The son seems pretty well adjusted, his recovery from a near frustration melt down is admirable.

I should get him to respond to RFIs for me.

Fantastic!

Just before watching this I got on the phone with my Dad, telling him I was going to make vaccine appointments for him and my mom. That conversation and this video have some similarities.

This is my life.

Look, when your GC tells you that he's just a former "concrete guy", you don't have to wonder WTF he's calling you about shit that's in the drawings.

This is the perfect summation of what goes through my mind while writing specs. In what ways can the contractor misconstrue this and eff it up?

It's a comedy show but it ain't funny.

Here's mine: I admit to watching way too much YouTube these days. Puppies, surprise military homecomings, standup comedians, horror movie endings, actor interviews... there, ya happy?   ;o]

Not sure how long I can hold back the snark... it’s taking most of my non-existant restraint just to scroll past those threads. Ditto since the current crop appears to be Canadian related.

Not sure how long I can hold back the snark... it’s taking most of my non-existant restraint just to scroll past those threads. Ditto since the current crop appears to be Canadian related.

You Canadians are snappy dressers, Non.

citizen - It's all about the reaction videos for me; I just can't get enough of Millennials/Gen Z seeing Star Wars or hearing the Rolling Stones for the first time.

I had a eureka moment last week. I've decided to stick around here but delete all social media. There's too much toxicity and I'm over it. And I'm just as guilty as anybody, which is the real reason I'm getting rid of it - I don't like how I behave sometimes and it's hard for me to resist the urge to engage in bullshit. Time for a change. Good luck NS.

I like that, atelier. I've run across a few vids of youngsters watching or listening to a classic and noting their reactions. It is fun to see, you're right.

I've seen some of those classic song reaction videos and I refuse to believe that they are genuine. You mean to tell me that this mid-twenty year old dude sitting in a recording studio with $1k headphones has never heard bowie? Come on...

Bowho?

.

Good marketing, otherwise you won't see the striations.

I did notice today, but did not think of it as new. Happy surprise.

Didn't notice at all, that's how natural it feels to just see those timestamps in posts and replies.

You're welcome.

Checkered Flag?

Seeing a similar trend in the PNW - whole lotta "8-15 years" openings. It's the great PM/PA shuffle!

& since it's pretty easy to figure out my real identity from the information on this forum: hello bosses I'm not planning on going anywhere.

SStduds to the vice-principal's office please.

I already did my switch haha

Interesting. I know the firm I'm at just hired a PM and interviewed an interior designer. We're still looking for another PA. I myself have learned to always keep an eye open to new opportunities if they where to arise.

I did my switch a year before the pandemic.

I did my switch *checks watch* holy shit I'm getting old.

Here to say it's a good time to be out on your own if you've ever thought about it. Turning down work here with a good backlog. Woo oo.

tintt how do you get health insurance? The story of my career is either me or husband has to not be self-employed so that we can have health insurance.

^I'm also curious, for similar reasons.

have a partner who isn't an architect, aka gets real benefits and can add you on their insurance for free. i consider myself very lucky... dropping my arch "healthcare" was a great day.

but for real, the cost of obamacare is being lowered a bit by the new bill. maybe the trend will continue?

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/0...

Health insurance? We have had all kinds. Right now we have public insurance. We can make quite a bit before we lose it where we live because of high cost of living. I don't think it's possible everywhere. Before we had that, we paid for a high deductible plan from BC/BS. We rarely use healthcare services but our kids do. If we lose our public HC, we qualify for significant subsidies.

Tell the contractor to do their own punch unless they feel like explaining your future bill to the client.

Same here. I work alone, but still...

And, when I work alone,

I like to be by myself

Bring Ricky?

ha. i've had more than a few coworkers with that mindset

You see that in woodworking, somebody spends an hour setting up a machine to make a cut that could be done in 30 seconds with a hand saw.

Booked for a year! Damn. To be fair I know quite a few city-folk here that have specifically booted up your way and into Vermont farm houses. Heard great things about Portland specifically.

It's a good time to be busy. We have quite a few proposals out at the moment and if more than half of them come back as projects... then we're in trouble. The good kind of trouble tho. Happy guinness day!

Bench, yeah Portland is great--I lived there for 12 years, but have lived about an hour and a half north of there for 7 years now, but most of my work is still in and around Portland.

Non, I usually expect about half of my proposals to come back, but I had about twice as many inquiries as usual last fall, and almost all of them came back signed. I just posted the flip side in Mental Health Central, but I do feel fortunate--finally in the right place at the right time!

At the higher end residential budgets are just there to squeeze those providing the service while the clients go on a spending spree. "But you said it was only going to cost _____, so we're not paying a fee for the extra costs."

The best part is that now that they need you, you can tell them to fuck off in a nice way.

Miles, I agree. As many zeros as these project budgets have, though, they are all for relatively modest projects--it's just very expensive to build decent-quality homes right now, even up here in Maine. Even my largest-budget project, the $800K that came in at $1.3M, is only that high because my clients are selling the house they have owned in the Bay area for 30 years and that's what they will net. I still can't feel too badly for them.

I bill hourly so the construction budget doesn't strongly affect the design budget, though I am thinking about changing to fixed fees for 2022. And finding more projects where the budget is a game and not a make-or-break factor. I design a LOT of projects that don't get built and I'm tired of it. Though I also don't love working for richy-rich folks, which I used to do as an employee. Maybe I need to get into making art....

The grass is always greener ... my clients are still the same people. The difference is I'm not married to narcissistic sociopaths for a couple of years and then fighting to get paid at the end. They like something, they can buy it, if not thanks for stopping by. Of course this does not include having to sue the gallery to get paid ... so it's different but with the same problems.

I was mostly joking about art; maybe if I had artistic talent... But I have often considered setting up more of a product-based business than a service-based one. Predesigned high-performance house plans, building and installing custom kitchens and cabinetry, fitting out tiny homes or adventure trailers, etc.. But custom home design is mostly what I've done for the last 15 years and when I've strayed into the construction side I lose money. First world problems.

If you're interested in some tips send me a note via my website.

In climate zone 5 you likely won't see a reasonable financial payback for going to triple-glazed windows, but you will find better comfort and sound attenuation. The most larger the window, the larger the comfort gains due to radiative cooling--cold windows suck the heat from your skin. I use a variety of different window brands and types depending on the project, including tilt/turns, but I don't think their added performance would be worth it to you unless you like the operation style. Vinyl (aka "uPVC") windows can be good quality or poor quality. Without knowing more, I'd say don't spend too much on windows and invest in weatherizing--especially air-sealing--instead.

On the other hand, even the best windows perform worse than a 2x4 wall so if you have a lot of glazing you might want to invest in higher performance.

We talked about windows on a couple of BS + Beer shows, in case you're interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwZDxHCiqok, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFRJ535eDDA&t=71s.

triple glazing performs great, but the weight increases by 40% at least - just finished a house with kolbe & kolbe triple glazing, and the installers had to bring a front loader to raise them - big windows though.

I agree with WG. Triple glazed isn't worth it. Same thing with having gas in-between the panes of glass if you live above for the windows have to travel through an area above 3,000 ft elevation. The gas will be expelled through the glazing's equalization gaskets.

JLC, having installed 10' x 10' triple glazed windows imported from Europe, I can enthusiastically agree about the added weight. Six strong guys could barely lift them. For normal-sized windows it's less of an issue. You could also go with Alpen, who make glazing with a clear mylar center pane that weighs nothing yet performs like a glass pane. They had some issues with them initially but have had them dialed in for a decade or two. https://thinkalpen.com/products/zenith-series-windows-doors/

Chad, I wouldn't categorically say that triple glazing isn't worth it. We're using these triple-glazed, high-quality vinyl windows on a project now: https://mathewsbrothers.com/sanford-hills-3/. Their performance specs are similar to European imports but they are $400-500 per window. Costs vary quite a bit with manufacturer and details such as gas fill and glazing coatings. But in general, I do a lot of energy modeling and can say that if you're looking at the cost difference between a single product that offers both double and triple glazing, in most cases the financial payback period will be long. The comfort and sound attenuation aspects may be worth the upgrade, though.

I've specified Alpen for a project in Antarctica - and they cost about what you'd expect for that kind of performance.

Sorry, I mean in EA's situation. They are worth it in certain climates. The acoustic performance of triple glazed windows is great, just make sure the wall they are in is up to the task as well.

Thanks all. The radiative cooling effect is probably why I felt disappointed; even with better performing windows we still kept the blinds drawn during most of the winter because it felt warmer that way, even though I would have rather had the light and views outside. I'm not expecting a financial payback in energy savings with just the windows, so it really is about comfort for me.

My wife was the one who complained the most about the acoustic performance, but we also lived next to two hound dogs (coonhounds I believe) and I don't think anything would really block them out. We do have a bit more street noise here that we didn't at the last house. I'm not really expecting a huge improvement with just new windows as I think the walls are still pretty thin, acoustically speaking

Operationally, we are used to horizontal sliders and single-hung windows. We've had casement windows in other homes and we aren't really a fan of the cranking to open and close them. I think that's why my wife might be wary of tilt/turn, but I need to get her to a showroom where she can experience the difference. Even then, most of our current openings with operable windows are square-ish or wider than taller, and I'm not sure proportionally they work well for tilt-turn, or really anything other than horizontal sliders (unless you break them up with vertical mullions).

If acoustics and thermal comfort are key, what about getting some heavy curtains instead?

dbl glazed w/ laminate >> triple glazed

check in with your mfr to see their acoustic ratings for different igu's -- you might be surprised at the different performance numbers

EA, I forget where you are but are double-hungs popular there? I think the newer types perform better than they get credit for. A few years ago we got 0.4 ACH50 in a house with Marvin Integrity (now Elevate) double-hungs, which is quite good. Do you have experience with tilt/turns? They have several quirks, not just operation: most don't have a stay to keep them open, screens are usually an afterthought at best, window treatments can be tricky.

WG what are your thoughts about fiberglass instead of PVC? I refuse to put PVC in my commercial projects (one of the very few hills I'll die over). I know it's not likely to make a difference when placed within a leaky wall / building, but as an apples to apples comparison of the major deciding factors, I'm curious on your thoughts

Ew climate zone 5. Excuse me as I enjoy my evening stroll in my rainbows sandals

randomised, see my previous comment about always having the blinds drawn at our last place and how I'd rather have the light and views. Though curtains may be in the picture anyway if we end up with tilt/turn operation.

proto, good advice. I'll be digging more into the numbers, but just wondering at this point if there is any basic rules of thumb (like if you want good thermal comfort you need to be at a U-factor of X or lower. Obviously, I wasn't impressed with U-0.28). Double glazed with a laminate may be an option if the thermal comfort is there.

WG, I haven't seen many double-hung windows around here, more common to see single-hung and we even used them in the last house. I wasn't disappointed with them, but if I can avoid a horizontal sash (or is it a meeting rail) in the middle of the window, I'd like to. I don't have a lot of experience with tilt/turns. I'm looking at them as an option because I think they check some boxes other types don't. Even then you note they have their quirks and I agree with your assessment. I'd also add their wider sightlines as a negative. I am curious about the window screens because that would be a deal breaker for my wife. She's generally ok with bringing the outdoors in, but not if it includes bugs.

bowling_ball, I'm also curious for people's thoughts on fiberglass vs. PVC. I'll probably be getting quotes for both options.

archi_dude, would it be better if I said marine 4? Same code requirements. Still probably not sandal weather in either right now though.

I'm just kidding and you are right. It's not actually sandal weather :(

for example on sound glazing ratings from Marvin (i think they get glazing via Cardinal)

Acoustics is such a funny thing that I don't fully understand and looking at charts like this proves I have no intuition when it comes to this stuff. For example, the chart shows an option for a 3/4" unit and a 1" unit with the same glazing (1/4" lami on both sides), the only difference being the size of the airspace ... the STC rating is the same (35 for both), but the OITC rating differs by 2 points (30 for the 3/4" unit, and 28 for the 1" unit). But then another example with 3/16" annealed and 1/4" lami shows the opposite trend for the other rating ... STC = 35 for the 3/4" unit, and 37 for the 1" unit, OITC = 30 for both

I'm sure it has something to do with the wavelengths of the sound frequencies being tested and the distance between the glass matching the wavelengths or something, but I would not have predicted that.

Who would’ve thought you wanted to look out the windows, must’ve overlooked that bit :-)

Doesn't look like all commenting is blocked, just you Miles. What did you say?

It was posted by a recent grad working as an architectural journalist. Does make me wonder what their motivations are if they are pushing content here rather than with their employer, no?

there was something glitchy with the comments interface but mine went through. maybe just a site bug?

I'm blocked. I guess my hard-hitting no BS comment wasn't appreciated. You know me, I don't mince words. I'd still like to know if this is a paid promotion. It's an awful lot like the propaganda / cancel culture shit going on.

"Thank you for your submission, Miles Jaffe. Hard-hitting, no-BS comments are welcome, unless they hit hard at something near and dear. Then you are banished from the thread. Have a nice day."

Seriously, I figured my lawnmower snark would be long-gone by now.

That was brillaint. Your picture is worth 1,000 words.

there is something weird going on there, Miles I totally agree now. It actually contains no news, no links to any description of the proposed installation. Is this actually a thing that's happening or just the musings of the "artist" Jared Zuegg who is ... ceo of a branding consultancy whose clients include Ferrari, Ducati, and I guess Porsche. https://www.dravotandcarnehan.com/workjaredzaugg

btw JZ if you're reading I'm totally serious about my suggestion for Porsche on Ice and would be happy to work with you putting together a display with real content. As a practicing architect, I'm always happy to sell my ideas ;)

in retrospect the overemphasis on porsches specifically is obvious. if anyone was doing this just for beauty's sake they'd obviously be leaning a lot heavier on classic lamborghinis and american muscle cars.

cocaine-white countaches or GTFO.

The lawnmower shot was excellent, citizen.

someone finally did not like my comment and removed it. boo.

It was accurate too.  I've seen many drop-out projects that had far better resolution and thought than this one.

Sorry, midlander, it's been done.

my one-liner comment is still there despite receive a whooping 2 thumbs down.

In reply to square. "i see we're employing the trump strategy here":

Bigly.

Link to the 'article'?

https://archinect.com/news/article/150255662/porsches-in-nature-proposes-displaying-glass-encased-porsches-in-raw-utah-desert-landscapes

Wow. What utter and total crap.

exceptionally inappropriate proposal that should just be left as a photoshop image & not a real project...it also seems likely to not actually work, between temp/humidity swings, dust & inevitable vandals

But I'm sure if realized, that glass box project will provide near infinite contributions to the "show off your caulk" thread. Hey, gotta see the positives in every situation.

more than dumb, it's a dangerous trend that sees the desert as a final frontier for the infinite marketing loop to conquer, like
that asterisk of containers and now this.

i think the distaste comes from the sense that this isn't an art project by an artist - it's a promotional stunt by a brand consultant. it's using a great natural monument as a billboard.

and trying to tell us this is art.

when duchamp set up his "fountain" that was accepted as art because he was an artist making a statement. if kohler hired a consultant to do a showing of urinals in the Moma, that wouldn't be art - just sneaky advertising. this is the latter.

i and i assume Miles are more offended by the pretense that this is an art project than the banality of the idea.

I'm incensed that such a grossly inappropriate proposal would be aired here without even a hint of criticism. This is not an art project, its a marketing ploy for superlux goods displayed in a pristine natural envirnoment.

Aside from the fact that it is equivalent of lighting $100,000 cigars with million dollar bills while homelessness, unemployment, and small business closings are at record levels, with record foreclosures and bankruptcies (from whoch there is no escape) ahead.

He must be angry at the cavalier attitude we’ve taken here to kangaroo safety in past discussions.

all clear now

"The building was demolished in 1963." Well that's a shame.

Every once in awhile, go in, and throw a grenade. He jumps on it, every time.

I'd say it's good entertainment if it was not so sad.

Reading the same sentence over and over is what it was before I muted xlax and what it is after I muted xlax.

I need an alarm clock. One that is NOT my phone.

I'd highly recommend a sunrise alarm clock. I leave my phone in the office when I go to sleep.

Actually . . . .

Probably correct. Which means I have more time coming up to make a better chart.

Get going on that chart. I'd like to see a proposal by 1:30pm MT.

Sorry, there is some crazy wanker providing too good of a distraction in that Mcdonalds discussion. I'll get to the chart tomorrow

that ones wild. it'll be gone soon. he fits a type - crackpot writers always go nuts when ppl treat their threads like junk someone posted online

and i'm definitely getting a big mac for lunch. there was a lot of inspiration before the crazy guy got going there.

Sorry to hear this.  What country are you in?

pitkin county, colorado

Beautiful country!

JLC-1 - I don't know why you're having issues. I'm in Grand Junction CO and it was easy for everyone I know to get vaccinated.

there was a 10 day period where the state didn't send any vaccine this way; still sending little more than half the requested doses - I'm guessing it's because a lot of out of state people came here to their second homes and hoarded vaccines in the beginning.

https://www.aspentimes.com/news/next-group-of-vaccine-recipients-on-tap-for-thursday/

you know there is like a few hundred ricky comments in there missing... problably. A potential spam bot resurected it.

Wait, what? You got married today?!
Edit: oh I see, it's an older thread. Carry on.

Archinect admins have been busy taking down the spammers and shit posters today. Thumbs up for their quick actions.

The designing for mass shooting thread is an interesting one. If you can wade through the crap there was actually some good discussion. The issue is that it was like only 5% of the content in the thread.

250+ posts on one page, love the reply function...

That's a decent sized apartment. Then again you have no heat, water, or electricity. Also not much in terms of insulation.

why wouldn't you have heat? water and power I get, but wood stoves do marvels in yurts, also insulation is managed by layers of "fabric siding" if you want to call it that. 

to jaetten's comment, the median size of a house in the us (and the world I would guess) has grown more than double in the last 150 years.

We're looking at plots of land out in the wilderness. The long term plan is to spend decades saving, designing, and building a generational family cabin. But the short term plan is to construct a yurt. What more do you need?

JCL-1 - Sorry, I meant what most would consider adequate heat. I've stayed in yurts many times. Even with gas heat when outside temps in the teens its only around 45 inside.

Nothin' a good hat can't fix. Builds character, I always say.

I like being chilly. You can always put on a jacket or sweater.

Obviously.

@tduds - interesting, my wife and I were talking about something similar... though I don't think it will take that long? There's land in CO and MI still for $3k / acre, and how much can a lil A-frame cost?

Yeah but it's crap land with no water rights or road access. :)

Yeah most of that timeline is about affording a house, not the land. That said, $3K / acre is suspiciously cheap. Water access is a dealbreaker for us, so our price range is maybe 3-5x that.

i aspire to owning a cabin somewhere within 15mins of flyfishing & skiing, but that may be just a dream for a while

proto, I have a friend making me all sorts of jealous that recently bought 10-15 acres with a little cabin near the Grand Tetons in Idaho. I'm not exactly sure time to destinations from their property but they have Jackson Hole and Island Park / Henry's Lake within probably an hour, hour and a half. Not much further to Yellowstone. Though I'm sure there are plenty of other areas to do both skiing and fishing that are closer. They've been XC skiing all winter in and out of their property from where the road plows stop and they can park their cars (3 miles or so).

that sounds amazing #jelly

i'm hoping that i can get out to the Wallowas maybe & scout something for the future

That sounds great. I've always wanted to check out Hell's Canyon, but never really made the trip. I've heard people take speed boats from the north end up by Lewiston into the canyon, but whenever I've been over there, I ended up along the Clearwater and Lochsa Rivers along US 12 instead of getting into Hell's Canyon. Is there access to the canyon from the Oregon / Wallowa area?

not sure what access is like from OR side (looks grim from a map). A Hell's Canyon steelhead float is on the list too...

There are a handful of pretty rough forest roads down to the river on the Oregon side. The only "easy" road access I know of is at the southern end where Hwy 86 crosses into Idaho. You can take a road north out of the tiny town of Copperfield along the river for a number of miles but then it dead ends. Love the Wallowas. If you have a high clearance vehicle and a few hours I'd highly recommend the trek out to Hat Point.

ps - I haven't done it but looks like you can cross a bridge at Copperfield / Oxbow and drive along the Idaho bank all the way past the Dam to the head of the canyon proper.

That whole portion of the country is just amazing. There is the Trans Am Bike Race (TABR) that follows a route from Astoria, OR to Yorktown, VA. It passes through that Copperfield / Oxbow area before it goes south along the river and crosses into Idaho just under the Brownlee Dam.

I will probably never race/ride it, but if I did, I think I'd get from Astoria to somewhere in Wyoming before I'd turn around and live the rest of my life riding back and forth along the route between Astoria and Grand Teton National Park, with side detours here and there to check out other things throughout Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. Basically anywhere in the Columbia River basin or areas neighboring it to the Pacific coast.

For my honeymoon, we rented a souped up van & spent 3-weeks in the wilderness. Made an approximate triangle from Portland, to Glacier, to Jackson Hole, & back to Portland. Such stunning country, we almost didn't return.

EA, funny thing, one of the co-founders of Adventure Cycling is my relative. As soon as you mentioned cross-country cycling I knew they'd be involved somehow, and it took a couple clicks to confirm.

lol, my honeymoon was in Jackson, WY too...almost got snowed OUT of that trip & spent my first married night at hotel near ohare

Great beer in Jackson. I think we hit 5 breweries. Plus a few bars.

What a difference a year makes. A year ago husband and I owned a somewhat remote plot of land on a lake in Michigan and were planning a getaway home where we could shut out society forever. That yurt would have been appropriate! Fast forward, we sold that land, moved to an inner city neighborhood in our own town, and are working on the purchase of a condo in Chicago. The idea of living in the Loop thrills me! It's like a childhood dream. But I'd still like to go to the yurt every now and then.

Actually the yurt won't work - curved walls won't accommodate my art collection.

That's awesome Donna - and as you know there's a strong contingent of Archinecters up here! 

I think the loop is actually a great neighborhood and will bounce back strong from the pandemic. Easy access to cool neighborhoods adjacent, but with all the cultural amenities you could want.

Donna you're joining us in Chicago? Hell yes!

The condo is actually for my son, who will likely be going to college in Chicago. Dorms are expensive!

Donna, you could always facet the walls? Bit of a different construction to the collapsible lattice normally used. Then layer some 'space foil' insulation and you could have a somewhat warm retreat.

Untouched by human hands ... and human minds.

Ignore Central could work too... maybe more like Toss a Grenade and Watch the Shrapnel Fly Central.  (TGWSFC)

"x-jla is ignored by you"

(hint)

Which does not make his thread go away.

I wish it were possible to ignore someone on a single thread only. I guess I'll have to sacrifice the good food pics.

I'm probably more sensitive to over-talkers than some, since my lifelong struggle with stuttering is exacerbated when people won't shut the hell up and let me get my words out.

My mother in law is a lovely person but possibly the worst over-talker I know; for the 30 years I've known her, as soon as I start talking, she also starts, trying to guess what I'm going to say or taking whatever words I managed to say in another direction. So now I limit communication to the bare minimum, knowing that as soon as she starts processing what I'm saying, she will start speaking as well. (Sometimes for fun I have just kept talking; she clearly gets confused as to why I am talking when SHE is talking...)

I'm guessing you can imagine what made me think of this little anecdote. I'd be interested actually discussing politics like rational humans. I understand that the person who starts a thread may feel the need to comment regularly. But I can't stand the napalm approach to conversation.

I was in a deposition last week. The gallery's lawyer made a big deal about not interrupting anyone talking and then proceeded to talk over me every time I answered his questions. 4 hours of that and all he did was verify the accuracy of my claim.

Conversation is much more enjoyable for me when I let people finish. This is ironic because my instinct is to interrupt overlap.

I grew up on a family of interrupters and over-talkers and it took a concerted effort, after inadvertently burning through more than few friendships and later realizing it was my fault, to become more of a listener. Some people, I guess, never have that realization.

My brother's mother-in-law says he is the niiiiicest person ever. This is because he lets her just talk and talk and he just sits there. We get to laugh cause... he isn't listening. She doesn't know it.

I have a lot of older brothers and sisters. If I didn't learn to talk over them, I'd never had been heard growing up. It's been something I struggle to overcome when discussions get heated. I'm much better now than I used to be, but my wife still calls me out on it more than I care to admit.

My mother in law is one of 6, and my FIL was one of 12, so they both had/have the "whoever talks first wins" mentality. I understand that, but after 30 years of asking nicely if I can finish my thought, or passive aggressively finishing my thought, I honestly don't think she has any idea that she stomps over others' conversations the way she does.

It's probably clear but I was really just drawing a parallel to xjla's approach in the PC thread.

lol, that thread does get a lot shorter w/ ignore on

Have you all heard the term “collaborative overlapping”? It’s *definitely* how I converse. My interjecting before you’re quite finished is entirely about supporting your train of thought and expressing my enthusiasm for it.

I turned my furnace off for the start of spring yesterday... but both the add turrets to schools and politic central threads cause enough heat that I think I need to start my AC early.

Haha, my wife just shared a "collaborative overlapping" article with me last night. She's not as bad as her mom and knows how I feel about being talked over. Last night, for fun, whenever she started talking, I started talking as well. It seemed to annoy her, I don't understand why ;-) For the record, I totally understand the impulse and that it's meant to be supportive. It just doesn't fit how I was raised, to listen when someone else is talking.

A thousand thumbs-up, WG. I'm too polite, leading to almost an inability to talk over someone else-- even if it's while they're interrupting me. Then resentment builds, followed by fantasy tortures for the interrupter involving cooking utensils. I have had luck over the years communicating my conversational needs to some close friends, which has helped.

Haha, I know what you mean. Sometimes with new people I'll use my stuttering as an excuse--"sorry, but if you can wait until I'm finished it's much easier for me to speak." But for those I've known a long time that doesn't help. It's funny hearing my wife on the phone with her mom--she talks almost entirely in half-sentences, due to her mom cutting her off.

One of my current students has a condition rendering some of her speech (usually starting sentences) extremely halting. She's very bright, and fortunately diligent, because she just keeps going until she get her point or question out. I've learned not to "help" but just wait; her classmates are either quietly empathetic, or quietly observant of their instructor's policy of mutual respect.

Working with folks whose first language isn't English demands more patience, as well. It's easy to fall into the trap of assuming people who speak slowly or haltingly (for any reason) aren't as "smart," but frequently they're smarter than me (as exemplified in the case of ESL colleagues by them speaking IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE.)

You can tune a Renzo Piano, but you can't tuna fish.

Compared to the typical starchitect's bullshit, Renzo is a breath of fresh air.

I have a vivid memory of my introduction to Beverly Cleary. I was in 1st grade, in a bookstore, and found Henry Huggins. I told my mom I wanted it, but she thought it might be too advanced for my reading skills, so she challenged me that if I could read the first page out loud to her she would buy me the book. I read the first page but *totally* stumbled over Klickitat Street, and was near tears realizing I’d lost the opportunity to get the book. My mom laughed and said “Well that’s a hard word” and bought me the book. I loved Henry, and Ribsy. I loved Mouse and motorcycle. She was so good.

I loved Mouse!

Your mom's cool, Donna.

I was a voracious reader as a kid, and read (and re-read) all of her books. I remember struggling with "kittycat street!" I'm glad she got such a long time on the planet and appreciate what she did with her time.

If the events in that article are all true it's stomach-churningly awful.

If ANY of the events are true it's awful. I'm putting Kingspan and Celotex as well as Saint-Gobain and Arconic on my list of manufacturers to educate owners about, and this event is going to be Exhibit A.

Totally. And I hope Georgia Pacific is already on your list.

Grenfell is just an example of how pretty much everything has been nickle-and-dimed down beyond utter uselessness to the point of ​outright​ lethality. Global warming, degradation of ecosystems, war for profit, the US health insurance (not health care!) system, civil infrastructure, civil transportation (Boeing) and more - social systems one and all in that they "serve" the public - have been commoditized​ for private profit without concern for anything else.

icing on the cake being these companies have also been subsidized through corporate socialism

Are you looking for manufacturers with good systems or designers making good use of said systems?

Designers or individual buildings you find compelling. Not so much systems...

Still a sucker for Shou-Sugi-Ban:

Villa Jisp, SeARCH: https://www.search.nl/#!conten...

Howler Yoon's Plus House was looking pretty nice recently...

My friend Bob has been working on a system I dubbed "fin board" siding: https://www.bluetimecollaborative.com/sbh.

That 'Sugar Bush House' is beautiful. Thanks for sharing WG.

Hey WG - how do they use wood harvested from site? In theory its a nice idea, but the practical reality of prepping and (most notably) drying the wood to the point of being useful would take much longer than a typical build timeframe would allow, no? This is the thing that's always kind of flummoxed me on the idea of using trees from site as a construction material ... unless it was planned 1-2 years in advance?

Bench, there are a few approaches, and you do need to plan ahead. I'm working on two projects now that are (or will be) framed and sheathed with lumber cut from the site, and one of them will have site-milled lumber for interior trim and flooring as well.

Timber harvesting and processing is a fascinating world in itself, but in general, around here, the usual approach is to cut the wood in winter before the sap starts running, and before the ground turns to mud--dirty bark is hell on blades! Then cut and sticker (stack with 1x strips between layers) for at least a few months, loosely covered to protect from rain but to allow air to flow freely. That should bring the moisture content down from 28-50% when cut to around 20% moisture content, where risk of mold and fungal growth is reduced. The moisture content will eventually be 6-14%, depending on where you live, what season it is and whether you run A/C in the humid months. Wood only shrinks below about 28% moisture content, but going from 28% to 6-14% it will shrink up to about 3/4", depending on species and the grain orientation (radial vs. tangential to the growth rings). For framing lumber, that's actually not too different from buying kiln-dried lumber, especially if it's been stored outside.

With thicker material, such as beams, you could kiln-dry it but in most cases you just design to allow for shrinkage, and expect to get some checking, especially with boxed-heart material--beams that have the tree's pith at the center. Checking of boxed-heart beams usually stops at the pith so it doesn't hurt the structural integrity, but some people don't like looking at checks--if that's the case, choose a different system.

For finishing materials such as trim and flooring, you need to either air-dry it indoors for a year or two, to make sure the moisture content is close to ambient conditions, or kiln-dry it. One of my clients is building two solar kilns so he can dry his own finishing materials. He just had 60,000 board feet of future framing and sheathing cut from his site, and set up a new bandsaw mill that can cut the 26' beams we need.

That framing-on-the-outside look was one that popped up for me in looking around myself — that’s a nicely thought out project by your friend Bob

Bob’s got it going on!

Yes Bob is very talented. In fact I just got his help with schematic design on my best current project; I'm confident in my skills but he is an artist and better than me at designing truly special homes. Unfortunately he is now dealing with a rare form of Lymphoma, which is talks about publicly to help raise awareness. He's in excellent physical condition which hopefully means he gets through treatments and has a long, productive career ahead.

I am thoroughly aroused by this discussion. Good stuff.

I'm generally not fan of huge expanses of wood on the exterior (although that one WG posted is nice with the two-tone stained and natural) - I prefer the juxtaposition of wood with concrete, brick, or other "hard" material.

Wouldn't let me caption all photos above:

• Besonías Almeida Arquitectos
• Nash Baker Architects
• 24H-architecture

Also not sure why it put 3 photos before the text and one after...?

Nice examples, AN. Google says your first example is from here: https://www.clariant.com/en/Corporate/Case-Studies/Flame-Retardants/Fire-protection.

WG, do you know of a UL tested flame retardant for wood siding in the US? We are dealing with our Fire Marshall and a new ordinance that requires exterior walls with wood siding to be 1 hr. rated. I can't find an approved assembly, so I thought maybe flame retardant could be a way.

I'll chime in to say that I don't know of any product that has been tested as part of an assembly. 

There are provisions in UL - not sure how they are phrased these days - essentially letting you use any Class A, Class B, Class C material as exterior cladding (pick on based on assembly you are trying to use) in certain exterior wall assemblies. Plus then there are often prescriptive requirements based on lot line or whatever in the IBC. 

That said, there aren't any Class A products currently available with testing. A rep from Nakamoto Forestry was sure their Shou-sugi-ban would pass Class A and were pursuing it. Kebony, Thermory, Accoya, all Class B or C. It should be theoretically possible to do a fire-resistant treatment on any of the above (like from Hoover), but again, has not been tested last I checked.

Thanks, Wood Guy, that is where I found the picture, but it doesn't name the architect.

Oh got it. JLC, I'm not familiar with UL-listed wood siding assemblies or finishes, sorry.

JLC are you in type V and far enough away from the prop erty line?

Thanks WG!

I got a DM from that user and answered as best and declined to participate as respectfully as I could. Not sure why I turned off the snark today. Must be because I'm too busy. Does not help that my work schedule is now inverted thanks to school closures.

April Fool's Day is your day to be patient and nonjudgmental ;D

is it already past midnight? damn. I probably should not do this code review then.

Yeah it's weird that they "liked" a bunch of comments but didn't answer any questions. Guess we should have gone in with snark, like normal...

Wow. I just checked that out and commented. I'm in agreement and said so. Let's see what happens to my comment.

Saw it. pretty meh form of visualisation. May I propose this:

just using photoshop and collage techniques based on old school 1970s style.  

I'm of the opinion that the post-digital rendering is an april fools joke... No one take that stuff that seriously right? But then again, we did get cars in glasses boxes earlier.

Hey, whadda u know, my account is still active.

Archinect Features are news?

Miles, I for one think you shouldn't be nuked from the thread, even if I disagree with your comment.

I just think it's a poorly written article that contains way too much archspeak.

I'm not sure I understand the concern about "archspeak", it's written with us on mind, has jargon largely understood by us, for us. If this was written for NYT, yeah, but it's on architecture and design site. We should want articles tailored to us, understood by a few.

Archinect News is news??

b3t - archspeak shouldn't be used period. Especially by architects. It's a lazy and rather ambiguous way to communicate that allows people to speak without actually saying anything substitutive.

EA - Fake news?

For comparison: on the aforementioned 'feature' a comment that demonstrated Goodwin's Law was hidden, not deleted. How do you spell "double standard"?

It's gone.

Where's the archispeak? I can usually spot it, and honestly, it's typically so obfuscatory, that my eyeballs roll out of my head. 

In fact I think the "art" in the images is an absolute critique on neo-liberal capitalism, in that it's not about creating images for deliberate market returns. I mean could any of you look at those images, and see them in a condo brochure?

b3ta, I responded in the article, but for me the archispeak is where they are using the term "post-digital" to mean something that is just wrong semantically and confusing to the reader. I don't put this on the author (Juan Ramon Cantu) of the feature here, but rather on the author (Sam Jacobs) of the Metropolis article Juan used as the jumping off point. The feature does a better job of explaining the concept which seems to be one of post-photorealism in architectural rendering. Just that phrase alone is much more descriptive and understood semantically than "post-digital" at the expense of only a few more keystrokes. The failure in the feature here is the insistence on using the term, when it should have just been abandoned after being criticized as illogical.

But, I think all of you are reading this too closely, or too literally. Does anyone think posthumanism is something altogether not human, or not of humans? Then what is the difference? I understand the point, the post is a jumping off point for examining critically, the "realism" of renderings, as it is removed from the critical dialog with architecture. Most renderings, if not all, are produced to "sell" the product, market the item, and have little constructive dialog with the process/practice of architecture. These images, in my reading, do that.

I’m thinking I’m not liking the use of the Porte-manteaux term “post” on anything. Not Everything needs a label and a clever box.

Post?

when can we get to a post-posting forum? one that just reads my mind and transcribes it, or maybe just predicts something for me to say. I think RWCB has come closest to the second approach.

With hand-drawn presentations there is space for the audience (and the architects) to imaginatively interpret the images. With superrealistic computer graphics every detail is evident, good, bad, missing, impossible, etc. Nothing is left to the imagination. At that point in the process - conceptual design - such details are often irrelevent if not counterproductive.

Architecture is a process, not a fait accompli, and projects fail when they can't fulfill the empty promises of the presentation. Thus a return to less photorealistic presentations is in my view a good thing. But doing this through abstrcted digital media is inane. Learn to draw for fuck's sake.

I like a mutually informed process, where the bones of a 3d view are modelled and then this is used to iterate using hand methods. While a scribble or a freehand perspective is often the best generator of the idea, the further into the process one gets the less helpful a badly proportioned perspective becomes.

You have grass? my lawn is just starting to not look like a brown mess. Some parts are probably still frozen.

It's supposed to be 75d.F here today! I think that's, like, 48d. C? ;-)

75f = 24c... we're still in the single (positive) digits. My garden is still frozen.

One of my coworkers is sending out emails today and it’s taking me everything I have not to email back “STOP WORKING”

I'm working on this sunday. But I have to because I don't have time for working during weekdays anymore since I'm full time virtual school dad. So, it's 8pm-3am shifts or work weekends. Actually, it's a combination of both atm,

Josh, “STOP CHECKING YOUR WORK E-MAIL ON A (EASTER) SUNDAY” ;-)

MIne disappeared awhile ago, on my work computer. Still exists on my home PC but I haven't updated it in while...

Still works okay for me... (in browser, not desktop)

Hmmm.... mysterious.... thanks!

I don’t have any active member on ignore.

You're just smart enough to steer clear of the thread.

Apparently I'm not able to steer clear of that thread but Ignore is working brilliantly.

There's no dialogue or discussion (any more) in that thread since Trump got cancelled ;-)

I've started typing replies and posts there a couple of times in the last month or so but closed the tab before posting...

@tduds -

Why not??

Inevitably I get curious everytime I see a "[user] is ignored by you" post and I unignore them to see what's going on. Not the first time or even the first user I've tried & failed to ignore. 

I'm getting better at simply disengaging once I've said my peace. So that's good for my stress levels.

I don't have anyone on active ignore. I've tried in the past but like tduds, my curiosity gets the better of me and I end up looking at what they post anyway.

As for the current version of Politics Central, I've just stopped responding to jla, and it's pretty exhausting to parse his posts to carry on any other conversation that might be happening around him ... especially if others are responding to him. I'm happy to engage in the discussions, but lately it just hasn't been worth it to me. He's hungry for attention and he's just trying to bait anyone to respond to him.

Also, to be perfectly honest, there was a twitter post last week (I think?) indicating that the highest concentration of miserable, pissed off architects are on Archinect,* and it kinda struck a chord with me. Not because I feel miserable or pissed off or anything most of the time, but because I notice it around here. I found and came to Archinect originally back before the crash and it was a different place. I liked the willingness to share, help each other, and share a good laugh. Looking back I can see the bitterness and miserableness became more manifest through the recession. It also made me wonder what I'm actually getting out of the site anymore.

Since then, I've been less inclined to interact with the people who seem miserable on the site. Honestly, most of the people I'd like to interact with are not exactly anonymous to me anymore, and I should probably just reach out to them through other avenues to interact with them in a more collegial way. Even then, I'll be trying to be more helpful and cheerful around here and we'll see how it goes.

*shoutout to tduds' reply in that thread.

Oh damn I've been found out!

I thought about posting what I posted in that twitter thread over here, for further discussion. I suppose I will. See below.

I like to think I'm not miserable, but I think that others would disagree.

i actually disagree - my observation is that most of the regular posters here enjoy it. it's that there are some who engage with a different motivation and seek a different kind of attention that most of us find baffling and sometimes annoying if it's persistent. / whereas the most acute negativity comes from random people who tend to respond intensely with vitriol on one or two threads and then disappear again.

I was here at least a couple of years before I started posting much, and definitely got the negative vibe. Now I realize it's mostly just certain people who drive others crazy, a healthy amount of snark, and legitimate bitching about things. I can't think of anyone here (anyone) I wouldn't like to have a beer with. But I can see if you're an outsider that we would look negative to others.

My other architect group is the EntreArchitect forum on Facebook. I have made real-life friends there and learn a lot. They insist on positivity, which is nice and generates a certain supportive feeling of camaraderie. But sometimes it's nice to be able to bitch to your peers and be understood. Both forums have their place, and I hope neither of them change.

There's a Dutch saying/proverb for this:

 
Shared misery is half the misery.

WG, I do read the EntreArchitect group on occasion and recognise a few names... but it's hard to resist throwing a little snark in there sometimes... so I don't comment. I find it's also small-practice SFH type things so it's not my jam anyways. Contract discussions are good tho.

It is hard to resist the snark there. Fortunately I'm friends with the moderators and they'll tell me when I'm over the line, usually for calling a douchebag a douchebag. It is small-practice oriented but your practical approaches to management and drafting would actually be well received there.

Except for a few it is impossible to recognize names here. Doesn't F***Book require real names? I think most people tend to speak more carefully when their identity is clear.

While being able to speak anonomously protects those who might be at risk from their employers (think whistleblowers), it also provides a shield for the likes of apukeov and enables behavior that would not happen face to face. Regardless, there will always be D.C.s and the like, whether named or anonomous. Self-policing the forum, including ones own posts, takes responsibilty and maturity that is not always present.

Also the difficulties faced in the practice of architecture at any level is no greater, less, or different than the difficulties faced by any other professionals, or for that matter pretty much everyone. There are conditions prevalent throughout society that we all struggle with. That people here more freely discuss that is a positive, not a negative. I have no interest in people who are busy pooping daisies and farting rainbows.

I don't know Miles... pooping daisies is a fucking fantastic skill to brag about. Much better than self-evaluating yourself as 8/10 in minesweeper in your first CV.

I know what you mean. I only use a screen name here so nosy clients can't easily find me griping about them, but I post my articles etc. here enough that the regulars know who I am, and I've connected with several off-forum. I agree that being anonymous leads some to be more negative or aggressive than they might be otherwise, though there are plenty of negative, aggressive types on FB as well.

"Pooping daisies and farting rainbows" brings this to mind: https://www.milesjaffe.com/artists-color-series.

Wait, wait...someone on Twitter acknowledged Archinect and I missed it? WTF?!?! Too many submittals grrrrrrr

You done with those 800 pages yet?

If I was just entering the field and was nearby or able to move, I'd jump at the chance. Sounds like a great learning experience, too

I also think of this as a supremely interesting area, especially from the snippets youve dropped here.On a somewhat darker note, do you have difficulty retaining staff based on the subject matter? I imagine having a job description that primarily focuses on (ultimately) a combination of failure/disaster could be mentally draining...

Yep.. turnover is pretty normal. Not so much the 'mentally draining' part as it is, particularly with architects, the lack of design. Other engineers suffer as well because we're sort of trained to design peoples dreams, not wade through the wreckage. The witnessing of crappy construction, day after day, year after year, with the same mistakes also takes a toll. I try to balance that by getting involved in the repairs... so at least I can find hope when I teach some tradesman something new and visa-versa. And there's those slivers of hope; Because of some of these lawsuits, I've seen manufacturer's update installation guides, or even modify their products so they work properly. (edit) and oh, part of our group in on the front end; not just peer review, but we've done actual training with some major builders to help them avoid getting into these lawsuits in the first place. Think of it like mockup panels we walk through with sub-trades making corrections and showing them how to do it right and what happens if they don't (we throw the water rack on it). Those lightbulb moments I hope get passed along as they move around from job to job.

I don't remember the specifics, but I recall listening to an NPR(?) story they did about Christmas tree fires or deep-frying turkeys causing fires or whatever causing fires. Point is they interviewed this guy from UL who tested home appliances and things like that, and could tell you all the ways your appliances would catch your house on fire. I thought, that would be a fascinating job, but also potentially depressing on the long term when you see people making the same mistakes over and over again despite your best efforts to issue warnings and cautions. In a way I imagine your job being similar mightyaa. I don't mean that as a criticism, just that it probably takes the right kind of person to do the job.

Honestly, if I lived in those areas I'd probably hit you up for more details because I think I would enjoy the forensic side of things figuring out why things failed and finding mistakes. When things go wrong on our projects and people reach out to me for potential solutions to fix them, I'm usually the one annoying them with questions trying to figure out how we got to that point. The fixes seem easy to me, but I'm more interested in solving the underlying problem for future projects.

That is the worst version of using it. When it's just you or a small team, it's great.

I think of Revit like that old quip about Democracy. It's the worst thing there is, except for everything else we've tried.

i like knowing when my consultants last synced

What is this Revit you speak of? :P One advantage of what I do is no more Revit models (not that I had to learn much of it anyway doing QAQC).

The main thing I dislike about Revit is that there are dozens of ways something can be hidden. If you’re an old CAD person like me, it’s like basic things are drawn on an obscurely named later that is somehow in a nested layer filters inside a group inside a block in an xref that is 4 xrefs deep. Somewhere in there something has been turned off and half your time is spent figuring out where it is.

I also don’t like that Revit always defaults to things I don’t want to do - like when I want to export a sheet as a DWG and it defaults to “export views as separate files.” Can’t it remember the last 90 times

Axo... I know that pain all too well. We have one revit user in the office who does not "get" how templates, families, worksets, etc and will mask out everything in sections & details. Oh, what this window doing in this wall section? I thought it was sheathing on stud, no problem, just let me hide the window and draw a few lines where the sheathing should be. Oh no, the wall tags does not work because there is no wall to actually tag... no problem, let me just use the legend version of the wall tag and manually write the wall type. Oh boy, what a morning, that took a whole 2hrs.

Funny. I never had these problems with Pencil.

Miles, try it with a group of 6 people sharing one pencil at the same.... and not everyone is in the same room/building/city.

We all had our own copy of Pencils. If I remember correctly it was v1.0.

Non - it took me a while to figure out what the point of worksets were.

Non - it took me a while to figure out what the point of worksets were.

Axo, but at least you tried to understand them, right? The wanker in my example makes it known that they can't be bothered to understand them... which is fine since I'll never be on their projects BUT I do have to occasionally go and do damage control in their models, well I used to, but I don't anymore for the obvious reasons above. Funny thing is I know that user does not want me to "touch" their models because I'll see all the shortcuts but who gives a fuck, I'm their superior even though I'm 5ish years younger. Anyways, I'll bend over backwards to teach people how to do things if they genuinely want to learn, but I won't do shit if the person is just being lazy.

NS - We had a guy like that. He was the first to go when times were tough a few years ago.

Or you!
(Its a double-dig ... aw snap)

It wasn't always like this. I've been here full-time since 1971. That was like a different universe. The entire economy was based on potatoes. Now it's based on the land that was used to grow them.

I'm with you Miles, here in Aspen the median price for sfr rose to $11M last year. Never seen so many NY, TX, IL and FL plates in the 18 years I've been here. It's good for us, because all of them want to convert their mountain cabin into a fisher island condo, but they are annoying pricks. We did SD for 3 of them, none moved forward.

Aspen! I remember when you could drive and park at the grottos. Maybe the best summer I ever had, jeeping through the mountain trails, rafting ....

Sorry, I have plans.

Good luck. I'm in the middle of trying to hire two people and it's not been enjoyable at all. Everyone pads their resumes like never before. Many applicants who don't even live in my country. It's really frustrating.

I dislike CA so sorry . . .

Fairly early in my career I got pigeonholed doing 2 things - CA (usually on projects with drawings that A) I had had nothing to do with in DD/CD and B) were garbage) and CAD management. I worked way too hard to crawl out of those pigeonholes to ever go back (I've actually avoided getting any good at Revit out of shear fear of ever again becoming an "expert" on the tools, rather than the content, of architecture).

to each their own, I like those pigeonholes... if I could only get a career path I could follow with them... something on the lines of head QC/CA to director of CA to chief of operations... Instead all the C-levels seem to spawn from sales and I'm regulated to making sure change orders are kept low

Very cool! I've always liked Habitat 69 and have met a couple of people who worked for him. I don't get too excited about starchitects but I make an exception for him. What was the topic, if you can share?

How did it go?

Was pretty cool! I really didn't know anything about him other that Habitat 69. I believe a recording will be shared at some point.

Habitat is a brilliant, exceptional and historically significant project... BUT there is so much more than just habitat. I see 2 of his early projects on my way to the office every day. 8-)

https://www.safdiearchitects.c...

https://www.safdiearchitects.c...

Jealous. What was it like?

The closest I’ve come to going out in the last year was stopping and getting ice cream on the way back from my wife’s vaccine appointment.

I went to a restaurant and had a beef chimi and 2 beers. Wow Ive been sheltered for a long time; Bigge smalls says he will post it regardless of how I spell it. Thanks, Biggs, my babers.

I've been out to eat twice since my County started reopening indoor dining a few weeks ago.

I'm too burned out from covid. I've had my head down working long days all year. Forgetting to have fun.

Ah welcome to what most of us have been doing since last May....

My husband works with high-risk kids and we have agreements with their families to be on the safe side, but I'm glad you got that warm, smug feeling, archi.

(Note to self: Start manufacturing and selling golf helmets and body armor. Make fortune. Buy Archinect.com.)

No training wheels?

If you can't keep your balance without training wheels, you have no business riding a bicycle :) 

 He had a pedal-less balance bike before though...

.

Happy belated birthday Donna. I sent you Brad Pit. The box should arrive on Wednesday. I poked holes in the box so Brad can breath . . .

Good thinking Chad, despite the slowness of all supply chain delivery right now I'm sure he'll be fine!

Happy Birthday...I'm thinking he will be thankful when you open the box

.

Happy Birthday!!

SNIPED BY TDUDS! :)

jinx!

Happy birthday, Donna!

Happy Birthday Donna!

Happy belated Donna