What's in a Style?

What's in a Style?

What does the Code Guy know about style?

This is either for an instant architect disguise or a Harry Potter costume, or both.  But it certainly conveys our style.

Turns out...I know a little, thank you very much.  I haven't always been the Code Guy.  I have always looked at buildings, however.  In college, I completed a minor in Architectural History.  Maybe not too much Egyptian revival architecture made its way to these shores, but much of our architectural history, and thus style, is based in the past.  Greek, Roman, Renaissance, you name it. 

But in all things (well, almost all things) I am the first to admit that I may not know everything, and what I did know, I may have forgotten.

These are two useful resources I've come across that I'd like to share.

This is an early printing, it has been updated, but I think very similar to the original.
Except somehow Lee's name fell off the cover...?

The first is primarily for exteriors:  A Field Guide to American Houses, originally published in 1984 by Virginia and Lee McAlester.  This volume discusses basic geometries as well as the various structural components that are shared by all styles.  It then goes into detailed accounts of nearly every style that entered this continent from indigenous Native American, to Gothic revival, to the Prairie Style.  It delves into identifying features, principal sub-types, shapes, decorations, details, geographical and chronological details.  Along with pictures!  Included are volume isometrics, elevation variants, as well as carving details, shingle patterns and carpentry sketches of which I would be proud were they mine.  Of course the book includes actual photographs of examples across the country, too.

This book would be a great reference source during a renovation of a styled house, or if you want to nail down what type of variations are in the neighborhood where you might be building, or if you need to add a little detail to a more give an exterior a little more "oomph".  This book should really have been distributed to all those builders across the land that slapped every available foam shape on a house regardless of how they relate:  heavy quoins maybe don't go well with those skinny stick-style spindle work...

This book can be used like a field guide just as are guides to flora and fauna.  "Ahh, the Cape Cod, in its natural environment.  Breathtaking..."

The other volume deals primarily with the interiors of buildings:  The Elements of Style, Edited by Stephen Calloway and Elizabeth Cromley.

Much more a text book sized volume than a field guide.  Heavy too!

This book is a wealth of interior detailing based on various styles.  This book, too, reveals a more or less chronological ordering of styles: starting with Tudor and Jacobean, and running the gambit through Colonial, Georgian, Victorian (both British and American) to Arts & Crafts and Modern. Where this book is unique is that within each "Style" the chapters are tabbed with various detail categories, such as:  windows, lighting, staircases and woodwork.  So, say you're working in an American Beaux Arts house renovation and you want to know what types of light fixtures work.  Page 413 is a cream tab and has 11 detailed line drawings of representative chandeliers, sconces and lanterns.  The next page has as many details on decorative metalwork in a house such as this.

Where applicable, this book has some nice photos, some in color.  There are kitchen stoves, doorbells, fireplaces, and I even found my 1940's bathroom lavatory.  This book works on two continents, and even translates the British "skirting board" to the American "baseboard" for the reader.  It even has a directory of suppliers for both sides of the Pond.  The 1991 original copyright may date some of this information, however.

Our country is BIG!  And the styles in one city will be totally different in another part of the country. But there is no reason to guess at what details go with which styles.  There are probably hundreds of other books that could easily match a newel post for that Federal stair.  Even effective detailing can be achieved in new construction that is maybe a bit larger than a normal house.  Our office works all over the country designing senior living campuses.  A client in Williamsburg, VA probably has a pretty good vision of the style for their buildings.  Let us not confuse our styles!

This post is part of the ArchiTalks series (led by Bob Borson of Life of an Architect ) where a group of us (architects who also blog) all post on the same day and promote each other’s blogs. This month’s theme is "Style"  A lot of other talented writers who also are architects are listed below and are worth checking out:

-->Bob Borson - Life of An Architect (@bobborson)
http://www.lifeofanarchitect.com/style-do-i-have-any/
-->Lee Calisti, AIA - Think Architect (@LeeCalisti)
style...final words
-->Lora Teagarden - L² Design, LLC (@L2DesignLLC)
The AREsketches Style
-->Collier Ward - One More Story (@BuildingContent)
Good Artists Copy; Great Artists Steal
-->Eric T. Faulkner - Rock Talk (@wishingrockhome)
Name That Stile!
-->Michele Grace Hottel - Michele Grace Hottel, Architect (@mghottel)
"style"
-->Meghana Joshi - IRA Consultants, LLC (@MeghanaIRA)
Architalks : Style
-->brady ernst - Soapbox Architect (@bradyernstAIA)
What Style Do You Build In?
-->Brian Paletz - The Emerging Architect (@bpaletz)
You do you
-->Michael LaValley - Evolving Architect (@archivalley)
Defining an Architect's Style
-->Jarod Hall - di'velept (@divelept)
What's Your Style?
-->Greg Croft - Sage Leaf Group (@croft_gregory)
Architectural Style
-->Jeffrey Pelletier - Board & Vellum (@boardandvellum)
Should You Pick Your Architect Based on Style or Service?
-->Samantha R. Markham - The Aspiring Architect (@TheAspiringArch)
5 Styles of an Aspiring Architect
-->Kyu Young Kim - J&K Architects Atelier (@sokokyu)
Loaded With Style
-->Nisha Kandiah - ArchiDragon (@ArchiDragon)
Regression or Evolution : Style
-->Keith Palma - Architect's Trace (@cogitatedesign)
Stylized Hatred
-->Mark Stephens - Mark Stephens Architects (@architectmark)
Architectalks 23 - Style

-->Jeremiah Russell, AIA - ROGUE Architecture (@rogue_architect)
style: #architalks

Code Minute with the Yeoman - 001 Doors

Old Doors

Doors can tell us a lot about existing facilities.  Fire walls, barriers and other fire resistive assemblies may not be 100% apparent in wall construction but if there is an opening in the wall, it must be protected and may provide enough clues to draw conclusions about the existing conditions.

This is not the old Door to whom I am referring.

Ordinarily, we look for labels on doors that come from the factory.  These may tell us what the rating is.  The protection afforded to the door can lead us to the wall rating based on the building code.  Certain walls will require specific ratings on doors and windows within them.  Two hour fire walls typically mean a 90 minute opening protective.  A one hour fire barrier or partition typically needs a 45 minute rated door.  Cross corridor doors in a one hour smoke barrier are typically 20 minute rated.  The labels are normally on the hinge side of the door about 5 feet off the floor.  But not always.

On these doors, you can see the labels on both sides on the hinge rail where we would expect to find them.

What happens when there is no label but you're pretty sure that the door should be rated?  It may even have wire glazing in the opening, but there is no label on the side.  Well, here is where I have to break my "No Selfie" rule.  Up until recently, some door manufacturers placed the labels on the top rail of the door.  This can be challenging to see in a standard walk-around evaluation of a building.  But if you place your phone camera on selfie mode (and stretch real high), you can usually find the label, if it is there.

No style points but I can read that this door is a 20 minute fire door.

Unfortunately, there are times where you just have no luck.  The label may be on the side but it is painted over.  Or missing.  

Here is a door that probably did have a label on it, based on the rectangular surface marking.

In these cases, qualified contractors can field certify doors and relabel them.  Quite frankly we see this a lot.  And with NFPA 2012 requiring yearly inspections of all fire doors in nursing facilities and hospitals, the absence of labels should be addressed in any CMS type facility.

And here's a bonus...

Can you find the door in the above photo?  Obviously, there is a set of uneven doors there, but the facility has "hidden" the door from dementia patients.  They went so far as to include a lit candle in the vision panel and allow light to come through around the flame to make it look like it is burning.  The problem is, in the very first section covering doors in the International Building Code, it says "Means of egress doors shall be readily distinguishable from the adjacent construction and finishes..." and "shall not be concealed by curtains, drapes, decorations or similar materials."

The above case, which may dissuade dementia residents from focusing on getting out, is probably not meeting the intent of the code here.  I always imagine egress features as if I was looking at them through a haze of smoke and ash, because that is when you need to see the way out the most, right?  This paint job is rather convincing.  In a smoke filled building it may be too convincing.

The information presented above is intended for general information only.  It is in no way intended to provide building or life safety guidance for any specific project or for any specific jurisdiction.  Always consult your local authorities or hire a professional for any particular project issue. 

Gingerbread 2016

You wouldn’t think it, but one of the most hectic times of the year in our architecture firm is the annual Gingerbread display in December.  Started before my time here in 1987, the ‘Display’ as it is known has grown from a simple gingerbread house display on a countertop to an immersive, larger than life experience.  The original objective was to create a fun activity for our clients at our annual Holiday party held each year in the first week of December.  Every year we say it is too big and should be simplified, and every year it gets just as big, in one way or another.

A lot of people spent a lot of time on the display.

This year, the idea was to do a simple streetscape in the city, 3 story townhouses in an ‘L’ shape.  Sounds good, right?  Until the scale of the display doubles from 3/8” = 1’-0” to 3/4” where the size of a 6 foot tall person in the display grew from just over 2 inches to 4 1/2”.  For someone who makes a lot of the people for the display, this was a big deal.  Normally we can reuse a lot of the people from year to year.  A Santa from last year is just as good as a new Santa.  But not this year.  All the people to populate the display had to be made from scratch and twice as large.

The simplicity of the theme this year was diluted by the idea to include some “Underground” activities, even though these ideas were not really hashed out.  During the initial meetings, all that was discussed was a ‘Rat City”, which I thought was distinctly Un-Christmassy.  So when it came to sign up for Display entries, rather than doing a house I decided to work on the Underground, to make it more festive than a subterranean city of mutant rats.

I don’t know when exactly I got the idea, but I think I Googled something like “Santa on the Subway” and I came up with this picture:

The concept photo (credit:BRENDAN MCDERMID/REUTERS)

One way to enliven the Underground was to fill it with dozens of Santas.  To be clear, the intent was to have a subway station stop with all the department store Santas getting off work and on their way home to their own families.  So I thought that several of us could work on doing a subway station, since that fit well with the Underground theme and as part of it, I could make a lot of the Santas to fill the platform. 

Along with one other co-worker and my two kids, we embarked on creating a Subway scene for the Display.

Step One:  Make Fondant Santas.

Step Two:  Make more Santas.

Starting the Subway car and platform.

The completed platform.

Santas headed home.  If you look really hard, you'll see Where's Waldo.

Simple, huh?

We thought this looked like the clock tower from Back to the Future, so we made Doc Brown & the DeLorean.

No Display is complete without a dragon!

The movie theater has a working tablet showing the Mickey Mouse movie on the inside.

There you have it, one simplified Display.  Hopefully next year we don't decide to simplify it too much more.  It'll be life sized.

If you're interested in the whole process of the Display, start to finish, I wrote a series of posts describing it starting here:  Gingerbread 2013: Part one