Architects are Bitches

First off, I myself am an architect. So don't take this as some outside aggressor pointing a finger at you and calling you a bitch. This is an educated statement. So let's face it, we are little bitches, for the following reasons.

I'm referring to the familiar situation of a small architectural office, starving for work, willing to slash their proposal price at the request of the client because it's either work for a truncated fee, or don't work at all. We're working for less money because we're little bitches and are afraid to say no or stand or ground.

The architect/owner marketing for his small firm, calling everyone he knows to say hi and of course slip in "by the way we're looking for work, so if you know anyone with a job give us a call." When they hang up the phone they're thinking, "What a little bitch, indirectly begging his whole network for work."

The 2 hour long calls with the client value-engineering out every single design feature and aesthetically pleasing material on a project. At the end you're left with a monotone box. I showed you my portfolio of attractive projects for what reason?? Fuckhead!!

We'll accept a job doing CD's/working drawings for a project that's already had the schematic design finished by someone else. The owner is obviously shopping around for the cheapest architect (read: draftsman) to complete it, and by accepting we've categorized ourselves as the 'little' bitch' in the situation. We need the money and the work so we'll do it.

A client will come to us with a catalog-bought house plan and ask us how cheap it will be to get a permit to build this house. IT has no details, wall sections, framing plans, finishes, nothing. This house has been built hundreds or thousands of times! This isn't a custom house you cheap fucking bastard!! It's like going to Target and buying Micheal Graves' shit and calling your bathroom designer.

We go to school for fucking 5 years, get what's labeled as a 'professional degree' and then make 30 thousand dollars a year after that while engineers with 4 year degrees are in the $50 thousands. I spent 72 hours straight in the arch lab during school for what? FUCK YOU pay me!! BARTENDERS make more than us!!

I had to vent. But seriously, this is a very common situation in our practice. Let's start developing our own work and becoming our own clients. Let's finally have the balls to take a shot at designing a project, then BUILDING it, then selling or leasing what we've put together. Let's stop pointing the finger at our structural or MEP subs or contractor because of a fuckup, and start taking responsibility and putting this whole thing together ourselves.

Fuck a client. Do it yourself. We can drive past a site that's dilapidated or not used as it could be an envision a better building. Buy it, draw it, build it, lease/sell it.

-Can't afford it? Find investors you little whiny shit. If it's worth it in the first place and will be profitable, you'll find people with money. Learn how to put together an accurate proforma. Don't know what that is? Google it and buy some Donald Trump/Real Estate books. Learn about construction loans, cap rates, tax shelters, etc. Become educated.
-Don't want to build it? Get on the bluebook and find subs for each trade, maybe do some drywall and painting or flooring and guess what, you just cut out 20%+ of the construction cost, making it profitable sooner and you wealthier. Stop being lazy. We knew how this building goes together because we drew it, why can't we build it in the field? Become confident and empowered.
-Afraid it won't sell or lease? Do your damn market research beforehand. Know an area like the back of your hand. Talk to realtors. Visit open houses. Study sales, comps, lease rates. Pretend you're a business looking to lease a place and ask the property managers the costs. Become educated.

Some guys who are doing this. Study, learn, imitate:
Jonathan Segal
Sebastian Mariscal
Onion Flats
Build LLC
Pb Elemental
Ayr Hill Homes (local to me in Vienna, VA)
Reigo & Bauer
Skylab Design Group
(any others comment/email me I''ll add you)

Otherwise, this is what we become!!

Images on Surfaces

I've been wanting to put a mural/image on a wall in my condo for a while now, and have been looking at ways to do this.
I found Wall You Need is Love that has a collection of images you can choose from and have delivered to you for hanging on the wall.
Sample images below:

Here are some do-it-yourselfers that got theirs around $5 a sq ft., provided that they could supply a 150 dpi image to a print shop with large format printer.


Here is a list of wallpaper printing methods which I didn't really go through but may be of some use.

And the COOLEST thing I've found in a while is the printed furniture by Ohio Design. (they're website isn't working now but it did before) I don't knwo how these guys accomplish this but this opens up a whole new realm of possibilities for the furniture industry.

Noriyoshi Morimura - Mr. K House

I loved the sectional elevation of Mr. K's house by Japanese architect Noriyoshi Morimura. A big concrete 'S' filled in with glass, somewhat like an abstraction on the Farnsworth House.

Reigo & Bauer - 12 Cassels

Reigo & Bauer is a design & development firm in Toronto. 12 Cassels is an infill project that blends well with the existing neighborhood fabric while subtly standing out. I really like the retaining wall that forms an outdoor space for the basement right out front, normally this would be a walk out back yard area.
Sold for $414,000 Canadian.
Very clean, very well done.


via eye candy & contemporist

HDR Movies

To follow up on my recent post on HDR photos, I've found some HDR movies, put together by Chad Richards. These are unbelievable.

Twin Peaks San Francisco Sunrise (HDR time-lapse) from Chad Richard on Vimeo.


Utah & Arizona Compilation from Chad Richard on Vimeo.

Here's a How-To (basically take a ton of HDR photos over a period of time and combine into a movie)

ABC News Coverage

Andre Lahde's Goodbye Letter.

Andrew Lahde of Lahde Capita lis a former hedge fund manager, that during the sub-prime crisis produced around a 1,000% return. He closed up shop after this, happy with his take, and wrote the following goodbye letter, heavily criticising the industry and brings some very intelligent points. (via Tim Ferriss blog)

Today I write not to gloat. Given the pain that nearly everyone is experiencing, that would be entirely inappropriate. Nor am I writing to make further predictions, as most of my forecasts in previous letters have unfolded or are in the process of unfolding. Instead, I am writing to say goodbye.

Recently, on the front page of Section C of the Wall Street Journal, a hedge fund manager who was also closing up shop (a $300 million fund), was quoted as saying, “What I have learned about the hedge fund business is that I hate it.” I could not agree more with that statement. I was in this game for the money. The low hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale, and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking. These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government. All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy, only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America.

There are far too many people for me to sincerely thank for my success. However, I do not want to sound like a Hollywood actor accepting an award. The money was reward enough. Furthermore, the endless list those deserving thanks know who they are.

I will no longer manage money for other people or institutions. I have enough of my own wealth to manage. Some people, who think they have arrived at a reasonable estimate of my net worth, might be surprised that I would call it quits with such a small war chest. That is fine; I am content with my rewards. Moreover, I will let others try to amass nine, ten or eleven figure net worths. Meanwhile, their lives suck. Appointments back to back, booked solid for the next three months, they look forward to their two week vacation in January during which they will likely be glued to their Blackberries or other such devices. What is the point? They will all be forgotten in fifty years anyway. Steve Balmer, Steven Cohen, and Larry Ellison will all be forgotten. I do not understand the legacy thing. Nearly everyone will be forgotten. Give up on leaving your mark. Throw the Blackberry away and enjoy life.

So this is it. With all due respect, I am dropping out. Please do not expect any type of reply to emails or voicemails within normal time frames or at all. Andy Springer and his company will be handling the dissolution of the fund. And don’t worry about my employees, they were always employed by Mr. Springer’s company and only one (who has been well-rewarded) will lose his job.

I have no interest in any deals in which anyone would like me to participate. I truly do not have a strong opinion about any market right now, other than to say that things will continue to get worse for some time, probably years. I am content sitting on the sidelines and waiting. After all, sitting and waiting is how we made money from the subprime debacle. I now have time to repair my health, which was destroyed by the stress I layered onto myself over the past two years, as well as my entire life — where I had to compete for spaces in universities and graduate schools, jobs and assets under management — with those who had all the advantages (rich parents) that I did not. May meritocracy be part of a new form of government, which needs to be established.

On the issue of the U.S. Government, I would like to make a modest proposal. First, I point out the obvious flaws, whereby legislation was repeatedly brought forth to Congress over the past eight years, which would have reigned in the predatory lending practices of now mostly defunct institutions. These institutions regularly filled the coffers of both parties in return for voting down all of this legislation designed to protect the common citizen. This is an outrage, yet no one seems to know or care about it. Since Thomas Jefferson and Adam Smith passed, I would argue that there has been a dearth of worthy philosophers in this country, at least ones focused on improving government. Capitalism worked for two hundred years, but times change, and systems become corrupt. George Soros, a man of staggering wealth, has stated that he would like to be remembered as a philosopher. My suggestion is that this great man start and sponsor a forum for great minds to come together to create a new system of government that truly represents the common man’s interest, while at the same time creating rewards great enough to attract the best and brightest minds to serve in government roles without having to rely on corruption to further their interests or lifestyles. This forum could be similar to the one used to create the operating system, Linux, which competes with Microsoft’s near monopoly. I believe there is an answer, but for now the system is clearly broken.

Lastly, while I still have an audience, I would like to bring attention to an alternative food and energy source. You won’t see it included in BP’s, “Feel good. We are working on sustainable solutions,” television commercials, nor is it mentioned in ADM’s similar commercials. But hemp has been used for at least 5,000 years for cloth and food, as well as just about everything that is produced from petroleum products. Hemp is not marijuana and vice versa. Hemp is the male plant and it grows like a weed, hence the slang term. The original American flag was made of hemp fiber and our Constitution was printed on paper made of hemp. It was used as recently as World War II by the U.S. Government, and then promptly made illegal after the war was won. At a time when rhetoric is flying about becoming more self-sufficient in terms of energy, why is it illegal to grow this plant in this country? Ah, the female. The evil female plant — marijuana. It gets you high, it makes you laugh, it does not produce a hangover. Unlike alcohol, it does not result in bar fights or wife beating. So, why is this innocuous plant illegal? Is it a gateway drug? No, that would be alcohol, which is so heavily advertised in this country. My only conclusion as to why it is illegal, is that Corporate America, which owns Congress, would rather sell you Paxil, Zoloft, Xanax and other additive drugs, than allow you to grow a plant in your home without some of the profits going into their coffers. This policy is ludicrous. It has surely contributed to our dependency on foreign energy sources. Our policies have other countries literally laughing at our stupidity, most notably Canada, as well as several European nations (both Eastern and Western). You would not know this by paying attention to U.S. media sources though, as they tend not to elaborate on who is laughing at the United States this week. Please people, let’s stop the rhetoric and start thinking about how we can truly become self-sufficient.

With that I say good-bye and good luck.

All the best,

Andrew Lahde

Fun With HDR Photos!

I bought a new Canon Rebel XSI before I headed off to Europe with the intention of capturing some good HDR photos using the Auto-Bracketing setting on the camera.
For those new to HDR, its basically taking the same photo at 3 or more different exposures, then combining them into a single photo. I use Photomatix software, which I've been able to produce better results with than Photoshop. Hit 'generate HDR' in Photomatix, then once combined use the tone mapping tool to tweak it.

Below is an example of mine, taken of Charles Bridge in Prague at sunset.
3 different exposures:


The end result after Tone Mapping:


BANG!

Peter Zumthor - St. Benedict Chapel in Sumvitg, Switzerland

I'm still working on this port put I just finished a photomerge of myself inside the chapel and figured I'd put it up:

Cool Places to Pee

I've put together a collection of interesting urinals. Why not. Here goes:



And some more ridiculous ones:

And my favorite:


I came across a blog fully dedicated to urinals. Wow.

David Adjaye to Design 2 New DC Libraries

David Adjaye has been selected to design replacements for the Washington Highlands Library in SW DC and the Francis A. Gregory Library in SE DC.



The Post reported his fee is $2.6m, and construction costs for the libraries will come to around $19m.

via Washington Post

Adjaye Associates Website

ILoveSketch

I've been wondering when a program like this would come about, it seems long overdue. I Love Sketch is a "A 3D curve sketching system that captures some of the affordances of pen and paper for professional designers, allowing them to iterate directly on concept 3D curve models. The system coherently integrates existing techniques of sketch-based interaction with a number of novel and enhanced features. Novel contributions of the system include automatic view rotation to improve curve sketchability, an axis widget for sketch surface selection, and implicitly inferred changes between sketching techniques. We also improve on a number of existing ideas such as a virtual sketchbook, simplified 2D and 3D view navigation, multi-stroke NURBS curve creation, and a cohesive gesture vocabulary."


ILoveSketch from Seok-Hyung Bae on Vimeo.

Help Give 100,000 Kids Money for Education, FREE

This is FREE and FAST, and you can help to make a difference. If you have an American Express Card, click here:
http://www.membersproject.com/project/view/V8EWJV
and click 'VOTE'.

thats it.
If you don't have an AMEX, please forward to a friend that does. The deadline is in just a few short hours!

Thanks
Re: Tim Ferriss' blog post on this

Pile Up - Hans Zwimpfer

Pile Up is a patented apartment building design that essentially stacks suburban houses and all their creature comforts on top of each other into a single multifamily building. Let's take a look, and then think about that again...

(images copyright Zapco, LTD)

So basically 'Pile Up' is a patented apartment building design. Period. The whole design philosophy of stacking suburban homes on top of each other isn't all that revolutionary, but I guess if it makes Mr. Zwimpfer wealthier, then by all means kudos to him.

The specs:
-Units are between 1,300 sq. ft. and 1,720 sq. ft.
-Outdoor area of 193 sq. ft.
-Prices from $513,600 - $681,840 USD, or just under $400/sq ft.

Would I live in one? Fuck yes! They're gorgeous and slick, and relatively affordable. Nice work Hans.
Do I agree with the patent? Hell no! I feel like being an asshole, so let's bash on it a bit and see how original his patented ideas are.
From Pile Up website key features:

1. The individual PILE UP units are single-story (not maisonette style)
*Ranch style home with a double height space. Refer to every residential developer's home model in America
2. Each PILE UP unit features a spacious private outdoor area
*See the multifamily structure by the Anasazi, complete with outdoor living areas, built 1190-1260
3. A part of the living area as well as the outdoor space has a clear room height of 18'-4". The extra room height ensures optimal lighting deep into the interior of the apartment.
*Double height/high spaces to bring in light. Refer to Chartres Cathedral, dedicated in 1260

4. Open floor plans offer a high and lasting degree of flexibility in terms of extension and utilization. PILE UP’s core and shell principle allows the users to fit out and furnish the units according to their individual needs.
*Refer to Le Corbusier's Dom-ino and open floor system, circa 1915

Link to patent info

the patent is clarified below:
"The invention presents the concept of a residential building which is constructed on the principle of staggered dwellings. The staggered dwellings each have a single-storey dwelling part (10, 23) and a two-storey dwelling part (11) with outdoor area. The living area (10 and 11) of the dwelling is open and allows individual living requirements to be realized with a variability which has not been known up until now. The division of space is not fixed by the static system. The type of accommodation presented can be realized in all types of urban construction such as blocks of flats, block-edge developments or high-rise buildings from two storeys upwards. The sizes of dwellings may be determined in accordance with the location and the target group. Combining the accommodation with service-related and commercial use is made possible in a completely new way using this principle."

Pentagon Memorial - Washington DC

I had the chance to visit the newly opened Pentagon Memorial here in DC yesterday. After living in the DC area for over 13 years and visiting every memorial in the city multiple times over, I found this to be one of the most engaging and touching. It was designed Philadelphia firm KBAS-Studio.

As you enter the site from the Pentagon parking lot, you see the field of green 'things' ahead, somewhat difficult to make out, because these illuminated benches don't fit the typical profile or shape of a bench you see everyday. The first thing I did was to study one of these benches, or 'memorial units' as the website calls them. Each bench contains the name of a victim that dies the day the plane hit the pentagon, 184 in total. They consist of a cantilevered bench, illuminated by a light shooting up from under a rippling pool beneath the seating surface. This rippling effect creates a kind of dazzling green light on the underside of the bench, making it a very surreal thing to see at night.

I really only understood the design decisions after walking through and experiencing the whole sit. The memorial focuses heavily on time & place. Time-wise, the benches are in rows according to the birth year of the victim. the benches face different directions; the victims' names that were in the building are readable with the pentagon in the back ground, the victims' names on board flight 77 are readable with the sky as a backdrop. A wall that surrounds the whole site rises from 3" above the seating surface to 71", the age range of the victims. This wall presents all the victims as a whole, as a single tragic event, the benches present them as individuals.

I saw a man by himself sitting on one of these benches, head down, in silence, and understood exactly what this memorial was for. The bench extracts a direct and very personal connection between you and the victim. This is quite different from any other memorial in Washington DC, namely because this memorializes the fewest number of people (most others are war memorials) killed in probably the most tragic way one can imagine.

(photos by me)

Journey to Vals, Switzerland

Two weeks ago I made my second trip to Vals, and spent the night in the Hotel Therme adjacent to Peter Zumthor's thermal baths. What an experience.
Driving to the village of Vals is an experience in itself. Heading south in my rented Smart Car from Ilanz, off of route 19, it's just under a half hour of twisting, climbing roads. Small 4 or 5 house villages dot the way; most of these have absoultely jaw dropping mountain sides all to themselves, and you, the traveller headed to Vals, only get to enjoy them for those brief few seconds as you pass. Keep your eyes on the road though, it wouldn't take much to fly off one of the many sharp turns down the hillside.

You pass through 3 or 4 tunnels, all have one side open to the opposite hillside, sometimes a natural spring rains down over it, giving the sense of driving under a waterfall. At one point you'll pass a fantastic waterfall across the valley, over a hundred feet tall.

Sometimes traffic comes to an abrupt halt, sitting there for several minutes, but its not because of the mass of vehicles, its due to the locals walking their cows along the road. This 2 lane road is shared by drivers and livestock, which you'll notice once you reach your destination in the form of cow droppings on your tires and fenders :)


As you finally reach the village of Vals, your first pass the Valser bottling plant, the local spring water company. This water comes from the same springs that feed the thermal baths ahead.


Not far after the bottling plant is the hotel and baths. Parking on the main street you have a brief climb up some steps to check in. You are treated to your first taste of the thermal bath here. Valz Quartzite, the locally quarried stone that lines the walls, floors and ceilings of the baths, also paves the way up to the hotel, in similarly laid strips of stone.


You come face to face with the solid stone walls and large openings of the baths on this path. Through the windows you can see the feet of people relaxing and enjoying the view.

I stayed in the cheap rooms, but still had a south facing view of the whole town of Vals and the thermal baths from my window.


The rooms were very simple. a small kitchen area, a plain bathroom, two single beds on either side of the room that both fold up into sofas that face each other. No television, no distractions. You come here to relax and rewind, you have yourself, the baths, and the view. Here's a link to a room/condo for sale in the hotel, Only $70,000.


Night bathing is for hotel guests only, as is early morning bathing. I went in just before 10pm. I'd only been there in the day before, the night is en ethereal experience. As you swim out into the open air pool, the water throws the submerged lighting all over the walls, the whole place twinkles with constantly moving lights, even though dimly lit. It was nearly a full moon that night in the eastern sky... but a full moon behind an alpine ridge creates a massive, intimidating black mass across the valley. A solid dark wall, it looks like a frozen tidal wave of shadows with the moon behind it.

I slept like a baby after spending an hour in the baths. I woke up around 7:30am to the clinging of cowbells; the herd was starting its morning trek down the road I drove in on.

I spent the first hour waking up in the baths, the sky was bright but the sun doesn't rise over the mountain ridge until 11am or so, direct sunlight is limited in Vals. After showering and packing, I spent a little while meandering through the village. I'd seen a large dam further southwest in the valley (Zevreila Dam), but couldn't reach it on any road I found. (google image below)

The view north over Vals

I headed out around 11am, off to Zumthor's Chapel in Sumvitg, a short drive from Vals, and then on to Luzern.

What an amazing place to experience. If you are ever able to swing through, take your time, turn off the radio and tv, slow down, and take it all in. You'll leave a whole new person. My first trip here taught me how special this place is. My second trip was like pressing the reset button on life.

My previous blog post on Vals