Better Places, Better Spaces

Earlier this week, things got a bit hectic. Overwhelming, to be precise! Meetings, site visits, deadlines, committee stuff, AutoCAD issues...... and then the phone call came from Chris Lockhart on Thursday afternoon. He said (I'm paraphrasing, of course) "Hey, some of the folks at The Grove Church were planning on doing something this Saturday, and we though of heading over to the DeLee Project. Do you mind?"  Mind? My spirits lifted, and  I must have shouted my response into the phone right back at him, "Yeah, let's do it"! I was fired up! Bring it on!! For those who have been involved in any Fuller Center projects and have seen the positive impact that the gift of home repairs can make on a family and the volunteers involved,   you will understand what I'm about to say. I go in a state of withdrawal when there is no Fuller Center stuff happening on a weekend.  Last  summer when we were repairing Mrs. Miller's home almost on a weekly basis, I w...

I still haven't decided whether my Blog will cater specifically to Building Design/Construction or personal stuff. For the most part, I think it will have a lot of design related issues. I'll throw in a joke in every once in awhile...I promise. One of my pet peeves of late has to do with Building Occupancies and Occupant Loads, and to some extent, Building Codes in general. Primarily because of a recent design experience with an Assembly Space, and  recent modifications in occupancy loads. I think all Churches and  other places of Assembly should be fully sprinkler-ed.  I think building owners should have an incentive to include adequate fire-suppression systems, especially in places that are open to the general public.  I think classrooms, conference rooms and cafeterias should not exceed their maximum occupant loads (at all times). I always remind my clients that Building Codes are the MINIMUM Requirements that are implemented by the local Authorities having Juri...

I could remember the days when a solar powered calculator was the most amazing thing I could have even owned! I must have picked up a few new friends back then because of that one cool toy. Where are those friends, I wonder. Who knows? Things have come a long way, haven't they? Laptops, PDA's, iPhones, Blackberries, Netbooks, iBooks...and the list goes on and on. The possibilities are endless. I've personally gone through numerous PDA's, cell phones and finally, now own a Blackberry with it's multitude of functions and applications that, for the most part, keep me connected with the rest of the world. I held out for at least 3 years before finally getting one. Now that I have one, I could kick myself. But then again, I may have learned a very valuable life lesson of delayed gratification and applied it just that once. One of my favorite applications right now is the Sherwin Williams Color Snap tool - take a picture of  a color that you find inspiring (like a flower...