So believe it or not, I don’t know how to watercolor. It’s a little amazing to be quite honest that my bag is soooo full but I don’t have that particular skill. I’ve thought about ‘doing it’ lots of times – ’cause it looks so awesome on architectural sketches. A little splash here and a little wash there and *POW* awesomeness with no effort.
Right?
Probably not but I have known some people who were idiots jerks and they could watercolor pretty well so I figure, why not? So I went out to Michaels art store and bought some supplies and I am going to make some capital A R T!
the setting - my library
In the case of this particular post, this is where the magic is going to happen. So while everyone else was sitting in the adjacent room watching the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with the genius of Gene Wilder, I got ready to create….something.
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the supplies
So I am starting modestly enough; a pad of watercolor paper, some paint brushes (came in a package of 5 ) and a tray of watercolor paints. I bought those paints from the children’s craft row – they were like $3. High quality? Doubtful and yes, I know I should probably invest a little more money into this but if I suck, I’d rather know without spending the money. Since I have no watercolor (or any other painting) skills, I don’t think the quality of my supplies is going to make a huge difference.
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My sketch of a Lily
The subject matter is going to be a lily flower. Hopefully it looks like one to you – I didn’t, you know, like kill myself over drawing this but I don’t think it sucks either. Besides, this is going to be like the 3rd watercolor I have ever attempted, and the first in the last 20 or so years. I really have my new friend Jean Marie Drouet to blame thank because his drawings and watercolors look so great and effortless that I just have to be able to throw a little color on the page.. (note to self: set up online gallery on life of an architect site to sell future magnificent water color paintings).
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shadows
The first thing I did was add a base layer of color – tone really. It seems reasonable to think that the shadows should go down first – that way if I add a little more color, it will be on top and won’t look muddy. I thought a real watery mix would work best, I wanted a translucent wash. And it turned out…..meh. Clearly there is some skill required but so far, not too bad.
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highlights and color
A little bolder, less watery color is hitting the page – yeah baby! Okay, truth is, I wish I new how to remove color after putting it down – I don’t really like the green stripe; it aligns too closely to the stolen of the flower above and I can already sense some trouble. I start putting a little brown in my mix – not sure why.
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uhmm...more highlights and color?
Here, I am attempting to deal with my green stripe by adding…..a little more green stripe.
What?!?
That doesn’t make any sense, I think I am starting to panic a little bit. More brown!!
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background
Holy Moley! Bob – you jerk – What are you doing!!
Yes, it looks like I poured squid ink on my diminishing amazing watercolor (note to self: put a pin in that “selling the watercolor paintings” idea). I thought, still do actually, that a dark field around the white lily would set it off nicely. I just realize that my watercolor ‘wash’ skills are non-existent. I think I am going to have to set up some specific exercises to practice getting a decent wash of color.
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The Final Product
So here is the finished product – it’s the same as the image before – it’s just dry now. It doesn’t completely suck but for anyone who can actually watercolor, it’s nothing to write home about.
But it can be yours for a very reasonable price.
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The 2010 CASA Parade of Playhouses event is about to begin so construction has finally started on my entry. There is some history between me and this event and I have written some some earlier posts on the subject. The history of me and the event can be found here, the original design concept for this years entry can be found here, and the construction documents are here.
What I wanted to show you today is the progress on the construction of this entry. I designed this years entry for ORIX USA, the events major underwriter. I also did their entry last year and I think they were pleased enough to ask me to design another one for them. I asked the same contractor as last year to build this one, Barry Buford at Buford Builders. He is a great contractor and a better human being so he agreed to help out. This was a great relief because I knew that they would do a great job – they take the whole “my name is on this” really seriously.
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I think that it is coming along pretty much exactly as drawn. I spent enough time, and took what I learned from last years event, to prepare more efficient drawings and details so that we could keep the construction costs down and the quality high. The biggest difference between this years entry and last years is that I focused more on the construction aspect so that I could streamlined the construction. To put it in perspective, last years entry, with it’s folding doors made from Spanish oak and polycarbonate infill panels, took about 3 weeks of stopping and starting to get everything done. By comparison, the construction of this years playhouse started on Friday, they guys worked Saturday and part of Monday and they are almost finished. I reduced the number of crews and trades that needed to work on this design down to two – trim carpenters and painters.
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This is my design – I based it on rural agrarian Japanese buildings while trying to take budget, size and constructability into major consideration. Feedback from ORIX USA and from CASA themselves has all been positive so I am excited to have this playhouse built and put on display – I have my ego and competitive nature working here but in this case, I think those character traits work for everyone benefit.
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These playhouses have size restrictions so that they can be easily moved through doors and into position while on display. They can be no larger than 8′wide x 8′ tall x 9′ long – plenty large enough for a playhouse but the issue of scale becomes incredibly important. I know that sounds like a stupid thing to say – when is scale not important? The scale on these playhouse is more akin to what you might see at Disney – I could scale this design up or down and the proportions would still work.
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I am 6′-1″ tall and I can stand up within this playhouse but only if it’s between the rafters. Seeing one of the workers standing within the playhouse should give you a sense of scale. Particularly the image below -
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This is a shot of the entry and you can see that even the smallest of full size grown-ups will have to duck down to enter. That was actually intentional for a few reasons. I wanted to maintain the overall scale and relationship of all the parts to one another, but I also wanted the door to be sized for it’s intended occupants – children; after all, this is a playhouse for children. I will point out a mistake – maybe more of an oversight. The 1×6 rafters are supposed to be 1×4′s. The more I look at it, the more it drives me crazy. It’s my fault because on my construction drawings, I just labeled the rafter’s as 1x’s. Things are moving so fast that I didn’t notice it when the first one went up. I was so excited to see them going up, I overlooked it. Steve – the head awesome guy who is building this, is really paying attention to what he is doing and those rafters (if you can’t tell) are in the same plane so he glued, finished nailed and used biscuit joint’s to put them together – it is a thing of beauty. So in the end, I think only the designer cares that those are 1×6′s instead of 1×4′s.
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Here is a side view of the rafters and how they come together.
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A closeup view of the 3/4″ x 3/4″ banding that goes around the exterior. This actually serves two purposes: the first is to provide an additional level of detail and fenestration, but is also helps meet one of the display requirements which is to make the interior of all these playhouses secure while they are on display. Some of the other playhouse designs require a boatload (that’s a lot) of Plexiglas to be screwed over openings and gaps to protect entrance to the interior, but I don’t like the idea of doing that. Also, see how I held the first band 3/4″ off the deck? That is to help create a shadow line – which provides some construction tolerance to the guys building this playhouse, and it will help keep that piece of trim from rotting if I were to locate it directly down on the deck. Nice.
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The plywood that you see in the interior will receive a layer of homasote – a pressed paper product – that we will sand down and leave unfinished. Just below the plywood, where you see the edge of the 2×4 member, there will be a bent steel metal rail that will project into the interior space 3″. This will give a tack-able surface on the interior with a shelf just below for placing “collections” and “supplies”. I actually think I am going to put a whole bunch of CrazErasers on the shelf while this playhouse is on display.
The weather might not cooperate with us today but the stain is supposed to go on this morning. Once that happens, the reed ceiling can go on, followed but the plywood deck sheathing for the roof and the undulating cedar shakes. I am really excited for the roof component to go on because it is the piece that will really complete the design. I also like the fact that I have included Steve (remember Steve? He’s building this playhouse) in the process and he is going to help cut in the pattern on the cedar shakes. It’s a big deal but his level of pride and craftsmanship give me confidence that it is going to turn out great.
But I’m still going to be there for the installation.
I will follow up with another round of posts covering the final product, the playhouses that were part of the AIA YAF competition (the results are here), as well as some images of the rest of the playhouses. There will be 17 total for this event, the most ever so I am expecting this years event to be a great success.
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So this is the second in an on-going installment of things I think are cool. Whenever I find something that stops me down and gets me to say ‘cool’, I stick it in a post. Once I hit enough things that are cool, the post will go out. If you have something that you’ve come across, feel free to send me the links and I’ll check them out. It would be nice to figure out who some of the readers are that read Life of an Architect, even if they do want to stay in the background. You can send me your nominations and links:
bob (at) lifeofanarchitect (dot) com
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Jean Marie Drouet
'Let's go surfing'
Jean Marie Drouet is an artist in France and has a blog title ‘Life Sketcher’ and it is one of the sites I regularly swing by (despite the fact that I don’t speak language…. I just speak the international language…).
The recent paintings of Jean Marie Drouet frequently focus on family life and the beach (Jean Marie is currently the “brand ambassador for a line of outdoor lifestyle inspired clothing line – Hoalen, also worth checking out). They have this great washed and aged look, amazing color intensity, and great composition – very nice balance and I really like that he doesn’t feel the need to fill that canvas. I would love to have one of these in my house – so awesome.
I also really enjoying looking at sketches – these are what originally drew me to his work. The sketches that I am most enthralled with are process sketches that help clarify a direction or formulate an idea. Either way, I really enjoy Jean Marie’s work and think you will too.
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I haven’t ever used these smoke detectors but they are pretty nice. We hard-wire install smoke detectors inside and outside every single bedroom in all of our projects and smoke detectors for the most part suck visually so I was happy to see these. (thanks to John at Sparrow Builders)
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dulkinys spiekermann residence
Wood Wool Insulation Boards
A panel made of thin mineralized fir wood-wool bound with white Portland cement. This product is sometimes referred to as spaghetti insulation boards. It’s pretty retro looking but it has excellent acoustical properties and it’s appearance allows it to be left untreated and exposed. Not always easy to find so you’ll have to ask your own local distributors (or call an Acoustician for possible local resources).
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Simply Slater (866) 302-6620
Butterfly Chair = $160 includes choice of covers. You can choose from the classic canvas fabric or the stand up to the elements ‘Weather Weave”. (replacement covers are $48) Footstool = $55 (replacement covers are $25)
Ask for Patsy – it’s a family business and she is super nice.
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Arabescato Corchia from Italy
I really enjoy using white marble for counter tops, and since so many of my color schemes use dark wood woods like walnut, the statuary white marbles look fantastic. It also provides a great break between the counter top and the upper cabinets giving me great flexibility in choosing a colorful tile back-splash.
I have to say that choosing marble by name gives me tired head on the highest order – the same marble can go by several different names. For example, Bianco Carrara Brouille can also go by the names: Statuario Extra, Venatino Extra, or simply carrara (to make it even worse, sometimes it is simply called white marble). When it comes time to choose your marble, go directly to supplier you will be using and pick out your slabs – don’t leave it up to the fabricator. It’s worth the extra hour commitment we even meet the fabricator on site with the templates so that we are choosing what portion of the slabs are being used. (bring on the 500 comments from the stone people…)
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CrazErasers Collectible Puzzle Erasers by Iwako USA
Locally available loads of places but I know you can get them at Michaels for $1.00.
I wrote a post on these totally cool Japanese erasers (here) called CrazErasers Collectible Puzzle Erasers and was surprised that as many grownups (like me) thought these things were awesome. Therefore…. they are Cool Things.
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FSB 1076 ST lever (stainless steel with rosette back plate)
According to to FSB, the architect Robert Mallet-Stevens designed several residential buildings in Paris in the 1920′s. It is likely to have been Robert Mallet-Stevens who hit upon the idea of splitting a round tube in two and mitring the ends back together again at right angles. This style is now known as the “Frankfurt model” – there’s a simple reason for this being so: the handle was rediscovered when the Architecture Museum was built and this handle proceed to become wildly popular, taking the market by storm.
I have these in my house (as evidenced in the photo below) and they are by a mile the nicest door hardware I have ever owned. Smooth action, quiet, sturdy, and because I got them in the stainless steel finish, they are completely maintenance free (peanut butter or melted cheese wipes right off).
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Work environments are important – they tell visitors a lot about what to expect from the place they are visiting. I almost always enjoy visiting other architects office because it seems like there is always something wacky going on somewhere. I’m not talking about the office’s of large architectural firms – no. I like going into the offices of firms with 30 people or less…15 or less is even better. It’s at the point where budget is still the major obstacle and the possibility of seeing saw-horse desks and reclaimed bookshelves is a distinct and sometimes necessary component.
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This is the office I work at – as I am writing this, I’m thinking that a picture of the exterior would have made a nice touch….oh well. You can look at the floor plan above and see that the layout of our office is really straightforward. Tricy and I laid this office out and we set our programmatic priorities and looking back 4 years later, I think we did a pretty good job. You can probably tell who did most of the work because there is one (that’s right….one) private office in this place and it happens to belong to yours truly. Wanna guess who also has the thermostat in his office? Just one of the perks of being a designer who knows AutoCAD and can do construction administration. I am totally smarter than I look, don’t let my writing style and non-existent grammar skills fool you. Maybe clever is more accurate than smart….
View from Entry
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Reception Desk
One of the things that we did try and jazz up was our reception desk – but only a little. All the millwork in our office is clear-coated medium density fiberboard (MDF). It is super cheap, incredibly stable and durable and since most people aren’t used to seeing it without a coat of paint on, it seems new and unique. Trickery!! We did however pony up a little extra $$ to insert a MDF decorative panel on the front of the reception desk and as soon as I can remember where we got it, I’ll come back and amend this paragraph (I’m on a deadline here!) I do remember that it cost about $400 for a 4′ x 8′ x 3/4″ sheet.
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Conference Room
We only have ceilings in just a few places – the conference room and immediately above the reception desk are the only spots with a gypsum board ceiling. We wanted the acoustics to be a little better and have a more finished looking enclosure in the most public of spaces. In the offices we put 2′ x 2′ acoustic tile ceiling in but everywhere else it is open to structure. In the conference room, we have 3″ worth of beam depth popping through the gyp board, but I liked the look and decided to keep the ceiling where it was – just painted it out in the same seal gray as the rest of the deck and structure.
Also – see that giant TV, we watch it while eating popcorn as often as not – beer Fridays, The Office and spicy Cheetos, popcorn and cocoa coated almonds.
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View of Gallery and Layout Area
We have a large-ish center area where we put a large layout table. Most of the time, it turns into a temporary dumping ground between meetings but it is an extremely useful area. Not only will we have group meetings and vendor material presentations here, but this table has been used for pumpkin carving contests, gingerbread house making contests, valentine cookie decorating. We even challenged a guy in the office to eat a “Ghost Pepper” (Bhut Jolokia Pepper – the hottest pepper in the world by a long shot). In the end, he only ate the teeniest tiniest bite ever in the history of chickening out at the last minute but he’ll tell you he ate it. He’s a liar.
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Resource Library and yes...those are flat files
Can you believe it? We actually have flat files? I keep thinking that these dinosaurs will go away but I am coming to the realization that they will never be leaving. Maybe the next generation will figure out how to avoid keeping 15,000 rolls of full size drawings laying about. All I use these days are half size sets – they fit on my desk a whole lot better and I don’t look like a jerk carrying the small rolls around from meeting to meeting. Also, this is our “Resource Library” and it probably is a waste of space. We keep making it smaller and smaller because we get everything off the Internet these days. Far too often, when you rely on the resource library materials, you will select something awesome that they stopped making 13 years ago and you just designed a space around it. (That’s never actually happened to me…I’ve just heard of it happening to others).
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Partners office with 'Blue' the dog
When your name is on the door, you can bring your dog to work. This is the office of Patricia ‘Tricy’ Magadini. Her main role here is designer and her office typically looks a lot worse than this. You’ll see that in addition to the computer (used for streaming NPR, email, and surfing the Internet), Tricy still drafts by hand. (She doesn’t have the thermostat in her office – buwhahahahahaa!)
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Where 'ALL' the magic happens
This is my office – if I had a camera with a wider angle lens you might be able to detect more of what really happens here. There is a low reclining chair just in the bottom left of the photo that is a great napping chair for reading through specifications. You will see that I am rocking the double wide aspect 24″ monitors – how else can I keep up with twitter and blogging and pretending to do my work? Spoiler Alert!! A little possible bad karma might be on my horizon. As I took this photo, the red ribbon on AIA Young Architect of the Year award fell down. That can’t be good right?
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Materials Room
Our Materials room – almost always a disaster and a challenge to find what you want but this is the room that all the visitors to our office are most enthralled by. You have to remember that all these things represent possibility and change for the better. I know when I bring my 6 year old daughter up to the office, this is a fun room to come to (although I don’t really let her spend any time in there – it’s dangerous!)
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Workers working work area
This is one of the work areas that is in the very back of our office. We put it there because there is typically music being played, some sort of tape-ball tag or rubber band wars. We don’t need to see that sort of thing but we don’t need to pretend it doesn’t happen. I can assure you that there are few people in this country that can shoot you in the eye with a rubber band better than me. I’ve even shot myself in the eye a few times – I’m deadly.
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So I am still going through all the old Architectural Forum magazine’s and just can’t get over how interesting they are to read. Instead of being glossy image puff pieces, there are articles whose intent seems directed at actually educating the reader on the subject. I skip all of those study those articles intensely and just chuckle at how relevant most of them still seem to be. Surrounding these articles are pertinent and equally amusing advertisements that by themselves warrant looking through these magazines.
The ones I am putting up here today are all from 1939. I hadn’t originally intended on organizing them into themes but as the possible copy count rose into double digits, I needed a way to scale everything back. So for your edification and amusement, I present what I am calling:
White Lead and Image of an Architect
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“The “experimental period” of Dutch Boy White-Lead ended many years ago”
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“Your typical architect is complex – an open minded progressive and a cautious conservative combined in one and the same man.”
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“I’ve yet to get my first complaint on an Eagle White Lead job – and it costs only $2.19 a gallon!”
According to the Mayo Clinic - although children are primarily at risk, lead poisoning is also dangerous for adults. Even exposure to amounts of lead too low to cause symptoms in the short term may increase the risk of high blood pressure and mental decline in the future. Symptoms in adults may include:
- Pain, numbness or tingling of the extremities
- Muscular weakness
- Headache
- Abdominal pain
- Memory loss
- Mood disorders
- Reduced sperm count, abnormal sperm
- Fatigue
Memory Loss? Fatigue?? Muscular Weakness??? Mood Orders?!? You know…that other stuff………I HAVE LEAD POISONING!!!!
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“Call the telephone company’s “Architects’ Service” for suggestions in planning conduit layouts. No Charge.”
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“And, of course, you’re not in the least obligated”
Don’t you find it a least a little bit amusing how the architects are portrayed? Three piece suit and tie, smoking a pipe and it would appear that they are always assumed to be male? There are about 100 other ads and they all portray the “Architect” as a learned knower of all things – except this cutting edge new technology – like air conditioning!!
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I don’t have the money to pay someone else to do it so this is a DIY project
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My house is approximately 2,000 square feet and almost all of it is exposed stained concrete floor. To help visualize the task, I added a floor plan of my house and shaded all the exposed concrete in orange
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I don’t like manual labor anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I never loved it but now a days, my ability to bend over and “put my back into it” are gone. I’m sure it’s because I’m getting old smarter because I would just as much prefer to hire someone else to do this type of work.
that's a lot of orange...
See what I mean? That is a lot of orange. Since I don’t own a concrete grinding machine, nor do I know how to operate one – that’s out. They make grinders now that can do a job like mine but like I said, I don’t have a few thousand dollars to spare. So I made some calls and asked about acid washing the floors with muriatic acid. I know that we specify this type of acid when refinishing concrete sidewalks and patios so why wouldn’t it work for me? I spoke with a contractor and a landscape architect and after they both stopped laughing and making jokes about melting my fingers down a joint or two, they both gave me a melted thumbs up! Nothing left to do but to get to it!
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I started off by picking a test spot in the utility room, basically underneath the washing machine. I did this because if I majorly screwed something up, the washing machine would hide the evidence from the next sucker person who would buy this house. This was also a good spot because the floor here looked terrible…If I wanted to see how this was going to work, this was definitely the spot. I did some spot cleaning to get everything ready with my wet/dry shop vac (an awesome tool, highly recommend picking one up if you don’t already have one).
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Will you just look at that spot!? Erghh – I never seen a bit of concrete that needed to have acid poured on it more deserving than this bit right here. I also used a metal wire brush to make sure that the concrete score lines were nice and clean…mostly. C’mon, throw me a frickin’ bone here, there was like 50 years of shamasazam in there.
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Okay, I got all the surfaces ready to go and I prepared my mixture of muriatic acid (5% aka 20:1) mixture with water. Oh yeah, unless you really do want melty fingers, get a pair or rubber gloves – the kind made for protection from industrial strength chemicals, not the ones that will work against dish-pan hands. In my case, and I would guess yours as well, when I bought my muriatic acid from Lowe’s, they just happen to conveniently place a box of the right kind of gloves right next to the acid. Way to go Lowe’s! *Air Punch*
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So I poured the 5% solution on the concrete and waited for the magic to happen. Right away there was a chemical reaction and the concrete started to hiss and steam just a little bit. Oh yeah…(rubbing gloved hands together)…like taking candy from the kitchen drawer…so easy. At this rate, I would bang this project out in 2 days max (what?!?…I mean, awesome!)
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What??! That looks terrible! It’s going to take a years to get this project done with this plan…. I have a good mind to take my gloves off, let one or two fingers get a little melty and wag them in the faces of that contractor and landscape architect as I tell them what idiots they are! Now what am I going to do??
(get a beer)
(go back and look at floor…….stupid floor)
My wife tells me to just pour more acid on it – well, not really more, just a higher concentration - full strength (melty fingers be damned!!) No thanks, my back hurts after doing that one….stupid….tiny….little…spot.
(get a beer)
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yellow is the color of defeat by the way
To give you an idea, I change the spot I acid washed to yellow so you can see, you know, how much further I have to go. Beer is never the solution, it’s just a diversionary tactic and eventually, a real plan is going to have to be put in place. But what? What is it that I need to do?
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Thaaat’s right……roller skating. You can always count on roller skating.
(and the banana stand, there’s always money in the banana stand)
It’s Godzilla!!!!!
Okay, not really – that would be a penguin, a whale, a hamster, and a pineapple – all of which are about an inch tall.
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So if you read this post with any regularity, you’ll know that my wife works in the corporate office of Michaels – a big name arts & crafts store, quite possibly THE arts & crafts store. This can come in handy, and if you’ve ever been in a Michaels store, they carry just about everything in the known universe when it comes to arts & crafts. I hadn’t gone in there too many times because I’m not one to get silk flowers but ever since having a kid, my eyes have been opened to the awesomeness that is Michaels. So the current craze right now is Silly Bandz but apparently, despite having been around for a while, the next big thing is
Japanese erasers!!!!
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So I got these at Michaels to be a part of the goodie bag we were putting together for my daughter Kate’s party yesterday and I got to tell you……they are awesome! They are made by the Japanese company Iwako and they are very well made, very high quality. Yes, they are erasers but I can’t imagine anybody actually using them to erase anything….why would you? You can get these erasers in any one of a billion different shapes and colors and if the kids reaction to them yesterday was any indication, they are going to be HUGE! (They already have been for a while in Japan + Seattle). I even brought a few up to my office to show the other architects here and they all got stolen and now my little eraser buddies are all over the place. I even came in this morning and found the penguin sitting in a dark spot in my bookshelf…giving me the stink-eye.
‘You lookin’ at me? Are you….lookin’ at me?’
This could get ugly – and by ugly, I mean a lot of fun. I hate to say it but the way that pineapple is looking at that hamster, I think there is going to be some romance happening really soon….and on someones keyboard.
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Don’t say I didn’t warn you. They may be the next thing if your 6 years old, but if you are immature like me you can have fun with these things at any age. Pick them up at any Michaels store for a buck and while your there, get some crazy glue….you know where I’m going with this don’t you?
You are sooooo immature….
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…“Good fences make good neighbors” – Robert Frost, Mending Wall, 1914
Fences DO make good neighbors but having actual good neighbors goes a lot further towards making good neighbors. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t think about writing a post about fences because I think their primary role is to keep the outside out. No, in my neighborhood, that’s what shotguns and democratic party yard signs are for. The reason I wanted to write about fences is because their role is changing – at least the when they are used in modern design.
According to Merriam Webster, the definition of the word fence is as follows:
a barrier intended to prevent escape or intrusion or to mark a boundary; especially : such a barrier made of posts and wire or boards
Okay, that sounds like the definition of a fence but that isn’t the way we approach “fences” anymore. The image that comes to my mind upon reading that definition is that the space that is being defined is enclosed by the fence – like a prison yard. Doesn’t seem very appealing and for the most part, prison yards aren’t apppealing. There is a fundamental shift happening when we design fences where we are trying to use them to define edges or planes instead of defining spaces. It might seem like semantics but I assure you, if I had a better vocabulary and could describe it better, you would be sending me the tokens of your appreciation in $10 increments.
“Love your neighbor; yet don’t pull down your hedge.” – Benjamin Franklin
Because more and more of our designs are about extending the inside into the yard, we want to design our fences to read more like walls. This allows us to create a visually pleasant and viably usable exterior area while trying to capture that random 10′ of side yard space. One of the ways we avoid our fences actually looking like fences is to use alternate materials and/or different scaled components to build the fence.
fence made of of many smaller components
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Gabion rock fence
Another method for having fences read like walls is to turn the boards horizontal. Sounds like a simple little trick…and it is, but it works really well. There are things to try and avoid when turning your boards horizontal – the main thing being the joints where one board ends and another begins. You have to stagger the boards in order avoid having your fence look like is was built out of fence panels from aisle 12 – not that there s anything wrong with that. Yes there is, what am I saying. It isn’t always about how expensive a thing is, it’s about putting in a little time to think about something differently. But I suppose that’s where I come in.
The other problem when not staggering the boards with trying to deal with the warping and cupping of the boards all happening in the same place. It really destroys the look that this is a continuous plane. If you look at the picture at the very top of the post, you can see that they didn’t stagger the boards – so there is a vertical material line every 6 feet. They also didn’t put a pressure treated base board at the bottom so that they could sink it into the ground. If you have a small dog, or even one that sorta kinda likes to dig, the bottom of that fence wall is an open invitation for a doggie jailbreak. See? It’s the little things. It’s a great looking fence wall but it won’t ever be able to go down into the ground and provide a safe enclosure for their pets (if they have any). And if they pile the dirt up against that bottom board to address the gap issue, that board will rot…and quickly.
Okay – so I know these aren’t the best graphics but they are enough to make my point. (if Google reads this – I am awesome at sketch up! I totally made this model in 15 minutes)
What I have put together here is a crude series of diagrams to show how you can build an extremely durable and long lasting fence with horizontal boards. I have built this fence before and while it isn’t the cheapest fence you can build, it is on the same expense level as a board on board fence. 
#1 – this is a sacrificial board and needs to be pressure treated since it will be in contact with the ground. When I calls this a sacrificial board, I just mean the lowest level board will get trashed by weed whackers and will also receive the most amount of water damage.
#2 – metal post are definitely that way to go but they add the most expense to a fence. Generally, the metal post needs to extend 1/3 of it’s total length into the ground – i.e. a 6′ fence will need to extend a minimum of 2′ into the ground. The last project I priced out had a 10′ metal posts and their cost, plus the labor to dig the hole and the bag of concrete brought the cost of each post to roughly $65. Yikes! It adds up quick but set properly, they will last the length of your fence and are worth the expense. In the diagram above, I have the posts sets at 4′ centers but generally you can get away with 8′ centers.
#3 – 2×4 horizontal rails which will eventually provide the medium for attaching a secondary vertical rails.
#4 – Viola! Secondary 2×4 vertical rails! Since we are designing a fence that will have horizontally oriented dress boards, we need a stable surface to attach them. In this case, unlike the metal posts which are on 8′ centers, the vertical rails are on 3′ centers. Yes…I know that they don’t align with one another. Relax Grasshopper – there’s a good reason for this. By placing the more expensive posts at a greater interval and using traditional horizontal rail placement, we can then place the vertical rails at an increment that works out with standard size (and cost effective) 6′ 1x dress boards. We cab achieve our “wall” look by staggering the ends of the boards so that the joints are not one right on top of the other.
#5 – 2×10 cap – this is an important piece because it protects the end grain portion of the vertical 2×4 rail from long term water damage. We also use a 2×10 cap, sometime even a 2×12 cap so that the edges can extend enough in the rear direction so that it will cover the top of the metal post.
#6 – 1x dress boards – in the diagram above, I used 1×6′s but you are only limited by your imagination. when installing 1x boards horizontally, you can make a jig that is essentially a straight line of 8 penny nails so that as you stack on board on top of the other, you have provided the boards room to expand and contract without buckling.
This is the finished product – or at least one of countless possible patterns. If you wanted to reduce the expense, you could use wood posts (instead of metal posts) and nail the boards directly to them – it’s what we see most often on DIY fences. The fence I showed above is a fence that is appropriately priced for a modern home and it is designed to last more than 10 years. We also specify that the boards be seasoned, than they are dipped to apply the stain rather than having the stain sprayed or painted on after installation. This little step by itself will extend the life of this fence by a factor of 3 over a non-treated fence and probably twice that of a stain applied by spray.
This fence post could go on and on – and it probably should have stopped about 800 words ago but despite the possible probable sky-high boredom, I seriously continue. But I won’t.
If you have good pictures of your fence (or one you like) send it along, I really would like to see it.
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Dallas Arts District
I’m am going to start building a section on the architects and buildings of Dallas that would be worth checking out should you ever decide to come to town and want to see some of the architecture we have. In my inaugural post, I decided to focus on an area rather than an specific architect – The Dallas Arts District. This District is a unique, 68-acre, 19-block neighborhood in the heart of the city – a rare jewel that is the centerpiece of the region’s cultural life, the District is home to some of the finest architecture in the world. Enhancing the downtown Dallas skyline are buildings by Pritzker Prize winners I.M. Pei, Renzo Piano, Norman Foster, Rem Koolhaas and AIA “Gold Medal” recipient Edward Larrabee Barnes. The good folks who promote the Dallas Arts District have been a great resource of information and most of the information I have assembled here came from them.
The Dallas Center for Architecture gives an excellent walking tour of this area twice a month (you can go here and look at their calendar of architecturally related events and happenings). Their 90-minute architecture walking tours are led by trained tour guides and examine buildings from the 1890’s to the present day. Tours are held on the first and third Saturdays of each month, beginning at 10:00 a.m. at the ceremonial entrance to the Dallas Museum of Art (Flora and Harwood). The tour is held rain or shine. This tour is worth the time and the small fee (between $5 and $10).
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1984 Edward Larrabee Barnes
1993 Edward Larrabee Barnes, addition
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“The pivotal component of the Dallas Arts District is Edward Larrabee Barnes’ sprawling Dallas Museum of Art. The building’s trademark barrel vault aligns with Flora Street at this location. A major expansion occurred in 1993, with the completion of the Hamon Building on the museum’s north end. This wing provided the institution with an imposing new entrance and vehicular court facing Woodall Rodgers Freeway, as well as expanded public spaces, temporary exhibition galleries and underground parking. One of the most soothing exterior spaces in downtown is Ed Barnes’ walled sculpture garden at the DMA. Four parallel water walls subtly divide the expansive space into a series of smaller-scaled “rooms,” which are further enriched by landscape architect Dan Kiley’s sensitive landscaping and the placement of modern sculpture. The pervasive presence of falling water provides a refreshing respite to Dallas’ arid climate, and also masks the sounds of city life beyond the garden walls.” – Dallas Arts District
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Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center
1989 I.M. Pei
2301 Flora Street Dallas, TX 75201-2497 (214) 670-3600 MAP HERE Museum information here.
“The 1980′s ended on a cultural high note in Dallas with the opening of the Meyerson Symphony Center, home of the 109-year-old Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Pritzker Prize-winning I.M. Pei’s project provided the Arts District with the critical mass and architectural distinction it needed to be recognized as a viable entity. The epic confrontation between architect Pei and famed acoustician Russell Johnson produced both a distinguished building and a hall with extraordinary acoustics. Today, the Meyerson ranks among the world’s great concert halls. By exploiting the Late Baroque as a general stylistic source, Pei achieved a space of Piranesian grandeur: mysterious, sensual and infinite. By contrast, the 2,062-seat Eugene McDermott Concert Hall is a warm and richly detailed room notable for its acoustical gymnastic devices, including the suspended movable canopy over the stage and ceiling-level reverberation chambers.” – Dallas Arts District
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Nasher Sculpture Center
2003 Renzo Piano
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“When it opened to international acclaim in October 2003, the Nasher Sculpture Center was hailed by one critic as “the most radically open art museum in history,” and the most important building for sculpture since the Glyptothek in Munich, completed in 1815 by the great German architect Leo von Klenze. Raymond D. Nasher, developer of Dallas’ famed NorthPark shopping mall, built this $70 million sculpture garden to showcase the foremost private collection of 20th century sculpture in the world. The project was designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, winner of the 1998 Pritzker Prize for Architecture, along with the American landscape architect Peter Walker. Visitors enter the garden through a series of five slender sun-shaded pavilions housing galleries for the smaller pieces in the collection, as well as a bookstore, café, auditorium and offices. The pavilion roofs are shallow curved-glass vaults, supported by a meticulously detailed stainless steel structure. Above these wall-to-wall skylights reside cast aluminum sunscreens that permit the highest level of ambient northern light into the galleries. Approximately 30 large-scale works by such artists as Miro, di Suvero, Picasso, Calder, Serra, Rodin, Lichtenstein, and Moore are on display at any one time.” – Dallas Arts District
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AT&T Performing Arts Center Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House
2009 Foster + Partners, Norman Foster
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“The striking design by Foster + Partners (Sir Norman Foster and Spencer de Grey) features a lozenge-shaped performance hall and glass-clad lobby suspended within a monumental shade canopy that covers most of the site. The 2,200-seat auditorium is an interpretation of the classic horseshoe configuration found in many of the world’s great opera halls, including La Scala and Covent Garden. The interior of the hall is arranged in ascending tiers and has been engineered with flexible acoustics and stage configurations to accommodate performances of the Dallas Opera and the Texas Ballet, as well as Broadway shows. The building’s lobby is encased within an expansive, 60-foot-high wall of glass, creating a transparency between the opera hall and the surrounding Sammons Park and providing patrons with sweeping views of the downtown skyline. Overhead, the canopy’s fixed metal louvers provide optimal shade for the glass façade and the exterior spaces throughout the day, taming the harsh Texas sun to create a micro-climate around the building. The Winspear is an epic building – one that not only has a grand physical presence, enhanced by the 1,400 deep-red glass panels that encapsulate the Margaret McDermott Performance Hall, but also one that creates a civic space that is accessible and inviting.” – Dallas Arts District
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AT&T Performing Arts Center Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre
2009 REX/OMA, Joshua Prince-Ramos (partner in charge) and Rem Koolhaas
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“In contrast to the predominant sprawl of the various arts venues in the district stands the shimmering, 12-story Wyly Theater, a radically conceived reinvention of the traditional theater house by its designers, Rem Koolhaas and Joshua Prince-Ramos. Home to the Dallas Theater Center, the Wyly is one of the most innovative new theater buildings in the world. It eschews the traditional arrangement of a theater’s support spaces wrapped around the stage house and, instead, organizes them vertically into a stacked design, tightly packed within the building’s roughly square footprint. Drastic flexibility is achieved through the facility’s advanced, mechanized “superfly” system, which allows both scenery and suspended seating balconies to be ”flown,” or lifted out of sight to create proscenium stage, thrust stage and flat-floor configurations. At ground level, the exterior curtain walls of the 600-seat Potter-Rose Performance Hall are of acoustic-grade transparent glass with integral shade and vision controls. The upper floors of the Wyly are clad in a combination of six different aluminum tube extrusions, which has the effect of wrapping the building in a giant metal stage curtain.” – Dallas Arts District
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Booker T. Washington High School for the Visual and Performing Arts
1922 Lang and Witchell
2008 Booziotis & Company, restoration
2008 Allied Works’ Brad Cloepfil, addition
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“Architect Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works completed an ambitious $55 million expansion in 2008 that provided critically needed studio and performance space for a school whose impressive list of graduates includes Erykah Badu, Norah Jones and Christian Schumann. Cloepfil’s design scheme effectively captures the spirit and energy of the school by organizing the arts curriculum clusters (dance, music, theater and visual arts) into a series of interlocking “suites” along multi-level circulation spines activated by natural light. The classrooms, studios and the 475-seat Montgomery Arts Theater are arranged around an outdoor performance courtyard, which serves as the focal point of the school. The architect grasped the opportunity to forge a vital physical connection with the Arts District by opening the campus to the Sammons Park and the Winspear Opera House, located across Jack Evans Street.” – Dallas Arts District
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John Picacio's cover art for 'AGE OF MISRULE: WORLD'S END'
Within the last few months, the number of emails I have received from people asking whether or not they should get out of architecture has been staggering. Equally surprising are the emails I receive that ask for direction on whether or not they should go into the field of architecture. The answer to both questions is easy -
Maybe.
For some people, the first question I ask them – the ender question, is always the same:
“Why do you want to be an architect?”
If the answer is I have always wanted to be an architect, I move on to the next few questions. A person’s motivation for becoming an architect is singularly important. I went to college to become an architect while my friends simply went to college. My resolve and dedication towards becoming an architect was tempered by many all-nighters, 207 credit hours (187 required for my degree), no fraternity for me – nobody who graduated from the University of Texas School of Architecture the same time as I did was in a fraternity (or sorority) - you didn’t have the time.
It was hard to get to where I am at right now and the people who were doing it because they thought it would be cool, for the money, or some other reason other than ‘I have always wanted to be an architect” didn’t make it. If there is something else out there calling to you, architecture probably isn’t for you. I haven’t regretted my decision ever.
Ever.
Sure, there have been loads of times when I wished I didn’t work as much as I do, made more money; I even get tired of the ladies who are “architect groupies ” following me around. It’s tough but I have always wanted to be an architect.
This is a portion from an email I recently received which actually got me thinking about this post. The person who sent this I know loves to design and thinks about it all the time. It’s how she spends her free time, she travels to locations and looks at the buildings, she tracks down designers in these locations and goes and meets them.
I really love this stuff, but know that I might have problems working for clients. I can see my temperament not quite matching up with that process. I’m a bit stubborn. And also impatient.
It’s hard, I always wanted to be an artist, and now I can’t figure out how to be a designer.
The traits that she describes won’t keep her from becoming an architect or designer – in fact, I would also suggest that these are important traits that any successful designer should have. Also, if her (your) stubbornness and impatience are so uncontrollable as to be a real problem, she’ll have issues in any profession other than ‘Hermit’. In my response email to her, I included a list of quality architecture programs near her and should she decide to pursue a Master’s degree in architecture, I think she’ll do really well.
As to the emails that are asking if they should get out out of architecture – that one is more difficult to address. Architects aren’t the only professionals that are suffering right now. In my mind, it’s similar to changing jobs because you don’t like someone where you are working – not a real good reason if it’s the only one because you probably won’t like someone at the next job either.
I still like to try and find out why a person who has gone through the process to become an architect is thinking about leaving. Have your motivations for being an architect changed? Is it circumstantial? Maybe it’s simply that you want to make more money or you simply hate the job that you do. I can appreciate why someone would like to make more money but are you worth more money doing what you currently do? For example, in my circumstance, I am well paid for a 10 person residential firm considering my name isn’t on the front door. If I wanted to be paid more, my first couple of possible moves would involve looking at larger firms or more commercially focused production firms, not becoming a personal injury lawyer. For me it would be about trying to find a balance and still continue practicing architecture, not changing professions.
I’ve always been pretty good at shooting the bull and have been told I would have been awesome at sales. The very idea of selling anything just to be selling anything would literally make me shrivel up and die. To my way of thinking, I would be better served by investing ALL of my time and resources into winning the lottery before selling paper or plastic o-rings. While both would probably ruin me and force me into living in a cardboard refrigerator box in some alley, going into sales would probably add “crazy” and ”pavement licker” to my resume.
When trying to select an appropriate image for this post, my mind started wandering a bit and it landed on John Picacio. John and I went to UT Architecture School together and we both spent time in Europe traveling together in 1990. John and I were never all that close but even 20 years later I still remember John’s sketches; they were ridiculously good. I still see one sketch in particular in my mind’s eye. John and I were in Siena, Italy and John was drawing the Piazza del Campo and he was using the white of the paper as much as his sketch pen to bring the buildings to life. Unbelievable. We lost touch after awhile but I always thought he was so good at drawing, why would he be an architect? Apparently John came to the same conclusion and is a internationally recognized and award winning illustrator.
And I say good for him.
John could always draw better than the people teaching our drawing classes and he figured out that this was something he would rather do than pursue a career in architecture and it’s worked out pretty well for him I’d say. So if you’re interested in becoming an architect because it’s all you’ve ever wanted to do than I would heartily urge you to continue on towards your goal. If you want to become an architect for the groupies, money and fast cars, you might want to reevaluate your options. I’m not suggesting that it can only be one or the other but if you’re already unsure, you’ve got one of the more difficult roads in front of you. It isn’t great for me right now but I’m terrible and I’m pretty awesome *Air Punch*
What would you say to someone contemplating a change? Things will get better but will it be worth sticking around? Doctor’s are starting to run into problems but we’ll always need them. Lawyer’s have their issues too, but unlike architects who are working themselves towards irrelevancy, at least Lawyer’s make it so we can’t get rid of them. Architecture defines me and I wouldn’t like to have to envision myself doing something else – but what about the people who don’t know? What would you tell them?
Life of an Architect…this is a life day.
Cleo
It’s early Saturday morning, and by early I mean 5:45 am, and I am sitting in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal because I am trying to be a nice guy. But why am I up now and why should anyone care?
I am up because one of our dogs, Cleo, is 14 years old (which is probably 2 years older than she should be) and she has become blind, deaf and senile. Cleo will scratch at the door to be let out until there isn’t any door left to scratch. You will get up, let her out and she will walk directly to the back door and scratch until you let her back in. You will get up, let her in and she will walk directly back to the other door and scratch to be let out.
Repeat.
Repeat.
Repeat.
But….if you get up and sit in the kitchen, she will join you, laying on the floor very happily by your feet. Surprisingly she still seems very happy and every day there is at least one moment where she seems exceedingly happy. Most of those days that moment comes when our 1 year old dog Ritzy is let out of her crate (she’s too small to leave in the yard all day) and Cleo and she can be with one another. My daughter chose Ritzy specifically because she looked exactly like Cleo. I have no doubt that Ritzy is extending Cleo’s life, it is one of the more amazing things I have seen.
Ritzy
Cleo has been a great dog for me and my family and I will continue to get up at 5:45 in morning and go sit in the kitchen for as long as she wants – she deserves that. I have been fearing the day that we will become a 1 dog family again.
I am reminded of a passage in the book Dominion, written by Matthew Scully:
‘Animals are more than ever a test of our character, of mankind’s capacity for empathy and for decent, honorable conduct and faithful stewardship. We are called to treat them with kindness, not because they have rights or power or some claim to equality, but in a sense because they don’t; because they all stand unequal and powerless before us’
Today is also my daughter Kate’s 6th birthday and to say she is excited is an understatement. Turning 6 represents in her mind that she is no longer a little kid. Being 6 years old represents 1st grade - which means where you aren’t the youngest kid in school; that is an honor reserved for the kindergartners. It is quite possible that Kate was literally the youngest person at her school last year so I can see why this is a big deal to her. Me? I really most happy because she brought home an award from camp yesterday for “Friendliest Camper”. I know several of you have met her and that’s probably not a surprise. I am proud of her and the way she goes out of her way to try and make friends with people, to include them at times knowingly to her own detriment. Empathy is a character trait my daughter has shown from the beginning and it has translated into her being a beautiful person.
Kate Borson - Happy 6th Birthday
Empathy, man’s dominion over animals, and cereal on an early Saturday morning. I hope everyone has a great weekend, I’ve got to go mow the grass.
As I write this post, I am laying in my bed, running a 102 degree fever. I haven’t received official word back from the doctor’s office but the possibilities aren’t looking good for me. It got me wondering, what did I do to Karma and why did Karma decide to pound me? Because I am such a Saintly person (you can read that in any bathroom stall – totally true) I have been trying to figure out, what’s different lately? It’s the blog isn’t it Karma?
Let’s go back to last week…when my driveway starting erupting from the broken city water line.
Okay, so that’s not cool but sometimes things just happen right? Karma got better thangs to do than follow every move I make (finger’s crossed).
So the holiday weekend descends upon us – 3 days of sun, fun, barbecuing and all around awesomeness. Except that it starts to rain and it continues off and on for the next 3 days (coincidence? Karma – you devilish trickster!! Ha!….you got me!) So swimming is out probably so is the BBQ but that’s all-right – I am totally a glass is half full kind of person. We decide to head out to the racetrack to see the horses run because after the last race they are going to shoot off some fireworks.
If your going to the racetrack, you need some pocket money (at least I do). So I head out in the rain to the ATM where I get a message like this from the screen -
There seems to have been some fraudulent use on this account. We are still going to give you the funds you have requested but please call the following number immediately
What? Okay, first off, if they think there’s monkey business going on with my account, DON”T KEEP HANDING OUT MY MONEY!!!!
So I call the number and I am sure that I am connected to the most ignorant person ever in all time. The first part of conversation went like this:
DPOAT (Dumbest person of all time): hi, thanks for calling, how may I help you? Me: I got a message about fraudulent use on my account and was given this number to call. DPOAT: And what is your name? Me: Robert Borson. DPOAT: What was the fraudulent use sir? Me: I don’t know, I’m just calling after getting the message that I need to call. And the machine didn’t give me back my card. DPOAT: I see, what is your name please? Me: huh? Robert Borson, I just told you that DPOAT: Okay, what is the number on your card? Me: I don’t know, I don’t have my card! DPOAT: Where did you last leave it? Me: You are kidding me right? The machine took it.It went on and on like this but I’ll throw up if I have to relive it again. So, I am a little wound up when I get home and I walk in the front door and both my wife and my mother-in-law look at me an tell me to go look in the backyard. Why? Did a crate of gold bullion fall from the sky on it’s way to South America? No, not even close…
So a giant ass tree branch fell in my yard and NOT a box of gold bullion. Great. Okay half full guy – what do you think of that? Ha-ha! I’m going to say at least the branch didn’t actually fall on anything other than grass. It literally fell right in between all sorts of stuff with value – fence, roof of garage, air conditioning compressor. And nothing other than the yard and me is worse for the wear because I can tell you that I am not looking forward to clearing that tree out – it involves real work and sweat – two things I loathe if I’m being honest. But we will just have to deal with this later because the nights festivities are about to start!
Surprisingly, despite some rain delays, we got our races in and the rain took a break long enough to get the fireworks show in. I have won every single time I have been to the races – e v e r y t i m e. Uh-no, not this time but okay, as glass half full guy, I didn’t lose more than I was willing to and everyone (Michelle, Kate and Grandma) had a lot of fun. There was a petting zoo and pony rides for Kate, and beer with 8lb plates of nachos for the rest of us.
So it’s now Sunday and my back starts to hurt. Not really sure why, I haven’t done anything, certainly nothing that would cause the sort of pain that I am starting to feel. Sort of a deep, aching pain in my bones – not my muscles – this is bone pain. And it hurts a lot. Come Monday, I can’t really move and other symptoms start showing up, I can tell this is going to be a doosey.
As I become more and more incapacitated, I am grateful that my mother-in-law is here. Not only is she a fantastic person that my daughter Kate simply loves and adores, but when she comes to visit, she really helps out. With me being sick (and I am a huge crabby baby when I get sick), Grandma came in and really helped both Michelle and I.
So I go see the doctor and tell her about all my aches and pains. The doctor looked down my throat and literally said “yeaaargghh – that is seriously nasty”. She orders waaaay too many vials of my precious life force (talking about blood people), Chest X-rays, throat swabs – everything.
So yes Karma, you made me horrifically sick but yet you sent someone here to help out and now that I have a note from the Doctor’s office that I am in fact really sick, I am completely justified in hiring someone else to clean out the branch out back – Haha! I was walking outside my front door and almost walked into this……..
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Simply amazing. And glass half full guy says – Mr. Deadly spider with stab-ey spikes around the edges has a smiley face on his back…awwwwww.
So Karma isn’t mad at me at all. Sure I got sick but I didn’t have to cut up the tree. It rained over the holiday weekend but stopped long enough for us to enjoy our trip to the race track and see a great fireworks show. That fraudulent charge on my account was for $1.24 and I probably made the charge myself and simply couldn’t remember what it was for. It’s important to think that there are always two sides to everything and you can decide whether you will be glass half full or glass half empty. I choose to be the glass half full guy……until the Doctor calls and tells me I have mono.
Okay, so maybe you haven’t heard that I have a design issue to work on in my master bathroom yet (back-story here), but it did make me think a little about bath tubs and what type of tub would I like. I get to work one some really nice projects so I’ve been exposed to some tubs that look and perform great. I thought I would put some of my favorites on display here. The prices run the range so these wouldn’t all be appropriate for the same project or budget but since this is my fantasy list, I’ve included whatever I wanted to – neener neener.
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This tub is from the ‘Premium Collection’ manufactured by Albert + Victoria but I couldn’t really tell you what that means. It’s seems to me that all their bath tubs would be in the premium collection. This is a very low, body friendly bath tub that is shockingly comfortable to lie it. Despite it’s low profile, it still holds a respectable 74 gallons, enough to slink down into and submerge yourself. One of the reasons I like this tub as much as I do is that the shape of this tub is designed to let you face either direction. That might sound obvious but the profile is not uniform so facing one way will allow you to lay slightly more inclined in a seated position while facing the opposite direction let’s you recline back to far greater degree. I have used this tub before and it looks great but is absolutely one of the more comfortable tubs I’ve ever been in.
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Really? I totally want one of these for myself!! I think these are amazingly amazing. They aren’t cheap, around $6,000 for just the tub and there are extras like winter lids and hand carts you can buy for additional money.
Made in The Netherlands, this handmade portable hot tub requires no electricity, hot water, or plumbing, and provides ample soaking space for up to four adults. Made of durable polyester, the tub rests on four sturdy feet spaced evenly to prevent tipping. Once filled to its 200-gallon capacity, a stainless steel heating coil system uses burning wood to provide hot water for the tub; water from the tub flows through the tub’s lower pipe into the heating coil full of burning wood, and is naturally circulated using convection, emptying hot water through the top pipe into the basin, heating the tub to 104° F in 2 1/2 hours. A stainless steel basket holds firewood within the coil, allowing you to adjust heat level by raising or lowering the basket. The tub’s floor has a raised convex dome that allows you to stretch out your feet as if sitting on a chaise lounge, and the tub has a built-in ledge with a bottle holder. Includes a cover for faster heating. 36″ H x 60″ Diam. (165 lbs.)
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Yes, I know at almost $12,000 this tub might not really qualify as a tub for regular people but I have specified this tub before and it is amazing. You have to consider it as an indoor jacuzzi tub and not just a bathing vessel. Sized for two with separate variable speed pumps and two 1.5kW heaters, along with 20 Bodymassage backjets (10 for each bather) and 6 Flexjet whirlpool jets. I also like the simplicity of the shape and the fact it can be mounted under a deck or installed as a drop in. It’s one drawback is the two access panels that are required to service the individual pumps – I understand why you need them but it can limit your design options because the access panels aren’t accessed on the same side. It doesn’t present a challenge too often but it is a consideration. The tub is acrylic but since it is enclosed (not a freestanding unit) we foam insulate the cavity to help the hot water stay hot.
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This is one of our go-to tubs – great size, clean design, practical and very comfortable. This tub lists at $2,125 but you can find this tub readily on sale for around $1,450 which is really good for a cast iron tub this size. I also like that it’s 24″ high which give the bather a little more soaking room which I think is overlooked too often. People generally try and solve that problem by going longer when they should be going deeper. They also make this tub as a whirlpool (K-856-GCO)
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The tub at Le Corbusier's 'Villa Savoye'
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Okay – so this isn’t really technically a bath tub so you can’t go out and buy one. But, this is the bathing area at Swiss architect Le Corbusier’s ‘Villa Savoye’ in Poissy, completed in 1929 and located just outside Paris. This is the now famous house that he used to illustrate his ’5-points’ of his new aesthetic of architecture promoting the machine for living ideal within the International style . While I’m not trying to suggest that my bathroom is on par with the one Le Corbusier designed, I think it supports my idea to not throw the bath out with bathwater. Maybe all I am missing is the concrete and tile chaise lounge in the shower…..
Me: Hey Internet! What’s up? You know, you and I never talk anymore even though we see each other like ALL the time.
Internet: Yeah, I know what you mean, I’ve been really busy doing stuff.
Me: Man…we’ve been friends a long time haven’t we? I think we first met back in the Spring of 1995 when I was working for Urban Architecture. Do you remember that? Wow, those were some wild times – I can still remember all the crazy websites you used to show me, (winking) some of which you were way to young to be showing me.
Internet: Totally! I still remember your favorite website – www.lacyunderwea
Me: (quickly interrupting) Hey, Hey, Hey – no need to ..ha!…that was a long..wow…Ha! dig up all that old foolishness.
Internet: What?..old foolishness? Why just last week you went to
Me: (interrupting again) ahem..Annnywaaaaays. I’m glad I ran into you.
Internet: Me too – I gotta say, you look great, obviously you’ve been working out A LOT, how much do you bench? I don’t know how you do it, and at your age…amazing. Are you glowing?
Me: Probably – I’ve met someone online and I’m pretty happy about it.
Internet: Online? You’ve got to be kidding me right?
Me: I don’t know what to tell you. I wasn’t looking for an online relationship, it sorta snuck up on me and now….. I think I’m in love with her.
Internet: Holy Shit! What’s her name? S8xypants_214? or do you even know her real name?
Me: It’s not like that! we have something real. (looking down at shoes..quietly) you don’t have to make fun of me about it.
Internet: Sorry – you do know that I’m still pretty much a teenager right? So c’mon, what’s her name?
Me: Her name is LifeofanArchitect.com
Internet: (scrunching face up into surprised grimace) Her?…yeah, I know her. Do you know what you’re getting into? I’ve been bringing more and more people by her place every day! Dude,…I think she might be a ho.
Me: She isn’t a ho! It’s called being friendly (muttering under breath) jerk….if you didn’t spend all your time with porn addicts you might know the difference….
Internet: *eyeroll* Whatever…she definitely likes to party. (snapping fingers) DFW! All right, so when did you two “lovebirds” meet? Have you met any of LifeofanArchitect.com‘s friends?
Me: We met on March 4th 2010, it was sunny outside – blue skies, not a cloud in the sky and she wore an
Internet: (interrupting) BAR-RFF! Get on with it and please spare me the hyperbole.
Me: I think it was love at first sight. She makes me laugh and every now and then says something that sticks with me for awhile. She might not be the prettiest out there and at times she can be really stupid. I also think she might be a little bit lazy, but
Internet: (sarcastically) Sounds greeaaaat….I can see why you would be attracted to her.
Me: Well hold on, I wasn’t finished. It wasn’t until I committed to my relationship with her that things got interesting. We get together at least three times a week but I think about her all the time. It’s a lot of work but she makes me feel good about myself. We don’t have a physical relationship, she’s interested in something other than (waving arms wildly around body) all this.
Internet: What do you think is going to happen when your wife finds out about this relationship? That isn’t going to be cool.
Me: She already knows. I think she gets a little jealous at times because I spend so much time with LifeofanArchitect.com but I think she understands what I am getting out of this and how LifeofanArchitect.com makes me feel good about myself.
Internet: Duude! You totally have an open marriage! You are one lucky bastard I’ll tell you that much.
Me: My wife knows she is and will always be number one.
Internet: Yeah, I read about your Paris trip…nice. So, where do you think this relationship going? Have you met her friends?
Me: I have met a few. Some are cool and others,….well,.. let’s just say some of her friends are full throttle. Her best friends are Twitter.com and Facebook.com and they are pretty cool – I have even become friends with them. She has a new friend that I’m not sure about just yet, Stumbleupon.com. She invited Stumbleupon.com over a few times and that crazy mofo brought along like 1,000 other people. I didn’t know any of them, and most of which I’ll probably never see again. At my age quality counts for more than quantity, but it sure was one hell of a party!
Internet: Sounds like milk and honey from your side, but how does she feel about you? Despite your beautiful skin color and muscular physique, you kinda look like someone’s grandpa and she’s what? barely 4 months old? – and if you make that joke about snow on the roof but fire in the furnace I’m going to punch you right in the face.
Me: I think she might really like me, maybe….I don’t know. Some days she is really happy with me and some days I swear she can’t stand me. It’s complicated.
Internet: So tell me about how it is right now – (looking left and right, whispering) does she put out?
Me: (also looking left and then right) Sorta – we are taking it slowly. Last week she let me put some ads on her to see how that works.
Internet: Oooohhh – (smiling and rubbing hands together) she’s dirty….
Me: Hey! She’s got her standards and she likes to share…. she’s a giver, …she likes to give … and share. Just last night and she gave me $2.75 from her friend Google AdSense and $2.23 from Amazon.
Internet: Ah-HA! So she IS a ho! And Oh-my-GAWD! – You’re her PIMP!! No wonder you like LifeofanArchitect.com, buwahahahaha. You are so stupid! hahahaa
Me: I know it looks bad but it isn’t like that I swear! I really like her, (looking down at ground, drawing arc’s with foot in the dirt, whispering)….don’t cheapen it
Internet: Jeez, I don’t remember you being such a sensitive wuss. That always happens when people have kids – they lose their *air split flip roundhouse twist punch* and change their search settings to moderate. Soooo lame.
Me: I’ve even introduced her to some of my friends @Paul_Anater @Urbanverse @ModernSauce @ReedConstrData @imadnaffa @LaurieMeisel @eXapath @cupboards @BMoxieBMore @concretedetail and @INFILLnc just to name a few. They’re nice and I’m pretty sure..no, they definitely…. well probably.. they like her too.
Internet: Jeez man – this is serious isn’t it?
Me: In the 118 days since we’ve met, there have been 16,889 unique friends come into our lives, and they are not just from Dallas…those people have come from all over the world, 140 different countries.
Internet: 140 countries!? You barely speak english and everyone knows you can’t write in any language.
Me: You shut it, besides, we speak the international language of blog….
Internet: You idiot – love is the international language.
Me: Not anymore.
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