This show is a roller coaster and a good one.  We go from rubber sidewalks, high school projects to World Architecture Festival in Barcelona.  Plus Tim goes off on a rant about the design profession again.

Don’t forget to tell your friends about us, join our Facebook Group, leave reviews on iTunes, vote for us on Podcast Alley, and follow us on Twitter!

Check out the show notes for links and more!

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.

Don’t forget to tell your friends about us, join our Facebook Group, leave reviews on iTunes, vote for us on Podcast Alley, and follow us on Twitter!

Check out the show notes for links and more!

The last CSE Oral exam is next week, computers are going to lock you out of your house, and protests on the Cal Poly Campus.  Oh, and did we mention that Lego’s are now a viable construction material?

Don’t forget to tell your friends about us, join our Facebook Group, leave reviews on iTunes, vote for us on Podcast Alley, and follow us on Twitter!

Show Notes

Site News

• All call for an Assistant Producer
  • Duties include scheduling and coordinating guests for the show.
  • Email applications to tim at sloarch.com
• New Facebook Fans
  • Antonio Teruel Moreno
  • Troy Kirschman

Cal Poly News

• Arch department looking for sponsors for the LA Metro program
  • http://arch.calpoly.edu/alumni/giving-opportunities/los-angeles-metro-program.html
  • HMC Architects Designing Futures Foundation is a sponsor for 2010-2011
• No Hearst Lecture this week
• Greg Wynn ARCH 351: Community Theatre on a tight site (90% Review)
  • Wed., Nov. 17 10am-1pm 21-224
• Update on PechaCucha:
  • http://sites.google.com/site/aiascalpolyslo/
  • http://www.pecha-kucha.org/night/san-luis-obispo/
  • http://pechakucha-sanluisobispo.blogspot.com/
• Homecoming Photos posted (Oct. 30th)
  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/30208331@N03/sets/72157625300377624/show/
  • Return of the Homecoming Court (Queen Shannon Garner and King Daniel Galvan)
  • reunion marking the 50th anniversary of the tragic crash of the airplane carrying the 1960 Mustang Football team
    • http://lib.calpoly.edu/universityarchives/history/1960crash/
• Alumni Association Events Coming Up in San Luis Obispo, Modesto and Fresno
  • Get details and tickets on the Alumni Events Calendar
• Proposed end to Cal Poly’s Adult Degree Program prompts protest
  • http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2010/11/09/1363246/proposed-end-to-cal-polys-adult.html
  • About 50 students, alumni and local community members gathered outside the Cal Poly Administration Building at 5 p.m. Tuesday to show support for the program.
  • The Adult Degree Program offers a bachelor’s in interdisciplinary studies, including classes in business, English and social science. Forty-one students are currently enrolled.
  • http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2010/11/09/1363246/proposed-end-to-cal-polys-adult.html#ixzz14v4gwv5R
• What Happens When Your Smart House Locks You Inside? Professor Wants to Know
  • Cal Poly Philosophy Professor Patrick Lin was interviewed by NPR and the San Francisco Chronicle in October for news coverage about emerging artificial intelligence computer programs and their potential uses — and pitfalls. Lin is director of the ethics and emerging sciences group at Cal Poly. He has been commissioned to do studies and research for the U.S. military on issues surrounding military battle robots – the topic of the NPR interview. Rapid advances in machine perception and artificial intelligence raise hard questions that should be addressed before, not after, these technologies are put into place, Lin told news agencies.
  • http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/10/17/BUOI1FSOCC.DTL&ao=all
  • http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130329148

General News

• The last Oral CSE ever will be held this next Monday and Tuesday, November 15th and 16th. You know there is going to be one crazy party.
  • http://www.cab.ca.gov/candidates/new_cse_format.shtml
• Gifford vs USGBC
  • The big hurdle in the law suit is whether the “class” will be certified by the court to allow the case to proceed.
  • Gifford is attempting to certify four separate classes:
    • 1. All persons who paid for LEED certification in reliance on alleged deceptive marketing related to energy performance in LEED buildings.
    • 2. “All persons who design energy-efficient buildings and whose livelihoods are injured by USGBC’s monopolization of the market through fraudulent and intentionally misleading representations in the marketing and promotion of the LEED product line.”
    • 3. All taxpayers whose city and state tax dollars are spent on the costs of LEED certification in publicly-commissioned buildings.
    • 4. Trades injured by USGBC’s alleged deceptive trade practices because the trades lose money and time in having to comply with LEED certification even though the buildings are allegedly not saving energy.
  • http://www.fastcompany.com/1700968/is-the-us-green-building-councils-leed-certification-fraudulent
  • http://blog.cleantechies.com/2010/10/14/class-action-lawsuit-against-usgbc/
  • http://www.greenbuildinglawupdate.com/2010/10/articles/legal-developments/will-the-gifford-v-usgbc-class-action-lawsuit-be-certified/
• Is Zaha’s MAXXI Museum the Best Building of 2010?
  • http://archrecord.construction.com/community/blogs/NotebookBlog.asp?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&newspaperUserId=66e68286-26bb-4c58-9c54-29d3c8e54bcb&plckPostId=Blog:66e68286-26bb-4c58-9c54-29d3c8e54bcbPost:3eb32bd4-aece-439f-9c80-30c5fa929b59&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest
• Istiqlal: The work of a Christian architect
  • http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/11/10/istiqlal-the-work-a-christian-architect.html
  • Friedrich Silaban won a competition to design the mosque in 1955
• Lego Façade
  • http://www.architectmagazine.com/education-projects/lego-faade.aspx
  • To fasten the Lego wall to the underlying fiber-cement board, standard Lego blocks with holes that can accommodate screws were used and then hidden behind another Lego piece.The covering pieces are all colored yellow, for easy location.

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.

Don’t forget to tell your friends about us, join our Facebook Group, leave reviews on iTunes, vote for us on Podcast Alley, and follow us on Twitter!

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.

Long time Poly Canyon resident Ben Ross talks about his experiences living in two of the residences in the canyon and why he got a Bachelor of Architecture, two minors and is now working for a general contractor!   Tim also reveals some exciting information about the new California Supplemental Exam.

Don’t forget to tell your friends about us, join our Facebook Group, leave reviews on iTunes, vote for us on Podcast Alley, and follow us on Twitter!

Show Notes

Site News

• Facebook Update:
  • Hao Phung
  • Angelica Ting Steinmeier
  • Ben Ross
• Haley talks about NCARB live
• Tim is going help write the CSE!

Cal Poly News

• New interim President
  • Robert Glidden, president emeritus of Ohio University, was named today as interim president of Cal Poly, effective August 1. (The CSU press release can be viewed at www.calpoly.edu.)
• CAED & AIA CCC Design Awards Gala
  • http://www.caed.calpoly.edu/
  • CAED: The college and the local American Institute of Architects Central Coast Chapter invite you to the 2010 Design Awards Gala Reception on Saturday June 26 at the PAC. It will feature professional work and highlight projects by five CAED architecture students who recently displayed at the Cal Poly 5th Year Architecture Show. RSVPs are appreciated by June 10.
  • Download the Gala Reception Invitation (pdf)
  • Email Laura Gough at laura@studio-2g.com

General News

• Razing the City to Save the City
  • http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/21/us/21detroit.html
  • The residential vacancy rate in Detroit is 27.8 percent. This is up from the 10.3 percent rate found in 2000 by the US census.
• Inflatable Buildings That Could Earn $10 Million a Year
  • http://www.fastcompany.com/1662273/stalled-sites
  • “The biggest challenge is creating a quality scheme that can go in quickly, and be taken away even quicker,” says Holmes.
  • It’s hard for a temporary building to have a big, good-looking presence on the street–rather than being just a glorified drywall tent.
• Hold This Site
  • http://www.architectmagazine.com/articles/development/hold-this-site.aspx?playlist=playlist____20_396841&plitem=1
  • One of the most glaring symbols of the recession is the frozen construction site. Now, some cities and private developers are trying to create beautiful, publicly beneficial interim uses for lots that would otherwise sit in limbo.
• June 2010 Digital issue of ARCHITECT:
  • http://mydigimag.rrd.com/publication/frame.php?i=39037&p=&pn=&ver=swf
  • Forgot to post it at the beginning of the month, so enjoy!
• The Karma Cup
  • Brilliant Karma Cup System Greens Your Coffee Routine (this isn’t really architecture but it’s a really interesting design problem and solution);
  • http://www.inhabitat.com/2010/06/21/brilliant-karma-cup-system-greens-your-coffee-routine/

Rapid Fire Questions:

• Cal Poly or Berkeley? Cal Poly
• Autocad or Revit? Autocad
• Parallel bar or T-Square? Parallel bar
• Facebook or MySpace? Facebook
• Arch Record, Arch Digest, or Architect? no comment… Dwell
• Drafting dots or tape? tape
• Yellow trace or white? yellow
• Ad Markers or Prisma? Ad markers
• Pen or Pencil? Pen
• Mac or PC? MAC
• What’s the Meaning of Life? Living

SCORE: 252FW%

Interview

• What has he been up to?
  • Working for a General Contractor (Hensel Phelps) since graduating from Cal Poly
• Why did he take this route?
  • took his time through Cal Poly, while working on his general ed he started working on his construction managment minor
• What’s it like working on both sides, the architecture side and the construction side?
  • he’s able to bring equal parts to each side but feels that each needs the other, he loves design
• What’s he been working on?
  • recently, hospitals, when he interviewed he asked to be put on the most difficult projects and that was hospital design build
  • prior to his current job he did custom residential, so now it’s really about team work since it takes a team to get the project through construction
  • there are many consultants and owners involved with healthcare work
• How has the economy hit him and his work?
  • his company is pretty open about work flow and backlogs, it’s about how much work you have and if you don’t have enough backlog you have to move to where it is or find another job
• Working in 3D?
  • the subs are usually the ones having to put the design into 3D, they’re the ones that know the ins and outs of their materials so in some ways they’re the best ones to be modeling their scope
• Has he been able to use his minor in sustainable environments?
  • not directly, but he has helped a bit with another LEED project achieving gold certification
  • there are other little things involved with his projects that are sustainable such as reusing forms and recycling programs
• Ben lived in Poly Canyon for three years while he was at Cal Poly!
  • he had interviewed to become a caretaker out in Poly Canyon and was selected
  • Poly Canyon and Design Village were why he came to Cal Poly and study architecture
  • he hasn’t missed a Design Village since he first competed in 1998
  • he grew up in south Georgia, so he liked the open land and the rolling hills up there in Poly Canyon
  • plus living there, surrounded by the student architecture projects, was really living the “learn by doing” mantra, which Design Village just further supports
  • Check out the photos from Design Village 2010
• Currently working towards licensure? progress?
  • he was before the IDP cut off, so he doesn’t have to complete that, but he does need to start his ARE
• Is there something you wish you had done or known when you were still at Cal Poly?
  • would have loved to have gone abroad, but living out in Poly Canyon was more important
• What kind of advice can you give to current Cal Poly students?
  • don’t give up!! take any of your failures and make them into positives, learn from your failures and don’t make the same failure twice

Haley is out this week but Elise Drakes fills in as co-host and Seth Pare-Mayer, Kelli Franz, and Alaina McBride join us for an unusual show on Architectural entrepreneurship and how to market yourself.

Don’t forget to tell your friends about us, join our Facebook Group, leave reviews on iTunes, vote for us on Podcast Alley, and follow us on Twitter!

Show Notes

Site News

• Tim’s Big News… he passed the California Supplemental Exam!!
• New Facebook “likers”
  • Chris Allen
  • Chris Foisy

Cal Poly News (no general news this week)

• Hearst Lecture: 04/23/10 Ray Landy Business Rotunda, 4:00pm
• reKINETIC exhibit still ongoing
  • http://lib.calpoly.edu/learningcommons/gallery/10spring/
  • Thursday, April 15 – Sunday, June 6, 2010
• Spring Job Fair, Thursday (4/22/10)
• Henry DeHahn updated his image gallery http://gallery.me.com/henridehahn

The Show!

• Seth and Kelli decided to go out on their own the day after graduation
  • Atelier-KS
  • They did their IDP and gained experience with Architects part-time throughout school then they moved to San Francisco and worked for a couple years with firms similar to the type that they wanted to start.
• Were you scared? Tim is!
  • Never afraid, it was always a goal, and they had good training in the firms they worked for.
  • Seth was laid off at the same time they got a job, that pushed them to go out on their own.
  • Seth has finished the IDP, Kelli is almost done and they are starting to take the ARE’s.
  • Their goal is to do small residential and light commercial projects.
• How are you getting work?
  • Networking. Shmoosing everybody. Farmers market as a networking tool.
  • Were listed in Dwell online: http://www.dwell.com/articles/sunset-district-renovation.html
  • Also on Daily Candy: http://www.dailycandy.com/san-francisco/article/80802/Local-Mission-Eatery-Opens
• Alaina’s perspective
  • How to use Social Networking for marketing:
  • How to use a Facebook fan page
  • Collaborations – a key marketing trend as a way to offer unique combination services
    • Seth and Kelli have been collaborating with Chris Allen: http://www.cwastudios.com/.  Chris designs and builds custom casework into their residential projects.
    • Building relationships with contractors
• Kelli and Seth: What is it like to work with contractors right out of school?
  • Worked with other firms and learned not to have an adversarial relationship with the contractor
  • Working towards a common goal
  • Involve builder as soon as possible
  • Sometimes they have better ideas, it’s a give and take
  • Clear communication prevents problems
• Elise’s question to Seth and Kelli: How do you avoid being taken advantage of (i.e. underpaid and overworked) by Owners because you are young/still gaining experience?
  • Kelli and Seth feel as though they bring energy to their projects, and typically they establish a pay schedule which allows them flexibility to put in as many long hours as needed, while not feeling underworked/overpaid
  • Alaina encourages Seth and Kelli to use their youth as a marketing advantage; older consumer generations are realizing that younger generations are more receptive and skilled at innovative technology
• Whats the greatest challenge of working on your own?
  • Realization of how long the process is from the first contact to getting a signed contract
• Where do you splurge and save?
  • Splurged on their desk, made by Chris Allen
  • Save everywhere else they can
  • Many tasks often outsourced by other architects (i.e. photography of projects, editing, website building) are done by Seth and Kelli to lower costs and keep work in-house (Elise’s side note: they are fantastic photographers
• Alaina’s perspective:
• Gorilla Marketing = Time, Energy, Imagination, not a large marketing budget
  • The farmer’s market architect is a great example of marketing yourself and gaining contacts to sustain work
  • Linked-In! (www.linkedin.com/) Your profile is highly ranked in Google
  • Typically an older demographic, more professionals are on Linked-In
  • Twitter! (http://www.twitter.com/sloarch), find out what your competitors are doing
  • Google Local (http://www.google.com/local/add/); puts you on a map literally; gets more reviews by local residents to increase your search visibility
  • Use the “ladder effect” to get noticed
    • Contact local media, they love talking to business owners!
    • Yelp.com – Ask your clients to add your firm’s link to their profile
    • Mission Eatery: http://www.yelp.com/biz/local-mission-eatery-san-francisco
• Some general business advice from Alaina
  • Have a good understanding of the cash flow process
  • Have six months working capital when you start so you can wait out the start up process. Assume you are working for 6 months without pay
  • Get good business advice
    • Some free sources
      • http://www.score.org – Service Core of Retired Executives contributing their time
      • http://www.sba.gov – Small business administration to find a Small Business Development Center http://www.sba.gov/aboutsba/sbaprograms/sbdc/index.html
    • Business development classes
    • Find local non profit business organizations
    • Find good mentors, don’t be afraid to cold call people
    • The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich -
• For unemployed designers, you have the skills, design and sell something
  • Ponoko.com – use digital manufacturing to design something to buy or sell directly on the site
  • http://www.etsy.com/ - Make and sell stuff (jewelry, furniture, art)
• Do Seth and Kelli plan on growing or staying a small firm?
  • They hope to maintain a steady workflow of projects, working side by side, in close contact with people they enjoy collaborating with
  • Seth and Kelli saw a Cal Poly presentation and were inspired by the motto, “Start your career how you want to end your career.”
• The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It – Michael E. Gerber
• Get to know your ideal clientèle then you can learn to attract other people like them
• Baby-boomers are looking to younger professionals to leverage technology which gives younger people a competitive advantage
• Tim predicts Baroque Architecture being the next big thing
• Using your cat as your financial adviser; establish a person at your office (fictional or real) as the “financial person”; you want the face of the company to remain loved by all
• What are our best memories from Cal Poly?

Teagan Andres MIT ’08, joins us for a passionate chat about the California Architects Board, the California Supplemental Exam, and we throw in a little green stuff for flavor.  Also, what’s the licensing process if you don’t have an accredited degree?

Don’t forget to tell your friends about us, join our Facebook Group, leave reviews on iTunes and vote for us on Podcast Alley!

Show Notes

• We break from tradition this week to talk with Haley’s roommate Teagan.
  • Teagan graduated in 2008, with a four year unaccredited undergrad.
  • She is originally from Connecticut and went to school in Boston.
  • After graduation she headed to Fresno to work for Darden Architects.
• She is also currently enrolled in Boston Architectural College (BAC), in the distance masters program. The program is designed for people like her that don’t have an accredited degree and are currently employed. She started in Jan. 2010 and should be done in Jan. 2012.
  • The program has a strong online component, most of the assignments and discussions take place online.
  • Teagan flew out to California to interview at Darden Architects and Haley was one of the people from the firm that she met with and gave her a tour of Fresno.
• She is currently in the middle of reporting her IDP hours but is holding off on taking her AREs. When she is done with her masters program she plans to start her AREs.
  • Her goal is to be licensed by the time she is 28, seeing that there are no hang ups.

News / Discussion

• Fires!
  • Theta Chi House on Upham at about 12:40, Mon Morning
    • http://920kvec.com/Fraternity-House-Fire-in-SLO-An-Accident/6578414
  • Piedmont Lumber Yard, Walnut Creek, Sat Morning
    • http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_14674966
    • http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/east_bay&id=7331391
    • http://cbs5.com/crime/lumber.yard.fire.2.1561562.html

• Home Construction down from last month but up slightly from last year
  • http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/16/news/economy/housing_starts/

• Off Topic, best Craigslist Ad ever!  (language may not be appropriate for your kids)
  • http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/19/the-most-amazing-craigsli_n_468664.html

• Tim’s CSE Experience – Okay so I could seriously rant about this for an hour
  • More CAB maddness. Changed testing center from Walnut Creek to Burlingame, South of the SF airport.
    • Testing letter sent on Feb 12th had the hotel address as 250. When I Googled for directions it showed the hotel was on a bridge, thats when I knew something was up. The CAB website had the correct address of 150.
    • The website had BART directions pointing to the former testing site in Walnut Creek!
  • Not all complaints, staff was very nice
  • Met Chuck Crotser (He says “Hi” Haley) – Haley says “HI” right back!!
  • Many Architecture Alumni, Dan ’05 (flew in from Australia), Jakie ’03, Jose? ’92
  • Overall the test seemed incredibly random in parts and very repetative in others. Test seems more like luck of what questions you get than anything else.
    • From ARE forums: “3 robots read pre-written questions and the exam taker [tries] to come up [with] an answer that matches that on a standard answer sheet”
  • CSE pass rate ~45% or ~50%
    • can’t find a verifiable source for this statistic
  • Bar exam pass rate ~70% (for graduates of CA ABA accredited schools)
    • http://www.calbar.ca.gov/calbar/pdfs/admissions/Statistics/JULY2005STATS.pdf
  • Do I think I passed? No … Maybe? Yes?
  • Should the test be changed to a written format?

More LEED / Green discussion

• LEED Support Slips Again in Construction Industry
  • http://www.environmentalleader.com/2010/03/12/leed-support-slips-again-in-construction-industry/?graph=full
  • More than half of all respondents indicated that a LEED Gold rating increased project costs by four percent or more, while nearly 30 percent of respondents reported the costs of LEED Gold rating at significantly lower than four percent.

• Rain, even urine, would help make Bullitt HQ city’s ‘greenest building ever’
  • http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2011354845_bullitt16.html
  • Goal is to create net-zero building for energy and water
  • Requires changes to potable water laws
  • “Living Buildings”
    • 24-29% cost increase – per the USGBC report also mentioned in the prior article
  • Resource Cost of building an entirely new structure vs. upgrading their old un-insulated historic building.

Haley and Tim talk about the news of the week, we try to get to the bottom of the NCARB and CAB’s disciplinary action against an Architecture candidate, and we talk about the the future of the licensed Architect in the construction industry.

Don’t forget to tell your friends about us, join our Facebook Group, leave reviews on iTunes and vote for us on Podcast Alley!

Other Stuff:

• If you have a story about the CAB let us know!
  • What do you do if your supervisor isn’t supportive of the IDP?
• What’s the future of the Architect License
  • Do you need a license to be an expert?
  • The building profession is changing, it’s not just about the Architect anymore.
  • Is it even relevant to get a license anymore?
  • If I’m not an Architect what do I call myself?
• Tim’s taking the CSE on March 15th!
• We want to start a scholarship for CalPoly Architecture students!
  • Tell us what you think on our forums.

Rapid Fire with Haley and Tim

• Hilarity ensues…. too crazy to write!
• Shout out to David, Roger, Gino, Lisa, Richard and Justine at Frick, Frick & Jette Architects!

Don’t forget to tell your friends about us, join our Facebook Group, leave reviews on iTunes and vote for us on Podcast Alley!

Mail Bag:

• Ellen, LEED AP – CSE Study Groups
  • Check out http://areforum.org/ to organize study groups and get questions answered
  • Visit the California Aarchitects Board website for info on the California Suplimental Exam http://www.cab.ca.gov/candidates/index.shtml
• Steve – Keynoting in Revit
  • http://www.sloarch.com/2009/07/emc2-architects-releases-keynote-manager-7-1/
  • Let us know how you structure your key reference notes! Do you use the master format? Do you have a custom format?

News:

• Senator Calls on Cal Poly to Stop Allowing Donor Influence of Curriculum
  • http://www.californiachronicle.com/articles/view/137701
  • What is the appropriate influence of doners in acedemia??
• Another interesting Haiti article
  • http://www.architectmagazine.com/blogs/postdetails.aspx?BlogId=beyondbuildingsblog&PostId=91771
  • the author is a prof at Cal Poly Pamona
  • Architecture is a team endeavor Architects need to be team players.
• Architect or whatever:
  • http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/garden/21architects.html
  • Tim read about John last year.  He’s been doing this for almost a year!! Things have been bad for some time. In Mar. of 09 Architectual Record did an entire issue on the recession.
    • http://archrecord.construction.com/news/newsmakers/0903johnmorefield.asp
  • Many of those who have been laid off are discovering new talents often unrelated to architecture…
  • “He was seated at a homemade wooden stand under a sign reading ‘Architecture 5¢,’ with a tin can nearby awaiting spare change. For a nickel, he would answer any architectural question.”
  • “According to the latest data available from the Department of Labor, employment at American architecture firms, which peaked last July at 224,500, had dropped to 184,600 by November.”
• Tim’s BIG news! Whoo hooo!
  • send job opportunities to theStudio at sloarch.com

Interview:

• Alex is still at the first job that he got straight out of Cal Poly
• He has started the IDP program but isn’t sure if he wants to start the ARE’s. We try to convince him to start.
  • It’s hard to get all the IDP hours when your firm doesn’t do all services.
  • Emerging Professionals Companion offers IDP units, http://www.epcompanion.org/
  • Have consultants do a learning luncheon and give a homework assignment to those working on IDP
• Started doing freelance residential drawings when he started college
  • First client was his uncle
  • At the peak in 2007 he was doing 40-50 projects a year
  • Friends called him a work-a-holic. For two years almost every weekend he drove to the central valley for work.
• Alex talks about the legalities of a non-architect doing residential construction drawings and how he learned how to do the drawings.
• We are left speachless
• Doing real world work made it difficult to think really out of the box in design studio because he instinctively thought about constructability of the design.
• Cal Poly’s motto of learn by doing is great but teachers controlling what technologies to use is something to possibly change.
• Find a job related to Architecture while you are still in school to see if it’s really what you want to do.
• Jake Feldman talked Alex into not changing majors to Architectural Engineering. Studing vs having fun with models.
• Alex came to the United States from Mexico at 14 not knowing any English. He worked really hard to learn the language in less than two years. He couldn’t go directly to Cal Poly because he didn’t have 4 years of required English.
  • During his senior year of high school and the summer after graduation he completed most of his freshman college courses at the local junior college.
  • He transfered to Cuesta and then to Cal Poly. Still completed the entire program in the 5 year period because of transfer credits.
• How does Alex feel about all the layoffs at his firm?
• Hasn’t had any outside architecture work for 3 months, has started a side business with another person in the firm to create an alternate revenue stream
• Even if he’s vacationing in Cabo San Lucas he will still be designing Architecture

The road to becoming a licensed Architect is a long one.  The requirements vary from state to state, but generally they require an intership, a certain number of years of education, completing a series of nine NCARB (National Council of Architectural Registration Boards) exams (is now reduced to seven), and in California, passing an oral examination in front of a panel of three licensed Architects.

We endure this agonizing process for one simple reason, we want people to know we are an Architect and we want to call ourselves an Architect.  Really, I think it all comes down to ego.  I’ve been designing buildings and drafting plans for years; I ran my own housing plan business for a number of years and have worked under the direction of other Architects for almost a decade.  For all intents and purposes I have been an Architect for the last decade, but I can’t legally call myself one and there are certain things I can’t do without the stamp of a licensed Architect.  I know many great designers and “architects” who are not licensed and will never be licensed, they work in an Architecture firm and perform all the functions of an Architect.  Frank Loyd Wright is a famous example, although the practicalities of some of his structural and waterproofing details may have been aided by a licence, or not.

I have the potential of taking the CSE in November of this year if there is an opening, and IF I pass (big if, 50% pass rate) then I can call myself an Architect.  Will the thousands of dollars and years of my life be worth it?

What do you think?