In late 1999 early 2000, I was moved by a work of architecture tucked away just behind a grove of overgrown brush behind a vacant parking lot just east of highway 101 in Novato, CA. The building and its grounds was designed as a bowling alley for William J. Nave, a prominant business man and civic leader, and opened in 1960. The building was designed by an architect by the name of Gordon Phillips, who at one time was an apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright. The building was designed in a Wrightian manner which was a befitting style as it was located just ten miles north of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Marin County Civic Center. At the time we were living in Sausalito, and had an opportunity to learn how hard it is to save buildings, even if they have unique or historic significance. I was unable to save this work of architecture, but through a series of articles for the Marin Independent Journal and Docomomo, at least I was able to give voice to a faded memory.
An Architectural Primer for selecting and architect and designing your Home
This selection of articles was originally from a series I wrote while living in the San Francisco Bay Area around 2002 and subsequently updated. There may still be a few things in there that are dated, however overall, the idea of working with Architects has pretty much been unchanged for some time and should continue to be relevant. The series of articles was written for those who want to understand the process involved in hiring and working with an architect to help them expand, remodel or design a new house. There are many things to think about when considering a residential project. These articles attempt to answer some basic questions and provide a glimpse into the realm of what it means to work with an architect and a a general contractor and provide some tips on a project’s design development process.
Although much of this may seem obvious, not many people know exactly what architects do and what value they can bring to a project. Most people never come into contact with architects and rarely think about where their built environment comes from. The following series of articles will discuss in the simplest terms what architects do and what value they might bring to projects.
Every era where civilization has flourished, a unique and defined style emerges that embodies the beliefs sustained within the vocabulary of each culture’s specific locale and meaning. Egyptians whose worshiping of Sun Gods manifested in their attire as well as structures that praised the Pharaohs or Gods in the form of animals, while Greeks and Romans worshiped multiple gods whose manifestations took on a more human form which appeared on tablets, clothing and buildings. Architecture has had a close tie with Fashion over the millennia each supporting and each emulating the other. in our Modern day attire, we praise the simple modern, we mimic the messages we receive from mass media and walk about showing that we are with it, and living in homes and working in office buildings showing off our ability to tap into the mystical or theoretical with little need to praise a god or Pharaoh. Today we strive to stand our while we blend in our collective ideas to manifest individuality as an expression of self while at the same time formalizing the language that we speak today in order that our ideas become communicative through channeled visualization. The clothing we wear demonstrates our ability to pursue an identity in the same ilk as the buildings we design. This presentation was delivered to an audience of architects and students during our local chapter AIA yearly conference in Syracuse, NY at Syracuse University School of Architecture auditorium.
Thinking of building something sustainable? Thinking of building a bit less expensively than some previous projects? Considering some aesthetically wood finish structures to maybe align with your business model or deep beliefs? Then Mass Timber is a form of construction you should look at. What is it and what’s so important about it? For one thing Mass Timber is a movement that purports to be sustainable, first and foremost. Techniques used include cross laminated timber, nail laminated timber, glue laminated timber and even mass plywood panels. The except for the foundation, the remainder of the building’s structural system is composed almost entirely of wood. There may still be steel connectors and other composite materials, but the fundamental technology is first and foremost wood.
Leave it to Bjarke Ingels the BIG thinker guy, to put his efforts towards formalizing yet another segment of his creative talent by structuring a company associated within, or at least with, BIG, that he says will revolutionize the way we design and build homes. The future of housing is certain, we need more of them, thus continuously finding means and methods of building custom or speculative homes of better quality that more people can afford is a critical goal. The idea of modularized prefabricated standardized home construction has been around for the past one hundred and fifty years. Too many attempts at modular homes brought very mundane and low grade finished products to market have not yielded any real impacts on changing housing mass customization. Turns out most companies that mass produce modular homes do so with very low quality at an affordable price, or increasing the pricing for high end quality that then begs the question of viability against traditionally built homes. At least with factory controlled component manufacturing a certain level of quality can yield better results, but that’s not to say that even in traditional stick frame site construction quality control isn’t built in, most good general contractors continuously manage quality as the project progresses, the opportune cost savings though should come in the framework of repeatability and mass production. James Parkes wrote a really nice article in Dezeen.com about Ingel’s new venture, Nabr. A quick review of this website reveals that in this context, housing is not limited to single family suburban sprawl, the images are of multi story housing projects, so modularization in this context is inclusive of multiple levels of housing types.
