How architects can better manage the risk associated with California’s increased code requirements

Although the pandemic has had the greatest impact on humanity in quite some time, in the building industry, we were already facing numerous challenges before the quarantine started. 2020 has also been a year for some rather stringent code changes in both residential and nonresidential construction, particularly in California. With new code requirements, including the … Continue reading How architects can better manage the risk associated with California’s increased code requirements →

Did a starchitect just “phone in” their design for a commission in LA?

Architecture, as a profession, bears quite a few similarities to the consulting profession. Chief among those commonalities is the "feast or famine" cycle — there always seems to be either too much work to handle, or nothing but the sound of crickets. The same paradigm applies to that exalted class of designers known as "starchitects." … Continue reading Did a starchitect just “phone in” their design for a commission in LA? →

Bringing Virtual Reality (VR) to the Clients

Property Brothers is a Canadian TV show that shows on American cable TV network HGTV. The premise: two brothers, one a real estate agent, the other a contractor, help a family purchase an existing home that with some renovation will meet that family's vision for a "dream home." The biggest challenge in every episode is helping … Continue reading Bringing Virtual Reality (VR) to the Clients →

Buildings so ugly, only an architect could love them

In the New York Times Magazine recently, Alexandra Lange asked several of the world's most famous architects to defend the architectural designs of some of the most hated buildings to blight the skyline of world class cities. Completed in 1973, the Tour Montparnasse stands at a defiant 758 ft above the city of Paris. The … Continue reading Buildings so ugly, only an architect could love them →

Imagine Architecture: Artistic Visions of the Urban Realm by Lukas Feiress (Great Gift Idea)

One of my criticisms of the architecture programs at many of the few accredited schools across the country, is a lack of emphasis on constructability — "the ease and efficiency with which structures can be built" [Wikipedia]. That doesn't mean that there is no value in exploring the purely fanciful and unrealistic, as they are … Continue reading Imagine Architecture: Artistic Visions of the Urban Realm by Lukas Feiress (Great Gift Idea) →