I generally like the client I'm currently work for, but if I hear one more time "We're really looking for something with that WOW factor" I may just scream.
Because... you know... I always aspire to design something that's just marginally ho-hum.
the one time i had a client say "we're looking for that WOW factor" their response at our next meeting was "maybe a little less wow and little more normal"...
David, I'd consider it based on factors like whether their goals and your goals line up, how you feel generally about their business practices (is there anything they do that you find morally repugnant?), and how much control they'll let you retain.
I did a Wow factor Stand Alone Retail building design earlier this year....after the clients ask for it....then they went quiet and came back about a month ago looking for something like a Country Greek Revival Barn....it was a big dissapointment cause I was really loving my earlier design. Now it is just going to be another barn on a winding road in New England....sigh
Well the patio project...sigh...looks like we will be drinking Irish Coffee inorder to enjoy it. Something to warm the soul and heart at the same time. I spent a half an hour behind closed doors with the building official explaining the IBCO and dining seating....he had out his code picture book with him and wanted to tell me something I didn't want to hear. Before the meeting was over he had a full understanding it wasn't my first time around the block. So hopefully Monday morning we will have our final inspection and will then have to wait for the information to pass from department to department for signatures....and then yes we can serve IRISH COFFEE.....IF YOUR IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD, COME ON DOWN!
think i mentioned a while back we moved our office to new digs in tokyo. we had a chance to take over the second floor of an old wooden building in the middle of the city and do whatever we liked with the place, and that is what we did.
it is kinda funky looking but pretty comfy place to work and in an interesting part of tokyo - modernising and gentrifying but not so far gone that places like this aren't all gone yet.
more images on our blog if interested. hmmm, now i think on it i can use the new firm update-y thing to post this....be right back.
jump it's awesome - I went over to the blog and looked. Tell us about the posts: they look like a sandwich of wood and a grey board? What are the notches used for, and are these typical framing members like a 2x4 stud wall here in States?
The garden path entry makes me want to move to Japan right now.
thanks donna. the area is very nice. i quite like it, much better than where we have normally been (so far we have been in places that are more high tone and new - concrete buildings with not so much character). it is even more cool cuz this is a block away from glass high rises, is adjacent to temple property and a block from a lively shopping street. it's pretty much got it all going on. and best of all is only 5 minutes walk to the subway. i am really most happy about this point.
the wooden posts are traditional timber frame construction, same as is normally used now. i guess they look like they are sandwiched because they are precut with splits so that shrinking and expansion can be accommodated/controlled from the outset. The notches and so on are there to take the substructure and the decorative beam and/or railing that runs around the room in most japanese-style rooms (you can see these in the before and demolition images). We took that all out so it left the holes for where the horizontal bits locked into the columns. most of those cuts are done by computer nowadays but remain standard repertoire for carpenters here. more like building furniture than 2x4 construction i would say.
the tables we made from some wood we got from a friend, finished on top with a laminate and with legs from ikea. fairly inexpensive but clean where it needs to be and rough where it doesn't matter, pretty much like the office itself....
like i wrote in the blog entry do drop by donna. would be totally awesome to host you if you ever get the urge to see some of japan.
yeah it really is something phillip. more remarkable because it is totally standard. wouldn't be commented on at all in japan cuz it's just business as usual.
i am actually more impressed that bakoko generated enough interest to get the video and their blog into dwell. those guys are really good with the self-promotion. something to be learned from them no doubt about it. they share some of the same approach that klein and dytham used to get started here (they later invented pecha-kucha but before that were famous for their documentation of crazy japanese drink machine english - very coolio btw)
excellent work jump... I'm very envious, but considering a trip to Japan... it's just that thought provoking.
Had an fab night with some former classmates... the booze flowed as did the words and the dancing. It's great to be amongst friends that understand the struggle. Keep fighting archinect
david you should follow through on the thought and make a trip here! it's crappy the yen is so expensive right now but the country is still pretty cool place to see.
it's so standard that the land the building sits on was sold only for the property value. building value = 0. We like the old tokyo vibe of the place ourselves even if this was the cheapest construction possible some 40 years ago.
what i like is that we could try to go for the common lament that craftsmanship isn't what it was in those days, but we would be wrong cuz it is. carpenters can build this building and better now. a very cool place for a nation to be. old skills are added to not just replaced with lower value new skills.
Entering the Age....tell me about it! Scrambling like a Whirlwind at the Moment. Really needint to land some work before winter sets in. Talked to a guy today who lost his job (non architectural) after 28 years. He was bummed...then I told him every day for me was finding a new job....there is no solid when your working for yourself.
On another Note: Jumper....You Are Grand ! Love the office Suite.
we are oddly doing kind of well ourselves and somehow work comes in the door quite regularly lately we have no idea why.
i absolutely understand the feeling about being self-employed. it is not easy to manage sometimes. and i might add can be very stressful. it is quite funny to talk to my old boss/mentor about finding work because he has been lamenting every time i meet him that next year he is not sure how the office will survive. and has been doing that for at least the 15 years i've known him ;-)
The new teaching gig is finally official - first day of getting paid! Classes start friday so I'm in the thick of syllabus creation and course planning. Feels real good to be back is California where I actually know cool places to use in studios and the local history. There was something about MN where even after 5 years, I didn't know the place well enough to feel comfortable selecting sites for classes on my own.
Teaching two studios this fall, a 3rd year BSLA studio that is going to play with post-oil urbanism around the LA Harbor, plus the MLA foundation studio which will be a series of short vignettes.
wish my faculty office looked as comfortable front office's new digs! Guess I need to post some photos soon of my new home.
beautiful day for turkish soccer. 30,000 women and children watching a superlig game. all men are banned as a part of 2 game penalty for previous problem. i am not missing all male hooligans. there is no let go in continuing cheering either.
try this live link if you want to hear what kind of deafening support these women can generate for their team.
Still Battling Poison Ivy....and this evening I discovered, I get to wait yet another week before I can appear before a govermental body. The web site states....they generally meet on the third Tuesday of the month..... There letter came today and I said Yahoo....only to discover after driving a half hour to a meeting all the lights were out ....I guess I didn't look close enough at the letter cause it is next Tuesday.....and so it is generally not the Third Tuesday in the Month of September.
I'm taking it in stride, knowing we will be fully prepared with 8X10 Arlo Gutherie Glossy Photos for our meeting of the best looking project in town....
melt, " Ivy Dry" is made in New Jersey.....that kind of scares me....Having driven down the Jersey Pike and seen all those old abandoned industrial buildings...I think I'm starting to itch again...
holz, got a new gig - perhaps my dream job - teaching at cal poly pomona. you're always welcome to drop by and teach passiv haus to my landscape and orhan's arch students...
exciting day today... the advance copies of the book that i have been working on as associate editor and contributing author for three years arrived in philadelphia today... i haven't seen them in person yet, but will get to tomorrow... they actually exist in physical form now!!! we will be having a book launch at upenn some time in november and then the books will actually be on the market after the first of the year... if your not already of fan of our facebook page, head on over and like us so that you can get updates...
melt no more about the blog deal. It's a waiting game. I told them I wanted editorial rights. I hope that didn't scare them.
Snook I hear you. One of the coolest projects I've worked on since returning home was supposed to be presented today. But apparently it wasn't put on the agenda so we have a couple days to wait. We are really gung ho but are afraid to develop the scheme further until we meet. I'd love to share more but all I can say is it is of national interest and is right up barry's professional ally.
And we have the first crit for the semester tomorrow. 48 students in two pin-up rooms and I look like I'm coming down with the flu. Let's home I don't take out on the students.
snook, the NJTP and the industrial buildings make you itch?? you obviously have not seen the latest "Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia" the crew goes to the Jersey Shore, under the boardwalk...and let me tell you, nothing will make you itch more, than finding out what's under that boardwalk.
david, i'll let you know once we are ready to send out review copies... i'm not sure exactly how it is going to work, but i'm sure that we'll have to coordinate somehow with the mit press...
toaster, i'm not exactly sure how the cover illustration was made (not my department!), but i know that it was done through a script, so processing is a likely candidate... we then manipulated it a bit more in illustrator to fine tune it... i can't say too much about the contents until we get the official go ahead from MIT Press to start promoting it, but there are essays and projects from about 30 different contributors, including architects, landscape architects, artists, urbanists... some are very well known... others, like myself, are "emerging scholars"...
here's the very brief description from our facebook and wikipedia page:
"Explores the theme of 'dirt' through metaphorical and material connotations, taking up both the suggestive and literal qualities of this most fertile medium known to man."
David beat me to asking to review it ;-) but there should be more than one review copy available from MIT press. I'm hoping your book is everything that David Gissen's wasn't.
So Paul Petrunia was giving a lecture in my fine city, and I really wanted to attend, so I e-mailed him asking if he knew of any lecture discounts (money is tight. $110 is too much but $80 could do the trick). No response. Fine. Busy man.
But then I was doing 'friend request' on facebooks (new version is super invasive by default) after I saw Donna comment on Orhan's post (had no idea Orhan was on there. Thanks for saying yes Orhan!) and then realized Paul dropped me as a friend on Facebooks! Who does that?
I guess I really pissed him off. Sorry!! I guess... I just wanted to see him give a lecture, maybe say hi, and if that goes well point him to places 'too-cool-for-school' where architects of this city tend to hang out at. Cripes!
cruise the site...and look at the galleries....damn I could use a couple days of decompression time. This place has free silica mud....and lots of hot water.
Oh god snook I've actually been to Blue Lagoon and it is one of the supreme sublime experiences of my life. SO freaking gorgeous and yes I could use that kind of soothing muddy embrace right now.
When I was there the spa hadn't been built yet - a week there is total dream vacation for me.
i've seen that lots of my feedback are becoming dumber/lame lately. i feel this is because of a problem with my brain...i have been spacing out a lot these days, generally blanking out and i'm nervous that perhaps as a result of i'm getting previous i will have a type of massive strokes after which be unable so as to add any commentary (maybe a very good thing).
nonetheless, if i suddenly die, i might like to determine a technique to let everybody know what occurred since i do care about a lot of you and, presumably, a few of you care about me too. i guess the question then is how do i show that i'm actually dead...as a substitute of just being quiet?
also, does anybody know if it's kosher to google google? or would this danger creating some form of feed again loop that could destroy your entire inter-web? kinda of like holding a microphone too near a speaker. i really am too afraid to strive this.
and yes, i did test (preview) this before i mess myself
Thread Central
<rant>
I generally like the client I'm currently work for, but if I hear one more time "We're really looking for something with that WOW factor" I may just scream.
Because... you know... I always aspire to design something that's just marginally ho-hum.
GAH!!!!
<end rant>
carry on.
the one time i had a client say "we're looking for that WOW factor" their response at our next meeting was "maybe a little less wow and little more normal"...
Oh how I wish I could've been at both of those meetings.
David, I'd consider it based on factors like whether their goals and your goals line up, how you feel generally about their business practices (is there anything they do that you find morally repugnant?), and how much control they'll let you retain.
I did a Wow factor Stand Alone Retail building design earlier this year....after the clients ask for it....then they went quiet and came back about a month ago looking for something like a Country Greek Revival Barn....it was a big dissapointment cause I was really loving my earlier design. Now it is just going to be another barn on a winding road in New England....sigh
i am the WOW factor.
toaster how did you find that out
barry back at you.
the drive was amazing although a bit hairy at time. we had an amazing taco meal near Vandenberg AFB and Lampoc...
You are indeed, vado. Call me sometime!
Well the patio project...sigh...looks like we will be drinking Irish Coffee inorder to enjoy it. Something to warm the soul and heart at the same time. I spent a half an hour behind closed doors with the building official explaining the IBCO and dining seating....he had out his code picture book with him and wanted to tell me something I didn't want to hear. Before the meeting was over he had a full understanding it wasn't my first time around the block. So hopefully Monday morning we will have our final inspection and will then have to wait for the information to pass from department to department for signatures....and then yes we can serve IRISH COFFEE.....IF YOUR IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD, COME ON DOWN!
think i mentioned a while back we moved our office to new digs in tokyo. we had a chance to take over the second floor of an old wooden building in the middle of the city and do whatever we liked with the place, and that is what we did.
it is kinda funky looking but pretty comfy place to work and in an interesting part of tokyo - modernising and gentrifying but not so far gone that places like this aren't all gone yet.
more images on our blog if interested. hmmm, now i think on it i can use the new firm update-y thing to post this....be right back.
jump it's awesome - I went over to the blog and looked. Tell us about the posts: they look like a sandwich of wood and a grey board? What are the notches used for, and are these typical framing members like a 2x4 stud wall here in States?
The garden path entry makes me want to move to Japan right now.
thanks donna. the area is very nice. i quite like it, much better than where we have normally been (so far we have been in places that are more high tone and new - concrete buildings with not so much character). it is even more cool cuz this is a block away from glass high rises, is adjacent to temple property and a block from a lively shopping street. it's pretty much got it all going on. and best of all is only 5 minutes walk to the subway. i am really most happy about this point.
the wooden posts are traditional timber frame construction, same as is normally used now. i guess they look like they are sandwiched because they are precut with splits so that shrinking and expansion can be accommodated/controlled from the outset. The notches and so on are there to take the substructure and the decorative beam and/or railing that runs around the room in most japanese-style rooms (you can see these in the before and demolition images). We took that all out so it left the holes for where the horizontal bits locked into the columns. most of those cuts are done by computer nowadays but remain standard repertoire for carpenters here. more like building furniture than 2x4 construction i would say.
the tables we made from some wood we got from a friend, finished on top with a laminate and with legs from ikea. fairly inexpensive but clean where it needs to be and rough where it doesn't matter, pretty much like the office itself....
like i wrote in the blog entry do drop by donna. would be totally awesome to host you if you ever get the urge to see some of japan.
very cool jump... it is appropriate that you just posted this today as i just read an article in dwell about traditional japanese joinery... incredibly cool, complicated stuff... their website has a video that shows how robots cut timbers these days...
couldn't find a better image, but here's an image of some of the crazy joints from the dwell article...
yeah it really is something phillip. more remarkable because it is totally standard. wouldn't be commented on at all in japan cuz it's just business as usual.
i am actually more impressed that bakoko generated enough interest to get the video and their blog into dwell. those guys are really good with the self-promotion. something to be learned from them no doubt about it. they share some of the same approach that klein and dytham used to get started here (they later invented pecha-kucha but before that were famous for their documentation of crazy japanese drink machine english - very coolio btw)
excellent work jump... I'm very envious, but considering a trip to Japan... it's just that thought provoking.
Had an fab night with some former classmates... the booze flowed as did the words and the dancing. It's great to be amongst friends that understand the struggle. Keep fighting archinect
david you should follow through on the thought and make a trip here! it's crappy the yen is so expensive right now but the country is still pretty cool place to see.
Beautiful work jump. I am completely in love with the joints. I love that it is just the standard practice in Japan.
cheers melt
it's so standard that the land the building sits on was sold only for the property value. building value = 0. We like the old tokyo vibe of the place ourselves even if this was the cheapest construction possible some 40 years ago.
what i like is that we could try to go for the common lament that craftsmanship isn't what it was in those days, but we would be wrong cuz it is. carpenters can build this building and better now. a very cool place for a nation to be. old skills are added to not just replaced with lower value new skills.
old skills are added to not just replaced with lower value new skills.
One of many reasons why the US is quickly headed down the toilet.
hm, yeah could be a bad sign. although you know japan's economy is not much better than usa and we are also wondering what it's all about.
we are really entering the age of ennui, aren't we?
Entering the Age....tell me about it! Scrambling like a Whirlwind at the Moment. Really needint to land some work before winter sets in. Talked to a guy today who lost his job (non architectural) after 28 years. He was bummed...then I told him every day for me was finding a new job....there is no solid when your working for yourself.
On another Note: Jumper....You Are Grand ! Love the office Suite.
cheers snook.
we are oddly doing kind of well ourselves and somehow work comes in the door quite regularly lately we have no idea why.
i absolutely understand the feeling about being self-employed. it is not easy to manage sometimes. and i might add can be very stressful. it is quite funny to talk to my old boss/mentor about finding work because he has been lamenting every time i meet him that next year he is not sure how the office will survive. and has been doing that for at least the 15 years i've known him ;-)
The new teaching gig is finally official - first day of getting paid! Classes start friday so I'm in the thick of syllabus creation and course planning. Feels real good to be back is California where I actually know cool places to use in studios and the local history. There was something about MN where even after 5 years, I didn't know the place well enough to feel comfortable selecting sites for classes on my own.
Teaching two studios this fall, a 3rd year BSLA studio that is going to play with post-oil urbanism around the LA Harbor, plus the MLA foundation studio which will be a series of short vignettes.
wish my faculty office looked as comfortable front office's new digs! Guess I need to post some photos soon of my new home.
uhh, i apparently need to check in more often. you've moved to the west coast, barry?
beautiful day for turkish soccer. 30,000 women and children watching a superlig game. all men are banned as a part of 2 game penalty for previous problem. i am not missing all male hooligans. there is no let go in continuing cheering either.
try this live link if you want to hear what kind of deafening support these women can generate for their team.
http://www.firstrowsports.tv/webmaster/Live-Football-Stream/81469/1/watch-fenerbahce-sk-vs-manisaspor.html
Still Battling Poison Ivy....and this evening I discovered, I get to wait yet another week before I can appear before a govermental body. The web site states....they generally meet on the third Tuesday of the month..... There letter came today and I said Yahoo....only to discover after driving a half hour to a meeting all the lights were out ....I guess I didn't look close enough at the letter cause it is next Tuesday.....and so it is generally not the Third Tuesday in the Month of September.
I'm taking it in stride, knowing we will be fully prepared with 8X10 Arlo Gutherie Glossy Photos for our meeting of the best looking project in town....
I heard that story on the news Orhan. The players said they loved the atmosphere. I would have loved to have been a part of that audience.
snook - try Ivy Dry. It worked wonders for me when I got a few patches of it this summer.
melt, " Ivy Dry" is made in New Jersey.....that kind of scares me....Having driven down the Jersey Pike and seen all those old abandoned industrial buildings...I think I'm starting to itch again...
holz, got a new gig - perhaps my dream job - teaching at cal poly pomona. you're always welcome to drop by and teach passiv haus to my landscape and orhan's arch students...
awesome! congrats, barry. my sister in law just graduated from the pomona l.arch grad program, so i may have to take you up on that offer!
You're funny snook. Where's beta to give props to NJ when you need him?
Not much going on... I'm still alive.
David - any more come of your blog? It seema a rather interesting deal.
Hello TCers.
I am back from my thesis research in Cuba and visiting my parents in Brasil. I am incredibly excited for my thesis. And so it begins...
I hope everyone is doing well.
picture n_... where are the pictures?
exciting day today... the advance copies of the book that i have been working on as associate editor and contributing author for three years arrived in philadelphia today... i haven't seen them in person yet, but will get to tomorrow... they actually exist in physical form now!!! we will be having a book launch at upenn some time in november and then the books will actually be on the market after the first of the year... if your not already of fan of our facebook page, head on over and like us so that you can get updates...
melt no more about the blog deal. It's a waiting game. I told them I wanted editorial rights. I hope that didn't scare them.
Snook I hear you. One of the coolest projects I've worked on since returning home was supposed to be presented today. But apparently it wasn't put on the agenda so we have a couple days to wait. We are really gung ho but are afraid to develop the scheme further until we meet. I'd love to share more but all I can say is it is of national interest and is right up barry's professional ally.
And we have the first crit for the semester tomorrow. 48 students in two pin-up rooms and I look like I'm coming down with the flu. Let's home I don't take out on the students.
less than 6 weeks to go
Phillip I'd love to review that book - fancy sending over a copy?
it's a very pretty book. probably needs to be on my shelf.
Gorgeous book Phillip.
David, get some rest. Your body is obviously telling you it needs it.
snook, the NJTP and the industrial buildings make you itch?? you obviously have not seen the latest "Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia" the crew goes to the Jersey Shore, under the boardwalk...and let me tell you, nothing will make you itch more, than finding out what's under that boardwalk.
david, i'll let you know once we are ready to send out review copies... i'm not sure exactly how it is going to work, but i'm sure that we'll have to coordinate somehow with the mit press...
philip - nice looking book - cover looks like it was made in processing. dumb question - what's it about? sandy loam? loamy sand?
toaster, i'm not exactly sure how the cover illustration was made (not my department!), but i know that it was done through a script, so processing is a likely candidate... we then manipulated it a bit more in illustrator to fine tune it... i can't say too much about the contents until we get the official go ahead from MIT Press to start promoting it, but there are essays and projects from about 30 different contributors, including architects, landscape architects, artists, urbanists... some are very well known... others, like myself, are "emerging scholars"...
here's the very brief description from our facebook and wikipedia page:
"Explores the theme of 'dirt' through metaphorical and material connotations, taking up both the suggestive and literal qualities of this most fertile medium known to man."
Phillip,
Congrats!!!!!
David beat me to asking to review it ;-) but there should be more than one review copy available from MIT press. I'm hoping your book is everything that David Gissen's wasn't.
So Paul Petrunia was giving a lecture in my fine city, and I really wanted to attend, so I e-mailed him asking if he knew of any lecture discounts (money is tight. $110 is too much but $80 could do the trick). No response. Fine. Busy man.
But then I was doing 'friend request' on facebooks (new version is super invasive by default) after I saw Donna comment on Orhan's post (had no idea Orhan was on there. Thanks for saying yes Orhan!) and then realized Paul dropped me as a friend on Facebooks! Who does that?
I guess I really pissed him off. Sorry!! I guess... I just wanted to see him give a lecture, maybe say hi, and if that goes well point him to places 'too-cool-for-school' where architects of this city tend to hang out at. Cripes!
Think this might be where we all want to meet up for a gathering: bluelagoon.com
cruise the site...and look at the galleries....damn I could use a couple days of decompression time. This place has free silica mud....and lots of hot water.
Oh god snook I've actually been to Blue Lagoon and it is one of the supreme sublime experiences of my life. SO freaking gorgeous and yes I could use that kind of soothing muddy embrace right now.
When I was there the spa hadn't been built yet - a week there is total dream vacation for me.
woohoo rusty!! i just saw u on faceboook!
IM your biggest fan!
i've seen that lots of my feedback are becoming dumber/lame lately. i feel this is because of a problem with my brain...i have been spacing out a lot these days, generally blanking out and i'm nervous that perhaps as a result of i'm getting previous i will have a type of massive strokes after which be unable so as to add any commentary (maybe a very good thing).
nonetheless, if i suddenly die, i might like to determine a technique to let everybody know what occurred since i do care about a lot of you and, presumably, a few of you care about me too. i guess the question then is how do i show that i'm actually dead...as a substitute of just being quiet?
also, does anybody know if it's kosher to google google? or would this danger creating some form of feed again loop that could destroy your entire inter-web? kinda of like holding a microphone too near a speaker. i really am too afraid to strive this.
and yes, i did test (preview) this before i mess myself
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