Expedited Review and Murphy's Law!

Some of you in the bigger cities may be familiar with this process.  This week was my first experience and it took place in Raleigh North Carolina. This process is where you get with the city and select a date that you and all your engineers along with every city staff member can get in a single room all at one time. Once you are there with a pile of the drawings, you give a brief overview of the project and it's scope and then ..... away it goes.  Every member of the city staff grabs their copy of the drawings and begins diving into the details that pertain to them.

I point of this process is to hopefully by the end of the day/afternoon, you will walk away with an approved set of construction documents and a construction permit. The key to this is making sure you are pretty good at having a set of documents that do not have a glitch anywhere in them.  A few minor items are not too bad. The city officials ask questions in regards to their portion of the review and if a few notes need to be added, that architect or engineer makes the corrections/notations in red on the documents (ALL the documents) and the city official stamps them approved.

Every member of the design staff and stamps the drawings has to be present in the room at the beginning or else the process will not proceed. Unfortunately we did not have our mechanical and plumbing engineer at the onset of the meeting. Fortunately, they did not notice. He was an hour and a half late......but we snuck through saying he was on his way.  I got a little bit of grace since I was from out of town.....and everyone of the engineers were as well.

We had performed our standard code compliance review for the project which was incorporated in the documents...unfortunately that isn't what they wanted.  They had a 16 page review sheet that had to be filled out. We had it filled out and right there....just not ON the drawings sheets.  A show stopper! So, we took the sixteen 8.5x11 sheets and one of the our 24x36 code compliance sheets and ran down stairs to a print shop next door. We explained that we needed the sheets reduced and placed on one our large sheet. The print shop said he would have to scan them in and then paste them digitally into the large sheet.....but he didn't do that...his boss did.....and he wasn't in the office yet...AHHHHH! Ok...let's think old school. Ok, make a full size copy of my large sheet..DONE. Ok, make copies of these sixteen sheets reduced by...let's guess 75%...DONE. Ok....give me a GLUE STICK.....what? Yes...A glue stick....like in kindergarten! I took them and stuck them onto the large sheet and then had the guy run the copies I needed.......DONE! That is what I can OLD SCHOOL!

Other than that little drama we were good and received our approvals. The engineer finally got there, signed his work and we were successful. Such a relief!

I really want to thank the staff at the city of Raleigh for working with us and allowing us a little bit of grace for us "newbies".....Thank you so much.

Oh, I could also share with you that the day before the print shop down in Raleigh had received all of our files and was supposed to print them for us and deliver them to the civil engineers office. That didn't happen...well sort of. They printed maybe half of them...no architectural! What! delivered at 5:20 PM. Too late to fix.....so we ran around to find a FEDEX/KINKO's to have them printed before they closed at 9PM. Called one shop, tried to have our office email the files......Murphy's law struck....our internet was done....NO! Finally up, we drove to the FEDEX and it was the wrong one.....no worries this one was open until 11PM. They received the files and began printing 330 copies. Yes.....you read right. They were not used to this kind of quantity of large format printing. They finished up at 11:10, we took the drawings back to the hotel and spread them across the lobby area sorting all the sheets and sets and getting them ready for the next morning. We finished at 1 AM in the morning...but we were ready.

I share all of these things so that you know Murphy's Law is alive and well. And as frustration and worries set, one could cancel, postpone, delay....give up.....that wasn't at option of us. No matter how many of the struggles (several others not shared) we sought out a solution.  A solution to the problems...each problem...that arose.  That's what we do at IONIC.  We are problem solvers. From the beginning of a project to the end...let us find a solution to your architecture puzzle.

That's my crazy story for this week my friends....enjoy yours! NOW LET'S BUILD A BUILDING!

Think Tank Round Table

Tuesday night I was fortunate enough to be invited to a think tank session with a group of local colleagues to discuss the treads in architecture, society as well as a focus on the way we see our clients doing business in the future with integrated furniture systems. I want to thank IBI, Image Business Interiors and Teknion for inviting Ionic DeZigns to be a part of this small group.  Representatives from several of the leading firms were present including, Lyall Design, HBA, Cox Kliewer & Company, Clark Nexan, RRMM, Francis & Reeve.

Some very insightful discussion was presented by Kay Sargent, Vice President of Architecture, Design & Workplace Strategies,  in how we see ourselves, as designers, in the upcoming years. It was nice to hear from other firms in the area about their concerns regarding market change, client demands, economic struggles and how to navigate around these hurdles that as business owners we all face.

Social Media Event

As a follow up to the Social Media in Small Business blurb I sent out earlier. Click here. It was a great evening of discussion, thought and questions.  We want to first thank Women in Design for organizing the event to fit in along with the rest of Architecture Week for AIAHR. Also for Hudson's Building Boutique for being host for the event. There were approximately 50 in attendance to hear just a bit about the benefits of social media marketing and how they can become involved in better utilizing the tools that are already in place out there.

Patrick Matterson with AECOM started off the discussion by presenting a video on social media and its growth in the marketing industry showing how dynamic and important it can be for your businesses. He was the moderator for the panel.

Pratik Kothari from Techark Solutions spoke on the use of mobile apps and how the community is more and more turning to mobile devices over PCs or Macs. The community is on the move and solicits information accordingly. When asked in the audience who had a smart phone nearly everyone raised their hands.

Andrew Craven with Lyall Design Architects spoke about the interaction with certain custom Facebook uses requiring interaction and feedback by others. The interaction with all types of social media has been the essence of what "social" is all about. The sharing and borrowing information from others freely.

Eugene Thompson with Ionic DeZign Studios spoke on the use of blogging for the small business and how even the basic writer can utilize the simple blog platforms to reach many of the audiences out there. By combining the other venues such as Linked-in, Facebook, Twitter etc. one article can become a full broadcast ultimately being recognized during Google searches.

LaTonya Whitaker with H&A Architects and Engineers out of Richmond expressed her ideas of utilizing the social media to track and follow the trends that are surfacing by examining Google Analytics. The information provided on the Internet can create opportunities for business when seeing what possibilities are occurring and the return on good content.  Nothing replaces good content.

The event seemed successful and hopefully encouraged others to find their tools within the social media realm to further their connections and advance their uses of social media to create an awareness of themselves, their firms and their products or services. Should anyone have questions for any of us, we hope you will contact us and share your thoughts.

Tangarine Lipstick

Just read an article about how wide spread the Pantone color of the year has gone.....Lipstick....Tangerine Lipstick! That's right.....well I think it is cool but then again not sure how good I would look in Targarine Lipstick...or that my wife would appreciate it very much.

Article

Past Blog Post

Social Media in the Small Business

Eugene is speaking tonight on the principals of establishing a presence in the business world using social media avenues.  He will be specifically speaking on how IONIC uses its blogging to make connections and provide information on the firms and it's projects.

Books and Mortar!



A corbel dome made of books. (Courtesy Miler Lagos)

When you think of libraries you think of books.  When I think of library history, I think of the old bibliotecas from way back in the day....you know....before grandpa! Or maybe further. I imagine myself going back in time and being able to walk thru one of those old libraries and picking up a scroll or two reading about some new (to them...old to me) discovery. Nevermind about the writing being in Greek or Italian or whatever enchanted language that time has now forgotten!

We were fortunate enough to work on a few libraries that had some romance to them. The Gloucester Library and the Achievable Dream Library in Newport News.

We found this fun article about Artist Miler Lagos is building a library, but think twice before pulling out a book. For his recent installation called Home at the Magnan Metz Gallery in New York City, Lagos constructed an entirely self-supporting dome out of nothing but books.

The structure is prototypical of corbel dome construction, in which stones or bricks are layered atop one another, gradually cantilevering out until reaching its apex. This construction technique is one of the oldest in the world; the Mycenaean Treasury of Atreus, built around 1250 BCE (see below), was the tallest and widest dome in the world for over a thousand years (finally beat out by the Pantheon).  

 

Treasury of Atreus in Greece. (MeRyan / flickr)



Treasury of Atreus in Greece. (Carlos M. Prieto/Wikipedia)

Treasury of Atreus in Greece. (Wikipedia)



A corbel dome at the Great Mosque in Ajmer, India. (Andrea Kirkby/Flickr)



Marina Shores is coming along

Work progresses at Marina Shores to stay on track to be ready for all the summer weddings planned with an army of construction workers all over the site.  Inside, outside up on top and everywhere in between! The work includes a new balcony for the upper wedding venue, new deck for the lower wedding venue and renovating the old KOKOMOS into a space that should handle over 300 occupants once completed.  The building will be comprised of three wedding venue areas handling different levels of occupancy with a brand new catering kitchen to adequately handle the load.


Here are a few interior renderings of what the new wedding venue will look like.

Progress continues at Four Square

Another visit out to the jobsite as things begin to morph very quickly as the wood framing begins and the building profile starts to take shape.  Can't wait to see the Rotunda being framed up along with the cantilevers. It all looks exciting. Let us know your thoughts.

The tenants are already plugged in as Starbuck's, AT&T and Mattress Firm. The plan for Starbuck's takes advantage of the round space with a custom "tasting station" right in the middle.

New Office Building Proposal Revealed

Our office was invited to participate in a proposal for a potential 3 story office building near downtown Norfolk. The site is located on the corner of Boush Street and Maxey Drive, a corner that finds itself flooded often when any substantial rains occur.  The client has often experienced flooding inside their small office due to high waters resulting in reoccurring repairs. The client requested proposals from several qualified and reputable general contractors for the work to be performed.  Ionic DeZign Studios teamed up with KBS to prepare the concept.

The proposal included raising the 7000 square foot structure upwards to elevate above a ground floor parking solving the flooding issue.  A ground floor elevator lobby was raised 24 inches above grade to assist in preventing further repair issues. We presented an optional third floor to maximize the use of the staircases and elevator. The structure consists of brick, limestone panels and tinted glass.

Our office is very familiar with the area since we had completed the renovations of the property right across the street only a few years ago for Dominion Pathology. That existing building also had to be raised on the interior to avoid flooding.

Design like the Master!

Here is a fun little game I found on the internet to learn how to design like Frank Lloyd Wright.  Okay well maybe not EXACTLY but still a fun little game. http://www.architectstudio3d.orgl Try it out and let me know what you thought.

After you are done, give us a call and we can design a custom home for you too. Here is our Fall Homearama entry completed in Suffolk.

Architecture Historic Restoration

It isn't everyday we get to work on a historic preservation project especially one as significant as the Goshen Farms located on the river in Gloucester County. This house was originally built in 1755 and had several wings added on in the early 1920's.  The latest "renovation" project took place nearly twenty five years ago when the current owners replaced the siding and had some roof repairs done. The siding was accomplished very well and is currently still in great shape.  Unfortunately the roof repairs and the internal gutters have failed. Water has poured into the wall cavities (not so much into the interiors - which is why the owners went unaware) and caused some damage to some of the old framing timbers and other miscellaneous support framing members.

This is like going back to school again to remember all the terms used "back in the day" for framing and methods used. Many of these processes are just not used any longer.  Like "Noggin". No this isn't your head! This is the brick and rock infill used in between the large framing timbers. Possibly this was used as insulation, but as many people argue about this as ideas of its originally intended purpose.  Today we would never think about adding wet brick and mortar to the inside cavity of a wood frame structure.  But it has mostly stood the test of time.

Our repairs involve limited disturbance of the noggin as the repairs are being performed.  Some will be required to be removed but will be replaced back in tact as much as possible. This is a very delicate process and modern techniques to assist in further long range plans to prevent deterioration by separating the replaced brick with a barrier.

The timbers that require attention will also need to be carefully addressed. If it is an 8x8 oak timber, we don't want to replace it with a new pressured treated pine repair. The two different types of wood will also react to one another and cause potential cracking and spalding of the plaster on the interior.  We need to get an oak replacement and have it pressure treated and put in place.....oh yeah, no steel bolts! As much as possible we are using the old world method of reattaching these new timbers to the existing structures.  Dovetails, wood dowels, half dovetails, notches and many other than I have forgotten from my history class days in college. Of course all of these repairs must be structurally sound enough for an engineer to feel comfortable to place his stamp on them. McPherson Design Group is working with us on the project to issue we are successful in these repairs.  Their history....in historic structural work...no pun intended...is well known.

There are a slew of other professional experienced in the historic preservation aspect contributing to the success of this project.  Dovetail Construction out of Richmond is heading up the task of coordination in the field while others are handling DHR submissions and supplying materials necessary for the restoration of the project.

Enjoy the pictures as we continue the process.