Interesting building. To be fair though, there has always been extreme inequality and social duress throughout the past 300 years.

True Chad, but is this the Versailles Palace, maybe it is for some...

I guess what I wanted to say is that its kinda fits in the physical context, but not the social one.

It’s goofy-looking, IMO.

Totally...

Could be a post apocalyptic movie location. Looks nuked.

Could be the black and white combined with the exposure of the photo . . .

Cool photo though.  I like the composition! 

I really like your images of it
, sameold

Thanks!

Love the photos, love the building, both unsettle me in a good way.

Is it... occupied?

Did not look occupied

What did it look like before the explosion?

The swoopy things look terrible. It’s like some weird wish dot com off brand of the beijing bird’s nest.

Isn’t this an office building too? Imagine trying to lease this thing out when there is zero consistency floor to floor.

I also hear that most of buildings in the Hayden tract have a ton of issues.

Great images, SOD. The black and white choice is perfect.

And as strange as this thing is, the more conventional, huge mixed-use thing across the street to the north
is not much better.

big step! congrats! good work begets good work!

I have an older refence book. I find the assembly I want in the book and then I look it up on the website for the updated information and current CAN/ULC.

B3ta, yes. As far as I know, the printed doc went bye bye several years ago when they revamped their website. It's a pain to learn the search functions but it has everything there and it is updated constantly.  You can also do reverse searches by using a specific product to find applicable assemblies.

Ahip, many of the assemblies in the old printed ULC docs have changed numbers or don't exist anymore.  We've also ran into issues where one assembly in the book was good, but the testing expired so they pulled the material from their website.  Office policy now is to only use assembly sheets directly from ULC website but that's too much work for some which only adds work for me when I need to dig out my cape and save the day.

The printed version is so much better than the website.

Thanks non.

ns -I just use my book as a starting point, but always use up to date information from the website

I use USGs website then use it to read the ul.

I think I have at least 278 versions of my unfinished house renovations, in sketch

Oops. ...in sketchup format from over the years. Today I'm stripping paint and while it's somewhat sorta satisfying, it's really slow work that will never actually be appreciated. Ugh.

I’m finally moving forward with a personal project I started in sketchup 15 years ago. Currently interviewing GCs. A lot of money but will be a huge quality of life improvement.

I find that "nesting" can be a calming activity. I'm always designing additions and changes to our house, and occasionally actually build some of the projects.

I rebuilt a flagstone walk and am fixing to fix cracks in the drywall and a few other fun things around the house.

I'm alone in the office today because we are allowed to WFH 3 days a week but frankly I really prefer separating work and life at least a little. Congratulations Josh!

It's surreal working in a place that isn't my living room.

Yaaaaaaay!

Congrats Josh. Stared at the spelling of "Studio" for like a minute just now being like "that doesn't look right at all!" Learning these other languages has really fucked up my English.

Dang AA, how many languages can you read?

French: studio
German: studio
Italian: studio
Spanish: estudio 

@WG I didn't say it made any sense.

Oh I see. It is funny when a word we know well all of a sudden doesn't look right anymore.

I think AA is listening to too much Phil Collins, Sussudio on the brain.

@Chad - you learn one latin romance language to a high level and you can basically read the others. Except Romanian. Crazy fuckers they are.

romanian sounds very italian, but it's not!

Well Donna, when a Canadian really likes another Canadian they go out in their driveway and . . .

...smack? LOL

Is that what Canadians call it? ;)

Hockey pucks.

As a northern MN native, aka Southern Canada, I know it's hocky pucks. I was just trying to be cute with the Canadians (aka, The Great White North).

There's about 10 architecture firms within a few minutes of my office. Every summer we have a two-day street hockey tournament in the back alley. This year, the cops dropped the first puck and we all celebrated with beers after. True story.

I thought "...shoot their shot" would be Chad's punchline

taz - I'm so disappointed in myself for not thinking of that.

That’s some bad grouping. Def not NHL caliber prospects.

You only drank beers after? soft

They drank light beers during the game. It's just that us northern folks call that water.

Nice. I raced lobsters yesterday in Nova Scotia.

Raced them against each other, or raced against them yourself?

We have more fireflies this year than any of the previous 10 years here. Maybe because the spring wasn't a drought or flood for a change, and/or because instead of mowing our cleared 2+ acres, I mowed pathways and let the grass and wildflowers grow.

We have lobster boat races here in Maine but I've never seen a lobster race, or a lobster/Canadian race...

The lobsters moved backwards, so the race was boring. I ate 2 of them afterwards.

Thanks Donna. I think logon is just having some 'issues' and attempted to make himself feel better by attempting to troll. Unfortunately he didn't do a good job and his ego can't take it.

Are they doing other work or is this from a routine fire inspection? Fire marshals remind me of the supreme court--there is nobody above them to check their authority.

Jokes on them when I burn the school to the ground. Anyone seen my red stapler?

But where is the fun in that?

true, but

i just don't want the world to think we're a bunch of grumpy assholes

Hey, I take exception at the grumpy label.

I think the people that come here for free crowdsourced design are either clueless about what it takes to do what they're asking or they are aware and are despicable people. Either way, telling them the infeasibility / error in what they're asking is not going to produce positive results. Either they won't understand and think we're being 'mean' or they think we owe them something and we're being 'mean'.

But we're the experts. What more do you want, money? I thought you were doing this for the love of Architecture?

Apparently we have doctors turning to M.archs to pass the time now... strange world.

I have provided meaningful input and even done some sketches for these people in the past. Usually it results in them coming back and arguing with me/ us. Just simply not worth it in terms of time or enjoyment.

via avatar? across state/country lines? cuz we stamped something? because we cited our E&O policy in our signature? cuz we directed GC action in the field? I'm just not seeing it...meh. Free online advice is worth about what it costs -- buyer beware.

Not really. If the person you're speaking with knows you're an architect and you know that they know you can be held liable for any 'instruments of service' that you provide them. This can be bar napkin sketches in certain situations. I know this because a firm I used to work with was held liable for a sketch on of our architects did on a napkin during a church picnic.

I have to guess that wasn't the only info in rendering that decision. Comparing it to here is strained at best. If that example is compelling to you, I'd advise that public forums are a poor avenue for instruments of service. ;)

I don't know how modern courts view it.  It's also why I don't provide architectural advice here unless I state it's only and idea and I'm not sure it will work.  

it's a start

Oh boy. So many inappropriate jokes . . . .

Ground elk burgers are the best.

I know. That's why I spend every weekend in September walking ten miles a day in the mountains.

Are there also sky elks or water elks?

Just mountain elks in my area. ;)

In my opinion, they taste the best.  

Chad - is this literally just walking through the area's to find the best locations for when the season opens?

Bench - pretty much. 

 I'll look at maps and hike into a few new areas to try and find signs that indicate elk could be there in September. I have to still be aware of where I walk, my scent, the wind direction, not being seen, and not making too much noise though. It's basically hunting but without my bow.

Elk are big animals that move a lot.  If I spook them during my scouting they will be 'scared' off the area for several months.  

In the meantime, I saw 4* bull elk hanging out on someone's lawn while riding my bicycle on Saturday.

*I'm pretty sure it was 4, but I didn't stop to look more closely and unfortunately my GoPro footage only shows some of them as just brown colored spots with how wide the shot was and how far away they were.

I see a lot of elk in national parks and on wildlife preserves. Also when I'm backpacking outside of hunting season. ;)

I think we might already have Cocaine Whales here in New England: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDzYStX1oQY

That's it - I'm staying out of the oceans.