fun to know that my local discussion group grew into two Zoom shows, almost 40 local groups and a seminar series.

Two days of learning some good stuff. I sort of felt out of my element in some ways because of how advanced the presenters were in their work. I aspire to push in this direction with our projects but we haven't had the client enthusiasm yet for what amounts to "hidden" elements.

We are trying to teach durability, health, comfort in ways that aren't an "upgrade" but it runs into conversations of cutting scope aspirations.

So sorry Donna.

Good reminder, Donna, and I'm sorry for your loss.

Sorry for your loss, Donna

Sorry for your loss Donna. Sending good vibes towards Indiana.

Have you ever heard the phrase "A's work for C's, B's teach"?

bowling_ball this was definitely true for my classmates!

The A students in my cohort are all winning national and international awards right now and doing well. Something is wrong with my generation! Good for your friend, ill. MIT has a great program.

The A students in my cohort are mostly running practices too. The C students, they
dropped out early.

Oops. Hit enter too soon. C students are mostly out of the picture. Many dropped out before graduating or shortly after. Many went into allied fields.

What do you call the graduate with the lowest score in medical school? "Doctor." There are plenty of people with crappy marks who become professionals of varying degrees.

Actually I think C is a failing grade in professional programs. You have to retake the class. Sometimes B can be a failing grade and prompts rework or retakes.

though to the OP's point, students who do their work without passion and with a bit of laziness are often better at finishing on time and completing everything - hence better grades. passion is a factor in long term commitment but not in grades on individual assignments.

Merely finishing an assignment is a C. With poor craftsmanship was a D. Knocking one sock off your viewers is a B. Knocking both off was an A. Maybe just at my school?

I don't think it's standard between universities. Mine was known to grade rather harshly. It also used a non-standard credit system. For those who went on to grad school, we were encouraged to choose among a small selection who were familiar with our oddities.

That's great! Care to share a highlight for us?

Hmmm... tons of support from friends and family cheering me on, clients from past firms seeking me out and becoming clients of Aggregate, the ability to dictate what I want to work on and how I want to do it, while figuring out all the crazy stuff that comes along the way.

you've taught me a new word! do you worry your neighborhood has some kind of environmental pollution causing this?

Nope, it's just a standard genetic mutation. I do live in a very polluted neighborhood! But they can be found everywhere.

I don't recall seeing that but I'll look when ours are out in a few weeks. We encourage dandelion on our lawns, fields and even our gardens--amazing plants!

It looks like a little homemade Albert Einstein action figure =O]

Wood - Thanks for reaching out! We're in Grand Junction, CO. I'm not sure if the partners would be interesting in doing the work - we're swamped right now. Send me a PM with your contact info and I'll pass it along. At the very least we'll provide you with some local architects that could be interested.

Thanks Chad! I see your location on your profile but the "contact" button doesn't seem to work. If you'd like, you could email me through maines dot design.

Shared this with the office today. How would you not notice that? I say this as somebody with a whole bunch of animal teeth in my house but none like this

Yeah. That is *clearly* a jawbone with teeth!

I think he needs the mods to speak to him about his behavior. It's rather unhinged.

It's all cut-and-paste from google anyway: why does he never just say "here are some pertinent links that support my position" and be done with it? Why does it need 20+ garbled text blobs?

Where is this happening? Also, do you think he's discovered AI?

The UPcodes thread.

"Also, do you think he's discovered AI?"

No AI is existential to someone like rick. it's the same stuff he's been doing for a decade now. walls of copy/paste text from google with the blind confidence of a tech bro snake oil salesman.

Need more marble with teeth, less Rick.

Can I just have neither? Please?

No.

was the founder of upcodes a troll or the real guy?

No way to know. The name used is the founder of UPcodes. No idea if it was the actual person or not. I do know that Garrett Reynolds has an active online presence in various code forums.

Nothing turns me off of a thread faster than clicking into it and seeing a wall of "Richard Balkins is ignored by you." At this point I've decided it's not even worth trying to filter through and see if there is anything worth commenting on. It will all get drowned out anyway.

@everyday It's tough for me to think anyone should be excluded, but your comment is the strongest reason for censorship and I feel the same. I was interested in that topic until things went south.

The thing that I don't understand is Rick will write these verbose replies but not actually comprehend the question. I'm not sure how many times I told him the 2024 versions of the codes are violating copyright laws, not the previous version. He simply ignored that and kept posting walls of text.

Of course the issue with UPcodes incorrectly reproducing the various codes it hosts has been completely ignored by Rick and Garrett. 

I'm not necessarily trying to attach blame or accusations to this, but I do think archinect has failed in effectively managing Rick's behavior on the website.

Rick has shown he can't contribute meaningfully to the forums time and time again, and archinect has given him too many chances to show that he can. Every time it comes back to this; he posts walls of text on subjects he knows very little about. In a larger forum, he'd get drowned out, but archinect is just small enough that he can dominate the discussion and that's a bad thing and I think archinect suffers because of it.

The user-oriented options for moderation (i.e. ignoring user) are effective enough for most users, but they sort of fail in the case of Rick because of his volume of posting. Maybe there should be a way to limit the number of his posts within a certain time frame, or count. Even then, I'm not sure it would be enough.

I've definitely been turned away from discussions I'd otherwise contribute to because of the inability for moderation of Rick's comments. I don't know if it's possible, but I'd like it if when I ignore a user, it prevents them from responding to my posts. If I can't prevent him from responding to my comments and those of people who are ignoring him ... I'm not interested in posting when he gets involved because even if I don't engage him, he tries to engage me, and others as well.

I'm not saying I know the solution, but I do think it's a problem that needs to be solved if archinect wants to keep a vibrant forum for discussion.

The simple solution is to put him on ignore yourself. The site doesn't need to ban him. He'll wind up banning himself.

I've outlined above why that doesn't exactly work for me. I could see it being a workable solution if more people that are inclined to respond to him put him on ignore as well, but that's also outside my control.

tl;dr the things the site lets me have control of aren't effective moderation for me.

maybe just a daily post limit and word count limit. i think no one else would ever hit it.

I know of several forums that will limit a person to so many posts an hour (or day) within a discussion. It works quite well.

gwharton -

Rick has been banned or given a time out a couple of times.  He just comes back with a new username.  

Chad, I think what gwharton means is that Rick will get bored if no one interacts with him and leave of his own accord ... effectively banning himself.

I wouldn't count on it.

I'm done with it.

Seriously: ignore is your friend. But it's interesting that Garrett came in to the fray.

I've met the up codes team in real life. They're the good guys. The ICC was dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century and they're still sore about it. Legislating winners and loser in business is lousy.

It is weird how the ICC is acting. Then again, UPcodes has soooo many errors in it that I can't use it. It's too bad because I really like the concept of UPcodes. I'm not sure how the '24 an on versions of the ICC codes will work with the copyright stuff. It looks like there will be a lot more litigation. :(

Their AI is getting pretty good.

https://oldkycandy.com/bourbon-chocolates/ why choose?

Why aren't the thumbs up/down buttons visible right now? I "like" that comment, Wood Guy.

Those look good WG! I think I'd get super diabetes if I ate too many. ;)

Those look great, honestly. They could calm my sweet tooth AND my feisty liver at the same time!

especially when they then re-ask all those questions anyway and spend the visit staring at a screen as they type instead of looking at the patient or even putting hands on the patient

Nah im with you Donna. I get the same from my appointments as well, and simply refuse. i'll fill out the info when i get there, thanks a lot. the reminder via text is nice and useful, anything beyond that, stop bothering me.

You want to hear something really frustrating - every year I need to have my endocrinologist write a letter to my insurance provider to tell them that I'm still a type 1 diabetic and still need to be on insulin. I want to have my doctor start off the letter with " Unless you've discovered a cure for T1D . . . "

not an old man rant - this is one of the universal flaws of modern life. automation somehow means more work for the customers and less for the owner.

Be proactive! I send ahead urine, stool, and semen samples, and a framed 8x10 of my prostate from the last MRI. "Thinking of you" reads the little card opened by the office staff.

Why bother with the MRI photo, just send the booty shots!

My wife and I have spent a lot of time in recent years at doctors' offices with our moms. Both have crippling arthritis so we got very familiar with filling out those stupid forms, over and over and over. Not remotely the worst problem with our health care system, but a little thorn every time.

citizen… more comic relief like this please. TY.

A nurse once spilled the beans to me, saying that the clipboard of forms they give you at the front desk is at least partly intentional busy work. I guess this saves the money on magazine subscriptions...

My MIL was a nurse at the local hospital for 40 years, including being an intake/triage nurse for her last few years there. She fills out the forms.

Currently sitting in Urgent Care with my wife who we think has pneumonia. The nurses and staff have all been great but we're coming up on 4.5 hours in the waiting room. Maybe I'll ask for some extra forms to fill out.

Try filling out the Spanish forms.

I think somebody was reading my post because not ten minutes later, the doctor came in to prescribe some stuff and send us home. Off-topic but while the waits suck to get care up here in the great white north, the entire 5 hour stay in a private room cost us $0. The two antibiotics came to $9.30 thanks to our insurance that's half-covered by my plan. The lady friend is on her way to recovery and we both couldn't be more grateful.

I like that outcome, bowling_ball. Who knew that Canadian doctors read Archinect?

Wait, you get to wait in a room in Canada? They put us in the waiting room/ mental health holding cell while we wait then bill us $450 for filling out the intake forms.

Wait, BB, you didn’t even have to pay for parking? That’s typically the only « expense » I need to worry about.

Oh crap NS, you're right. Was $10. I could have parked 20 feet away on the street for free, but I'd have to move the car every two hours lest I get ticketed.

Also the private room seems to happen when it involves anything respiratory. Last time we were in a negative-pressure room that had this cool little gizmo on the wall that bounced around to show the direction of airflow.

i just went to the doctor in Canada for a very uncomfortable test that was serious enough to be put to sleep while they did it. Not surgery, but close enough... It was a very speedy follow up on something found during my annual checkup in Japan. I was expecting it to be very slow and horrible to go through the entire business but it was pretty close to what would have happened in Japan. EXCEPT, the equipment and the buildings in Canada are so very old and decrepit that I was occasionally worried. The awesome doctors and nurses made up for the state of the equipment, and I gotta say the fact that I walked out only with a result that all was cool and to come back in 5 years just in case was amazing. No bill, and no parking because I walked to the clinic (love walkable cities!). 

I'm not saying that I don't prefer Japanese healthcare, because that would be miles from the truth, but Im glad I didnt wait. Canada is so far not as bad as I thought at least when it is serious. For daily stuff though it sucks. In Japan I can go to any specialist I like without a referral and usually they are in walking distance of my home because its decentralized. 

The thing about efficiency is that it is the wrong metric for health. Comfort and care are at least as important, and Japan spends time and money on that part too. It is not efficient in the short run, but in the big picture it is both cheaper and better for the country cuz people are healthier. If we are to overhaul healthcare in North America I would like to vote for better not more efficient...

Then you the American healthcare system.

Doctor:  Lets renew your prescriptions for insulin and insulin pump supplies

Health Insurance:  Are you sure he's still a type 1 diabetic?  He's been one for 35 years, he should be better by now

Doctor:  ????? Yes. Still a diabetic

Health Insurance:  Ok, that will be $5,000 for three months of supplies.  

I'm not joking about the price.  

@will my recent healthcare experiences in Latin America make the better hospitals and clinics in Chicago look medieval. I can only imagine Japan.

People keep trashing American health care, but honestly, the quality, level, and service of care I and my family have received locally (for minor, major, acute, and chronic conditions) is so far beyond our experiences in several other countries (including Canada) that's not even close. But maybe that's just Seattle.

^can't beat free.

My daughter spent ~4 years in intensive cancer treatment in the USA (she's cancer-free now) after a Canadian doctor made her wait months and then misdiagnosed her. And it cost her exactly nothing. So...

thats insane chad. @ghwharton, I've heard that too. Canadian expats in USA with good healthcare explained that USA was the best experience they ever had, but they always added that it wasn't normal for many. Canada seems to be unbalanced but not as bad as the NHS (maybe). Japan is not free, but everyone is required to get insurance, just like Obama-care was supposed to do, so costs are pretty low. That the system is still very very capitalistic means clients are well treated and looked after, but the incentives seem to also be arranged to preserve health as opposed to monetizing illness. I think that is a big difference.

gwharton - how did you not have to pay anything for four years of intensive care?

Also, I've found the quality of care in the US can vary greatly depending on your location and provider.  

She was treated at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (Fred Hutch). She turned 26 two weeks after her Stage 4 diagnosis, which meant she aged off of being on my company health plan. SCCA assigned her a social worker to help get her health coverage figured out asap, particularly since she was going to be treated with an aggressive/experimental regimen. They had it all sorted out in a few weeks, and the insurance structure they found for her covered everything.

The only real notable difference i've found on experiences with American healthcare system, as compared to Canada or the UK, was that whenever you needed very specific specialists for a diagnosis or MRI / similar, there are more available, meaning quicker access and turnarounds. For anything in terms of getting primary care or urgent care (emergency room, etc.), wait times are quite literally the exact same. I just get hounded to fill out insurance forms and clear the $100 copay while im painfully sitting on the gurney here; in the other two i'd probably just fall asleep waiting. True story.

I'm not in any way defending the American employer-centric health insurance scam system. But beyond that specific issue, American healthcare really has no equal anywhere else in the world. And with the help of providers who deal with this stuff all the time, even the insurance part can be worked out.

If you have insurance and/or disposable cash for deductibles. Not having to worry about those is worth far more than most USA USA USA! Folks want to admit. Not devaluing your kids story tho, that’s not an easy one. Im a parent of a special needs child and the services we receive, at no cost, would bankrupt the average person but even then so few even bother to seek them. Still tho, I think we’re on a year wait list for a MRI since it’s non life-threatening.

GW, i should note, i have a couple family members who work in canadian healthcare and they were shocked that i saw a cardiologist within 48 hours for an urgent matter. the same wait in canada is probably in the 6-month range when not life threatening. this was a situation where i got to take advantage of the best parts of american healthcare.

that said, my office dishes out for top notch benefits plans, and im quite lucky for that. friends working at competitor firms have not had the same kind of coverage, which terrifies me.

I do think the superiority is generally over emphasized. my experiences is that they are relatively similar, except for the access to ultra-specialists, which their accessibility are generally restricted to the upper classes.

gwharton- so your daughter didn't have to pay any deductible through her entire treatment? 

 Also - I think I know how your daughter was able to get on her health insurance. 

Several providers and states have clauses that if you start a treatment under your parents insurance you are eligible to maintain the same insurance at the same rate and coverage.  Sometimes the insurance will even apply the deductibles paid and out of pocket max for that year on the previous policy to the new policy.

Most insurers and states don't do this though. 

@ghwarton I think USA is absolutely up there among the best in the world for the ultra-specialists as you say. 

20+ years ago my sister received experimental cancer treatment for stage 4 brain cancer in some strange research lab at Harvard. Probably couldn't have found that anywhere else in the world. But day-to-day stuff like elective surgeries, broken bones, orthopedics, more routine cancer treatments... I have the impression that most places are equal or better than the USA and far, far less expensive.

archanonymous - I think it all depends on where in the US you live. 

 As some of you know I'm a type 1 diabetic. When I lived in Duluth MN I had access to world class endocrinologists. (Internal medicine specialist) Now that I live in Colorado it's nearly impossible to find an endocrinologists and when you do they are 'challenged' when it comes to type 1 diabetes.  

"so your daughter didn't have to pay any deductible through her entire treatment?" That is essentially correct. 

And she was not continuing on my company plan via COBRA (a good thing, because I stopped working for a little while to be a full-time cancer-patient dad). It was a completely different plan which SCCA helped her organize for herself independently. 

Anyway, I don't want to get into an argument over the minutiae of American health care, but I did want to point out that tropes about it being thrown around for political reasons are not very reliable.

Oh I'm not arguing with you about US healthcare, it can be very good.  Again, it's all about where you live.  Quality and cost of care in the US can vary greatly depending on your location.  

 As for your daughter. I know it's not COBRA, it's a different condition that very few policies and states have. I am surprised that she didn't have to pay any deductible. That's very rare. With the little you've shared your daughter was extremely lucky. Most people in the US don't experience this.

The location definitely matters. Here in Maine we have the oldest population in the US and a severe shortage of doctors. It usually takes months to get any sort of appointment, and it's usually with a PA or NP, rarely an MD unless it's a specialist.

My father in law couldn't get an MRI within 2 months so he went through chemotherapy needlessly, as he was riddled with cancer, which an MRI (or probably a competent doctor) would have found easily.

And don't get me started on insurance, it's pure insanity. My wife and I pay $1200 a month for insurance with a $13K deductible.

Conversely, we were in Cancun a couple of years ago and had to go to the ER for an emergency. It was clean, fast and effective.

We have a lot of friends overseas and find that US citizens greatly over-estimate the quality of our health care.

If you have a rare disease, this is probably a good place to be, but for normal care, it's a severely broken system.

Absolutely yes, location is hugely important. If we hadn't already lived in Seattle when our daughter was diagnosed, we would have had to move here to be close to SCCA. There are basically only two places in the world which offer the treatment she received. One happens to be local for us.

WG - I have 'great' health insurance. My out of pocket max per year is $3,500. It costs us $400 a month through my wife's work.  My wife has a mid level preventative care policy.   We only have this because my wife works for one of the worlds largest health insurance companies.

Chad, that seems common, for large companies to offer halfway decent insurance. But for the rest of us, it's a major expense. You can't say that US healthcare is great if half of us can't afford it.

@WG/ @ Chad

I have international private health insurance that costs me $1500 FOR A YEAR and has a $2000 Out-of-pocket max. Had an orthopedic surgery this year in a spotless hospital with a brand new Philips and Siemens operating suite that looked like something out of Star Trek. The surgery cost me like $250.

It has been eye-opening to see how other country's compare. 

I had to pay $5,000 out of pocket for a colonoscopy because they found a polyp. Otherwise it would have been covered, supposedly. I have my doubts that they actually found anything.

Last year I was having a serious bout of depression, anxiety and insomnia so I finally gave in and called my doctor's office. They asked if I had any thoughts of self-harm. I responded honestly, that I wasn't going to go through with unaliving myself but that yes, my condition was serious enough that bad thoughts entered my head sometimes. Then stressed again that it was not an emergency situation. They saw me the next day. And billed me an extra $500 for emergency services.

A few years ago at my annual physical, I had asked my doctor about recommendations for anxiety. The physical is covered under my insurance, but he put "mental health care" or something like that first on the receipt or whatever they give the front desk, which made it so I had to pay for the whole visit. A couple of hours arguing with the insurance company made no difference. Apparently if the doc had put the mental health note second instead of first on his list, it would have been covered. 

When vacationing in Prague last year we spoke with a local young man. He told me that about 30% of his paycheck is taken for taxes but he gets: healthcare and higher education at no additional cost. Also included are a basic living stipend, and a transportation stipend. They young man was shocked how expensive our health insurance was. He was even more shocked when I said that I had good health insurance that was reasonably priced and the most Americans pay way more for way less coverage.

I have 2 apps booked with a children cardiologist later this month which will include 24hr monitoring. My out of pocket expenses will be 2x $14 dirty communist loonies (for parking).

Loonies socialist, not communist. Geesh!  ;)

Also Chad and sameolddoctor thanks for sharing the photos! Though different takes , both sets showcase nature in their own way...

Oh Id already forgotten about the photos Id posted - and yes its May already, feels like not much has been achieved (by me) in the last 4 months of the year...

We've managed to paint half our garage...

Nam I did register just so I could see the documentation.

LOVE the possibilities seem endless!

Yeah, I'm in Maine and saw them clearly on Friday night. It was my first time and pretty cool. My social media is full of photos where the colors are heavily enhanced; the real thing was more subtle, but still exciting to see.

I absolutely forgot about them. See these things often enough tho so I'm not dispointed.

I've seen many people point out, or comment on, the colors being enhanced in photographs of the aurora and I think it's worth explaining why.

If you're relying on the photograph to reflect exactly what your eye saw or what you perceived, it's always going to be different, but also more so the case for low light photographs. The rods that are responsible for your ability to see in low light don't perceive color, so what you see with the naked eye of the aurora will always be essentially black and white, or very muted in terms of color perception. But a camera's sensor (or film) doesn't have that same limitation so the colors do appear more vivid, but it's not so much an enhancement of the photograph as much as just the sensor's ability to "see" the color better than your own eye. Of course, there is also some processing of the data the cameras are responsible for in whatever settings they have built in and some will appear more "processed" or "enhanced" than others.

I saw them, but I get them at my house all the time.

Too cloudy both nights for me to see them in Indy, but I have seen them in Alaska years ago, they felt so close, like I could reach up from my sleeping bag and touch them.

Are you more technically inclined or relationship inclined? Is it important to you to feel like you're an expert in a field or on a topic, or do you like accumulating a broad range of knowledge? Do you have a defined mission for your life?

You need to find the right firm! Where / what are you looking for?

where do i send money for that cat cafe?

To start, look for close friends in the industry and see if they need contract work? At least this way forward, you have X amount of days set so you don't need to be in limbo. Maybe one turns into a full time gig. Dependant on your metaphorical van life of course. Granted, you will be out benefits, etc. Many of us are so embedded in full time work out if security and necessity and if you're in a position to dabble and allow yourself the freedom to explore (financially among few other things) it's worth the mental health to allow yourself the opportunity. Balance is everything.

@wood guy I think I'm more relationship inclined, but to a limit. I usually do great with consultants on projects and I've always been fine with clients but I would find a client or BD dinner tedious whereas having beers and burgers with my structural engineer would be rad. 

I'm definitely not an expert on anything except perhaps designing buildings. I know that's sort of a "duh, you are an architect" thing but I've found it to actually be pretty rare in practice. I'm great at taking broad knowledge or passing ideas and turning it into a building while considering all the trades and disciplines and also not letting them take the easy way out. Like oh shit, we are doing a rammed earth wall for this municipal office building? Great - I don't know shit about rammed earth - let's make it amazing.

@chad I think part of the problem is I don't feel like I can commit to full time. I really can't explain the depth of the burnout I experienced. Honestly I should probably go to therapy for it, I think I have ptsd to some degree. 

But ideal position would be Professor of Practice with maybe a studio class and a lecture class at a university. 

On the practice side, something like a Senior Designer or Design Director (that term gets so abused in this profession, would like to be as some of my favorite Design Directors have been which is to say more like coaches/ kind professors helping guide junior staff).

Like I said above to WG, part of the problem is that the thing I'm very best at is just... designing good buildings. But there's no way I can imagine myself going back to a Project Leader/ Senior PA role it's too stressful. 

Not sure what that firm would look like - probably smaller (10-60 people?) locally focused firm doing (hopefully) civic and municipal projects who aren't afraid to propose interesting buildings.

Freelance draft/design for another architect. It’s a dream come true. They treat me like gold. Low stress, good pay, solid projects, nothing amazing, but solid jobs. I have ptsd and major burnout too. I’ve been interviewing and have developed a pattern where I get a position then blow it for some reason like I accidentally insult the boss (oops) or just change my mind right before I start. It’s the ptsd. Powerful stuff.

Work for yourself = control your own time. [yes, it's uncertain financially, but the stress level is what you make it]. It sounds like you have a good portfolio to point to even if it's work under another architect's umbrella. With that, I suspect you can pull some private clients that could do large enough projects to keep you busy doing one at a time. Think about it: you will own all the strings that others hold when you work for them. Park that van down by the river near a resort town...

archanonymous - I completely understand. Thank you for explaining things.  I wonder if you could work for yourself as a design consultant? Let me know if there is anything that I can do to help.

I don't know anything about your family situation, but it worked for me (with wife and two kids 7 & 2 in tow) - have you considered moving to work in another country?

archanonymous, seems like you have been thru a lot. For me, the only way to "get the mojo back" every morning is the steady paycheck. Its a bittersweet salve that helps get over mediocre work and crazy hours...

If $$$ is not a massive issue (ie you have a partner or parents that can help), teaching is not a bad route at all. It seems like you'd be better than a lot of the "professors" who have zero experience in the work field.

Thanks all for the encouragement!

Damnit I wrote a much longer reply responding to everyone but it didn't post. @JLC thats funny because I'm currently living in your home country. I think it would be exciting to practice in a foreign country. Thanks for the suggestion, idk why I hadn't really been thinking about working other places.

Damnit I wrote a much longer reply responding to everyone but it didn't post. 

 @JLC that's funny because I'm currently living in your home country (maybe city if you are from RM). I think it would be exciting to practice in a foreign country. Thanks for the suggestion, idk why I hadn't really been thinking about working other places. 

 @sameolddoctor yeah I'm worried that's the case. (Not specifically this), but I did something basically like cashing in 2 bitcoins I had stashed away for a rainy day, so not rich, but have enough money to keep chilling in the proverbial van for a year or so more. But it would be way better to start making money before I completely run out, ya know? I love teaching and do have experience, I think I'll double down on searching for academic jobs. 

 I struggle with the DEI statements because It always comes out "I'm a boring white cis male, you should definitely hire someone else to be more inclusive but because of the structural problems in our society, academia, and the profession, there is no one black or trans or indigenous who has the same experience and insight to offer students as I do because they were never afforded the same opportunities. The world is a shitty place, embrace entropy. Yeah I don't even want this job after all, i'll be in my van." 

 @Chad - thanks for the PM, I gotta reply coming. I have definitely thought about offering design-only services, but that's the part most small firm owners want to do, you know? The suggestion is always go get your own work to control your own destiny and do the design you want to do. 

 @proto - my portfolio is or would be super strong, but I feel incapable of going and getting work. I basically know what to do, conceptually I want my own projects to do, nor am I that scared of the financial/ taxes/ admin shit (hate it but I could always just hire someone to do it). I just....can't. 

 @wilma - relating to my inability to just apply to a fucking job or go get my own project (which really wouldn't be that tough) I really think it might be PTSD i don't know. Turns out there is just a finite amount of 100 hour weeks, verbal abuse, and crushing stress one can endure.

Archanonymous, I have an idea for you if you want to message me.

living in my home country could be the real cause of your problems. Then you know it's not only a change of scenery when you make the move, a different culture has a huge impact in the way we work.

This sounds super rough and sorry for your struggle! You may of already done this, but what about focusing your search on the people/work culture of the firm as opposed to the projects/works? (again not saying you aren't currently doing this) But a smaller firm that maybe does less design work and more monotonous work may be looking for a good designer to propel them forward or into a different market place. Or a firm that is changing ownership and is looking for a new direction. This also comes with its challenges for sure, but it goes back to what I think Chad said earlier, you just gotta find the right firm! Which sadly may take 6 months to a year.

I am very burned out with this profession. I’m really mostly tired of the luddites who can barely operate a computer who are in charge of offices and the “revit only” weenies who have their ear.

@archanonymous -- only suggestion for the marketing side: invent for yourself a project that matches one that you'd like to do for a client. Design it down to the nth degree -- render the hell out of it & use that as a web portfolio offering services in the area that you want to end up. It's a long arc, but clients will find you for the work that you show. They want to see images that marry up to their hopes for design. After you have done one or two, good work promotes more clients finding you.

You know - if I never had to work in revit again I think I would actually enjoy this profession. revit sucks any enjoyment I once had out of drawing, detailing, and coordination. The bulk of my time is trying to get things to display correctly and listening to people complaining to me why things aren’t displayed correctly. Or why I would rather do a dozen quick design options in sketchup or rhino or even by hand before I model it in revit. Yes - I want to spend a day deconstructing and putting back together half the model for a design option that is essentially moves
two walls.

Meanwhile I’ve got several dozen emails piling up looking to set up an MEP coordination meeting for equipment and cross bracing, how we are going to waterproof a complicated roof form, you know - the actual fun stuff of designing a building.

you can love architecture and hate designing buildings. that's a common motive among the many of us working on the construction management / development side of things. no doubt likewise in academia and media. don't rush back into something that didn't work for you before.

​@Wilma - I don't think I can contact you through your profile here?

@JLC Hahahaha. Have you been back recently? I know there are problems here just like anywhere but the eastern half of Santiago feels like a strange alternate reality to the USA where everything works correctly and there is transit and people are nice.

@proto - that's a good idea and it might be an interesting way to work on something without feeling pressure from being hired/ obligated to do it.

@laclair - that's an interesting thought. For the latter - firms that might be looking to fill in a design partner (or a position ramping up to partner) how would you suggest searching for that? Seems like a network thing and most of my network currently is like "oh yeah, archanonymous. Dude went crazy and lives in his van down by the river now. Sounds nice."

@axon I will go be a barista before I'll take a job where I have to do drawing production in Revit again. Actually the entire system of drawing production and balance of power and responsibility between architects and contractors is fucked. The apocryphal 30 page Sears Tower set is real, I've seen it.

archanon, My idea would fall into doing design and production again so don’t worry about it. It’s a remote job pretty much guaranteed doing some cool projects but I hear you. I hear and understand every word you write. Life is too short to spend it this way. You are stronger than most to walk away.

that's material for a whole different place, Santiago is going through a rot that was suppressed for 30 years (no son 30 pesos, son 30 años) and it needs to get worse before it gets better, it will reach higher ground soon. Not to mention the school yard approach to government.

archanon, I think it is a good amount of networking and is usually probably only possible at a small firm of under 15 people. But don't gloss over the firms who's work may not be enticing or interesting! Those may be the ones who are the best fit.

oh, come on... we were nice.

No problem at all with you guys roasting them! It's funny. But I'm a self-diagnosed empath with extreme secondhand embarassment.

It could have been a lot worse! I will say, I think your early comment Donna helped set the tone of feedback which was very nice imo!

I don't know anything about Telosa. Their websites sounds like a crypto-bro's attempt at inclusivity. I assume the company is up to some 'shady' stuff?

I was more gleeful at 5:30 Eastern time than I've been in many years yesterday.

You Americans sure have strange holidays.

Yeah, I just wish we had an event like chasing cheese down hills.

There has to be one of those in Wisconsin.

Non Sequitur wrote: 

"You Americans sure have strange holidays."

 We do.  You should see Great Brittan though. 

Why is my sentence structure above so poor? I've been alone in the office for four days, y'all. I'm desperate for company.

Literally the reason I'm finally looking at office space in a building where several of my friends also have space.

Just to be sure, you are saying that 85k is way low, right Donna?

It dose seam to be slightly underpaid for a high level PA, low level PM services in Indiana.

Feel old yet?   ;) I do. We have a new team member - she was born a year before graduated college. :s