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Hi, Andrew.
While I am currently employed managing a department that now has no staff (put my last guy on day-to-day yesterday morning as billable work is available; we’re in a bit of a lull before some new contracts kick in) and focused primarily on marketing to fill the pipeline, your question prompted this notion I might try if I were in…[Read more]

What do you think that looks like organizationally speaking? Yes – been thinking about it for a while wondering if its too crazy to bring up….I think it could work….just don’t know how…..
More ideas?

As someone who relies heavily on computers, even in schematic, it certainly makes selling the project to the client and to a municipal board MUCH easier. The old ‘cartoony’ style of presentations left a lot to the imagination and individual interpretation. The concepts were ‘optimized’ using artistic license to the point that the finished product…[Read more]

This is a good discussion. The common “thread to the thread” seems to be that graphic representation is important, but it does not substitute for knowledge and understanding about creating the built space.
I don’t use black & white line work because I think it works better. I use it primarily because I lacked hand drawing skills early in my…[Read more]

I’ve monitored this thread with intense interest. I’ve also refrained from tossing in my 2 cents because i have a very strong opinion. I hate the photo-realistic paste-up renderings that look and feel like scrapbook hobby work. I realize this is a harsh judgment. Yes, I have to cede there are probably good pieces that have been done, but, to me,…[Read more]

Pencil, pen, marker, mouse, keyboard, camera… they’re all tools. Means to an end. Digital technologies have made some aspects easier, yes. But it’s the use of those tools that makes something better, not the tool itself. Digital may save a great deal of time for a creative, talented designer, or allow them to move in new directions with new…[Read more]

Brilliant. I was thinking this for a while as well. My line of thinking was to offer review services on some large scale projects, such as whats going on with the National Mall. We do have public input (taken with a grain of salt, I’m sure), but I think targeted PROFESSIONAL peer opinions, or even charettes, would be very beneficial to these kind…[Read more]

NO

No! About 1.5 months now…

NO!! 13 months

Final week of your status, situation and outlook, please offer it.

I can assure you all a complete wrap-up and summary with a week from this coming Friday.

The results and responses so far have been very revealing and all over the map. I also fully intend

to submit this to ASLA and see if it shakes their cage into being a little more proactive…[Read more]

Thanks Trace.

Great to hear of examples that have gone before. Sounds like some great fertilizer too! Recycled Philly Cheesesteaks!
This stuff is relatively new to me as I don’t spend much time in big cities and have never lived in one. Closest I get is Sacramento and some, including myself, would argue that it isn’t a true big city.

It seems…[Read more]

Thanks Nick.
From my perspective and experience… In my ‘small’ community, and immediately surrounding us, we have this problem and the city is absolutely partially responsible.

Two examples- (My neighbor is a building inspector for the city. Through him I have stories to list that would make Santa Claus’ list seem like a small honey-due…[Read more]

Vacant lots in Philly and New York have been co-opted by neighbors in a movement that started years ago,the
“Community Garden” thing..In the eighties I had a nice 12×8 foot raised plot for my veggies in a W. Philly lot that the neighbors had reclaimed, removing the rubble brick by brick..
Don’t know the legality of that lot, but I do know that…[Read more]

In DD, with a computer one cannot FEEL the design principles and elements come alive as they do when pencil dances with paper. For me, I rely strongly on FEELING the design. I just can’t on a computer. There is a connection between the hand and mind as my hand develops and traces the composition. Just me though.

Design for me is evoking a desired…[Read more]

I remember reading about this a year or two ago, but I didnt think they had implemented any of the plan at that time. I remember hearing about Flint, MI and entire city blocks going vacant and turning into public safety hazards.

I think it’s a very compelling idea- reclaiming unfeasible urban development. Whtever the city officially decides to do…[Read more]

I’ve thought to myself more than a few times in the past few years that some of the new plazas and public spaces designed and built recently look like sketchup models- In my mind this is because the places look ‘plastic,’ and catalogue-y if that makes any sense. Is this because the designer relied too heavily on the computer through the conceptual…[Read more]

Speaking from the residential design perspective, technology has enabled inexperienced designers to make professional looking presentations. However, I feel like I benefit from that as an experienced designer (RLA) because I do focus on the idea behind the design and marginalise the graphic presentation by using black and white line work…[Read more]

surprise: disposers are factory-tested on frozen steer bones, so can easily handle peach pits – allowing for a bit of noise, of course; perfectly ok to grind bones, as long as they fit w/in the grind chamber and don’t just spin around vertically. mango pods tend to get jammed in the grind chamber because of their size.

Yes, this topic tends to generate alot of misinformation/misperception, vs. looking at the research (e.g., water consumption); it has been a more legit issue with respect to commercial/food service disposers, which conventionally run continuously along with a water feed, but water-control sensors are available that minimize water use when the…[Read more]