Communication in a Yada Yada World

Gary Cooper, as Howard Roark in the Fountainhead.

Gary Cooper was the strong, silent type.  When it comes to writing it is almost always better to use fewer words to express a thought rather than more.  This is especially true in business writing and the same can be said for spoken presentations.  That is not to say that one should haphazardly remove words, or force sentences to their minimum lengths, but a well thought out paragraph should remove extraneous phases and redundancies.  As all things ultimately relate to Seinfeld; this is not a suggestion simply to gloss over the body of the story...

Did Elaine just yada yada the best part?  No she mentioned the bisque.

But this takes some time and thought, as does improving anything, and that is why it seems to seldom happen in business correspondence.  To illustrate, below are some of my favorite quotes on the subject:

Thomas Jefferson quipped, “The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.”

Blaise Pascal said (in French), “I have made this [letter] longer than usual because I have not had time to make it shorter.”

This last historical example I present is not only clever, but ironic.  In Hamlet, Polonius states that “brevity is the soul of wit” in an exceptionally long winded explanation as to why the Prince is mad.  The Queen then interjects, “More matter, with less art.”  Quite possibly the most elegant way to say, “Get on with it,” that I have ever come across.

If I can be indulged a final personal example, I was working with an engineer on faucet specification.  Exciting, no?  There was a major difference between the faucet the Owner suggested (Faucet A) and the type we typically use (Faucet B).  First I received a ten minute phone call from the engineer explaining why Faucet B was specified by them in the first place and how it was more appropriate for use in this case.  Then the same engineer sent me the product cut sheets along with a very lengthy email further explaining the situation.  My task was to distill all this information to get a final decision from the Owner.

I was able to shave 1/3 of the word count from the original engineer generated email and send it to the owner for a value-based decision.  I believe it was clear, concise and yet courteous.  I actually got a note back from the engineer thanking me for sending out the question because, as he put it, my correspondence was what he was trying to say in his head, it just wasn't coming out that way.

The Gettysburg Address contained 270 words, roughly 200 less than this article.  Lincoln’s Address was not the only speech in Gettysburg that day. Edward Everett gave a two hour eulogy prior to Lincoln’s two minute talk and yet no one remembers the former’s content.

For the record, the owner responded the way we hoped he would and used only nine words to do so.  

This post is part of the ArchiTalks series 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 "Communication" and was led by Brian Paletz.  A lot of other talented writers who also are architects are listed below and are worth checking out:

Jeff Echols - Architect Of The Internet (@Jeff_Echols)
Communication and the Question of Relevance

Lee Calisti, AIA - Think Architect (@LeeCalisti)
what does it communicate?

Lora Teagarden - L² Design, LLC (@L2DesignLLC)
Types of communication in architecture

Eric T. Faulkner - Rock Talk (@wishingrockhome)
Talk, Write, Draw -- A Com Hat Trick

Michele Grace Hottel - Michele Grace Hottel, Architect (@mghottel)
"communication...."

Meghana Joshi - IRA Consultants, LLC (@MeghanaIRA)
Architalks #36: Project Amplify

Brian Paletz - The Emerging Architect (@bpaletz)
Communication - What, How, Why?

Jeffrey Pelletier - Board & Vellum (@boardandvellum)
Tips for Communicating with Your Architect, Interior Designer, or Landscape Architect

Samantha R. Markham - The Aspiring Architect (@TheAspiringArch)
Why Communication Skills are a Must for Aspiring Architects

Keith Palma - Architect's Trace (@cogitatedesign)
Who's Bad!

Mark Stephens - Mark Stephens Architects (@architectmark)
Communication

Jane Vorbrodt - Kuno Architecture (@janevorbrodt)
Explain Yourself...

Starting a Design: First Thing's First

I am going to guess I look at the start of a design differently than any of the other architects writing about this topic today.  I think most people picture a person hunched over a slanted drawing table in a dark room, inking lines on vellum under the halo of the single incandescent bulb of an articulating lamp.  While I do get to look at each and every project in our office, my input has more to do with compliance and practicability than design notions.  And instead of ink and vellum, I typically have my codes pulled up on my tablet.  Or I may have one book open on top of another book. 

How TV Shows Portray the Architect.

Normally, I see projects after they’ve taking at least a rough form.  Programming and discussions with the Owner have already taken place, at least to some degree.  Our projects are seldom “simple”, meaning they usually involve a good bit of renovation and connections to existing structures, which means firewalls and other code related goodies.

To get started, I need at least three bits of information.  What is the Occupancy?  What is the height & area?  What is the construction type?  A fourth component may often be:  What are we connecting to?  This is assuming we know which codes to use in this Jurisdiction.

This is What My Desk Really Looks Like at the Start...

Occupancy (or building use) may seem simple, but it can get complicated.  Our focus is primarily senior living projects.  Many of the buildings in communities serve multiple uses.  Are we separating the uses by fire barriers?  Are they allowed to mix?  Can that occupancy be open to the corridor next to that occupancy?

Height and area is pretty straightforward until it isn’t.  First, areas could change due to design changes, so you have to make sure there is some flexibility in the allowable areas or be prepared for heartache.  Do we get extra square footage (SF) for sprinklers?  Do we get extra stories, or is it capped at 4?  Then, where there are more than one occupancy in a building and those uses are not separated, the sum of the ratios of actual SF to permitted SF of each occupancy cannot exceed 1.  And you thought high school algebra was a waste of time!

Construction type is the variable I can help determine.  The further to the right in the code chart, the cheaper it is to build, typically.  But the cheaper construction types are the most restrictive in terms of how high or how big you can build.  So it is a balancing act.  In wood construction you just can't build certain building uses or you can't build them high enough.  In other cases, we have to divide the building into two separate structures, connected at fire walls, in order not to exceed the allowable area.

 

Exciting, Right?

The dance continues.  In a building containing multiple occupancies, you can separate them or allow them to “mingle” together (unseparated).  Unseparated occupancies must abide by all the most restrictive conditions for any of the uses.  This means if you have apartments and assembly spaces in the same building, you may be looking at a higher level of protection in the whole building due to the presence of that one use.  Or you can separate them with protected construction.

A Little Later on in the Process, Code Books on Top of Code Books...

When buildings are renovated or connected to additions, there is another layer of compliance complexity.  If the building is not separated into two independent structures with fire walls, what do we have to do to the existing building to make it compliant with current codes?  Sometimes this is not much, but other times the added square footage of an addition will require life safety systems that aren’t provided in the existing building, like sprinklers, smoke detection or fire alarms.  There are other triggers for accessibility as well.

This May Be Closer to Reality...

This is the stuff I start thinking about when I begin to look at a building design.  A little more than form follows function, isn't it?  And we haven't even gotten to the details yet. Like:  Where's your vapor barrier?  What's the flame spread of that material?  What's the UL of that roof/ceiling?  But early is the time to address these topics.  

Never has anyone ever told me, "I wish you would have waited until after permit submittal to tell me about the flaw in my fire wall!"

This post is part of the ArchiTalks series 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 "Starting a Design" and was led by Jon Brown.  A lot of other talented writers who also are architects are listed below and are worth checking out:

Matthew Stanfield - FiELD9: architecture (@FiELD9arch)
Slow Down. Hold Still.
Lee Calisti, AIA - Think Architect (@LeeCalisti)
where do we start?
Lora Teagarden - L² Design, LLC (@L2DesignLLC)
How to Start a Design
Jeremiah Russell, AIA - ROGUE Architecture (@rogue_architect)
Starting a Design: #Architalks
Eric T. Faulkner - Rock Talk (@wishingrockhome)
On Your Mark, Get Set -- Start a Design!
Michele Grace Hottel - Michele Grace Hottel, Architect (@mghottel)
."starting a design..."..
Meghana Joshi - IRA Consultants, LLC (@MeghanaIRA)
Architalks #35: Starting a Design
Brian Paletz - The Emerging Architect (@bpaletz)
Where do we begin?
Jeffrey Pelletier - Board & Vellum (@boardandvellum)
Where do you start when designing a new home?
Keith Palma - Architect's Trace (@cogitatedesign)
do-re-mi- Design
Tim Ung - Journey of an Architect (@timothy_ung)
5 Tips for Starting an Architecture Project
Mark Stephens - Mark Stephens Architects (@architectmark)
How it all begins...
Steve Mouzon - The Original Green Blog (@stevemouzon)
Starting Wrong - The Amazon Mistake

Renewal

Renewal

I love beginnings. I marvel at beginnings. I think it is beginning that confirms continuation.

-        Louis I. Kahn[1]

To be honest, I was struggling to come up with the stream of consciousness that would stitch together my thoughts with this month’s theme.  I suppose that is appropriate for this theme, like a painter, staring at a blank canvass for the first time.  I have written many posts over the years; some come much easier than others do.

This is LBJ, having a worse day than I am.  I believe presidential photos to be part of the Public Domain.

I started writing regularly about my perspective as a young architect over fifteen years ago.  Cripes, I am old.  Anyway, back then I wrote for our monthly newsletter, which we actually printed out and placed a copy in everyone’s mailbox.  I started to look back at some of the topics, and I am all over the place.  Many of the stories I told are about people who are retired, moved on or in several cases, no longer with us.  I tried to write in a way that anyone could appreciate the story.  While most of my articles had something to do with architecture and my exploits with the Firm, I was just as interested in being relatable to our bookkeeping and clerical staff as I was to the firm Partnership.  I still strive for that universal appeal today.

In searching for ideas for this post, I looked back at the content from all the earlier articles, which I keep on a thumb drive.  My very first article was about how my mom actually interviewed for me at this Firm while I was studying abroad at school.  I wrote subsequent articles about projects I worked on which we have since added onto; about co-workers who very few current employees here will remember; about comical tasks I had to do as an intern; and about technology that no longer exists (remember fax machines and floppies?).  And while some of the articles I wrote have no real value as stand-alone texts, they all lead me to the architect and would-be writer I am today.

I had a professor once tell me that I should finish every thought I have, even if it is on a roll of trace paper that I know I will throw out, because that thought has purpose in the process, even if not necessarily the finished design.  In other words, I may still learn something from it.

Every time I begin anew, whether it be a building diagram or a blog post, the beginnings build upon all the other experiences in my data bank.  Some of those experiences have no relationship to the new destination, other than they are part of the road that lays behind me.

This post is part of the ArchiTalks series 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 "Renewal" and was led by Larry Lucas.  A lot of other talented writers who also are architects are listed below and are worth checking out:
Lee Calisti, AIA - Think Architect (@LeeCalisti)
get out of town renewal
Lora Teagarden - L² Design, LLC (@L2DesignLLC)
Goal Renewal
Jeremiah Russell, AIA - ROGUE Architecture (@rogue_architect)
renewal: #architalks
Eric T. Faulkner - Rock Talk (@wishingrockhome)
Renewal - Re-Ranch
Michele Grace Hottel - Michele Grace Hottel, Architect (@mghottel)
"renewal"
Meghana Joshi - IRA Consultants, LLC (@MeghanaIRA)
Architalks 34: Renewal
Stephen Ramos - BUILDINGS ARE COOL (@BuildingsRCool)
No guts, no glory!
Brian Paletz - The Emerging Architect (@bpaletz)
Renewal
Jeffrey Pelletier - Board & Vellum (@boardandvellum)
5 Tips for Harnessing Renewal to Advance Your Goals
Samantha R. Markham - The Aspiring Architect (@TheAspiringArch)
reNEWal. new year. new goals
Tim Ung - Journey of an Architect (@timothy_ung)
Break Routines
Larry Lucas - Lucas Sustainable, PLLC (@LarryLucasArch)
Renewal is Valuable for Heart and Hometown

Steve Mouzon - The Original Green Blog (@stevemouzon)
The 12 Steps of Sprawl Recovery

---

[1] “The Invisible City”.  International Design Conference, Aspen, CO, June 19, 1972.  In What Will Be Has Always Been: The Words of Louis I. Kahn, ed. Richard Saul Wurman (New York: Rizzoli International Publications).  1986, p. 150.

Choose Your Battles: ArchiTalks

You have to choose your battles.  A few years ago, we went down to Virginia to meet with the local code officials about an impending project for a preliminary plan review.  Every jurisdiction is different in how they apply the codes and we wanted to get everything straight before we got close to formally submitting plans for approval.  The Code Official and the Senior Plan Reviewer were there as well as two representatives from the Fire Marshal’s office.  Everything went fine and we asked our questions and we were able to judge how this jurisdiction was going to be to work with.

When we ran out of our prepared questions, we asked if anyone there had any pet peeves or things they like to see.  It is good to ask this but it is a bit of a loaded question and can also be the opener to the proverbial Can ‘O’ Worms.  It turns out the Fire Marshal doesn't really like vinyl siding or engineered lumber (TGI’s).  Their reason for the aversion: vinyl siding “is like solid gasoline” and “TGI’s fail too soon”.  Now, both of these items are tested and rated like any other construction material.  Both sides of the table knew that the design called for both, and both sides also knew that it was perfectly acceptable, according to all prevailing building codes.  The fact that they don’t like those materials really didn't matter much.  But for a response, we listened and nodded our heads and that was it.  We all knew those two products would be in the project in the end and arguing about it now would only cause our local hosts to feel less amiable towards the out of town architects.  So we basically zipped it while we indicated we understood their point of view.

Melted vinyl siding as a result of a fire.  Photo Credit:  Scott Eklund/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
A little like insanely hot silly string when engulfed, I bet.

Okay, these TJI's might fail on the right...  Photo Credit:  Weyerhaeuser.com.

But their pet peeves were something I had not heard before, and they weren't done there.  We were only about 2 ½ hours away from our home office, in basically the same climate zone, but apparently down there mulch in planting beds will ignite and consume buildings with fire.  The Fire Marshal asked that we keep mulch as far away from the building as possible.  Their cautionary tale is an example I wish I was creative enough to imagine on my own.  Picture it.  It’s free Pancake Day at the local IHOP and the line is wrapped around the building.  (Pancake Day is March 7th in 2018, so mark your calendar).  Someone in line thoughtlessly flicks a lit cigarette into the IHOP’s mulch bed.  Poof – the solid gasoline, I mean vinyl siding, bursts into flames.  No one was hurt, but many a folk went without their free pancakes.

Mulch fires do happen apparently...  Photo Credit:  Trappefire.org.

What do you say to that?  In the end we said we would talk to our landscape designer about running a boarder of pea gravel around the building in lieu of pushing mulch beds right to the exterior walls.  But in reality, we know we wouldn't be able to pay for all that gravel.  There was nothing else we could have said to assuage their fears.  Our meeting was over, it was lunch time, and suddenly we were in the mood for pancakes.

This post is part of the ArchiTalks series 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 "Eureka" and was led by Stephan Ramos.  A lot of other talented writers who also are architects are listed below and are worth checking out:

Mark R. LePage - EntreArchitect (@EntreArchitect)
Limit Their Stress By Limiting Their Choices

Eric T. Faulkner - Rock Talk (@wishingrockhome)
Choices -- Your turn

Brian Paletz - The Emerging Architect (@bpaletz)
A million choices

Jeffrey Pelletier - Board & Vellum (@boardandvellum)
How Do You Deal with Choices During the Design Process?

Lee Calisti, AIA - Think Architect (@LeeCalisti)
choices

Keith Palma - Architect's Trace (@cogitatedesign)
Slow… merge… stop

-->Michele Grace Hottel - Michele Grace Hottel, Architect (@mghottel)
"Choices..."

-->Lora Teagarden - L² Design, LLC (@L2DesignLLC)
Choices

Eureka!

The ArchiTalks theme this month required some reflection.  In terms of major discoveries in my development and career as an architect, I don't really think in terms of surprise

revelations.  As with projects during my 20 plus years, typically the path is long and full of hard work and coordination with others.

I do, however, recall a poignant moment I experienced in my first year at school.

First Year was a bit of a struggle for me.  I had coasted through high school, really.  I was in the top 2% of my class of 300, and never really had to try that hard.  At least not like I had to in college.  I worked, don’t get me wrong, but I didn’t know what work was until architecture school.  Design Studio was a real adjustment.  I initially applied the same worth ethic  in that class as I had in high school classes.  I was always there and I always did what was asked.  But never more.  And in architecture school, that is only good enough for a B, B- maybe.  Sometimes a C+.  Along with all my other classes, I was still able to scrape together decent grades for the first semester.  But as Design Studio was approximately one-third of your credit load, and approximately two-thirds of all the work you had to do, I was just fair to middling in my class.  We started out with a class of 75 freshman students, and as our class shrank very quickly to about 60 that first semester (due to kids changing majors), I was in the bottom half of the remaining class at that point.

This is from a later trip, thus the leaves.

In either March or April of the second semester, the entire class that remained took a trip to Fallingwater.  We loaded up three or four blue Penn State vans, full of 18 year olds and drove the three hours to Mill Run, PA.  It was pretty dreary weather, as Western PA tends to be in early spring.  There weren’t too many leaves on the trees yet either.  In spite of all that, we were about to take over the most famous private residence in the entire world.  I didn’t know it yet but it would change my attitude, and my life.

The Money Shot

Our group pretty much had the run of the place.  As I recall we had almost unlimited access.  Most people have that one “money shot” looking up at the cantilevers from the water in their mind when they think of Fallingwater.  And while that was amazing to see for the first time, my moment came in a much more secluded and private location. But you can imagine, 18 year olds set loose on the grounds was bound to  unleash some shenanigans.  Kids were all over the stream bed, in the water.  I distinctly remember one girl had a white T-shirt on and, well, she got herself soaked.  And inside, had I been a docent that day, I would have been popping Maalox, afraid some kid would get mud on the original rugs or cushions or something.  Aspects of the interior were certainly dated, like the kitchen appliances at the time, but I was in a building unlike I had ever been before.  This was architecture.  I don’t think I had ever experienced it before.  I had hardly been anywhere before, let alone one of the masterpieces of the 20^th century.  Nearly everything you saw, touched, heard or smelled seemed to be orchestrated.  How the floor bled out of the boulders forming the fireplace and spilled outside seamlessly.  How the corner windows melted away to provide unobstructed view of the exterior.  How that one beam went out of its way to allow a tree to grow through the trellis.  How that one desk has a crescent cut out of it to allow the casement window to open.

The Trellis

As the day wore on, I made my way down those stairs that literally ended at the water.  I don’t know if Edgar Kaufmann ever used that platform at the bottom to go swimming, but it doesn’t matter.  I had my moment right there.  I got it.  Architecture is not about physics or calculations or drawing straight lines.  It isn’t even about getting good grades.  Architecture affects human emotion.  That is the point.  And everything I did in school after that changed.

photo: Daderot, CC0 1.0

We got back into those buses to go home with a part of me changed.  There were still shenanigans.  I remember we stopped for gas, and while the driver/professor went to pay, the guy sitting in the passenger seat wrote in the condensation on the windshield “BIG DADDY DON” in huge letters.  Our professor's name was Don.  Hey, we were still kids.

This post is part of the ArchiTalks series 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 "Eureka" and was led by Stephan Ramos.  A lot of other talented writers who also are architects are listed below and are worth checking out:
Lora Teagarden - L² Design, LLC (@L2DesignLLC)
Eureka!? Finding myself amid the "busy."
Jeremiah Russell, AIA - ROGUE Architecture (@rogue_architect)
Gee, golly, gosh EUREKA: #architalks
Eric T. Faulkner - Rock Talk (@wishingrockhome)
Eureka! -- Things That Suck
Michele Grace Hottel - Michele Grace Hottel, Architect (@mghottel)
eureka!!!!
Stephen Ramos - BUILDINGS ARE COOL (@BuildingsRCool)
Searching for that Eureka Moment
Jeffrey Pelletier - Board & Vellum (@boardandvellum)
Finding That "Eureka!" Moment in the Design Process
Keith Palma - Architect's Trace (@cogitatedesign)
Naked in the Street
Mark Stephens - Mark Stephens Architects (@architectmark)
Eureka moments and what do if clients don't appreciate them
Larry Lucas - Lucas Sustainable, PLLC (@LarryLucasArch)
Eureka for George in Seinfeld Episode 181

Passing the Test

I have literally no advice for anyone taking and passing the Architectural Registration Exam today.  I am sure that was not the intent of this month's topic, but I took it so long ago...

How long ago was it?

I am glad you asked.  It was so long ago the Vitruvius only had seven Books on Architecture at that point.  John Ruskin only had five Lamps of Architecture back then.  They were just digging the foundation for This Old House...

From my yearbook...

Alright, it wasn't that long ago, but I did begin in 1999.  It was version 1.0 of the fully computerized test, I believe.  I couldn't wait to get it done.  I think the fact that I didn't know what to call myself until I did finish the exam pushed me.  I was once introduced to a client as "an intern" after a few years on the job.  Then the client asked when I went back to school.  Come on, man!

I completed my hours for the Intern Development Program (now called AXP) in the minimum amount of time possible and registered to take my first division of the test.  I resolved to take one division per month until I passed all of them.  There were nine divisions then.  I took the first exam in October 1999 and finished the last in June of 2000.

There were two other interns in the office taking the exams at the same time.  I remember the three of us rummaging through the mail bin to try and find our letters from the State Licensure Board to see if we passed or not.  You see, you used to have to take the exam at the testing center and leave without knowing if you passed or not.  What's more is, notification was snail mailed to you and, looking at the postmarks, we had to wait a full month after sitting for the exam whether or not you passed.  It was a painstaking wait!

This is all we got and we had to wait about a month to get it!

Older architects would regale us "newbies" on the merits of taking the entire exam over the course of several consecutive days in an old Post Office in Philadelphia, with T-Squares on old doors.  But being in the first generation of computerized testing was also a challenge.  The design software was available for download for practice for the Building Planning and Site Planning portions of the exam.  The software was was rinky-dink and fussy.  Otherwise, the tests were more or less multiple choice on the computer, which sounds easy, but I recall only leaving one exam with a feeling that I definitely passed it.  I was lucky enough to pass them all the first time, but there was one which scared to devil out of me.

Ah, the good olde days.

I forget which test it was, I think it may have been Materials and Methods, but I was at the end of one section of the exam.  Back then the computer saved each section before loading the next section  you were going to take.  After the second of three sections I pressed the "Save and Go to the Next Section" button - and I got a Fatal Error.  I had to get the test administrator to restart the computer.  The administrator couldn't tell me whether the saving "took" or not.  I was left to complete section three of three not knowing if the first two sections saved properly or not.  That was a long month to wait for a Score Report.

Never a good thing.  Really not a good thing on an exam.

Fortunately it came back as a "PASS".  But that is all they tell you in the test report.  If you failed, there was no indication on what you didn't do well on in order to study for the next time.


This post is part of the ArchiTalks series 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 "The Architectural Registration Exam" and was led by Meghana Joshi.  A lot of other talented writers who also are architects are listed below and are worth checking out:

Matthew Stanfield - FiELD9: architecture (@FiELD9arch)
What is the Big Deal about the ARE?
Lee Calisti, AIA - Think Architect (@LeeCalisti)
what A.R.E. you willing to do
Lora Teagarden - L² Design, LLC (@L2DesignLLC)
Take the architect registration exam, already
Eric T. Faulkner - Rock Talk (@wishingrockhome)
ARE - The Turnstile
Michele Grace Hottel - Michele Grace Hottel, Architect (@mghottel)
the architect registration exam

Brian Paletz - The Emerging Architect (@bpaletz)
I forget
Drew Paul Bell - Drew Paul Bell (@DrewPaulBell)
The Architecture Registration Exam
Jeffrey Pelletier - Board & Vellum (@boardandvellum)
What is the Benefit of Becoming a Licensed Architect?
Kyu Young Kim - J&K Atelier (@sokokyu)
Every Architect's Agony
Nisha Kandiah - ArchiDragon (@ArchiDragon)
To do or not to do ?
Keith Palma - Architect's Trace (@cogitatedesign)
Test or Task
Mark Stephens - Mark Stephens Architects (@architectmark)
Part 3!
Ilaria Marani - Creative Aptitude (@creaptitude)
How to Become a Licensed Architect in Italy
Jane Vorbrodt - Kuno Architecture (@janevorbrodt)
Seven Years of Highlighters and Post-it Notes

A Little Ugly Never Hurt Anyone

Credit:  Getty Images

Everything in moderation, or so the saying goes.  In my opinion, this holds true for both beauty and grotesque in the built environment, for without one, the other holds no meaning.  For this month's ArchiTalks, I will let my pictures do most of the talking.

You may look at the picture on the left and see nothing of merit.  How on earth can anyone help this double occupancy room?

The second picture is the same exact room.  There was potential in the room from the first picture.  The designers just had to coax it into existence.  We call it re-invention.

What's wrong with a little decay?  It may be my rural roots, but all I see is a field of new pumpkins next year.

Speaking of decay...  Actually, this one kind of hurt.  But once the damage was done, this building in downtown Lancaster held an eerie beauty.
Before this building was worked on (and inadvertently destroyed) no one ever knew about that painted advertisement on the side of the wall.

Most old buildings are drafty, aren't they?

 Speaking of painted advertisements...  I love these barn billboards.  Yeah, yeah, chewing it will give you cancer....

But just looking won't.  Hey, tobacco was a cash crop here.

This is a building in Lancaster as well, but it has been abandoned for as long as I can remember.  It was once the largest silk mill in the U.S. During the War, they made parachutes there so the windows were blackened to keep Nazi bombers from seeing it.  Over the years it settled into a state of decay that fascinates me.

Utilitarian in its nature, it is simple and brutal beauty in my opinion. The AEG Turbine Factory by Peter Behrens in 1909.

Architects have always been fascinated with decay and ruin.  The Romans built upon Greek ruins, and in turn, the West built upon Roman ruins to develop Neoclasicism.











My misguided fascination with decay may have its origins here. The picture to the left is where I studied architecture for 5 years.

















This post is part of the ArchiTalks series 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 "Ugly" and was led by Jeremiah Russell.  A lot of other talented writers who also are architects are listed below and are worth checking out:


-->Lee Calisti, AIA - Think Architect (@LeeCalisti)
ugly is ugly
-->Lora Teagarden - L² Design, LLC (@L2DesignLLC)
Ugly Architecture Details
-->Jeremiah Russell, AIA - ROGUE Architecture (@rogue_architect)
unsuccessful, not ugly: #architalks
-->Eric T. Faulkner - Rock Talk (@wishingrockhome)
Ugly is in The Details
-->Michele Grace Hottel - Michele Grace Hottel, Architect (@mghottel)
Ugly
-->Brian Paletz - The Emerging Architect (@bpaletz)
Ugly, sloppy, and wrong - oh my!
-->Eric Wittman - intern[life] (@rico_w)
[ugly] buildings [ugly] people
-->Jeffrey Pelletier - Board & Vellum (@boardandvellum)
Is My House Ugly? If You Love It, Maybe Not!
-->Nisha Kandiah - ArchiDragon (@ArchiDragon)
the ugly truth
-->Keith Palma - Architect's Trace (@cogitatedesign)
Behold
-->Mark Stephens - Mark Stephens Architects (@architectmark)
Ugly or not ugly Belgian houses?
-->Ilaria Marani - Creative Aptitude (@creaptitude)
ArchiTalks #30: Ugly
-->Larry Lucas - Lucas Sustainable, PLLC (@LarryLucasArch)
Die Hard: 7 Ugly Sins Killing Your Community