group[spritz]

 i'm on a group chat with my college friends.  my college friends are some of my best and the group chat doesn't disappoint.  we're all a little odd, but on the same page.  one person mentioned drinking spritz's so fourth of july turned into this. 

 

 

 

finally found the [exet]er library

 the exeter library by louis kahn is surprisingly hard to get into to view.

after a few years and several attempts it finally worked out. i found myself in that neck of the woods during spring break, which meant the public could tour the library and take pictures...since there were no students studying.

i'm torn.  there are very few spaces that give me a sense of awe as i walk into them.  this was one of them.  however i'm not sure if it's because it's actually an awe inspiring space or if it's just because ii studied this building back in architecture school and i finally saw it in person.  either way it was an incredible space to walk through and i'm thankful i took the time and patience to finally see it.

[college]friends

not sure if it's true for everyone, but the friends you make in college are some of the best you ever make. 

now there could be a lot of reasons for this but in my case i know it's because we all went through architecture school together, more specifically, studio.  all crammed in together, weeks upon weeks of working on projects, pulling all nighters to finish, cramming for tests, being cut off socially from the rest of the student population and then celebrating at the end of a project.  we went through a lot together.  it's no wonder my architecture friends stay in close contact to this day, texting almost daily on one long, continuous, rambling group text, that proves we've achieved lot since college but have matured only slightly.  but always being there for each other to celebrate the accomplishments and there to support each other through the difficulties.

all that being said, my college friend ryan was passing through town, so we took that as the perfect chance to get off the text chain, enjoy some beers in person and celebrate his first kid coming into this world very soon

 

 

just a few [b's]

the older i get, the less i need to be happy.


and it's not even like i'm *that* old (although this birthday puts me closer to 40 than i'd like) i think what i mean is that as life gets more complicated and sometimes more stressful, little things mean more to me than they use to.

all these thoughts came about when my wife asked me what i'd like for my birthday.  after some thought i told her, "bbq, beer and basketball."

one of the absolute best things about my birthday is that it falls during march madness and this year my alma mater was playing in the elite eight.  so for my birthday my wife took my to my favorite bbq place, found me a great spot at the bar right in front of the tv and with a little sweet talking she got the bartender to put on the game....which no one else in the place cared about.  upon hearing it was my birthday, the bartender even gave me a beer on the house.  so there i was, another year older, beer in one hand and a fork full of brisket in the other, a little bit of bbq in my beard, watching college basketball and grinning from ear to ear.

although my team lost, it was a wonderful night.  who knows, if this "appreciating the small things" trend continues, maybe all i'll need to be happy at 70 is an ice cold dr, pepper!

and for those damn kids to stay off my lawn.

rain[break]

sometimes taking a break can be a good thing.

for my bachelor party, the only thing i wanted to do was to see a game at wrigley field.  i'm not a huge cubs fan but as i've stated earlier i do love baseball stadiums and i wanted to cross wrigley field off my list.

the game tickets were purchased, the airbnb reserved and flights were booked.  all the planning was coming together beautifully, however one thing we couldn't plan for was the weather, and it ended up being incredibly nasty the day of the game. so nasty in fact that the game was canceled.  i was pissed and disappointed.  the only thing i had wanted to do to celebrate my "single-dom" was to touch the ivy and it wasn't going to happen.  luckily for me my friends rallied and found several places for us to chill in chicago.  one of the spots was the chicago athletic association, which  had a floor filled with pool tables, shuffle board, classic board games and a boccie ball court.  the afternoon was spent shooting pull, throwing boccie balls and drinking beer.  in the same building we ventured to a roof deck featuring amazing views of millennium park.  later that day we found a fantastic brewery and a phenomenal taco place.  later on in the night the details get fuzzy but judging by the pictures on my phone, a good time was had by all.

slowly waking up the next morning with a slight hangover and the smell of stale beer in the apartment i realized something.  the rain out the day before meant the cubs players could take a break in a busy schedule.  i was taking a break from the craziness of wedding planning to hang with my friends and my friends were all taking a break in their lives to celebrate with me.

breaks can be a good thing.

breaks were the whole reason i got to spend a quality weekend hanging with some of the best guys i know.

and hell, it's kind of nice to still have that bucket list item unchecked.  it just means i'll have to take a break some other time in the future and see wrigley.

heading back to maine at the end of that weekend i knew life was going to get hectic the next two months as the wedding date got closer.

game on.

[home] away from [home] away from [home]

there have been places in this world i've traveled to for the first time and for some unknown reason they felt like home.

ouray, colorado
manhattan, kansas
san diego, california
portland, oregan
austin, texas

and now...

boothbay, maine

it's a hard feeling to describe, how someplace can just *feel* like home, but as i look over the cities on my list, i know it has something to do with expectations, first impressions and instant memories.

as a kid growing up in kansas, colorado is a magical place. drive just eight hours and you're in a whole new world.  i couldn't wait to visit ouray, colorado as a kid.  i was told we would be staying in an old hotel in a secluded mountain town and that's exactly what we did. becoming friends with the family who owned the hotel may have helped add to the experience. i was able to explore a place which had been in operation since the 1800's, an amazing adventure to have as a kid and exceeded any expectations my little adolescent brain had.  memories from that trip have stayed with me to this day, including the best peanut butter pie i've ever had. it felt like home.

manhaattan kansas was a different feeling.  i was trying to decide where to go to college and kansas state was not on my list,  i didn't want to visit it and i didn't want to like it.  my expectations were low.  however after spending a day on campus i loved it.  i loved how the limestone buildings bordered the grass filled quad.  the tress filled in their fall foliage put the vision over the top.  in my mind, it felt the way college was suppose to feel, it felt like home.

my whole life i had wanted to visit california. a place where things happened, a place with culture, a place with an ocean.  my expectations were high when i finally visited the state at age 18.  i saw celebrities, i surfed, i saw a shark and i watched the sun set over the pacific ocean. there was just something about california and especially san diego.  it felt alive and youthful. maybe it didn't feel like home as much as i just wanted it to be home; which i eventually did for a little bit years later.

portland and austin were hipster fantasy lands in the mid oughts.  everything in my life i was interested in during that time was pointing me towards these two cities. music, coffee, beer, food trucks, flannel shirts, trucker hats.....these two cities at that time were peaks in the hipster timeline and i was glad i had a chance to visit them when i did.  a home of culture.

boothbay was different.  i had no real expectations, it was just a regular weekend trip.  however upon entering this little village tucked around a small bay, if felt quintessentially maine. lobster boats by the dock and seafood restaurants on the shore.  to add to the experience it was a weekend of their "harbor fest" so everyone was in goods spirits.  in the short time we were there the locals made us feel incredibly welcome. somehow in the middle of all this friendliness i was entered into an oyster chucking contest. a contest that brought more humor to those watching me than anything else.  expectations were exceeded, the first impression was picturesque and the whole weekend was filled with memories and even a few souvenirs.  i was gifted an oyster chucking knife and glove for my effort.

for a few days, i felt a part of a small community.  for a guy who grew up in a town of 2,000 it really did feel like a home...away from home...away from home.

[first] project [worst] crit

this months #architalks topic is [my first project].  so i decided to tell the story of my very first project in architecture school and subsequently the worst critique of my life.


fall of 2002, i had completed three years of engineering school and had decided to start all over in architecture. since i had several prerequisites completed the college of architecture, planning and design, let me start in 2nd year, which was the first year of architecture "studio."  as i sat there on the first day not knowing what to expect or how to act, we were handed our first project.  it would be a case study of a famous residence built by an architect.  i was given a partner and a house.  we would be studying the "gropius house" designed by the modernist walter gropius. we were to study, analyze, draw, model and present our research. 

"ok, that's not so bad, i can do that." i thought to myself.
  
i then proceeded to approach the problem in a very "engineer-ish"fashion as i had done the last three years of my college career.  i found pictures and floor plans of the house, which was hideous in my opinion, and used the drafting skills i had learned in engineering to reproduce them by hand.  my partner and i built different pieces of the model and by the end of a few weeks had what i though was a perfectly complete project.  i had done everything on the list of requirements.  i believed i was perfectly prepared for this thing my classmates called a "crit."

i was wrong.

on the day of the crit, i overheard my classmates discussing how we were going to have two professors known to be extremely tough critics for our review.  i wasn't worried, i mean i had done all that was required. my partner and i were the first to present.  a position i would later learn was one of the toughest.  my partner and i spouted out what we had read in books and online, and would occasionally point at the drawings or the model. after about 10 minutes of regurgitation, we opened it up for questioning, which i though surely there couldn't be any to ask.  

the first critic spoke up and said "that's great, but what did you learn?"


"i just told you what i had learned." i said.

that's where it started to go down hill.  they asked questions regarding site placement and orientation, or why walter used the materials he did.  almost all of the questions were answered with "i don't know" with an ever increasing sarcastic tone.  it should also be noted my partner was more of an introvert than i was, and as the crit got worse he got more and more silent, leaving me to defend our project by alone.  the questions and answers got worse until one of the professors finally asked,

"did you even care about this project?"

to which i said confidently and matter-of-factly, "no, i didn't"

"well it shows. in your drawings, model and presentation." they stated back.


after that fact was out in the open, the crit actually became very educational.  the critics stood up and started pointing out features, details and design moves completely foreign to me.  they pointed out how important the site of the project was and how gropius had broken up the landscape into different areas with the house.  how the style reflected the teachings of the bauhaus but with new england materials. how glass block was used to filter the light and create a transition from exterior to interior.  i stood there amazed at everything i was now learning.  the building started to make sense.  everything had a purpose,  this isn't some strange white boring box in the middle of a field, rather this house was actually derived from the site.  not only did they educate me on the building but they went on to explain the importance of presentation drawings  and how they should be placed on the board.  not haphazardly, but rather with a purpose.  

as i sat back down i saw the "glad that wasn't me" look on my classmates faces.  years later, usually late at night, my classmates would still talk about how bad that second year crit was.  it would in fact turn out to be the worst crit i had in school, however it was the most educational.  lessons learned from that crit still echo in my head every time i design a building, figure out a detail or make a note on a construction document.

does this have purpose?

the gropius house went from a building i thought to be the ugliest thing i had ever seen, to becoming the representation of everything i love about architecture. 

i wonder what would have transpired if i had been given falling water.

please take the time to view the posts from the other architects in the #arcitalks community to read about other [first projects]


Bob Borson - Life of An Architect (@bobborson)
My First Project: The Best Project Ever Designed That Wasn't

Marica McKeel - Studio MM (@ArchitectMM)
My "First Project"

Jeff Echols - Architect Of The Internet (@Jeff_Echols)
My First Project - Again

Lee Calisti, AIA - Think Architect (@LeeCalisti)
first project first process

Mark R. LePage - Entrepreneur Architect (@EntreArchitect)
Our First Architecture Project [#ArchiTalks]

Lora Teagarden - L² Design, LLC (@L2DesignLLC)
#ArchiTalks: My first project

Eric T. Faulkner - Rock Talk (@wishingrockhome)
The First One -- A Tale of Two Projects

Rosa Sheng - Equity by Design (@EquityxDesign)
Why every project is my "First"

Michael Riscica - Young Architect (@YoungArchitxPDX)
The Early Years of My Architecture Career - My Role

brady ernst - Soapbox Architect (@bradyernstAIA)
What is Architecture

Sharon George - Architecture By George (@sharonraigeorge)
My First Project - The First Solar Decathlon #Architalks

Emily Grandstaff-Rice - Emily Grandstaff-Rice AIA (@egraia)
Project Me

Daniel Beck - The Architect's Checklist (@archchecklist)
Fake it 'til you make it

Jarod Hall - di'velept (@divelept)
Define First

Anthony Richardson - That Architecture Student (@thatarchstudent)
my first project

Jeffrey A Pelletier - Board & Vellum (@boardandvellum)
Top ten tips when faced with a challenging Architectural project

Aaron Bowman - Product & Process (@PP_Podcast)
Community 101

Samantha Raburn - The Aspiring Architect (@TheAspiringArch)
6 Major Differences between my 1st School Project & my 1st Real Project

Kyu Young Kim - Palo Alto Design Studio (@sokokyu)
My First Project – The Contemporary Cottage

Nisha Kandiah - TCDS (@SKRIBBLES_INC)
The Question of Beginning