Long before I became an architect I was fascinated with the hidden spaces of buildings: the service stairs, attics, crawl spaces – the guts. Maybe it influenced be to become an architect, who knows? In college, I took a trip to NYC’s Grand Central Station (see photo). Those three large windows are actually six windows – outside windows and inside windows, with about 4′ of space between them and catwalks at each floor. Well, curiosity got the best of my friends and me and after finding out how to get into those walkways, we were “escorted” out of them (pre-9/11 security mind you).
So I’m going to court today to try to collect against a client who hasn’t paid me in six months… I’m trying to walk a fine line between not coming off as an a-hole and being able to make my mortgage payments.
So I tried to negotiate a payment plan of some ridiculously low amount each month over what seems like forever, and they didn’t even pay me that! Court is today and I got a call last night from the client’s husband saying he wants to meet me this morning to pay me half the money and will pay the other half at the end of the week. I debated what to do and this is my solution…
I’ve gotten a lot of flack for living in Trenton, and to be fair, I gave a lot to my wife (who was raised here) before we moved here in 2006, but since coming here, I’ve realized there really are a lot of great things going on in Trenton. We have more than our share of problems for a city of our size, but it’s amazing the things you can find when you look past the grimy outer appearance of the Capital City…
Recently I stumbled upon a website that showcases just a few of the great things in Trenton. Hidden Trenton gives reviews on some local businesses and helps advertise upcoming local events. Many of the items I already knew about, but some I didn’t – so for all you Trentonites (I hate the Trentonian newspaper so much, I’m trying to get a new term put out there), and everyone within driving distance of the city, take a few minutes and see what you’ve been overlooking!
I would so put this in my house for the attic if I had a closet to use
I’ve always like alternating tread stairs, but the way this bookshelf is integrated into the stairs is awesome. I can definitely imagine this as stairs to an attic, behind a hallway door. It would look like a closet full of books to most people, but still provide access when you need it. If I had a closet that I could give up to do this, I would start building it today.
For those of you who think stairs are nothing but a means of ascension, I have a site for you…
Step Up on Fifth Receives 2010 AIA National Honor Award for Architecture
I think the American Institute of Architects (of which I am a member) tries to focus on “trendy” architecture to the detriment of the overall profession. The project shown here is a recipient of an honor award and I don’t know why… I mean, there are some features that may be great, but to me this looks like a 1950′s hotel that got a bad paint job. Really, why are these things being built? What client has the money to let this get designed and constructed and didn’t think about the way this would look 5 years from now? This type of fad laden design will appear as out of style in 5 years as your parachute pants and the lines cut into your eyebrows. Don’t you realize buildings are harder to change than your wardrobe? Why would you spend so much money on a project that you won’t be able to sell or rent when it becomes outdated before the first lease is up? (more…)
To amuse myself on this, the thirty third anniversary of my arrival on this planet, I have brought together a collection of things that got past not only an architect, but got past the building review, the contractor’s site super, and ended up actually constructed somewhere! I always wonder why everyone involved lets the work get to this point without raising a red flag and saying “WTF?” (more…)
There are 6 hospitals within a six mile radius of downtown Trenton – four “regular” hospitals, a children’s hospital, a prison hospital and a psych hospital. If you expand that radius just a little, you can pick up two university hospitals and another children’s hospital also. So either the people of this area are really sick or are paying too much for health care that they can support this many hospitals. So there are also two hospitals under construction and one more being talked about. These will replace existing hospitals and not add to the count, but in this economy, that’s a lot of dollars going to construction!!!
Now before I take this post into a rant about health care and insurance, let’s steer it back to architecture – both ongoing and potential.
Sorry folks, no blog post today as I am on my way to my brother’s wedding in Pittsburgh. Come back on Monday, June 7th for an all new blog post on the next amazing topic… In the mean time, I should try to think of one.
I guess you could always check out the daily posts of contemporary architecture featured at http://architectureblog.tumblr.com/
Do you feel a little cramped in your small apartment or house? Do you feel you need more space? Maybe you just need some of these cool ideas to get your space to work for you
In case you haven’t seen this… here’s a guy who really knows how to use a small space:
So you’re not ready for that – I mean who wants to move the TV wall each time they want a cold drink from the kitchen that’s behind it? And who wants to sleep on top of the bathtub when they visit you? However, this reminded me of a studio course I took at RPI on mobile housing which explored a lot of these types of techniques. Most of the concepts are modifications on luxury RV’s or private yachts which have fold-outs, flip downs, and the like throughout them. So I started back down the path of looking at cool uses for small spaces and seeing what I could find. Here are a few…
Maybe you just need a little more storage?
Put your whole kitchen on a lazy susan
Lofted sleeping areas are quite common in small apartments
You could just buy a loft furniture system
Here’s a new twist on the old Murphy bed
I’m not ready for this, but it is intersting – toilet, sink, shower and storage all in one!
So, as usual, I have found a product based on a contractor’s recommendation. This time it’s for custom tile showers – a product called Wedi Board which is an insulated interior sheathing for use behind tile in bathrooms – including in showers. In fact, they make pre-sloped water proof shower bases ready for tiling. They also make specialty pieces for their system like 4 high curbs, shower benches, and wall niches. I actually just saw them use this on the HGTV show “Holmes on Homes” (one of my new favorite shows) and it reminded me of it.
Their website is a beast to navigate, so just download the huge pdf brochure and browse through it.
So I’m going to court today to try to collect against a client who hasn’t paid me in six months… I’m trying to walk a fine line between not coming off as an a-hole and being able to make my mortgage payments.
