Boilerplater

I had been meaning to look up the lyrics to that song when I caught the line “From the shotgun shack to the Superdome” and realized there was a big social critique in there to belie the anthemic sound.  I hear ya on the relating thing!

Santa Barbara has had design standards for its architecture from early on, so a very distinctive town character developed.  You’ll probably learn a lot just from walking around the downtown.  There are reasons, besides the climate and spectacular location, that people will pay so much money to live there.

Nellis AFB?  I’ve been on that base…rather dull setting, design-wise, like most military bases.  When I worked in LV, we never used wood for anything because of the way it dries and splits.  You see it on some ’70’s era houses, and it never looks good.  Resin seems to hold up well in the heat, though all of the installations I’ve seen are rel…[Read more]

I’ll do you a notch better! A gnome holding up a slice of a log! http://www.allmodern.com/Kartell-Gnomes-Attila-Stool-8821-KTL1159.html
 
Thermoplastic technopolymer will be a lot easier on falling toddlers than concrete.  Easier to clean and move as well.  Maybe you can get somebody to cast some stumps of the stuff.  The gnome is obviously a hum…[Read more]

I’ve worked in both.  When things get slow in a public sector office, you read magazines and professional publications and hope that nobody who controls the budget of your department notices.  When things get slow in a private sector office, they lay you off.  In a public sector office, you stretch projects out to justify your salary.  In a priv…[Read more]

I’ve been to the Netherlands several times, and have even walked on Woonerven in small, ordinary towns.  They are comfortable and you feel safe walking on them, but most are sort of sterile, in the way that a lot of American gated communities feel sterile. You feel like the environment is tightly controlled and that nothing unusual ever happens…[Read more]

Call me old world hill town, but I think the streets of places like the villages of Cinque Terre in Italy are hard to beat for spectacular scenery abutting fine-grained urbanism. http://cinqueterre.a-turist.com/index.php
These places were obviously not made for cars.  People had to get around on foot, so they had to pack the dwellings in.  But t…[Read more]

In the designer’s defense regarding security, the memorials of this status in NYC tend to have security milling around or nearby keeping watch via video cameras.  I can think of others, such as the Irish Hunger memorial, that are not entirely visible from the street.  If it was open to the street, it would be noisier and less conducive to c…[Read more]

It reads that way to me.  Maybe its time to get licensed in DE.  The state seems to be in slightly better shape economically and you still see building going on.  My Dad lives there, and I realized from this article he’s only a mile or so from the board’s offices there.  Lots of people who were priced out of NJ and southeast PA moved there in rec…[Read more]

The NY ASLA has done review sessions in the past.  I participated once, taught a review for section B.  Look up Stacy Paetzel on here or the NY ASLA to find out more.

Good point Ida.  I recently started reading my 2nd book by Thomas Friedman, “Hot, Flat and Crowded” to better understand globalism.  The pollution produced in China affects the climate for all of us.  The demand for oil in China affects the price of gas in the US.  If there is anything useful we can export, it is sutainable design expertise.  Mill…[Read more]

RE Craig and Tosh’s postings – I was thinking the same thing!  One civil firm that I worked for in Las Vegas completely closed their civil department there and last I heard it has yet to be re-established.  Lots of civil firms are barely hanging on and/or have shrunk dramatically.  Lots of architects are barely hanging on as well.  I see some env…[Read more]

Always enjoy a lengthy Les Ballard response!  Ever considered doing a book?  The Muslim influence on external aesthetics hadn’t occured to me, but I see your point.  The few halal butchers I’ve seen in New Jersey maintain shops reminiscent of Communist Russia in their spareness and low-budget furnishing.
 
Due to the foreclosure crisis, the US is…[Read more]

Since I’ve never read The Plague or have seen Oran (I’m assuming Oran, Algeria, considering where Camus spent much of his time) so I Googled some images of the city.  I really don’t see what he’s complaining about.  With a Mediterranean climate, I’d take it over the kind of crumbling, rusty, post industrial, ghetto-ized messes that a lot of our…[Read more]

Preach on, brother Andrew! 
I’ve felt like I graduated with a prejudice against engineers (uncreative, dull, uptight, unsociable) and developers (greedy, exploitive, disinterested in our “higher” values).  When the relationship is set up like that, no wonder it is dysfunctional! My interest in the field was heavily influenced by what I saw in the…[Read more]

Start by developing a business model that isn’t so fragile, so susceptible to economic downturns.  We shouldn’t be so dependent on new construction when that is so cyclic.  There needs to be more attention paid to how to actually make a living at this.  Many in my class could not find jobs in the field and so went into other fields or went back to…[Read more]

I let mine lapse when I was out west, thinking I’d be able to stay there, but alas, it was not to be.  So I find myself back in NJ.  Since I was out for more than two years, I need to reapply via reciprocity with Nevada.  No Continuing ed requirement, apparently.  I took a month long course in home energy auditing last year that was paid for by…[Read more]

Yeah, they’re about 30 minutes away.  I already spoke to them a while back.  Maybe I didn’t appear to be stable enough after a few layoffs.  I was told they have a problem with people leaving after they’ve invested training into them.  There is probably a reason they have people leaving regularly.  Maybe the boss is a nut job. They often seem to b…[Read more]

Thanks.  I left last spring.  I have family in NJ so it made sense to come back here.  I really prefer the southwest.  Much of the “scenery” here is rotting old cities, bleak strip malls, and sheet metal warehouses.  I’m tired of looking at it!  That’s one of the reasons I moved west in the first place.  At least you still have inspiring scenery…[Read more]

The guy seemed concerned about my ability to tolerate the commute…it would be a horrendous and costly commute if I were to drive from Trenton every day.  I think I’d lose it!  I told him I would find a room to rent during the week.  Might be practical.  His last guy left w/o warning and he thought he just got fed up with the commute after dri…[Read more]