Friday, March 18, 2011

Pre-final biz cards

Getting excited.....prefinal proof! Color tweak, blog rotate up, name bigger, I like the cool f they gave me so much let's do the L, dots at the phone number, Matters align w/ design...then done.

I suppose some may think the leaf represents "green" or sustainability, while that is true, the turning maple leaf represents much more than that for me...it's Dina and my shared Totem....fall rocks!

NOW....I can be proud of passing out my biz cards...in a week!

Thank you Julie and Andrea at sunshine....you are the experts! And willing to tolerate a control freak like me!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Sunshine Printing, Cambridge, MN

Some architects are Posers! Not me!

Too many architects act superior to everyone around them, especially other architects. I want to punch them, but it all comes from a lack of confidence that they either refuse to admit, or are unaware of.

I at least admit that I do not know it all, but am willing to search, dig, beg and borrow to find a solution for my clients. This let's me be real, and REAL gets me projects, and clients that smile long after I have worked with them.

This is a picture of me blogging.....I love the iPad. (with two exceptions...flash and forms that do not allow photo upload)



Looks like I have to paint Dina's toes again....art is art.

I recently toured a few school projects I designed, to photograph. I kept running into my clients!! I could tell you how my projects turned out...but I'll let their smiles and thumbs do the talking:

Here is the community education director, Mary Ellen, happily using the walking track we designed together two years ago!


Here is the lead custodian, in the boiler room, after he walked me around happy with almost everything in "his" new school (440,000 sf school does not permit perfection, but we got as close as possible according to TJ!)


Here is the principal of a different school within the same district, still happy after 4 years in her new school. Lee had great color and huge boulder ideas!


Here is a happy shop teacher...I built a birdhouse in shop class...check the canoes! No thumbs up, but shop teachers are tough! His relatives own the original farmstead that most of the school building brick colors are based on!


Here are his happy students in the spray booth...they don't know me.....but boys with toys, right!?!


A happy teacher is an effective teacher...even science teachers appreciate the intangibles of good design. Notice the interactive white board on the wall behind him. Every morning the entire school gets to WATCH video announcements on these!!!



What really juices me is that almost everyone of them remembered me by name, and wanted to share their "new building" experiences with me.


These pictures were all taken in the same two week period....2-4 years after I helped them design their schools.


Now THAT is something to brag about......the school is BEAUTIFUL, functional, durable for decades, and considerably less expensive to build and operate, than another new HS of similar size built at the exact same time. That too is something I am proud of, intelligent use of our public dollars.......but I am glad every one of these folks can do their job a little better because of these well designed buildings at their disposal. Students are our future.

Call me to help you with your building type.....I have designed almost every type of building....and where I have not, I will call in the experts for you, not PRETEND I know it all, arrogance sucks, rely on the experts.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Cambridge, MN

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Drafter DONE Good!

If you scroll back a little bit (Cosmos out of Chaos) you will see my impossibly messy scribbled field measurements of an apartment. You can imagine how determined the drafter was to get that mess into a useable plan! Quick too. Thanks JON!

Monday, March 14, 2011

Sunshine Printing...first draft

Some font changes, slight proportion, and texture/color options....not sure about photo on back yet?!?!? Comments Desires!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Pine City, MN

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Business card expert to the rescue.

Spent too many late nights and spare moments thinking and doodling logo and biz card layouts. Finally send stuff to Sunshine Printing in Cambridge. Picked paper, colors, and basic direction doodles to pick from:

One:


Two (Bill, look a photo on back):



Logo and color ideas:







Anxious to see what Julie and her staff do with it!!!


Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Cosmos out of Chaos

Friend of a Friend's Friend.

It all starts with a phone call and a quick YES. Then this happens...can you add a kitchen and a shower to a very small space, and put a floor where the stair was. Sounds simple enough - even fun. 

Whoa...now look at all the measurements I took at this very unique little soon to be apartment in an old home currently a law firm!:
Background is being drafted over the weekend - then the squishing begins.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Cedar Rock Church

The pastor at this church updated his LinkedIn profile, and i noticed the churches website has the addition and renovations I designed in 2008 on the home page!

Timber framed entrance, large wood windows, wood and stone interior, fully accessible site and building, entire envelope (walls and roof) redone, and a much improved circulation path connecting up with down and old with new.

All new (and shiny) site work too. Pastor Eric's office is in the corner....not a shared closet any more.

http://cedarrockchurch.org/default.asp




Location:Coon Rapids MN