in the meantime...

from an article I greatly enjoyed: 

"To be a good architect you have to be a lot more than a good designer. You have to be a good communicator, a good listener and good at making other people’s problems your own and then solving them. In the end, that’s why clients will like working with you, because you care about them and take ownership of the problems. Once you figure this out and put it into practice, your world will be a lot better – and probably a lot busier.

I am going to climb down off this soapbox before someone decides to push me off.

Cheers

"

Life of an Architect: the-not-so-sexy-side

dessert.

I'm not getting to everything on my plate right now, and one of the goals for this year is admitting that you can't put "everything" on your plate in the first place! You can certainly go back for seconds and dessert, though.

All this is to say that I've got some exciting opportunities and big commitments over the next month or two and have given myself permission to put the drawing series and the weekly blog entries on pause until a few things have been "shipped."

There will be lots to share soon... the first quarter of this year has been all about getting galvanized and mobilized, so I'll be enjoying the positive consequences of all that, and hope you can say the same!

layers upon layers

Another suggestion in the endless list of things one can use to enhance contour drawing skills is the very complex, many-layered Pine Cone. (cue dramatic music)

I started drawing these while on our annual retreat to the Adirondacks for the week between Christmas and New Years...

I honestly believed that I would get to complete another few whole ones while at home, but apparently that just wasn't reality for this first quarter of 2012.

One excellent feature of the pinecone is that it's overwhelming, so you really have to decide what is drawing your eye, and where you're going to begin - the many layers of "petals," as I came to call them, seem to have no beginning and no end, and this method of drawing does not give you much in the way of dealing with the incredibly deep shadows between them. Thus, the drawings became more like meditations on a single area and that produced its own joy.

expanding horizons

One of the many goals for my involvement in ERA is to expand my horizons - regionally, architecturally and socially. To that end, we have a series called "ERA @" where we embark together on adventures around town. One of our latest additions is the Rochester Arts First Fridays scene, a downtown open gallery night that changes monthly and is either very cheap or completely free, as well as full of great energy and new faces.

One of the unexpected aspects of this particular outing was that I initially struggled a bit to articulate why certain works resonated with me while other pieces just totally turned me off. In some cases it felt like a mere "matter of taste," while in others it was a deep and meaningful response, yet one that I had to search for ways to describe. This was humbling, as it enlightened me to the experience many Clients may be having with architecture, when they make statements such as "I can't explain why, but I just don't like it." We all got into a great conversation about archi-speak and about the ways that we can help others find the terminology for expressing their emotional responses in ways that will allow us architects to interpret them accurately and improve the design accordingly.

Apparently, I had a great time: 

(many thanks to Just Joe Photo for capturing us and the event in general)

complex curves

"... assumptions you tend to make of familiar objects can distract you from looking carefully. Distractions can be reduced and sketches made more interesting... " by selecting man-made objects with complex curves.

I didn't find this exercise as inspiring as some of the others, and decided to take note from earlier in the book where Laseau states "As beneficial as drawing is to the designer, real skill develops from the pleasure that you get from drawing... draw only what interests you... "

Proportion and accuracy of profiles becomes very important with curves, and I noted that a pencil may have helped, however, "using pencil creates a tendency to be timid, either using very faint lines or erasing bad ones. Learning to sketch is the result of continual attempts to reproduce what you see with increasing degrees of accuracy."

don't be afraid of transformation

The 7th "Re-Shaping Rochester" series is my first. I'm very interested in - and inspired by - the mission of the Rochester Regional Community Design Center. 

As part of the Emerging Rochester Architect's "ERA @" series, we've been participating together in some of the many wonderful things already going on around Rochester, in pursuit of our paired missions for Professional Development and Entertainment / Camaraderie. To that end, there were a handful of 'intern architects' from the Rochester Region generously added to the guest roster for Peter Park's inaugural session in the 2012 program, and I was among the very impressed.

His talk was entitled "Transformation: Don't be Afraid of it." I couldn't quite keep up with Peter in drawings or notes, but here were some of my efforts:

(I think they clarify why I hope you'll be seeing some Visual Notes & hand lettering work around these parts some day soon - my rapid work is often not as attractive or legible as the subjects warrant!)

The neighborhoods based removal of the Park East Freeway in Milwaukee and the transition to a form-based code in Denver were among the many city planning initiatives Park had lead and used, successfully, to elucidate his points.

My two favorite parts of Peter's talk were:

1. the fact that many of his initiatives have worked for us in local small cities, or were easily understood as replicable in other places, and
2. his great speaking presence - ice breakers & quotables were not only entertaining, but engaging: 

"I'm Peter Park. I'm a planner. And I think planning matters."
(so watch out for what I say! and yet, I'm here as an expert, and as a passionate individual who deeply believes in what I'm up to... )

If you're in Rochester, I hope to see you at the next talk!

sketching in January

January was so (typically?) intense that I honestly didn't expect to find much when I looked back at the 'daily' sketching series... fortunately, my memory was a bit inaccurate - it seems that I must have truly re-incorporated the sketching habit into my daily doings.

There were the regular arch daily, build blog and life-content sketches: 

quite a few, actually...

then there were a significant number of 'sketching to think' series, including those from my LEED studies:









some from reading "Norwegian Wood: the thoughtful architecture of Wenche Selmer"

still more from "Wood Houses"

and the thoughtful, enjoyable "Think Like an Architect" by Hal Box

Clearly, I'm going to sorely miss my (now expired) Inter Library Loan Services! Do you draw to document / interpret / extrapolate what you're reading? And by the way, what are you reading?!

unpredictable configurations

"several other objects make good subjects for contour drawings. The best are objects whose configurations are unpredictable... "

the next Contour Drawing exercise with Paul Laseau involved shoe laces:

vicarious travel sketches

Sometimes when following Urban Sketchers, I get a pang of wistful wanderlust looking at all these wonderful places folks live and explore...

It is, of course, also good to remember all the incredible places I've traveled to, and to see beauty in the details or abstractions of everyday things all around us, but. Sometimes, you really just need some inspiration.

These drawings are from my National Geographic and NG Traveler, generous gifts that I enjoy on a lot of levels.

 

Do you travel to draw? Draw to travel?

fraternity, anyone?

The Emerging Rochester Architects have really gained some momentum over the past few months. We started meeting again back in April of last year, trying to see if there was any demand to be had for gatherings, study groups and career advancement. This club has existed in various forms over the years and yet I hadn't participated heavily yet myself. The premise for me is that there's so much to gain from the folks who actually get what you're saying, but who haven't already had to spend 40+ hours with you this week! We're a sub-committee of the Rochester chapter of the AIA, so we're fortunate to have a great director and a budget.

We've since had 4 meetings, 4 socials / events, and formed a LEED study group as well as a mentoring program with RIT's new Masters in Sustainable Architecture students. We now have meetings on the 1st Thursday of each month and socials on the 3rd Thursday.

Toastmasters and Rochester Young Professionals may have their place, but I am always looking for ways to grow, specifically, as an architect. And after GHOST, I'm in particular looking for ways to engage in a dialogue that can expand my views and open me to those of others, where the business and joys of design are concerned.

Since April, 4 or 5 key folks (including myself) have become a bit of a planning committee. We've been pleased to find upwards of 10 people at meetings and 20 or more at socials, creating a real sense of critical mass and enjoyable conversations. 

This past Thursday, we threw a "Charrette Party," our attempt to respond to the folks who'd been asking for design competitions and opportunities to do more of the kind of sketching and making they did in school now that they also have technical and professional knowledge. With wine and subs, we gathered to discuss a series of competitions found at Bustler and Death by Architecture, a handful of which just sounded like a lot of fun.




We were hosted at the AIA office, which led to some of our best conversations - the book, 101 Things I learned in Architecture School, was on their library shelf and apparently everyone had read it or heard that they should. I recently skimmed a copy, borrowed from another library, and was pleasantly surprised. It's full of the kinds of zen statements that you may well be aware of, but have difficulty applying day to day... the application of which, we would all benefit from! So, maybe more on that later...

We were very lucky to be joined by a few individuals who wouldn't normally fit into the category of "emerging," but who understood that Architects are forever growing and felt that they could mentor us as well as gain from our energy. At one point early in our discussions of the "winning" competition, we were reminded to dial back and apply a broad, loose approach to programming before diving directly into design. This process of developing our own design methodologies and becoming skilled at remembering to apply them is what will aid us in doing great work even when efficiency may be the focus. 

We were reminded to take advantage of the freedom of no client, no budget, no time constraints... and that this should free us to do the best working process we can and see what kinds of better design result. For me, ERA is supposed to be about just this kind of (scary? but... ) fun personal growth, so that one can be expanded and engaged by comfortable fellowship - by fraternity.

We now have 'homework,' and a plan to meet again. If you're interested in joining us, take a look at the design competition website and mark your calendars for February 23, when we'll hold our Parti Party!

a long december

During the month of December, I became further addicted to Arch Daily, a part of most days thanks to my trusty google feed reader. I find that perhaps only ~30% of the entries are actually relevant for me, but those that are pack a serious punch.

Here's the strongest of my December sketches. Most were developed in a series, towards the end of the month. Most also used a newly formatted 'diary' page in my main notebook and came from projects showcased on Arch Daily. 

I was pleasantly surprised to find myself gaining a lot of momentum and a high level of comfort with the media - simple paper and a mechanical pencil.

I'd love to know how many other folks keep a daily drawing... and where they find inspiration!