We talk about the 10 year anniversary of 9/11, an innovative project to make “light bulbs” at home out of 100% post consumer plastic and a cool German product that is a plastic substitute.

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Check out the show notes for links and more!

Haley is back!  Jared Kuykendall, B’Arch ’05, joins us for a rowdy episode that takes us from Pakistan to Minnesota, the IDP and dirty (chocolate filled) diapers.

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NASA finally builds a moon base … in California?  What in the world is the PPP, Ayn Rand makes her debut on the show, plus a firm that has increased revenue by 700 percent in the last four years.

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Show Notes

Site News

SPECIAL EDITION: We’re live at Week of Welcome and hear words of wisdom from Henri de Hahn, Josef Kasperovich and a dozen Architecture students.  We discuss the role of photography and technology in Architecture.

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Show Notes

Round table discussion with:

• Henri de Hahn, Department Head
  • What happened with the 5th year labs?
  • Cal Poly teaches the fundamentals
  • “Learn by Doing” is not dead but is up for a rethink
• Josef Kasperovich, Lecturer
  • History of the Cal Poly Architecture  photography program.
  • Hand drawing, photography, Photoshop… technology as a tool.
  • Taking in Architecture in smaller bites.
  • The history of wet pavement in architecture photography.
• Sean Lahijani, Class of ’13
  • Computer programs are the pencil’s of today.
• Carlos De Haro, Class of ’13
  • Cal Poly is small and clean, not like Long Beach.

Also, interviews with:

• Lisa Snyder, Class 0f ’12 (Sequoia Hall)
• Sheldon Eaton, Class of  ’13 (WOW Leader at Cal Poly, Group 172!)

And lots of fun with the freshmen!!

• Julien Stockwell, Lawrence, Kansas (WOW Group 172!)
• Malina Moua, Pearl City, Hawaii (WOW Group 172!)
• Parvathy Nair, San Jose, CA (WOW Group 172!)
• Naab Heer, Kerman, CA (WOW Group 172!)
• Victor Tang, San Jose, CA (WOW Group 172!)
• Patty Hansen, Redding, CA
• Elizabeth, Discovery Bay, CA (WOW Group 185!)
• Riley Koon (WOW Group 189!)

My neck on the proverbial chopping block.

You see, up until about a month ago, I considered myself one of the lucky ones.  I was working in an office that had yet to be touched by the big, bad economy monster.  I wasn’t blind though, I could see what was happening out there and when the lay-offs started hitting closer to home, it wasn’t all that much of a surprise really.  Every time another friend was let go, I counted my lucky stars that I still had a job to return to.  None of this should be news to any of you.

Then it finally happened and it was my neck on the proverbial chopping block.  My turn to step up and take one for the team.  What I’ve witnessed in the time since then, has honestly and truly scared me beyond all belief.

After the initial numbness wore off, I made a trip to the local AIA chapter office to update my contact information.  I chatted with the helpful woman at the front desk and that’s when she said something to me that still shakes me to the core.  “Just be sure to stay in the industry, we’d hate to lose you.”  The way it was said, as if she’s seen an army of traitor architects abandon ship and head off for parts unknown.  The thought of leaving this profession had never crossed my mind until she said those words.  I mean, there was that one time in college but isn’t that something we all went through back then?  My point is, is that for the last 10+ years, architecture is all I’ve ever wanted to do.  In all honesty, I knew I wanted to be a part of this industry since my childhood.  I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.  “Just be sure to stay in the industry,” she said.  I laughed it off and tried to think nothing of it.

Fast forward a few weeks and I’m starting to realize just what she was talking about.  Between ARE study sessions I’ve been looking for work here and there, cold-calling some offices and replying to job postings that I’m only slightly qualified for.  When I can’t sleep at night I pull out my laptop and hunt the state job boards until the early hours of the morning.  Long story short, it’s pretty barren out there.  But none of this should be news to you.

At times, when I’m tired of having my nose buried in a Kaplan book, and too frustrated scanning a job board that I know isn’t going to look any different than it did yesterday, I get to thinking…What other “professions” are like ours?  How many out-of-work doctors or lawyers do you know right now?  Maybe that’s a bad example and I’m far from an expert on the subject, but I can’t imagine those very same individuals even considering leaving all of their schooling and hard-work behind.

What really gets me though, is that very little of this is happening because there’s a bunch of bad architects out there doing shoddy work.  I don’t want to venture too far out into the politics of this thing, but no matter which way you look at the economic downturn, none of this is our fault.  Our profession is at the mercy of the economy and there’s little we can do to protect ourselves from getting gobbled up.  Remember the horror stories from all the old-timers in your office, when they talked of the profession in the 80′s and 90′s?  Um, hello!!!  History is repeating itself and by the looks of it, there’s very little we as professionals have learned from the past.

Who is the steward for our profession?

This brings me to my final thought.  Just who is the steward for our profession?  Who is out there looking out for us, protecting us, lending a hand when we need it the most?  We don’t have a union that can help elect public officials and apply pressure where needed to further our cause.  We don’t have anyone marching on Capitol Mall with signs demanding change.  All we have is an ever-growing group of unemployed workers who are having to be reminded, “Just be sure to stay in the industry.”

(Stay tuned to sloArch.com for further editorials on this and other subjects of interest.  Do you have some thoughts to share?  Please leave a comment below!)

We reach 100 fans on Facebook, talk about finding jobs, AutoCad is back on the Mac, and Tim rambles on about architects working for free.

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Show Notes

Site News

• 20 new fans this week, we broke 100!
  • Joseph Smith
  • Carol Horn Davis
  • Rosa Elva Alvarado
  • Jennifer Lynn Richardson
  • Spencer Bittner
  • Greg Poloynis
  • Lili Etessam
  • Elahe Khodaei Gheidari
  • Lindsey Engels
  • Daryl Wells
  • Forest King
  • Ryan Ghere
  • Theresa Stanton
  • Dan Angelesco
  • Bob Hightower
  • Taryn Mickus
  • Farid Shahid – number 100!!
  • Alexander Tsai
  • Eric Stimmel
  • Steve Grossenbacher

Cal Poly News

General News

Kim Hoffmaster, Architect, B’Arch 03, joins us for a brief discussion about Project Playhouse before technical difficulties terminate the show prematurely.  Kim also shares how she was able to power through the ARE exams.

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Cal Poly News

• Amtrak Train Kills Teen Near Cal Poly
  • http://920kvec.com/Amtrak-Train-Kills-Teen-Near-Cal-Poly/7708561
  • The accident occurred (Fri. July 16th) about 350 in the afternoon not far from Foothill and California streets. Friends of the teen yelled at him to get out of the way, but he did not hear them.
  • This is the 4th train related death in that area in the last 35 years.

General News

Justin Ribble, LEED AP, Associate AIA, B’Arch ’03 joins us for a conversation about a number of great three letter acronyms:  CAB, CSE, IDP, AIA, ARE, ACE, and BIM.

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Show Notes

Site News

• New Facebook Fans
  • Monica Shahrokhfar
  • Greg Wynn

• Tim’s big adventure with the CAB
  • A Big thank you to Elise Drakes and Mark Drwyer
  • What are the CAB offices like?
    • Shout out to Erin, receptionist at the CAB
    • Number of employees in the CAB office
  • Why do commissioners volunteer to give the oral exam?
    • They care about the profession
    • Free Food!
  • Shout out to Lily Dong!
  • What about loosing the oral component of the test?
    • Can IDP add it?
  • Pass rate of the California Supplemental Exam (CSE)
    • Haley has some numbers!
      • 2006-2007 –  1,082 candidates – pass rate = 47%
      • 2007-2008 – 901 candidates – pass rate = 50%
      • 2008-2009 – 1,043 candidates – pass rate = 48%
      • 2009-2010 – 838 candidates – pass rate = 51%
    • Tim thinks the pass rate is fair given his understanding of the process
  • Are Californian architects better than other architects from other states?

General News

• THE SIX-MONTH RULE
  • By the time you’re probably listening to this, it’s probably in effect, so get informed and get to logging those IDP hours!!
  • Due to system performance under severe volume pressure the reporting deadline for the Six-Month Rule has been extended to Friday, July 2, 2010 at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The e-EVR is operating at full capacity. Please be patient as you may encounter lengthy response times. It is strongly recommended that you continue to be diligent in your efforts to access the e-EVR during off-business hours.
  • http://ncarb.org/

Rapid Fire Questions:

• Cal Poly or Berkeley? Cal Poly
• Autocad or Revit? urgh… Revit
• Parallel bar or T-Square? T-square
• Facebook or LinkedIn? Facebook
• Arch Record, Arch Digest, or Architect? Record
• Drafting dots or tape? tape
• Yellow trace or white? yellow… only communists use white
• Ad Markers or Prisma? Ad
• Pen or Pencil? pen, all the way
• Mac or PC? both… Mac for home, PC for work
• What’s the Meaning of Life? FUN (to enjoy the time that you have while you’re still here)

SCORE: 746

Interview

• Who are you?
  • From Oregon, decided to see the world and rather than go to Univeristy of Oregon he decided to go to Cal Poly.
  • San Luis Obispo was actually like his hometown, so the adjustment was good.
  • He finished in 6 years, and is glad that he took the time to enjoy his senior year rather than hurrying up to finish and get out.
  • He was able to work in a few offices before he , so when he needed to find a “real job in the real world” he was able to apply those past experiences.
• He has felt disconnected in the years since graduation?
  • When he found sloarch.com, after searching for a Revit question, he was happy to have a place to feel more connected.
  • He’s only a few hours away from SLO and feels that he should get back and get involved.
  • It’s interesting since it is a larger program and students move all over the place after graduation, so having a chance to reconnect and get back into the network being created is a really good thing.
• He’s worked with a lot of Cal Poly grads.
• He spent his 4th year in the east coast program:
  • While here in CA, you can almost always find a Cal Poly grad in a firm, on the east coast it was “Cal Poly what?”
  • Living outside of D.C. and Alexandria makes you feel the political pressure in the area, so there is more competition and rivalry in all aspects of life let alone the program you come from.
  • It was a great experience, he was able to step outside and feel a part of programs outside Cal Poly, which was a great experience since it gave him persepctive.
  • The diversity of professors at the program, where they came from and their specialties was great.
  • It was nice to see how other schools teach design.
• Why stay in CA after graduation?
  • Looking back he wanted to get back east, it’s a great place to live but it’s hard to afford it.
  • Sacramento was a good market and affordable.
  • While there are parts of Oregon that he misses he feels that he has experienced all he could for the time being there, so he’s happy in Sacramento for the time being.
  • Oregon is to California as Sacramento is to San Francisco, to put it in perspective.
• Working towards licensure?
  • Doesn’t have to complete IDP, so he’s happy about that.
  • Took his first exam about a year or so ago, then work got really busy and it was hard to come home after a long day and study, so recently he’s getting back into studying, taking ARE study classes at the local AIA Chapter.
  • The goal is to take 4 exams between now and September.
  • The firm he works at currently is really supportive about professional development. Use this time to do what you’ve always wanted to do but didn’t have time, to become better.
• ACE Mentoring, how is he involved?
  • It’s one of those things that he always wanted to do, mentoring high school students about what the profession is and what a career in the building industry is really like.
  • Pay it forward a bit.
  • He’s learned a lot about how others view our field, their perception of “architects” and what they do.
  • Exposing students to the multidisciplinary aspect of our profession as well as the professional and office conduct that you need to know to be a professional.
• Strong feelings about Autodesk??
  • His office recognizes that Revit is the direction to go, so they’re in the process of transitioning everyone to Revit one by one and they’re currently working on their first Revit project.
  • After going to an outside training session there was a need to develop their own way to use Revit based on the type of high end design and modern work his firm does.
  • His biggest gripe is the license process and releases, having to re-up every year isn’t sustainable or do-able, especially right now with the economy.
  • He’s slowly prying himself away from Sketchup and CAD.
  • He recognizes how powerful Revit is and how you can make it do what you want it to do… as long as you keep up your subscription.
  • Transistion is always slow and has it’s hang ups and resistance.
  • Revit is changing the role of the “CAD drafter”.
  • On the flip side, students now are learning Revit, and by the time they become employees think of the change the profession will have seen.

Cal Poly superstar Barry Williams becomes the first faculty member to join us on the show.  Barry has taught at Cal Poly for over 30 years and has been integral to the Chumash Show which is going on today!!

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Show Notes

Site News

• No new Facebook fans

Cal Poly News

• The Chumash Show opens today and will be open this weekend!
• Check out the Calendar for reviews going on currently

General News

• Digital Robie wins Webby
  • http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=38253
  • http://www.gowright.org/robie/about.php?tab=2
• Construction industry builds up steam, adds 14,000 jobs
  • http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-building-jobs-20100524,0,6881237.story
  • This doesn’t seem like a big number nationwide…
  • Still sluggish in CA, but some small improvement
  • Lots of CA related numbers
  • “Can we recover without construction?” Adibi said. “Yes, we could. But it’s not going to be a strong recovery.”
• Japan to Build World’s Tallest Building
  • http://www.concreteconstruction.net/industry-news.asp?sectionID=718&articleID=1285802
  • http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article7125981.ece
  • http://www.greenmuze.com/build/design/2667-green-float-city-project.html
  • http://www.shimz.co.jp/english/theme/dream/greenfloat.html
• National Trust Announces 2010 List of Endangered Historic Places
  • http://www.architectmagazine.com/historic-preservation/national-trust-announces-2010-endangered-historic-places.aspx

Rapid Fire Questions:

• Cal Poly or Berkeley? Cal Poly
• Autocad or Revit? Revit
• Parallel bar or T-Square? Parallel Bar
• Facebook or LinkedIn? Neither
• Arch Record, Arch Digest, or Architect? Architect
• Drafting dots or tape? Dots
• Yellow trace or white? Yellow
• Ad Markers or Prisma? Ad Markers!
• Pen or Pencil? Pen
• Mac or PC? PC
• What’s the Meaning of Life? Enjoyment

SCORE: 81,400,000 Highest Score Ever!

Interview

• How did you get started in Architecture?
  • Wrote a paper in 8th grade about what he wanted to be when he grew up, he interviewed a family friend and it went from there
• Graduated from Cal Poly in 1975
  • Started at Pasadena City College
  • At the time he thought he wouldn’t get into Cal Poly, plus it was a ‘cow-town’ at the time
• What changes has he seen at Cal Poly from the time he was a student until now?
  • There were about half of the number of students there are now in the program
  • They had a smaller full time professor staff and more architects from around the world that taught for a few years and then moved on.
  • Having more full time staff adds more stability to the program.
  • We took far more engineering and physics classes in the 70′s.
  • NAAB adds additional pressure to today’s program
• When did you start teaching at Cal Poly? How was the to teaching?
  • He started in 1979
  • He spent his last year of school in Spain, did some construction work in the bay area
  • Met his wife, a SLO native, in Spain and after coming back to visit he was offered the opportunity to teach
  • First class was a perspective class
  • In 1998 he went full time, previously he kept his own practice until recently he’s decided to sell his practice.
• In 2002 he taught the Washington Alexandria program
  • Through Virginia Tech
  • There aren’t studios, any student can sign up for any professor
• Being an “Entitled Lecturer” is the footing of the faculty
  • Decided not to become a full professor and hasn’t sought that since because he can come and go and pick the things he wants to do
• How did you get involved with the Chumash Show?
  • It started as an idea 7 years ago to do a collective show with student work from all of the studios
  • From there, each year it’s built into something bigger and bigger
  • Every year it’s made possible through students volunteering
  • Plus each year, alumni and students that have been in past shows inquire and attend the show
  • The show costs about $10,000 to $13,000 to put on, it goes mainly to the reception for the food and everything
• How do we donate?
  • Setting up the PayPal account wasn’t able to happen, but hopefully it will happen for next year
• What advice would you give to graduating seniors?
  • Go to Grad School, given the current state of the economy.
  • If you can’t find a job in the field, find something but stay plugged in, take your AREs
  • There are tangent that you can find for the time being: graphics, marketing, publishing
• What advice would you give to incoming freshman?
  • Read, be aware of what’s happening around you in architecture
  • Keep a sketchbook
  • Don’t take yourself too serious
  • Look around
• What advice would you give to Haley?
  • Take your AREs!!!
• What advice would you give to Tim!!
  • Congratulations!!

COME TO THE CHUMASH SHOW!!!!!!!!!!

Just the two of us today!  Haley and Tim talk about the latest economic news, are impressed by Doug Jackson’s studio review, and contemplate if they would be willing to work for ten dollars and hour.

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Show Notes

Site News

• Tim has a new mic! The  Zoom H2
• New Facebook fans this week!
  • Duane Steele
  • Lingh Ha
  • Amy Knerr
  • Rebecca Groves
• We will be at Chumash next Friday!

Cal Poly News

• Doug Jackson’s Studio Review last weekend (May 14th and 15th)  Check out the photos here:
  • http://www.arch.calpoly.edu/exhibitions/doug%20jackson/dougjackson051410.html
• For upcoming crits see our calendar
• Chumash Architecture Show! (History of the Show)
  • http://architectureshow.calpoly.edu/
  • Chumash Auditorium, Julian A. McPhee University Union
  • Opening Reception: Friday, May 28th, 2010 5:00 pm
  • Exhibition: May 29th & 30th 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
• Cal Poly Grads Have Skills to Succeed in a Tough Job Market
  • http://calpolynews.calpoly.edu/news_releases/2010/May/Grads.html

General News

• Positive Economic News?
  • U.S. architecture billings index up in April–AIA
    • http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1817247020100519?type=marketsNews
    • Index at 48.5 last month = declining demand
    • Of four U.S. geographic regions, only the Northeast was above 50 in April, while all four construction sectors remained below that mark
  • Slump in Demand for U.S. Architects May Be Near End (Update1)
    • http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-19/slump-in-demand-for-u-s-architects-may-be-near-end-update1-.html
    • Overall construction spending in the U.S. increased 0.2 percent in March, fueled by federal stimulus spending on power plants, hospitals and transportation projects, the Commerce Department said May 3. Private construction spending for non- residential projects fell 0.7 percent in March from the previous month and 26 percent from a year earlier.
• Bilboa inaugurates new architectural landmark
  • http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hS225_ICPR4cdiOTym9fhUGNpPzA
  • http://bilbaoenconstruccion.nireblog.com/post/2008/05/11/alhondiga-bilbao-cultura-deporte-relax-entretenimiento
  • the “Guggenheim effect”
  • It took eight years to build for a cost of 75 million euros (92.5 million dollars).
• Would you work for $10/hour?
  • http://www.architectmagazine.com/blogs/postdetails.aspx?BlogId=worklifeblog&postId=94838
• NCARB e-news: Confidentiality Agreement to Change July 1 2010; Authorization to Test: Rule Change January 1, 2011
  • http://www.ncarb.org/are/enews/2010/May/index.html
  • maybe this is why the ARE forum has been down… just a thought??
• 25 Year old Architect?
  • http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/nyregion/20entry.html
  • Stephen Martin… is this him? Licenced in ’02 when he was17? Don’t think so.
  • http://www.nysed.gov/coms/op001/opsc2a?profcd=03&plicno=028820&namechk=MAR
• Brooklyn Grange Farm receives green light to continue building city’s largest rooftop garden
  • http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/queens/2010/05/19/2010-05-19_farm_in_sky_plows_ahead_city_lifts_stopwork_order_on_rooftop_garden_in_lic.html