I'm not Frank Gehry and that's OK.

As I rode alongside my boss this afternoon on our way back from a meeting with an owner, we were talking about the fine line between what you learn in architecture school and the real world of practicing architecture. We talked about learning to think differently and having meaning behind each decision made in a design. I'm not sure how the subject came up, but none-the-less it did and it gave me something to think about when I should have been thinking about my next deadline.

I pointed out that there are many that leave school not knowing anything about actually working in architecture (even summer internships are not always reflective of what actually happens after graduation). I, myself, was not entirely sure what to expect when I got into the real world. I luckily had a great professor that, at the time, had his own practice and gave it to me straight on occasion, so it wasn't complete culture shock when I started at Shive-Hattery. Many architecture students think that the moment they receive their diploma they will be designing the next great skyscraper that is going to win numerous awards and be the icon of the city. In reality the first thing you do is red lines in AutoCAD and you will continue to do that for quite some time in many cases.
(I, myself, have been fortunate to have a more enriching experience than treading in sea of red lines 24/7.)

I told Alan, boss and project architect, that I was "afraid of forgetting how to design because I don't do it everyday". The conversation turned to other things shortly after, but when I got back to the office I thought more about it and realized that I actually do design every single day! I draw details (never perfect, but, hey, I'm learning), I organize plans and other components on sheets so that they read and are understandable, I also organize people; I like to call it conducting a symphony of sorts. All of that, among other things, is design even though it's not the skin, mass or plan of a building.

One must find the design opportunities in every situation. Nothing should ever leave your fingers without thought and care. I have always told myself I wanted to design meaningful things with thought and care and I realized that I do it all the time. No detail makes it out the door without intense design. It may look like a simple window frame detail, but then I think of how many people look at that frame as they look out the window.

What I should have said was: "I'm afraid of forgetting how to design extravagant, luxurious, out-of-this-world, nearly impossible and far too expensive buildings" :)

The message really goes to all students, interns and veteran architects out there...just like how your mom tells you to find the good in everyone, we need to find the design in everything. It could be an extraordinary skyscraper, or it could be the clip that holds up the cladding; it's all designed and done with purpose.

Work/Life Balance???

photo: babycenter.com

Part of maintaining sanity is the ever-challenging work/life balance. Architects are notorious work-aholics. Fortunately I find myself surrounded by people who are family-oriented and embrace their free time. I'm not saying that I have every weekend and evening free, but for the most part I live a normal life.
I have spent weekends with my husband discovering our city and all it has to offer. We perfect the art of the latte and usually find a movie to rent. I never miss an episode of Barefoot Contessa; Ina is my culinary hero. These days we find ourselves spending every possible moment playing with our son and thinking about what he will be when he grows up...ahem...architect.

My co-workers do home renovation projects, spend time with family, go skiing and hiking and often don't think about work. That's not to say the office is empty when I go in on the weekends. There are a number of people, and you know who you are, that might as well keep a change of clothes at their desk. I've heard that there is a pillow and blanket somewhere in the office for the occasional all-nighter.

"Work/life balance" seems to always be a buzz phrase. Why is that?
 
It is something most people want to achieve, but always find themselves working far more than enjoying life. I remember talking about it in grad school, but found myself more of a workaholic than anything. And I liked it that way! Jobs and school work were my life and my friends were a part of every aspect of those situations. Studio wasn't so much work but many hours of socialization with the perk of creating cool designs. I was a TA and loved it so it didn't feel like work and I was also a barista at Starbucks...I'd hardly call that work.

Now, as an Intern Architect, it's a whole different ball game. Throw in a husband and a newborn baby and I can't even seem to find my way through my sleep-deprived haze to figure out how to distinguish between life and work. I have learned that having a family and working means you're always working! You go from drawing details, to meetings, to cleaning bottles and doing the laundry without even batting an eye. "Rest" is taking care of personal business when you have five minutes after inhaling your lunch before solving the problem of "how do we support this fire wall without anything to put it on?" (true story).

If you don't have a family and rarely see your friends I suggest a vacation. There is a big, beautiful world out there waiting to be discovered, you silly workaholics.

So what is the real solution? I have attended a few seminars on the subject and walked away thinking about how it was sort of ironic that we were in a room talking about living life rather than going out and actually doing it. Oh man, we might be doomed.

There are some amazing role models and supermoms in my office with 3 kids(!!!), so I know it can be done.

I have settled on a personal solution that I need to work more efficiently during the working hours, enjoy my son and husband as much as I can in the evenings and live life to the fullest on the weekend with my tiny family. I'm only two weeks out of maternity leave and already got a project out the door without any meltdowns; I'd say that's a good start.

It's a Bird! It's a Plane! No! It's a Tornado!

About 4 weeks ago I had a baby. 

This was no ordinary delivery.  With a clap of thunder and a flash of lightening came my son! What I didn't expect to come was a tornado. 

As I was wheeled through the nursery on the way to my postpartum room a calm announcement came over the intercom: "Attention staff. There is a tornado warning in the county. Please follow tornado procedures. Thank you". 

And as fast as that original flash of lightning I was pushed into a supply closet, bed and all (see photo), while the babies in the nursery were pushed into another with a nurse for each in tow. 

While I'm really glad I was not in labor at that moment (2 other women were) I wondered what if I was!? The threat of a tornado is not something you think is going to strike whilst giving birth, but it clearly happens. 

As an intern architect I'm not sure that I've really thought about tornado safety in the projects I have touched (don't worry, the actual architect did), you bet I will from now on! 

In the case of a hospital I imagine it's as much about the procedures as it is the design. A woman in labor certainly isn't going to stop pushing, put shoes on and take the stairs to the basement. They will continue laboring and relocate to the hallway or the labor room without windows carefully thought out for this exact moment. 

This is a huge shout-out to the nurses and doctors that made us feel safe. I wish I could name you because you are truly amazing, but instead I will take the opportunity to just remind designers that the unthinkable happens. Are our buildings ready for it?

"I Came Here Just to Buy Milk"

Image: New York Daily News

I came across this article recently regarding Supermarket Architecture. In a nutshell it tells us that they are designed to encourage us to buy more.

Having worked in a grocery store for probably 10+ years of my life I have to say "duh". As the article states the necessities are in the back forcing shoppers to navigate through aisles of brightly colored packages, inevitably leading to the all too common phrase at the cash register: "I came here just to buy milk!" as the cashier finds 30 items in front of them.

Grocery stores are a fascination of mine (as well as the bane of my existence; I would like fewer options sometimes).  In my European travels I found myself drawn to grocery stores. They are so different in Europe. There are fewer options, making your time more efficient. There is always fresh produce outside and a bakery right in the front offering the daily necessities that every European picks up on the way home. The aisles are tiny and barely fit two people side by side; don't even think about using a cart! They are made from a maze of spaces as builders did not have large open grocery store spaces in mind when they were building hundreds of years ago. And when they are out of a product they are out of it until they get around to stocking it everyone just lives with it because that's how it is.

I recall being lost several times in a particular grocery store in Florence; it just kept going and going, offering turn after turn into what clearly used to be...not a grocery store. Efficiency and necessity are the name of the game in most places other than the U.S. Another difference that cannot go unmentioned is the open air markets that run rampant abroad. The U.S. is picking up on that trend, but not often enough. On a more recent trip abroad my husband and I went to the store for staples like bread, wine and salami every morning, then shopped the Cours Saleya in Nice for fruit and any other small, fresh items we needed for breakfast and lunch that day. The difference is that it was open every day, rain or shine; we could count on it, and back at home the outdoor market is open on Saturday morning from May to October leaving our steeply-priced green beans to mold by the end of the week.

In my time working in a grocery store and now, as a regular shopper, I think about the things that would make them more efficient for the worker and the shopper. They really don't mix, is the conclusion I came away with. Shoppers want it and they want it now, so the store has to have a large supply waiting in the back for the moment it's out on the shelf. I can tell you that I lost a lot of weight running from the front of the store to the back time after time searching in piles of canned goods for that one can of Fried Onions that might have been left after the Thanksgiving rush. While I'm walking the quarter mile to get to the back stock at least 2 other people stop me for a request. By the time I get back to the original customer they would have waited for far too long and sometimes they would be gone. I couldn't blame them.

So what is the solution? How do we please both parties with good design? If you have even an inkling of a solution please enlighten the readers in the comment section below.

Young Minds

Ah, young minds. So innocent and open. It's amazing to see what a kid can do with 20 sticks of spaghetti, a yard of string, a yard of masking tape and a marshmallow.

A structural engineer and I were invited to do a quick lesson for the STEM Institute (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) a couple weeks ago. We decided to go in together and show how Engineers and Architects work together.

We asked each group of about 15 students to work together in small teams to build the tallest structure that would hold a marshmallow at the top. Marshmallows are light, or so they seem...

We had a variety of structures and the tallest of the day that held the marshmallow for longer than 5 seconds was 19". Not too shabby for what they were given. What was great is that every student was aware that the triangle was the strongest shape and they all went for it in some capacity. The string was the least utilized, though one group was really close to figuring it out how to use it like cable on a suspension bridge.

The session gave us a lot of opportunity to explain simply how buildings stand up and how collaboration between disciplines makes it happen. I explained how an architect really can't get a whole lot done without a team of engineers helping to bring it all together and make a building function. The teams that performed the best worked together with each of them contributing in some capacity. It was a good reminder to myself what an important (and often difficult) job it is to keep all the parts running to eventually come together to one vision.

Interns aren't generally the conductor of the orchestra, but I have been given a number of opportunities in my time at Shive-Hattery to take a lead role and do my best to bring the group together. Luckily there is always a project architect looking over my shoulder. It's a role that I have really come to like; it's tough, but incredibly rewarding, especially when things go well.

The key is teamwork and constant collaboration. When those things are carried out in an orderly fashion things just seem to go better. 7th graders did it, we can too!

Congratulations Class of 2013!

I've lived in college towns my entire life. I grew up in Lawrence, Kansas, a place I will always call home. What I didn't notice when I lived there was the change in the city when the college kids left for the summer (maybe they didn't, Lawrence IS pretty awesome). Now that I am in my 3rd/4th college town it's a magical moment. This day, the day after they all leave, I sigh in relief. I get my city back. It's is very lively in the summer, but it's mostly made up of families and professionals enjoying the free music and weekend festivals.

This is not intended to go on about the reason I love summer, but to say: Congratulations to the Class of 2013! I mostly speak to the architecture students who are also sighing in relief that they didn't have to go into studio this past weekend other than to clean up; what a wonderful feeling isn't it? I remember not really knowing what to do with myself; studio becomes so much a part of you that it's hard to leave it.

I hope you recent graduates are met with many opportunities for either a summer internship to get your foot in the door or a full time job that you're so excited about you decided not to even take a week off just to do nothing.

Not long ago the unemployment rate for the architecture profession was 13.9%, the worst of any profession...I can't seem to find a change in that statistic, but I can tell you there are far more jobs out there than there were when I graduated. So don't be discouraged if you're having trouble landing your dream job; these things take time.

If, after those 5 years of grueling studios and endless late nights, you find yourself not terribly interested in working in architecture anymore, that's OK. I went to school with a guy who, upon graduating with a Masters in Architecture, decided he'd rather be a math teacher. Life takes us down funny paths that sometimes don't make any sense at the time.

If you need some job search advice look to my earlier post about job hunting and go spend some time with your career services team; they're there all summer long to help you. But most of all enjoy your summer...I know I will!

Congrats!

April Showers Bring May....SNOW???

photo: thepioneerwoman.com

Happy May Day, all!

The title really says it all...Though I haven't seen it in writing on the weather channel or on the local news, I've heard enough people say it around the office that there is a decent chance of snow where I am located on Thursday. I might need to add that yesterday was 87 at one point and as I type it is 79.

That's what happens in Iowa. There is a saying here: "If you don't like the weather, wait 10 minutes"

I'm sure other parts of the world have the same or similar phrase to mean that the weather is unpredictable, but it's really holds true in Iowa. Yesterday there was so much hail in a city to the North of us that it blanketed the city in white for a time while we sweat it out in 80+ temps and the first humidity I've felt this year.

I could complain all day long, but I'll take this opportunity to think a bit about building in Iowa to cater to the ever-changing climate. Many climates have it really figured out. Nice and open with loads of shade in the tropical regions; large overhangs in areas with constant low-lying, all day sun half the year; screens over nearly everything in Florida, etc...

How do we build in a place like Iowa to take advantage of what mother nature has to offer, whether good or bad? We really welcome the windows in the winter to get maximum sunlight and warmth, but loathe them in the summer when the sun is beating in and all you can think about is how high the electricity bill is going to be. We use shades, but it sure stinks to close off those natural views out.

I think about the apartments I lived in in Italy and wonder if it's a good solution for those of us in varying climates. They have thick as all get-out masonry walls that help cool and heat depending on the season with pretty good sized windows punched through. The thin glazed windows have the typical green shutter with an additional screened shutter to ward off the mosquitoes in central Italy. Tile or wood flooring in every room keep your feet cool in the summer and area rugs and slippers keep you warm in the winter. It did get pretty cold, especially since they regulated when our heat could come on, but we dressed appropriately and hung out in the kitchen if we needed to while dinner cooked or water boiled for tea.

The point of all this is that climate is serious when it comes to designing a building and I worry that it can be overlooked when one is really concentrated on a particular design. Climate conditions should help guide rather than be a burden one must deal with. My solution: take the wood framing and shove it!....well, full of insulation, of course, if we're going to keep using it.

Things to look at when thinking about climate conditions dictating design aspects of your building are:

Passive House
Global Climate Monitor
www.weather.com

That's a few...plenty more resources to google based on your location.

As always, I recommend comments and suggestions from the passers-by out there. I am not an expert, I just see the common sense part of it.