The Best Laid Plans…

By Jim Childress

Center for Community, University of Colorado Boulder, Photo by Casey A. Cass

Anyone who has remodeled a bathroom, or even a broom closet, knows that building projects tend not to proceed as planned. Surprises are common, and the work can take longer and cost more than expected – if one is not vigilant. Even when the execution goes smoothly, sometimes the basic concept is flawed: for example, the outdoor hot tub that nobody uses after the first month due to the resident black fly population and the astronomical electric bill.

Things didn’t go exactly as planned with the Center for Community (C4C) at the University of Colorado, Boulder, which is home to nearly 30,000 students. At more than 300,000 square feet, the new building is much larger than a broom closet and was designed to foster community on a sprawling campus among students, faculty and staff, and even individuals from the surrounding towns. That was the plan, anyway. Read More »

September 15, 2011 – 10:46 am | Posted in Campus Architecture | Comments (0)

Lessons Learned at Centerbrook

By Guest Contributor

Guest contributor and Centerbrook extern Larry Chapman with his students

As a teacher serving a month-long “externship” at Centerbrook this summer to gain insight into “real world” applications of my curriculum, I was particularly interested in learning how the firm approaches academic design, which represents a substantial portion of its work. I teach pre-engineering courses, including architecture and design, at Old Saybrook High School, and I was at Centerbrook to observe how architecture is practiced today – as well as how I could make my classes more compelling by connecting the relevance of my course material to concrete examples (no pun intended). Read More »

September 9, 2011 – 10:01 am | Posted in Around Centerbrook, Process | Comments (0)

Better Design through DIY

By Charles Mueller

I just finished constructing a 3- by 5-foot tiled shower in place of the cramped, one-piece shower stall where I’ve been banging my elbows every morning for 15 years.

And it only took 3 months.

Once again, I discovered that hands-on construction experience improves design decisions. The things I learned from summers building decks and painting houses, or half a lifetime honing furniture-making skills – and, oh, from all my mistakes – have made me a better architect. No wonder the Yale School of Architecture requires students to design and build a structure as part of their graduate education.

With my shower project, I used some existing skills, such as selective demolition (which actually entails a lot of planning and finesse), framing, plumbing, wiring, sheet-rocking, and painting. But doing the tile work was new to me. Despite designing plenty of tile installations and being quite familiar with the methods detailed in the venerable Tile Council of North America Handbook, it soon became clear that I had much to learn. Read More »

September 2, 2011 – 2:48 pm | Posted in Materials, Process | Tagged | Comments (0)

The High Line and the Cunard Line

By Ken MacLeod

Queen Mary 2 is framed by the Manhattan Skyline. This photo, which I took, was used on the cruise line’s website.

“Getting there is half the fun” was Cunard Line’s famous advertising slogan in the 1950s, intended to lure Americans away from flying across the Atlantic. At the time, its fleet could boast two of the finest examples of ocean liner transport, the RMS Queen Mary and RMS Queen Elizabeth, which regularly traveled between Europe and the States.

Although that catchphrase was in use well before my time, I can relate to it because, in addition to being an architect, I am a confirmed ocean liner enthusiast (with a blog to prove it). There is a connection between the two (trust me), as well as between the Cunard Line and the High Line, both being appealing examples of horizontal design and alternative modes of transportation. Read More »

August 4, 2011 – 9:45 am | Posted in Beloved Buildings, History, Influences | Comments (2)

Teacher is Learning at Centerbrook

By Guest Contributor

Guest contributor and Centerbrook extern Larry Chapman works with students in one of his classes.

I teach pre-engineering courses, including architecture and design, at Old Saybrook High School, and to improve my own, and ultimately my students’ understanding of real world applications of these subjects, I am working this month at Centerbrook Architects and Planners. I sit in on design meetings, observe how Revit, Navisworks, and other new 3D technologies are used here, learn how the practice is structured, and write for the Centerbrook blog about my great expectations (this post) and what I actually gain from the experience (stay tuned). Read More »

July 27, 2011 – 9:57 am | Posted in Process | Comments (0)

Architects on the Big Screen

By Scott Allen

When Hollywood requires a character who is intelligent but self-absorbed, attractive but socially awkward, dedicated to work but unhealthily consumed by it, it often casts an architect for the part.

What follows is the first installment in a series titled “The Architect, According to Hollywood.” Much like a crime scene investigator, I will construct a profile of a fictional architect using only the fleeting glimpses each movie gives regarding their work and artistic ideals.

Name: DAVID MURPHY
Movie: INDECENT PROPOSAL
Actor: The incomparable
WOODY HARRELSON

First things first, Education: Most architects will fall over themselves to tell you where they went to school, especially a certain Ivy League school that my career preservation instincts stop me from naming. Bucking that trend, David Murphy confounds us initially during a flashback scene by wearing a Stanford shirt and an LSU hat. This would seem an unlikely path for a young designer in LA. It turns out to be a celluloid curveball: we learn later that David graduated top of his class from USC.

Next, Professional Life: As Demi Moore (his wife) states in one of her sultry narrations, David found employment with a small firm but yearned for something more. David elaborates, “I spent all of my free time working on a design of my own. It summed up everything about architecture that matters to me. It is my dream house.” It is here where moviegoers get a completely accurate portrayal of what architects do in their spare time away from the office: Read More »

July 18, 2011 – 1:09 pm | Posted in Culture | Tagged , | Comments (2)

How many architects does it take…

By Derek Hayn

A violent storm last week blew our wisteria right off its trellis. Once the rain soaked deck dried up, a crew of our strongest and limberest architects hoisted the hardy plant back onto its perch.

Being neither strong nor limber, I chose the much lighter video camera…

The wisteria, shown below in full bloom, is an integral part of our rooftop garden.

June 20, 2011 – 9:03 am | Posted in Around Centerbrook, Video | Tagged , | Comments (0)

The Lights of Our Lives

By Sheryl Milardo

The era of the incandescent light bulb, initially patented in 1879 by Thomas A. Edison, is under assault through a combination of market forces and legislative fiat – primarily because it has been an energy hog. In 2007 the federal government mandated that the bulbs become more efficient beginning next year – although there are some loopholes in the law for specialty incandescent models.

As proof that our hi-tech world is spinning ever faster, consider this: compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs), the energy-efficient upstart that began challenging Edison’s 19th century technology a few years ago, already have competition from LEDs, or light-emitting diodes. Also in the field of challengers, if something of a dark horse at this point, is ESL technology (electron stimulated luminescence).

What used to be fairly straightforward proposition – what’s the wattage? – has become complex and even controversial. Some people believe incandescent bulbs are getting a raw deal, that their light is superior and that they can be made more efficient and longer lasting, for example, through the simple act of employing a dimmer switch. And even though manufactures are producing more efficient incandescent bulbs to meet the new standards, there has been and will be hoarding. Many people, however, are voting with their wallets and a desire to reduce kilowatt consumption (lighting accounts for just over10 percent of an average household’s energy usage).

But with or without them incandescents, the lighting world will never be the same. Soon bulb packages will be carrying labels to inform consumers of such variables as lumens (a measure of brightness), estimated life span and yearly cost, as well as the more familiar wattage (which is a measure of energy use, not brightness). Consumers like me now have more options. Read More »

June 1, 2011 – 3:54 pm | Posted in Materials, Sustainable Design, The Future | Comments (0)

Wildlife on Parade

By David Holahan

Photo by Derek Hayn, who missed the parade

As Yogi Berra once famously averred, “You can observe a lot by watching.” The lower office parking lot, below the dam on the Falls River, is a splendid place to observe wildlife, even from your car.

The other day, as I pulled in after lunch, I noticed a pair of Canada geese patrolling the far bank, shoulder to shoulder. This gaggle is usually above the dam, and their alert posture invited scrutiny. Beyond them, on the shore, a slinky, furry black creature – with an even darker tail and about the size of a housecat – slunk out from behind a fallen log. The geese proceeded to escort the meddlesome mink downstream, away from their egg-filled nest.

Just today, with the water barely trickling over the dam, I saw a smallish bird grazing frenetically across the flatter bottom of the sloping concrete structure. It was nondescript other than its compulsive see-saw bobbing. After some hasty research that eliminated one of two candidates, the one with the pink legs, the verdict was a northern waterthrush, denizen of streams and marshes. It’s actually not a thrush, but a warbler.

In early May, a snapping turtle, which at first glance appeared to be a large mud-gray rock, hugged the far shore for a spell, in all likelihood laying her eggs. Later this spring, miniature prehistoric monsters will be scurrying about the place.

Over the past year, there have been sightings on the Centerbrook campus of pileated woodpeckers, yellow-crowned night herons, great egrets, hooded mergansers, red-shouldered hawks, cedar waxwings, kingfishers, among others. Yogi would love this place.

May 20, 2011 – 10:06 am | Posted in Around Centerbrook | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Sawmill on Wheels is the Buzz

By Patrick McCauley

Photos and video: Derek Hayn

Peter Nyberg of CT Logs to Lumber, LLC brought his portable sawmill to Centerbrook recently to demonstrate how raw timber – wherever it may lie, bark and all – can be turned into boards and beams for buildings. He set up his mobile mill in 20 minutes, and in less than two hours he reduced two sizable red oak trunks (courtesy of local arborist Town Burns) into roughly 500 board feet of useable lumber – plus “waste” slabs for my wood stove. The mill is essentially a horizontal band saw that travels back and forth on tracks. Read More »

May 11, 2011 – 10:14 am | Posted in Around Centerbrook, Materials | Tagged , , , | Comments (2)