My old stomping ground – Excellent PGH work

This is very close to my first professional office out of school, and makes me want to return to see the other changes to South Side. Wouldn’t be too bad to take in a Steeler playoff game, either.

This from inhabitat.com - http://inhabitat.com/modern-biophilic-sunroom-heats-a-19th-century-pittsburgh-house/

This nifty greenhouse and sun room sits atop a 19th century row house in the South Side Flats of Downtown Pittsburgh. While the sawtooth roof may look contemporary, studio d’ARC actually borrowed the profile from the building’s original greenhouse erected in the ‘70s. The design has lost no punch as it contrasts with the dark factory brick homes of a century ago. Using passive heating the project also helps warm the lower flats — like the original design, but with new efficient equipment that also pumps fresh air into the building. Tenants are given much-needed space to garden and can hang out on the sun deck while taking in the city views and sun rays.

Kicking it, old school

I came across these images as we were cleaning up the servers, and was feeling nostalgic. Imagine that – hand sketches and photoshop.

This makes me wish I had time to sketch today, but I don’t, so instead I’ll  just post these as my offering to the sketch gods.

hand sketch 1

hand sketch 2

“Revolution, baby.”

As I am working up a plan to try and salvage a large-scale residential project by taking a more in-depth look at the pro-forma (no small feat considering how land and housing prices have changed), I am reminded of the design successes we had on a similar project in Tempe in 2006. That project, too, was about more efficiently utilizing the land and doing it in a more appropriate way. It was also about playing directly to the specific location (a group of properties adjacent to Arizona State), so the product offering was very dependent on place – focusing mostly on student housing and working within the existing zoning requirements. Unfortunately, that developer also could not weather the coming economic storm, but the lessons learned there apply to the work we are doing now to understand just how exactly new projects are supposed to get built in the new economy.

The good news: The days of “build it and they will come” are over, at least for the near future.

The bad news: The inverse that seems to be in play, “perfect build” let’s call it, is much deeper water than we architects are used to. The product needs to be spot-on. Exactly the right price. Exactly the right style. Exactly the right size. Exactly the right location. And while the design is humming without hitch, it needs to be equally matched with an over-performing financial analysis that the banks will take notice of so developers even have a shot of  getting a construction loan.

At least in the metropolitan Phoenix area, I can’t really complain about this “new rules” condition. I have watched almost an entire generation build mostly shoddy homes in areas that should not have been built on anyway in further expanding concentric rings away from center city. In addition to being over-priced, the obnoxiously bad home and development designs were outdone only by the shockingly bad workmanship (and that fulfills my sweeping generalization quota for this paragraph). My industry, the building industry, has certainly “made our bed”.

So, what’s next then?

As the rock band Silversun Pickups would sing…”revolution, baby.”

Exterior Rendering

Section 1

Section 2

Floor Plan

Seattle Eco Townhomes Post Gains

Rising house prices? Really?

Even though this is about a different locale than Phoenix – good news is good news.  This is an excerpt from the Seattle Times that explains how a local green certification program is helping to support effective development.

http://www.ecohomemagazine.com/green-building/seattle-built-green-homes-grew-in-value-in-the-last-two-years.aspx