It's been a month of spreadsheets and proposals. I miss actually designing things so much I actually found a micro house competition and completed a preliminary design.
yes, the US of A is not the center of the universe, somehow writing this in the stupid WHY? tread got me banned from posting in there, seems like being like musk is trendy.
This was one of those races forecast to be easily R. The fact that it is this close should be a red flag to MAGA candidates regardless of whether she wins or loses in the end.
It won't be though. Regardless of how slim of margin they may win by MAGA people will simply say it's the will of the people. The won't recognize that 49.9% of the population don't agree with them.
In Colorado I'd say that the voting population is a rather accurate depiction of the people's views. The state is very, very, very, purple. Most people are in the middle and view themselves as an independent and don't align with one party on all issues.
Then again, if you don't vote then you literally don't count.
Shigeru Ban job post today in NYC. Again without a salary range. Can't make this up.
"Please include salary requirements and availability. Applications
without discussion of salary requirements will not be reviewed."
Further:
Effective November 1, 2022, the NYC Human Rights Law requires
employers to include a good faith pay range in all job advertisements.
NYC's Salary Transparency Law is another step towards pay equity for all
New Yorkers, and is the latest addition to a suite of protections against discrimination for New Yorkers seeking employment.
Any advertisement for a job, promotion, or transfer opportunity that
would be performed in New York City is covered by the new law. An
“advertisement” is a written description of an available job, promotion,
or transfer opportunity that is publicized to a pool of potential
applicants, including, but not limited to, postings on internal bulletin
boards, internet advertisements, printed flyers distributed at job
fairs, and newspaper advertisements.
If you experience or witness discrimination, we can help. Contact the NYC Commission on Human Rights to report discrimination at (212) 416-0197 or dial 311 and ask for "Human Rights."
Nov 11, 22 11:50 am ·
·
Bench
@Archinect - given that this is a clear skirting of the new law enacted, would you be able to include a mandatory salary range box that comes on when new job postings for NYC come up?
So I am totally boycotting the World Cup in Qatar. Amongst all the injustices, and corruption, and over 6,500 workers dead (official figure anyways), I just cant bring myself to watch it, even though I love Futbol. Fuck em. (And having worked in that "region", all the claims of indentured labor and slavery at 100% true)
I feel ya. I am watching. The one thing I will say though is that "corruption" doesn't go far enough. They are a legit International Crime Syndicate. The power they leverage against people is astonishing, I cannot figure out who gives them any legitimacy. Now that they're responsible for killing people, The Hague should take them on.
18 days...is it the holidays or has TC died? I know I've been only lurking of late, myself.
Hope all are well and happy holidays!
Also felt compelled to share this quote from an old Muschamp piece discovered via this Urban Omnibus series
"Many architects, it turns out, don’t want their own high rises either.
They’re fed up with hanging balconies off a 40-story box and calling it a dream come true...isn’t that a shame. We don’t want your yuppie mea culpas...How is the architecture community’s collective frustration going to house a single person?"
The only architect I've ever worked with who lived in a shitty glass tower with a tacked-on postage stamp balcony had me convinced that he was legitimately a psychopath.
Nam, I’m spending a lot more time on Twitter these recent weeks because it’s such a shitshow now! Like a car wreck, I can’t look away. I imagine I’ll be off it soon.
I’m so tired. Working lots of hours and traveling a lot for work. But I’m hopeful that my 2023 is going to be a little lighter. My boss is also requiring me to use up all of my vacation time before new years so I’ll have lots of downtime over the holidays!
The holiday rush of motivation speaker gigs for corporate Christmas parties is almost over - I'm really looking forward to getting back to the van and the river.
I've been focusing on other things mostly of late. I changed jobs and with that my stress level, and participation in extracurriculars (like social media) changed, and I'm just now starting to get back to a place where I feel normal. This was expected (and maybe welcome) though.
I've checked in from time to time on the forums but haven't really found much discussion of anything that seemed interesting, or like something I wanted to devote time toward engaging in. Seems like a lot of the regulars have disengaged a bit.
I hope the job change is a positive EA. I wish you the best.
I'm going in little spurts of participating here. I'm so used to being at 100% productivity that when I have 15 minutes I feel like I should be doing something so I come here.
When I have an hour of non intense work I feel like the market is collapsing because I have nothing to do.
I am totally there with tduds, I fully expected it but parenting really changed my routines/time-spent, especially in terms of after-hours civic engagement/digital extracurriculars.
Time off is amazing, I usually just take a couple of long weekends here or there. But took off 3 weeks in fall, best thing I did all year! Spent some time at beach and Sam finally got to meet his grandparents.
My reasoning is that both of them have been either given a time out, banned, or had their reputation as a troll exposed so they had to change their username. They've been given plenty of warnings and opratunites to change their behavior. They haven't.
I understand the desire but I find it quite easy to just skip over what either of them write, most of the time, and when I do read or engage I know it's my decision. If you don't have that ability, I wonder if banning them is a fair response to your lack of self-control?
Casually browsing over those two respective dumpster fires is good to remind myself that whatever is happening on my end could be a lot fucking worse. They offer a valuable public service and offer it free of charge too!
I normally just skip over their posts. Like you I'll choose to engage in some instances. Would you give the same advice if they were posting bigoted, racist, or sexist things? What if they were making unwanted nude pics to people?
With all due respect you're incorrect. Both Rick and x-jla have violated the terms of the site. Both of them have posted bigoted, racist and sexist things. There is even an user here who's send unwanted adult pics to others via other social media.
To be fair, Rick has changed quite a bit and doesn't appear to be posting these types of hateful things anymore. As you said, he's just verbose. I guess the site forgave him an allowed him to come back after his banning.
I'll also echo Bench's PSA. I was against it for the longest time, but I started using the ignore feature earlier, and while you do miss out on some gems of responses, it makes the website better.
I was doing some cleaning today and ran across this old beauty.
I bought it off a lunch truck that stopped outside our office back in the late '80s. It always made me think of the Chrysler Building. I'm amazed that the color is still relatively vibrant, and still evenly distributed.
Better than a picture of an old Chrysler that looks like a soda bottle. And thanks for turning an innocent post into something lurid and Canadian, Non =O]
woh. I missed that entire exchange, or blanked it from my memory. Kinda wished I never saw it at all. Such very strange behaviour. It makes absolutely zero
sense.
Not defending TW, but it appears he does not have to comply yet, and may not ever.
Dec 23, 22 11:34 am ·
·
The_Crow
Starting Jan. 1, 2023, California employers with 15 or more employees must include a position's salary or hourly wage range (not including bonuses or equity-based compensation) in any internal or external job posting. This requirement extends to job postings published by a third party at an employer's request.
Merry Christmas, Eve TC! Some sort of bug has been keeping our whole house low last week or so, though so far negative COVID tests. That AZP stuff is definitely a fun, laugh...?
While I would jump at the chance to take the exams now, or a harder/more complete version that shows that I've leaned what's important on my own, I also respect that there is a well-vetted process that works, and I made the decisions I made along the way. Unless the rules change, having a license really won't make much difference for me; I'll still design houses and I already charge about the same as my architect competitors. It will just be rewarding to finally be able to say that I'm an architect, instead of a soliloquy on why I'm not.
Congrats WG! I actually don't bristle too much at paying my NCARB dues. How are you going to get your hours/ how do they handle that for people in your situation? AIA can go fuck themselves with a rusty grill brush though.
Thanks! My friend/co-host/co-author Emily has agreed to supervise my work as an NCARB mentor. We also compete for jobs sometimes but we are friendly about it. I help her with building- and building-science-related questions so it's more like a trade of labor than anything. But she is very good at the process and running a business, so I also have plenty to learn from her.
Sounds like a beneficial setup in both directions! Fwiw, you can take exams while completing hours... Or at least you could in 4.0... damn I'm getting old...
Well done WG! Good luck on the process. I will admit I'm very surprised that Maine does not have some sort of faster process for alternative paths to licensure, consdiering there are so few stamps in the state already.
Thanks! They do have several other paths; I just made bad/uninformed decisions at every step along the way, from not pursuing an accredited degree program to never working for a licensed architect. I was in my mid-30s before I even realized that the career I'm best suited for is architecture.
WG what would a license provide you that you don't already have? I have many friends that have BArchs, not licensed and are pretty successful without a license.
I know Tate was being a douche and Greta slapped him down but, what's up with the pizza box?
Jan 3, 23 7:01 pm ·
·
b3tadine[sutures]
The joke was that his last post about Greta included him sitting at a table with a pizza box, explicitly doxxing his location for Romanian authorities to arrest him and his brother on charges of sex trafficking.
Ah! I didn't know that Tate was wanted for sex trafficking. I'd heard rumors that people thought he and his brother where perverts to the point of sex trafficking.
Jan 4, 23 10:44 am ·
·
Wood Guy
Tate is in custody and they have confiscated his car collection!
FYI - the country that arrested him said that the pizza box didn't doxx Tate's location. They learned it other ways and it was just Shakespeare level irony that the douche decided to try and start a pissing match with Gretta right before he was arrested.
Sorry, I've been stuck under a world hockey junior rock for the past 2 weeks. He better not have been eating a Hawaiian pizza... that delicious combination of ham & pineapple does not need more bad press.
Just renewed my AIA membership. It cost only a few hundred less than our mortgage payment. It's five times the cost of my yearly state licensing fees. :s
Those AIAU courses better make me a starcitect damn it.
Have we discussed the "Ok Chatbot" series of posts by pandahut in the news? Do we think they are actually feeding prompts to a chatbot GPT-3/Open AI? They don't read that way to me for some reason... Anybody know them?
Since my rep is Bobert she'd think it was a violation of our liberties if the dems took down the posts. If the republicans did it then she'd be fine with it since they're fighting for traditional values.
I guess we need to know what political party Archinect identifies as.
Good luck. My father-in-law just set a date for his retirement later this month with his employer. NGL, I'm pretty jealous. Updated my contribution amount to my 401k yesterday ... new year, new maximum contribution limits from the IRS.
I think we've broken $1.25 m for our combined retirement. Then again I'm a type 1 diabetic so the money could go quick . . . or I could just die and my wife will be loaded!
Uhg. I've been asked to come up with a way to screen a DOAS, condensers, and ductwork that a school district wants to put on the OUTSIDE of their buildings.
This is making my face hurt. :s
Jan 11, 23 6:11 pm ·
·
Wood Guy
Because Colorado is a great place to have your mechanical ductwork outside the building envelope... WTF?!
I know. This is only for AC though. If that somehow makes it better.
The reasoning (not our reasoning) is that if they run the ductwork inside then they have to rip up all the ceilings and sprinkle the entire building. Did I mention this is a school that isn't sprinkled? Yeah there is that too. :S
Being for A/C only is better but not great. The first time I experienced weather over 100°F was in Denver so I think of summers there as being hot. No sprinklers, in a school? Oy.
The summers can be very hot on the western slope. We typically reach around 110 F by mid August. Luckily the humidity is very low, normally around 10%.
The client wants to add onto the school as well. We'll be having to sprinkle the additions and separate them from the existing with fire walls. oy vey:s
Fans of Christine Williamson: we are please to have her as our guest tonight on The BS* + Beer Show, for a topic of vapor management. https://mailchi.mp/d226053fe17...
Great! As always, the recordings will be available here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvAmHSecglp-u-DTFQlU8Tw/videos. Tonight will be the first of our new format, only 60 minutes instead of 90, and even less formal than before. The registration page is by Taunton, who runs the Zoom portion of the program, but we don't have control over it.
I've missed the majority of the last year's BSB due to work etc, but i've specifically blocked out "Training" in my office calendar for this one. So excited to hear her speak!
Bench, to be clear, it's an open discussion and I don't think she's planning on doing a presentation, though there is a chance she'll do one. After today we're going to stick with the first Thursday of the month, no exceptions, and we're going to focus more on specific topics than special guests.
Good discussion WG. The zoom panicking at the beginning was great. Vapour control and design for it is well know up here and is an important subject in schools. Surprised that it’s not as common south of the frozen border.
Non, that was somewhere between amusing and terrifying. Fortunately our guest didn't get flustered and figured out how to get the hosts on screen! Hopefully going back to a standard day and time each month will ensure that doesn't happen again. But we enjoyed the conversation once it finally got going.
To be fair Non designing for vapor (vapour if your weird) is considerably easier in cold climates. It's a lot more difficult to deal with it correctly in areas that high temp swings and high humidity.
One of the biggest things I think needs to be considered is the dew point location in an assembly. I know a lot of architect that simply follow the IECC in terms of CI and stud wall insulation values without understanding what it does to the dew point.
Jan 13, 23 10:04 am ·
·
Wood Guy
B3, he is prolific but as far as I can tell he gets paid to devise test methods that make competitors' products fail, regardless of how good the product actually is. I'm all for being a contrarian and for consumer protection, but he's more like a hit man. At least that's my impression and that of building scientists I know.
That's also my personal and professional opinion of Mr. Doggett. I've heard him say that a product / assembly is horrible then a year later say it's the best thing ever. The only thing that changed was who was paying him.
It's Friday the 13th. I'm gonna go to the local plans examiner and ask 'em to review our design for an addition to a non conforming 1800's warehouse. We're converting it to a children's hospital and fireworks factory. I expect this to go very smoothly.
Yes, several actually... but they only survive for very short instances before their creator(s) gets them nuked by the big green head. They are places were you can observe the depth of inanity like a beautiful flaming car crashing into an orphanage on Christmas eve.
I know 99% of my posts here are shit posts and I just enjoy riling everyone up here but on a more serious and curious note about some of your guys' motivators. Do any of you just feel unmotivated sometimes by your work and the profession? I feel it has become more difficult to relate to that special feeling I got when I got out of school (I know, I know but humor me) and my sense of curiosity was at the forefront of everything and anything. Trying to find ways to get myself back to that place but it is hard. So, I have been prioritizing my life outside of the office more (was driven to 80 hour weeks for years on end getting my shit busted by a large corporate office, driven very hard, yada yada). I'm hoping that did not totally crush my will and drive in the profession but maybe I am just rebounding right now, who knows.
It's just hard to give 100% of myself to the work when mentally I am not sure if I can right now, which of course makes me feel really guilty (maybe Stockholm syndrome lol).
So, how do you guys deal with this if you have experienced it before and what did you find helped you out. I've contemplated making a change to single family residential and the likes to move away from larger client driven work but just get bummed when I listen to lectures or pods from some creative directors who have found a way to hold that special little nugget of optimism and positivity sacred somehow.
I for one constantly feel unmotivated by my work UNLESS I'm actively interested in the design of a project.
One thing that works for me to keep motivated is to have interests outside of architecture. This means work life balance and not working with firms that require you to do crazy overtime. Of course this may mean finding a new firm (easier said than done)
My other interests are a combination of outdoor fun and creative stuff like sketching, model building, ect.
High End SFR for 16 years here; it also wears out. People have evolved to be the worst version of themselves, and it shows badly when planning for themselves and their families. BUT, I do enjoy the freedom in design, the time allowed and the quality of the finish space. Plus there's no crazy hours or deadlines, and you learn a lot about materials, fixtures, appliances, etc. from all over the world. That's the motivation, to achieve a high level craft. It's hard to keep motivated in today's world though.
Appreciate both of your responses. Of course this would hit different if I was fresh out of school but it is now some 7 odd years later, still very young in the profession. Feels like there is endless amounts to learn which I really enjoy some of the technical shit and figuring things out but some of the larger scale work is just a damn marathon and drains me.
I've noticed when I visit a space that seriously just stops me in my tracks and
Sounds like the Seven Year Itch! But seriously, I think we all go through this in our careers, AND even my friends who are not architects feel unmotivated and confused right now. We live in a difficult time.
As Donna said everyone feels like this at some point. Often we get this feeling several times! I know I have. I wouldn't concern yourself that you're feeling this way at this point in your career. I think it could be helpful to take 'stock' in your life. See what you like, what you don't, and what you'd like to change. Maybe things you're doing aren't aligning with who you are? Just a thought.
Sorry, previous message got sent before I was done! Thanks for the input. I definitely have had some time to pick my head up off of my desk lately and just doing some reflecting. Grinding for the past 7 years was just pretty rough, mentally, etc. Spending more time on things outside of work has been really helpful and key but the more you get the taste for that, almost the more I feel separated from architecture because lets be honest, most of us would probably just want to do whatever our hobbies are and not need to be tied to an employer to make money :) I do wish people in the profession were more open about things like this and just to be able to relate but I do feel a lot are pretty quiet as not to expose a side of themselves to others. It is a weird competitive field considering we are supposed to be an empathetic group of creatives lol.
i think this will be the case for most people, if you are working FOR someone else. let the job be the job and as you are doing, continue to pursue the things outside of the job that give you real fulfillment and purpose; when the bits here and there come through in the job, it will be a pleasant surprise rather than something you depend on.
This is me. I did SFR for a few years and then commercial. It’s just not captivating at all anymore. I’ve thought about going back to SFR but worried there would be a big pay cut. I feel guilty, if that’s the right word, that it’s just a job, “work to live” type situation (akin to what Chad and square said, so I can enjoy doing things outside of work) compared to some of my apparently passionate colleagues who are off getting different certifications etc. I don’t think it’s the place I work necessarily, more my jaded view of the profession. Switching careers is also scary AF, so here I am. Sorry to be a Debbie downer!
Are the GC's really asking for the moon? Or are they simply relaying the cost that their subs are giving them due to supply shortages (labor, and materials)?
Going out this weekend to do some winter backpacking with a group of scouts and their scoutmasters. This will be 'interesting'. Luckily I've already built a qunzie that will comfortably sleep four adults. At least I'll be warm in the quinzie.
Hello beloved. A very good friend of mine, age 55, had sudden cardiac arrest last week. His wife used CPR to bring him back and he is currently - knock wood - recovering in the hospital with a very good prognosis. Please, please go look for a CPR class being offered near you and TAKE IT! You can literally save the life of a loved one.
I've been thinking about taking a first aid course of some sort. I was into it as a Boy Scout but have forgotten most of the details, and many of them have changed anyway. Thanks for the push. And glad to hear your friend is ok!
Wood Guy I've been so busy I forgot to mention I met your coauthor Chris in South Bend two weeks ago. He gave a great talk and answered a ton of questions from the audience.
Oh good! I haven't caught up with Chris since he got back other than some texts that said he had a good time. Thanks for getting it going! On a related note, if anyone wants a good podcast on building science and green building basics, Chris and another architect friend had this great podcast: https://greenarchitectslounge.simplecast.com/.
Attended a building science seminar last week and got to listen to Joe Lstiburek for two days. Absolutely fascinating that much of what he came up with has practically become the standard (at least in my neck of the woods).
I attended the Andy Ask Building Science Seminar in Naples FL. Think I got about 8 HSW for two days? Pretty great. I do wish that he would have dealt a little more with some specific hot-humid climate methods.
I attended his Summer Camp last year for the first time and it was amazing. Best building conference I've been to. It's fun to be able to meet your heroes!
I think we need to clarify which troll we're talking about.
Feb 2, 23 9:29 am ·
·
Non Sequitur
Chad, don’t think it’s trolling if the posts were genuinely intended for discussion however wrong or inane they may be. Also, everyone and their cousins know who this culprit is.
Just in case you don't know, Chad, and can no longer find it, because the posts got nuked (thank you Mods), this quote is courtesy of our in-house professional building designer.
I thought it was x-jla but wasn't sure if it was Rick, someoldoctor, Non-ASD, or RobHall.
Feb 2, 23 10:47 am ·
·
Bench
Im sorry, they unemployed home body who doesn't appear to have ever actually done work in this industry and has coasted along in the parent's home is complaining about bums being worthless?
Feb 2, 23 11:59 am ·
·
Non Sequitur
Bench, the last post I saw, the one I replied M'erica to, finished with "if you want a house, work for it."
While it really does suck to know people have these hateful uninformed opinions out there & it certainly is the prerogative of Archinect to not promote those voices (ie, delete), I'm torn on whether it should be struck or just locked.
Sometimes it's better to understand where people lie on the spectrum & keep a record of the self-published hate & stupidity.
And then I also feel years of misbehaving on the graces of this platform seems like plenty of reason to IP block & ban any attempted future iterations of the users in question.Glad I don't have to police this stuff...
It would be nice if the comment was hidden, with an option to un-hide, similar to how Reddit moderation works. That way if you don't want to see hateful bigotry, you're not exposed to it by default.
Ignore is like using training wheels on a unicycle... takes the fun and danger out of it. Not using ignore is a great way to remind myself that our jobs are safe if the next generation of workers are even half as useless as Non-Asd is.
I just can't resist slapping around the trolls with reason. It frustrates them to end.
The sad thing is these obtuse punters think I'm engaging with them when in fact I don't care if they exist or not. The second I leave this site they cease to exist to me. It's not like they're a respected peer whose opinions are worth considering.
It's ok. not cold enough for me to wear a tuque (tabarnak...) but I did put one in my bag just in case.
Feb 3, 23 9:18 am ·
·
ivanmillya
I used to think I lived in cold country when I lived in Salt Lake City... I think the coldest it got there was 5 above in the dead of winter. I would simply pass away if I had to see negative digits on my weather app.
Feb 3, 23 9:28 am ·
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Non Sequitur
Weak sauce. it's apparently -41 now when considering wind... that said, I'd implode if I had to live in florida.
-20°F/-29°C this morning in central Maine, the coldest in many years. I don't like heat and humidity but I'm thankful this artic blast will be short-lived!
"Mayne cited Tesla as an example of a company that focuses on environmental aspects, mechanical efficiency and performance above a product's appearance." that's not true at all.
Not shocking to me at all, considering TM is one of the architects of Saudia Arabia's line city. He doesn't care much at all for human rights, autonomy, dignity, and so forth.
Thank you Donna. It's so devestating. This one is a big one. So many cities and buildings collapsed. You couldn't be ready for such destruction. Heavy winter with snow storms is underway as well. Words can't explain what happened. The entire country is a big earthquake fault. Everyone is impacted. My family is okay on the west coast of the country but they are in a heavy quake zone too and naturally everyone is scared.
B occupancy -- for occupant load, are you classifying break rooms, conference rooms or copy rooms as Accessory Unconcentrated (15nsf/occ) or Business Areas (150gsf)? At a 10x density differential, I'm shocked at my local telling me a copy room is an assembly space even if it's measured in net area...what is your AHJ doing?
Our jursidiction says that if it's located in an office, for use by the office staff, then it's still a "business area". Insane for your AHJ to tell you that a copy room is assembly.
Copy room is a weird one, but In my experience conference rooms for sure have a 15/sf OLF unless you can prove to the AHJ that it's a non-simultaneous use.
Edit: still a B Occupancy, but with a higher OLF due to its use. It's a common misconception that occupancy category and OLF are the same.
The kicker, of course, is we have to populate all spaces simultaneously...so there's 10 people in a 150sf copy room without fixed casework, but the 10 individual offices are still populated...it's asinine. The conference room is arguable, but, even with visiting presenters, the conference room is presumably drawing some of the office staff. Thanks for letting me think i'm not crazy...!
A principal explained it very well to me not too long ago and he refers to this as "the christmas party clause"
If it's *really* messing up your space you could appeal but I imagine you'll need a very clear case to get it approved. I'd imagine the AHJ is wary of setting a precedent there.
i would count a conference room as assembly. people sit closer to each other around a conference table. if the conference room is big enough, you might need 2 exits out of that room. you could make the argument that only people in the office are using the conference room, so you look at the room as 15 sf per person, but the overall office is still 150. that wouldn't work if you're bringing in people to use the conference room - that would increase your max occupancy. same for the break room. i have not been in a copy room where people gather like that, but if that's what they're doing...
This project is an industrial equipment sales office doing a TI in a space that isn't getting an addition. They might get sales pitches from manufacturers every now & then, but it sure isn't a publicly accessed or rented out room. Despite the popularity of absolutist risk management proclivities of any AHJ, Christmas parties shouldn't be the standard for a B office permit. (City of Portland has a specific Code Guide saying those spaces above 250sf would reasonably be calc'ed as assembly unconcentrated, otherwise Business areas is good.) Hopefully, this AHJ will consider that Code Guide as a local peer...
Feb 9, 23 5:06 pm ·
·
curtkram
i think john mcclane would tell you that if you need to exit a bunch of people at a christmas party, the building has to be designed to let all of them exit. even if that means hans gruber
is thrown off the top of the building.
Cracked a whiskey-cask aged 12% barley wine beer as I start my work day this evening. Kid is sick at home so my daylight time was spent catching up on dozens of emails with one hand while tending to his needs with the other. Eugh... not sure if this beer should be going down so smoothly.
The architect of the capitol is gooooooooone! And he's not only not an architect, but I had forgotten he's a civil engineer - the dumbest of the engineering disciplines, IMO.
I bet he really loved being referred to as "Mr. Architect" or some posh nonsense like that, LOL.
Good riddance, from what I've read. Though I do take some exception to lumping him with civil engineers--if I knew any architects who weren't terrified of anything involving structure or soil, I might be more accommodating. Or if my BS wasn't in civil engineering... ;-)
I’ve worked with a few good civils, but most of the ones I’ve worked with had no understanding of the human aspects of architecture at all to they’d do stuff like drop the main sewer line right under the front door. I had to work through with them where the important site points were vs. where it was ok to put clean outs and whatnot. MEP engineers always seem to at least understand that the equipment should be placed where it’s not super visible.
Important nomenclature note: IMO civil engineers are the people who deal with the site, structural engineer is what I call the folks who design the structure. Two separate disciplines.
Donna, thanks for the additional info, and I really wasn't offended, I make fun of engineers regularly. I know most people think of Civil and Structural as separate but the undergrad degree is the same for both. My dad was a highway engineer (aka Civil) and while he was very smart, he was not particularly concerned with what other people though or experienced, so I can see what you mean. My focus was structural but the degree says Civil.
I don't think a civil engineer should hold the title of "architect of the capital" because that's a job for an architect... it's in the name.
Otherwise, I've always found Civil engineers very straightforward and competent to deal with, and I suppose engineers in general
. Yeah they often propose shocklingy dumb (as in direct) solutions, but that's why us architects are here to make everything nice together.
Just dropped in to encourage everyone to watch Tár if you are interested in abuse of power in cultural contexts but don't want to think about architecture.
Thread Central
It's been a month of spreadsheets and proposals. I miss actually designing things so much I actually found a micro house competition and completed a preliminary design.
yes, the US of A is not the center of the universe, somehow writing this in the stupid WHY? tread got me banned from posting in there, seems like being like musk is trendy.
Who got you banned?
It looks like that Boebert (R) could be voted out of the CO House. In case people aren't aware Boebert is CO's version of MTG.
97% of the votes are in (yeah mail in voting) and it's really close. 50.6% D / 49.4% R
It's still close and a recount will be needed. I have my fingers and toes crossed that this hateful, ignorant fool will be voted out of the CO House.
Absurd that it's even that close.
It's even closer now. Boebert is only down by 65 votes. That wasn't a typo. 65 votes.
She’s ahead now.
But the two counties who have the most left to count are blue so I have hope.
Hope.
This was one of those races forecast to be easily R. The fact that it is this close should be a red flag to MAGA candidates regardless of whether she wins or loses in the end.
It won't be though. Regardless of how slim of margin they may win by MAGA people will simply say it's the will of the people. The won't recognize that 49.9% of the population don't agree with them.
No. 49.9 of the votes they allowed to be counted don't agree with them. This doesn't extrapolate to the greater populace.
It could or it couldn't.
In Colorado I'd say that the voting population is a rather accurate depiction of the people's views. The state is very, very, very, purple. Most people are in the middle and view themselves as an independent and don't align with one party on all issues.
Then again, if you don't vote then you literally don't count.
That was the point I was hinting at, yeah.
Shigeru Ban job post today in NYC. Again without a salary range. Can't make this up.
"Please include salary requirements and availability. Applications
without discussion of salary requirements will not be reviewed."
Further:
Effective November 1, 2022, the NYC Human Rights Law requires employers to include a good faith pay range in all job advertisements. NYC's Salary Transparency Law is another step towards pay equity for all New Yorkers, and is the latest addition to a suite of protections against discrimination for New Yorkers seeking employment.
Any advertisement for a job, promotion, or transfer opportunity that would be performed in New York City is covered by the new law. An “advertisement” is a written description of an available job, promotion, or transfer opportunity that is publicized to a pool of potential applicants, including, but not limited to, postings on internal bulletin boards, internet advertisements, printed flyers distributed at job fairs, and newspaper advertisements.
If you experience or witness discrimination, we can help. Contact the NYC Commission on Human Rights to report discrimination at (212) 416-0197 or dial 311 and ask for "Human Rights."
@Archinect - given that this is a clear skirting of the new law enacted, would you be able to include a mandatory salary range box that comes on when new job postings for NYC come up?
At least they can put in $0 and comply.
In other news, why is Archinect publishing fucking Tom Wiscombe's job posts now? Their money cant be THAT good
it’s snowing!
Here too, first time this season.
First for us. A little late this year and last week was still flip-flops and sweater weather!
Already have a 30cm of snow. Was -26 last week, only -3 right now but will be -21 (-27 w/ Windchill) overnight
it snowed yesterday, but quickly turned to freezing rain, fun
We've had 30" (76cm) of snow for about three weeks.
Calm down hoser.
anyone listen to music at work? song recommendations? I'm on a hard alt rock kick at the moment...
nevermind, there's a separate thread for this
It's ok. TC is where all the popular, and non banned people hang out anyways.
So I am totally boycotting the World Cup in Qatar. Amongst all the injustices, and corruption, and over 6,500 workers dead (official figure anyways), I just cant bring myself to watch it, even though I love Futbol. Fuck em. (And having worked in that "region", all the claims of indentured labor and slavery at 100% true)
I feel ya. I am watching. The one thing I will say though is that "corruption" doesn't go far enough. They are a legit International Crime Syndicate. The power they leverage against people is astonishing, I cannot figure out who gives them any legitimacy. Now that they're responsible for killing people, The Hague should take them on.
I am watching as well, but with the acknowledgment that I shouldn't be. First the Sochi Olympics, then the WC in Russia, then this shit.
Never followed soccer and even I know how 'corrupt' the World Cup and FIFA is.
Watching with "Acknowledgement" = Watching and Supporting the evil empire. But then again who is anyone to judge?
You seem to be trying to judge without committing to it.
Yes, I was questioning whether I was right go judge.
18 days...is it the holidays or has TC died? I know I've been only lurking of late, myself.
Hope all are well and happy holidays!
Also felt compelled to share this quote from an old Muschamp piece discovered via this Urban Omnibus series
"Many architects, it turns out, don’t want their own high rises either.
They’re fed up with hanging balconies off a 40-story box and calling it a
dream come true...isn’t that a shame. We don’t want
your yuppie mea culpas...How is the architecture community’s collective frustration going to house a single person?"
The only architect I've ever worked with who lived in a shitty glass tower with a tacked-on postage stamp balcony had me convinced that he was legitimately a psychopath.
If
only
it
were
possible
To
Predict
xlax's
Next
weekend
Nam, I’m spending a lot more time on Twitter these recent weeks because it’s such a shitshow now! Like a car wreck, I can’t look away. I imagine I’ll be off it soon.
I’m so tired. Working lots of hours and traveling a lot for work. But I’m hopeful that my 2023 is going to be a little lighter. My boss is also requiring me to use up all of my vacation time before new years so I’ll have lots of downtime over the holidays!
At least you have vacation. I only have 10 days for the entire year.
As of today I have 30 hours I have to “spend”.
The holiday rush of motivation speaker gigs for corporate Christmas parties is almost over - I'm really looking forward to getting back to the van and the river.
Wanna come to CO and speak at our firm aa? You can drive you van. There are a lot of scenic places to park it around here.
How do you know I don't already have it parked on Grand Mesa?
I've been focusing on other things mostly of late. I changed jobs and with that my stress level, and participation in extracurriculars (like social media) changed, and I'm just now starting to get back to a place where I feel normal. This was expected (and maybe welcome) though.
I've checked in from time to time on the forums but haven't really found much discussion of anything that seemed interesting, or like something I wanted to devote time toward engaging in. Seems like a lot of the regulars have disengaged a bit.
I hope the job change is a positive EA. I wish you the best.
I'm going in little spurts of participating here. I'm so used to being at 100% productivity that when I have 15 minutes I feel like I should be doing something so I come here.
When I have an hour of non intense work I feel like the market is collapsing because I have nothing to do.
It's tduds fault. Having a family and shit.
yeah, sorry I really should have considered you all before I did that.
Selfish.
I am totally there with tduds, I fully expected it but parenting really changed my routines/time-spent, especially in terms of after-hours civic engagement/digital extracurriculars.
Time off is amazing, I usually just take a couple of long weekends here or there. But took off 3 weeks in fall, best thing I did all year! Spent some time at beach and Sam finally got to meet his grandparents.
Also we just got a new pup, 9 week old cockapoo.
Hi puppy!
can we sandbox x-jla's political musings into a Grievance subforum?
& maybe set up an AI executive summary app for rick?
sorry to poke the bear but I've got some downtime this morning and it's been a while.
I think the two should just be banned outright.
My reasoning is that both of them have been either given a time out, banned, or had their reputation as a troll exposed so they had to change their username. They've been given plenty of warnings and opratunites to change their behavior. They haven't.
I understand the desire but I find it quite easy to just skip over what either of them write, most of the time, and when I do read or engage I know it's my decision. If you don't have that ability, I wonder if banning them is a fair response to your lack of self-control?
Casually browsing over those two respective dumpster fires is good to remind myself that whatever is happening on my end could be a lot fucking worse. They offer a valuable public service and offer it free of charge too!
I normally just skip over their posts. Like you I'll choose to engage in some instances. Would you give the same advice if they were posting bigoted, racist, or sexist things? What if they were making unwanted nude pics to people?
NS - their behavior can be a good public service announcement on how not act. Then again it's still abhorrent behavior masquerading as trolling.
If they were violating the rules of the site then yes, they should be banned. Xjla seems to know exactly where the line is. Rick is just verbose.
Twice-annual (approximately) PSA, the "ignore" feature on this website is fully functional. Been using it for years with them.
Wood -
With all due respect you're incorrect. Both Rick and x-jla have violated the terms of the site. Both of them have posted bigoted, racist and sexist things. There is even an user here who's send unwanted adult pics to others via other social media.
To be fair, Rick has changed quite a bit and doesn't appear to be posting these types of hateful things anymore. As you said, he's just verbose. I guess the site forgave him an allowed him to come back after his banning.
Can't say the outcome wasn't foreseeable.
I'll also echo Bench's PSA. I was against it for the longest time, but I started using the ignore feature earlier, and while you do miss out on some gems of responses, it makes the website better.
Nearly everyone in our office is sick. None of them will stay home. People seem confused why they're all getting sick.
I'm done.
Everyone is coming down with covid again (not to mention the flu)
and no one is wearing masks. FML
Kid is 18 today…somehow we ushered him to adulthood & we’re proud of him — we think he’ll make a good adult.
Ques entirely too late, but whatever…mostly speculative: what gift do you get a new adult? Not extravagant, just pertinent…thoughts?
I hear Trump is selling NFTs.
I was doing some cleaning today and ran across this old beauty.
I bought it off a lunch truck that stopped outside our office back in the late '80s. It always made me think of the Chrysler Building. I'm amazed that the color is still relatively vibrant, and still evenly distributed.
^ Apologies for the gigantic image. I don't seem to be skilled at resizing these things.
That’s really cool.
Definitely Chrysler Building vibes.
Ribbed for our viewing pleasure.
Better than a picture of an old Chrysler that looks like a soda bottle. And thanks for turning an innocent post into something lurid and Canadian, Non =O]
drink it and report back.
^ Something tells me I'd live forever (but wouldn't want to).
AZP loosing it on twitter and siding with elon mask is funny.
really lost it
I have no idea who this person is or what they are upset about.
Chad, a little memory refresher:
https://archinect.com/news/art...
AZP created a profile and started commenting about himself in 3rd person using "public account"
What a vapid, obtuse, pathetic, looser. I'm glad I don't know this AVP person and have never had interact with him.
woh. I missed that entire exchange, or blanked it from my memory. Kinda wished I never saw it at all. Such very strange behaviour. It makes absolutely zero sense.
@TomWiscomb where are you you little rat! (Conor McGreggor voice)
Another CA job posted without required salary range.
https://archinect.com/jobs/ent...
Not defending TW, but it appears he does not have to comply yet, and may not ever.
Starting Jan. 1, 2023, California employers with 15 or more employees must include a position's salary or hourly wage range (not including bonuses or equity-based compensation) in any internal or external job posting. This requirement extends to job postings published by a third party at an employer's request.
Merry Christmas, Eve TC! Some sort of bug has been keeping our whole house low last week or so, though so far negative COVID tests. That AZP stuff is definitely a fun, laugh...?
I hope y'all feel better very soon, Nam. Merry Christmas in the meantime!
We are all *almost better...
Better late than never: I finally set up an NCARB account. With any luck, in 13 short years I'll be able to take the ARE and call myself an architect.
While I would jump at the chance to take the exams now, or a harder/more complete version that shows that I've leaned what's important on my own, I also respect that there is a well-vetted process that works, and I made the decisions I made along the way. Unless the rules change, having a license really won't make much difference for me; I'll still design houses and I already charge about the same as my architect competitors. It will just be rewarding to finally be able to say that I'm an architect, instead of a soliloquy on why I'm not.
Congrats WG! I actually don't bristle too much at paying my NCARB dues. How are you going to get your hours/ how do they handle that for people in your situation? AIA can go fuck themselves with a rusty grill brush though.
Thanks! My friend/co-host/co-author Emily has agreed to supervise my work as an NCARB mentor. We also compete for jobs sometimes but we are friendly about it. I help her with building- and building-science-related questions so it's more like a trade of labor than anything. But she is very good at the process and running a business, so I also have plenty to learn from her.
Sounds like a beneficial setup in both directions! Fwiw, you can take exams while completing hours... Or at least you could in 4.0... damn I'm getting old...
Well done WG! Good luck on the process. I will admit I'm very surprised that Maine does not have some sort of faster process for alternative paths to licensure, consdiering there are so few stamps in the state already.
Thanks! They do have several other paths; I just made bad/uninformed decisions at every step along the way, from not pursuing an accredited degree program to never working for a licensed architect. I was in my mid-30s before I even realized that the career I'm best suited for is architecture.
WG what would a license provide you that you don't already have? I have many friends that have BArchs, not licensed and are pretty successful without a license.
Happy 2023-ish TC! Hope to be a bit less of a lurker more of a...on the Nect in coming year. Also this one goes out to the Trads?
h/t @bruces
bUt ThE pIzZa BoX dIdN't AcTuAlLy TiP oFf ThE aUtHoRiTiEs (at least that's what the incels are crowing about now)
I know Tate was being a douche and Greta slapped him down but, what's up with the pizza box?
The joke was that his last post about Greta included him sitting at a table with a pizza box, explicitly doxxing his location for Romanian authorities to arrest him and his brother on charges of sex trafficking.
Ah! I didn't know that Tate was wanted for sex trafficking. I'd heard rumors that people thought he and his brother where perverts to the point of sex trafficking.
Tate is in custody and they have confiscated his car collection!
FAFO of Libertarian Classist Cucks
FYI - the country that arrested him said that the pizza box didn't doxx Tate's location. They learned it other ways and it was just Shakespeare level irony that the douche decided to try and start a pissing match with Gretta right before he was arrested.
I choose not to believe that and subscribe to the gretta/pizzabox theory!
Sorry, I've been stuck under a world hockey junior rock for the past 2 weeks. He better not have been eating a Hawaiian pizza... that delicious combination of ham & pineapple does not need more bad press.
.
I live in the bottom left corner. Double pineapple with jalapenos please. Sorry.
I fucking knew it. I'm firmly in the upper right corner.
You're on... then we can split a meat-lovers with some game meat. I'd love some elk instead of ham on a Hawaiian one day.
If I get an elk this year I'll send you some.
I love the sweet sweet pineapple with sauce combo!
I've never had mac and cheese pizza but would happily give it a try. The others all look good to me. Hmm, it is lunchtime...
Wood Guy = Chaotic Evil.
Chad, I AM ALL: Chaotic/neutral/lawful/good/evil.
Definitely bottom left as well...eh? :P
Just renewed my AIA membership. It cost only a few hundred less than our mortgage payment. It's five times the cost of my yearly state licensing fees. :s
Those AIAU courses better make me a starcitect damn it.
Thanks for the reminder, Chad. I've got a kidney listed on Craigslist; hopefully I can renew soon.
I stopped renewing two years ago. I keep track of my CEU hours in a spreadsheet now. That's literally the only thing I miss about it.
I'm thinking about stopping my AIA membership. I AIAU courses are the only thing that made me wait another year.
don't those still cost like $25 an hour, even if you're a member?
Some may. The ones I've done are free to members and cost $25 for non members.
The only reason I renew is so I don't have to change my email sig or business cards.
Firm pays for mine. If they didn't, I probably wouldn't stay active.
Well there's also that ... but really it's about that sweet, sweet, postnominal.
Have we discussed the "Ok Chatbot" series of posts by pandahut in the news? Do we think they are actually feeding prompts to a chatbot GPT-3/Open AI? They don't read that way to me for some reason... Anybody know them?
ChatGPT va RickyB, go!
*vs.
please no
I have no idea what the three of you are talking about. I don't think I want to know.
See pandahut's comments here and here for example
I'm not clicking on those. I need to keep my tenuous hold on sanity.
The official Archinect account dropping "Karen McPandahut" in the forum has got to be a highlight of any day. https://archinect.com/forum/th...
That was rather funny. Archinect - good job!
Archinect has no legal obligation to behave in a mature manner
That's why I like you Archinect.
That was hilarious, thank you for pointing it out, EA!
You're welcome Donna. Throwing it way back to the original intent of TC.
Archinect got rid of all the spam bot adds for hookers. Come on archinect, that's free speech! How dare you tread on our liberties! ::end sarcasm::
Write your house rep about it ... ? But which side would she choose ?!
Since my rep is Bobert she'd think it was a violation of our liberties if the dems took down the posts. If the republicans did it then she'd be fine with it since they're fighting for traditional values.
I guess we need to know what political party Archinect identifies as.
Oops I put my reply to EA here by accident.
I recently submitted fairly complex addition to a school, and got back zero comments. Feel good about that.
https://media0.giphy.com/media/1ykTax6hrAKpTQ0Mnb/200w.gif
Maybe you’ll get a ton of comments 2 days before issuing for bids?
I will re-start my retirement investment strategy again before Friday…going up to $1.35B — how can I not play?
Good luck. My father-in-law just set a date for his retirement later this month with his employer. NGL, I'm pretty jealous. Updated my contribution amount to my 401k yesterday ... new year, new maximum contribution limits from the IRS.
Taking the thousands of dollars I would have put in my 401k this year and buying like 5000 lottery tickets. One's gotta be a winner, right?
I think we've broken $1.25 m for our combined retirement. Then again I'm a type 1 diabetic so the money could go quick . . . or I could just die and my wife will be loaded!
I believe in diversifying my portfolio - I invest in the Powerball, Megamillions, Superlotto, and some scratchers.
With a strategy like that I'm surprised you aren't also in NFTs, Crypto, and Gold.
Uhg. I've been asked to come up with a way to screen a DOAS, condensers, and ductwork that a school district wants to put on the OUTSIDE of their buildings.
This is making my face hurt. :s
Because Colorado is a great place to have your mechanical ductwork outside the building envelope... WTF?!
I know. This is only for AC though. If that somehow makes it better.
The reasoning (not our reasoning) is that if they run the ductwork inside then they have to rip up all the ceilings and sprinkle the entire building. Did I mention this is a school that isn't sprinkled? Yeah there is that too. :S
Being for A/C only is better but not great. The first time I experienced weather over 100°F was in Denver so I think of summers there as being hot. No sprinklers, in a school? Oy.
The summers can be very hot on the western slope. We typically reach around 110 F by mid August. Luckily the humidity is very low, normally around 10%.
The client wants to add onto the school as well. We'll be having to sprinkle the additions and separate them from the existing with fire walls. oy vey :s
easy. two building envelopes.
Pretty much. It's a combination of a metal soffit to conceal the ductwork and a perforated metal screen to hide the DOAS and condenser units.
Fans of Christine Williamson: we are please to have her as our guest tonight on The BS* + Beer Show, for a topic of vapor management.
https://mailchi.mp/d226053fe17...
I signed up... hoping I can swing the time. Your registration says state/province but no province options available. So I'm hailing from Arkansas!
Great! As always, the recordings will be available here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvAmHSecglp-u-DTFQlU8Tw/videos. Tonight will be the first of our new format, only 60 minutes instead of 90, and even less formal than before. The registration page is by Taunton, who runs the Zoom portion of the program, but we don't have control over it.
I've missed the majority of the last year's BSB due to work etc, but i've specifically blocked out "Training" in my office calendar for this one. So excited to hear her speak!
Really sad to have to miss this one!
Bench, to be clear, it's an open discussion and I don't think she's planning on doing a presentation, though there is a chance she'll do one. After today we're going to stick with the first Thursday of the month, no exceptions, and we're going to focus more on specific topics than special guests.
You should get Steven Doggett on the podcast.
Good discussion WG. The zoom panicking at the beginning was great. Vapour control and design for it is well know up here and is an important subject in schools. Surprised that it’s not as common south of the frozen border.
Non, that was somewhere between amusing and terrifying. Fortunately our guest didn't get flustered and figured out how to get the hosts on screen! Hopefully going back to a standard day and time each month will ensure that doesn't happen again. But we enjoyed the conversation once it finally got going.
To be fair Non designing for vapor (vapour if your weird) is considerably easier in cold climates. It's a lot more difficult to deal with it correctly in areas that high temp swings and high humidity.
One of the biggest things I think needs to be considered is the dew point location in an assembly. I know a lot of architect that simply follow the IECC in terms of CI and stud wall insulation values without understanding what it does to the dew point.
B3, he is prolific but as far as I can tell he gets paid to devise test methods that make competitors' products fail, regardless of how good the product actually is. I'm all for being a contrarian and for consumer protection, but he's more like a hit man. At least that's my impression and that of building scientists I know.
That's also my personal and professional opinion of Mr. Doggett. I've heard him say that a product / assembly is horrible then a year later say it's the best thing ever. The only thing that changed was who was paying him.
It's Friday the 13th. I'm gonna go to the local plans examiner and ask 'em to review our design for an addition to a non conforming 1800's warehouse. We're converting it to a children's hospital and fireworks factory. I expect this to go very smoothly.
I'm trying to figure out whether you're joking about the children's hospital/fireworks factory...
It's a new healthcare model. It provides repeat business for the hospital.
Yes it's a joke. ;)
Although if I were to take some of the attitudes of the medical clients I've had in the past it would be considered a future revenue stream.
Combining the hospital and factory is a brilliant way to allow poor children to work off the cost of their treatment - BRAVO!
If they lose a finger then the hospital just gets more business! Ah American health care - gotta' love it!
non-separated, i presume?
the uses, not the finger
In this fictitious scenario, both.
.
I agree
I don't know. WG. I have an issue with part of proto's point.
seemed succinct to me at the time
Ha!
I like how proto got straight to it.
I'll bet he shaves with Occam's razor.
Where’s that bald emoji?
!
ll!m-ll!
clever
-
^--- you can use that to cross your T's, along with proto's dot to dot your I's.
If there's a thread central, is there a thread outskirts? or a thread outer-rim? extended universe?
Yes, several actually... but they only survive for very short instances before their creator(s) gets them nuked by the big green head. They are places were you can observe the depth of inanity like a beautiful flaming car crashing into an orphanage on Christmas eve.
They're mostly created by x-jla, Non-ASD, and crypto bros. ;)
Chad, let’s not forget our in house dumbfuck Jawknee.
Jawknee is just a mentally ill pedo.
I know 99% of my posts here are shit posts and I just enjoy riling everyone up here but on a more serious and curious note about some of your guys' motivators. Do any of you just feel unmotivated sometimes by your work and the profession? I feel it has become more difficult to relate to that special feeling I got when I got out of school (I know, I know but humor me) and my sense of curiosity was at the forefront of everything and anything. Trying to find ways to get myself back to that place but it is hard. So, I have been prioritizing my life outside of the office more (was driven to 80 hour weeks for years on end getting my shit busted by a large corporate office, driven very hard, yada yada). I'm hoping that did not totally crush my will and drive in the profession but maybe I am just rebounding right now, who knows.
It's just hard to give 100% of myself to the work when mentally I am not sure if I can right now, which of course makes me feel really guilty (maybe Stockholm syndrome lol).
So, how do you guys deal with this if you have experienced it before and what did you find helped you out. I've contemplated making a change to single family residential and the likes to move away from larger client driven work but just get bummed when I listen to lectures or pods from some creative directors who have found a way to hold that special little nugget of optimism and positivity sacred somehow.
I think we all go through something like this.
I for one constantly feel unmotivated by my work UNLESS I'm actively interested in the design of a project.
One thing that works for me to keep motivated is to have interests outside of architecture. This means work life balance and not working with firms that require you to do crazy overtime. Of course this may mean finding a new firm (easier said than done)
My other interests are a combination of outdoor fun and creative stuff like sketching, model building, ect.
I hope this is helpful.
High End SFR for 16 years here; it also wears out. People have evolved to be the worst version of themselves, and it shows badly when planning for themselves and their families. BUT, I do enjoy the freedom in design, the time allowed and the quality of the finish space. Plus there's no crazy hours or deadlines, and you learn a lot about materials, fixtures, appliances, etc. from all over the world. That's the motivation, to achieve a high level craft. It's hard to keep motivated in today's world though.
Appreciate both of your responses. Of course this would hit different if I was fresh out of school but it is now some 7 odd years later, still very young in the profession. Feels like there is endless amounts to learn which I really enjoy some of the technical shit and figuring things out but some of the larger scale work is just a damn marathon and drains me. I've noticed when I visit a space that seriously just stops me in my tracks and
Sounds like the Seven Year Itch!
But seriously, I think we all go through this in our careers, AND even my friends who are not architects feel unmotivated and confused right now. We live in a difficult time.
As Donna said everyone feels like this at some point. Often we get this feeling several times! I know I have. I wouldn't concern yourself that you're feeling this way at this point in your career. I think it could be helpful to take 'stock' in your life. See what you like, what you don't, and what you'd like to change. Maybe things you're doing aren't aligning with who you are? Just a thought.
Sorry, previous message got sent before I was done! Thanks for the input. I definitely have had some time to pick my head up off of my desk lately and just doing some reflecting. Grinding for the past 7 years was just pretty rough, mentally, etc. Spending more time on things outside of work has been really helpful and key but the more you get the taste for that, almost the more I feel separated from architecture because lets be honest, most of us would probably just want to do whatever our hobbies are and not need to be tied to an employer to make money :) I do wish people in the profession were more open about things like this and just to be able to relate but I do feel a lot are pretty quiet as not to expose a side of themselves to others. It is a weird competitive field considering we are supposed to be an empathetic group of creatives lol.
Thanks for keeping it real.
i think this will be the case for most people, if you are working FOR someone else. let the job be the job and as you are doing, continue to pursue the things outside of the job that give you real fulfillment and purpose; when the bits here and there come through in the job, it will be a pleasant surprise rather than something you depend on.
This is me. I did SFR for a few years and then commercial. It’s just not captivating at all anymore. I’ve thought about going back to SFR but worried there would be a big pay cut. I feel guilty, if that’s the right word, that it’s just a job, “work to live” type situation (akin to what Chad and square said, so I can enjoy doing things outside of work) compared to some of my apparently passionate colleagues who are off getting different certifications etc. I don’t think it’s the place I work necessarily, more my jaded view of the profession. Switching careers is also scary AF, so here I am. Sorry to be a Debbie downer!
I was having a laugh at Jawknee's inane, terrible drawings and I noticed that Non Seq. is nearly always the first comment LOL...
Does Non get notifications for Jawknee's posts?
Not all heroes wear capes, but I do.
Truly
your responses crack me up
When has Jawk posted drawings? I only remember that one person who would plagiarize other's work and pass it off as their own via horrible drawings.
sketch thread
It's not on the front page and I'm not going to look for it.
fair nuff
I'm scarred I'll see a nude of Jawk wearing a pringles can. :s
I'm still waiting for these n00dz. *yawn*
Chad, see here. https://archinect.com/forum/thread/150319345/question-for-my-esteemed-colleagues
There are probably 100 or so of these "drawings" floating around the forums.
pandahut wrote:
"I'm still waiting for these n00dz. *yawn*"
Contact Jawk yourself and say you're a 16 year old female gymnast. You'll get them.
anyone else experiencing moving target construction costs? I feel like GCs are pricing in multi-year escalation in their GMP.
We've been experiencing this for the last year. Most good GC's who are doing a GMP need to account for the inflation on multi year projects.
But is it the same rate it was the past year? I’m seeing prices going up 25% year over year on some things.
I've seen that too. Prices haven't been stable for the past three years.
i think everyone has been burned. CBRE had a good guide that says we'll go down to 2%-4% this year. https://www.cbre.com/insights/books/2022-us-construction-cost-trends
in the residential market, i'm starting to see signs of movement from GCs who are realizing they can't just ask for the moon and see if they get it
Are the GC's really asking for the moon? Or are they simply relaying the cost that their subs are giving them due to supply shortages (labor, and materials)?
Little of both
The GC's profit margins on the commercial projects I work on haven't haven't gone up. I have no idea about the single family type projects.
Hi TC!, thought some folks might be interested in this exhibition catalog Lebbeus Woods, Ecologies, 1984-1990, curated by Jennifer Olshi ?
Thanks for posting, Nam. Some amazing drawings in there.
Ah yes, the 'wooden planet' inhabited and run by monks.
wooden deathstar
thx for that link!
Should clarify, that since the link uses term "preview" this may just be a sampler from/of the catalog. Not the entire thing...
Going out this weekend to do some winter backpacking with a group of scouts and their scoutmasters. This will be 'interesting'. Luckily I've already built a qunzie that will comfortably sleep four adults. At least I'll be warm in the quinzie.
Hello beloved. A very good friend of mine, age 55, had sudden cardiac arrest last week. His wife used CPR to bring him back and he is currently - knock wood - recovering in the hospital with a very good prognosis. Please, please go look for a CPR class being offered near you and TAKE IT! You can literally save the life of a loved one.
I've been thinking about taking a first aid course of some sort. I was into it as a Boy Scout but have forgotten most of the details, and many of them have changed anyway. Thanks for the push. And glad to hear your friend is ok!
Wood Guy I've been so busy I forgot to mention I met your coauthor Chris in South Bend two weeks ago. He gave a great talk and answered a ton of questions from the audience.
Oh good! I haven't caught up with Chris since he got back other than some texts that said he had a good time. Thanks for getting it going! On a related note, if anyone wants a good podcast on building science and green building basics, Chris and another architect friend had this great podcast: https://greenarchitectslounge.simplecast.com/.
Attended a building science seminar last week and got to listen to Joe Lstiburek for two days. Absolutely fascinating that much of what he came up with has practically become the standard (at least in my neck of the woods).
I did his Fundamentals last year & really liked it (16 HSW's didn't hurt too).
I attended the Andy Ask Building Science Seminar in Naples FL. Think I got about 8 HSW for two days? Pretty great. I do wish that he would have dealt a little more with some specific hot-humid climate methods.
I attended his Summer Camp last year for the first time and it was amazing. Best building conference I've been to. It's fun to be able to meet your heroes!
Sorry to double post, but seriously... how is this allowed? He's literally saying homeless people should be put to death.
I know who he is. He has mental health issues.
I did not know he cared so much about the staving ocean creatures.
I think we need to clarify which troll we're talking about.
Chad, don’t think it’s trolling if the posts were genuinely intended for discussion however wrong or inane they may be. Also, everyone and their cousins know who this culprit is.
Just in case you don't know, Chad, and can no longer find it, because the posts got nuked (thank you Mods), this quote is courtesy of our in-house professional building designer.
I thought it was x-jla but wasn't sure if it was Rick, someoldoctor, Non-ASD, or RobHall.
Im sorry, they unemployed home body who doesn't appear to have ever actually done work in this industry and has coasted along in the parent's home is complaining about bums being worthless?
Bench, the last post I saw, the one I replied M'erica to, finished with "if you want a house, work for it."
While it really does suck to know people have these hateful uninformed opinions out there & it certainly is the prerogative of Archinect to not promote those voices (ie, delete), I'm torn on whether it should be struck or just locked.
Sometimes it's better to understand where people lie on the spectrum & keep a record of the self-published hate & stupidity.
And then I also feel years of misbehaving on the graces of this platform seems like plenty of reason to IP block & ban any attempted future iterations of the users in question.Glad I don't have to police this stuff...
It would be nice if the comment was hidden, with an option to un-hide, similar to how Reddit moderation works. That way if you don't want to see hateful bigotry, you're not exposed to it by default.
or an "ignore user" function of some sort
We have that . . . .
*sarcasm* then people should use it, unless they actually enjoy complaining in the comment section . . . .
Ignore is like using training wheels on a unicycle... takes the fun and danger out of it. Not using ignore is a great way to remind myself that our jobs are safe if the next generation of workers are even half as useless as Non-Asd is.
I just can't resist slapping around the trolls with reason. It frustrates them to end.
The sad thing is these obtuse punters think I'm engaging with them when in fact I don't care if they exist or not. The second I leave this site they cease to exist to me. It's not like they're a respected peer whose opinions are worth considering.
nipply 38 below zero today. It’s the only time of year I don’t have to add if C or F… because it matter not.
> 38 below zero
> "nippy"
I'm crying in Floridian right now. That sounds unbearable.
It's ok. not cold enough for me to wear a tuque (tabarnak...) but I did put one in my bag just in case.
I used to think I lived in cold country when I lived in Salt Lake City... I think the coldest it got there was 5 above in the dead of winter. I would simply pass away if I had to see negative digits on my weather app.
Weak sauce. it's apparently -41 now when considering wind... that said, I'd implode if I had to live in florida.
I was out backpacking a few weeks ago. -45 F. I was nice and comfy.
Its a nice -9 on my side of the country, enjoying the warmth
It's 40 degrees where I live. I can drive an hour to 'visit' winter. ;)
"It's ok. not cold enough for me to wear a tuque (tabarnak...)"
oh..."tabarnak", glad you clarified...!
[ummm, south of the canuckistanian wall, we say "hat" or sometimes "beanie". I have to admit I'd implode if I had to live in Florida too.]
[ETApt2 -- googling "tabernak" shows a quebecois swear word...?]
^it's a french canadian (catholique) swear word. We have the best ones, oesti.
Works best with a stale cigarette hanging in the corner of the mouth and a few empty blue-dry bottles nearby.
Every Canadian owns at least 3 toques. I have at least 6 myself. My favourite is My Maple Leafs toque
To be fair, literally all quebecois swears are catholic related. sacraman!
Boooooo Toronto.
Boooooooo Habs!!
Agree. Boo habs.
Les Sénateurs d'Ottawa sont la pire équipe de la ligue
Hey now, them
be fighting words. Poutines at dawn mon homme.
Oh Mon dieu. Visiting Montreal right now and apparently I brought the cold with me. -36 right now and I didn't bring a winter jacket.
-20°F/-29°C this morning in central Maine, the coldest in many years. I don't like heat and humidity but I'm thankful this artic blast will be short-lived!
-103 wind chill on my Washington. Insane.
This makes my brain hurt
Listening to Thom, that is...so sad to see a really good architect devolve into witless, soulless banter...
"Mayne cited Tesla as an example of a company that focuses on environmental aspects, mechanical efficiency and performance above a product's appearance." that's not true at all.
Yeah super absurd
Not shocking to me at all, considering TM is one of the architects of Saudia Arabia's line city. He doesn't care much at all for human rights, autonomy, dignity, and so forth.
He's 'believed' to one of the architects of the Line City, aka Mirror of Doom.
Thinking of you this morning, Orhan. I hope all of your family in Turkey is safe.
Thank you Donna. It's so devestating. This one is a big one. So many cities and buildings collapsed. You couldn't be ready for such destruction. Heavy winter with snow storms is underway as well. Words can't explain what happened. The entire country is a big earthquake fault. Everyone is impacted. My family is okay on the west coast of the country but they are in a heavy quake zone too and naturally everyone is scared.
Many nations are sending search and rescue teams. I am most moved by Armenia, Greece, and Ukraine.
Is this week over yet?
I won code wars with the AHJ on Tuesday. Im stretching the good feeling all the way to the weekend!
I billed a client for the month of
January at $400/hr yesterday. Felt like a Friday.
I'm working on a pre-engineered metal building as part of a larger emergency services campus. :(
Nice, Non. You're moving into excellent-therapist-but-still-mediocre-attorney territory. I like where this is headed.
B occupancy -- for occupant load, are you classifying break rooms, conference rooms or copy rooms as Accessory Unconcentrated (15nsf/occ) or Business Areas (150gsf)? At a 10x density differential, I'm shocked at my local telling me a copy room is an assembly space even if it's measured in net area...what is your AHJ doing?
Not that. They're batshit.
Business
Our jursidiction says that if it's located in an office, for use by the office staff, then it's still a "business area". Insane for your AHJ to tell you that a copy room is assembly.
Copy room is a weird one, but In my experience conference rooms for sure have a 15/sf OLF unless you can prove to the AHJ that it's a non-simultaneous use.
Edit: still a B Occupancy, but with a higher OLF due to its use. It's a common misconception that occupancy category and OLF are the same.
The kicker, of course, is we have to populate all spaces simultaneously...so there's 10 people in a 150sf copy room without fixed casework, but the 10 individual offices are still populated...it's asinine. The conference room is arguable, but, even with visiting presenters, the conference room is presumably drawing some of the office staff. Thanks for letting me think i'm not crazy...!
A principal explained it very well to me not too long ago and he refers to this as "the christmas party clause"
If it's *really* messing up your space you could appeal but I imagine you'll need a very clear case to get it approved. I'd imagine the AHJ is wary of setting a precedent there.
i would count a conference room as assembly. people sit closer to each other around a conference table. if the conference room is big enough, you might need 2 exits out of that room. you could make the argument that only people in the office are using the conference room, so you look at the room as 15 sf per person, but the overall office is still 150. that wouldn't work if you're bringing in people to use the conference room - that would increase your max occupancy. same for the break room. i have not been in a copy room where people gather like that, but if that's what they're doing...
This project is an industrial equipment sales office doing a TI in a space that isn't getting an addition. They might get sales pitches from manufacturers every now & then, but it sure isn't a publicly accessed or rented out room. Despite the popularity of absolutist risk management proclivities of any AHJ, Christmas parties shouldn't be the standard for a B office permit. (City of Portland has a specific Code Guide saying those spaces above 250sf would reasonably be calc'ed as assembly unconcentrated, otherwise Business areas is good.) Hopefully, this AHJ will consider that Code Guide as a local peer...
i think john mcclane would tell you that if you need to exit a bunch of people at a christmas party, the building has to be designed to let all of them exit. even if that means hans gruber is thrown off the top of the building.
^ Acceptable means of egress:
1, 2 exit the building. 3,4 exit this life.
Yippi ki yay, code official.
new life goal: include "Yippi ki yay, code official." on a permit response letter.
Cracked a whiskey-cask aged 12% barley wine beer as I start my work day this evening. Kid is sick at home so my daylight time was spent catching up on dozens of emails with one hand while tending to his needs with the other. Eugh... not sure if this beer should be going down so smoothly.
I hope the kiddo feels better tomorrow, Non.
The architect of the capitol is gooooooooone! And he's not only not an architect, but I had forgotten he's a civil engineer - the dumbest of the engineering disciplines, IMO.
I bet he really loved being referred to as "Mr. Architect" or some posh nonsense like that, LOL.
Good riddance, from what I've read. Though I do take some exception to lumping him with civil engineers--if I knew any architects who weren't terrified of anything involving structure or soil, I might be more accommodating. Or if my BS wasn't in civil engineering... ;-)
I suppose it's a bad time to let you know that I just accepted a new position as the grand poobah of architecture at the capitol?
Aw, I've always liked the civil engineers I worked with.
I’ve worked with a few good civils, but most of the ones I’ve worked with had no understanding of the human aspects of architecture at all to they’d do stuff like drop the main sewer line right under the front door. I had to work through with them where the important site points were vs. where it was ok to put clean outs and whatnot. MEP engineers always seem to at least understand that the equipment should be placed where it’s not super visible.
Important nomenclature note: IMO civil engineers are the people who deal with the site, structural engineer is what I call the folks who design the structure. Two separate disciplines.
I did an internship for a civil engineer. Im still trying to recover from it over 20 years later.
Donna, thanks for the additional info, and I really wasn't offended, I make fun of engineers regularly. I know most people think of Civil and Structural as separate but the undergrad degree is the same for both. My dad was a highway engineer (aka Civil) and while he was very smart, he was not particularly concerned with what other people though or experienced, so I can see what you mean. My focus was structural but the degree says Civil.
I don't think a civil engineer should hold the title of "architect of the capital" because that's a job for an architect... it's in the name.
Otherwise, I've always found Civil engineers very straightforward and competent to deal with, and I suppose engineers in general . Yeah they often propose shocklingy dumb (as in direct) solutions, but that's why us architects are here to make everything nice together.
Just dropped in to encourage everyone to watch Tár if you are interested in abuse of power in cultural contexts but don't want to think about architecture.
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