The ‘Standard Details’ concept is deceptively simple. “An easily accessed library of building details that describe how you like to do things.” Everybody gets that. 

Have you ever tried to do it?

Successfully?

I found success elusive. But it is worth a try. Here is why ...
​

A year after I started my own firm, I was invited to design a hangar for my Dad's golfing buddy, who happened to have started an airline that was growing by leaps and bounds. We designed projects for his airline for about twenty years until they were bought out by one of the major airlines. One of the main skills that allowed us to keep up with their growth was my knowledge of project delivery methods - mostly book-learning, driven by interest.

I have been using this free graphics tool for three years. Canva is a graphic design program that anyone can use. It is drop-dead easy. Check it out here.

Canva has proven itself to be so helpful that I recently started using the Canva For Work version that has a few bells and whistles I like. $12.95 a month saves me at least an hour a month, but you won't need that. Canva is free and really powerful.

I got the opportunity to design some school buildings right out of college. They were fairly large projects taking six months to a year for the design phases. There was lots of time to recover from missteps. After a couple of these I got an admin building for a small school district. By comparison this was a three-bedroom house in scale. Before I had a handle on what the project would entail, I started focusing on the entrance and how I wanted that to work. After a day or two, the question came. "What the hell are you doing?" I explained about the importance (to me) of the entrance. "Do you even know if this is going to be 1-story or two? Does it fit the site?"
​

The first time I designed a building with two levels, the boss told me to make the floor-to-floor height as tight as possible because that would keep the exteior wall cost as low as possible. I did it.

10'-8"!

My main recollection of the construction of that building was the constant phone calls and trips to the site to explain how to run the ducts, conduits, and place the lights so everything would fit. I came to the conclusion that the boss may have been focused on the wrong issue.

Eventually I came to this Rule Of Thumb that I am going to share with you. But I always gave the floor-to-floor height more thought than on that first project.

I once wasted a day trying to lay out a building and parking on a site. It couldn't be done. The building footprint, plus parking, plus zoning setbacks equalled 92% of the area of the site. Tight, but do-able you are thinking; just get creative.

... Did I mention that the shape of the site had an offset that prevented an efficient parking layout? Some layouts came so close to working that I was sure there was a solution. Nope, the math wouldn't give.

If only I had worked the math first, I would have spent most of that day looking at alternatives like partial two-story, or a full two-story building, or simply explaining that we were wasting our time on this site.

Back in the day when I was designing buildings instead of managing projects, I really enjoyed the task of getting light into the building. Most of the time this was just a form of decoration. But when i could make it more integral to the design, that was especially gratifying.

I found a number of ways to make windows more than just a 'punched' opening - although there was plenty of that, too. Here are some examples to show what I mean.

When I started my career (1970), CA was really simple. My experience was that the superintendents and project managers in every modest-sized construction outfit were usually more experienced about construction technology than the architectural staff, and they could be counted on to construct the project with competence. 

Most firms were unionized. Tradesmen were apprenticed and grew in competence with each year of experience. You often received good 'advice' from contractors, which you ignored at your peril.

This is the world that standard owner-architect agreements anticipate. Things have changed. That world doesn't exist anymore. 
​

Quite a few wall details have appeared in Architekwiki. These are the ones that have been visited the most - or should have been - assembled in an easy to review listing.

The Technical Design Diagnostic came to our attention about 1990. Unfortunately we have lost track of its origins - perhaps Fred Stitt? 

The concept of the Technical Design Diagnostic is that it is a first step in getting a handle on the project. If your goal is to find the best design that meets your client's program, including budget and schedule, which it should be, then the Technical Design Diagnostic is the most direct way to do that. 

The Technical Design Diagnostic also takes less time than a design study that ignores the parameters that will inevitably bring you back to just a subset of what you once thought was possible. We have found that by using the Technical Design Diagnostic, the project design concept becomes very clear in just a few days for most projects.

The Technical Design Diagnostic is intended to be followed one step after the other in roughly the order shown here. When you have thought all these issues through, then you are ready to start designing. 

​Over the years we have bid a lot of projects both privately and publicly. We have also documented our process to avoid 'reinventing the wheel'. The following describes the steps in our process. Several of the documents or forms that we use are downloadable by clicking their name. Perhaps this will be helpful to you. 

Selecting Colors


I like to select colors. I think I'm pretty good at it. I don't do it often enough to be great, but I think my results are pretty darn good.

Maybe if I selected colors all the time, I would know more about the politics of selecting colors and get good at that aspect, too. Because politics is the problem with selecting colors. 

After an interiors person returned from a color-review meeting in tears, I developed the following process to head off more unpleasant experiences. Honestly we haven’t gotten to use it often enough to know if it can be improved; so feel free to contribute your experience/advice in the comments. The world -needs- a solution to the “color problem”!

OVERVIEW / DESCRIPTION
I have been volunteering my time for a non-profit for 30 years. During that time I have learned a lot about accessibility. The first toilet room conversion that I did for the agency was a disaster. The clients are REALLY disabled, and a standard ADA toilet room is barely a good start. 

This project converted an office into a toilet room. This became a priority when a reorganization of space created a 75' trip down the hall to get to the rest rooms. The adult clients were going 'walkabout', having 'trouble', or taking staff with them for assistance, which left the program understaffed. 

The big takeaway is to look beyond what is being requested to see what the real requirements are.

I admit that my experience is limited. We designed just one green roof as a demonstration project for a storm water authority, circa 2004. The utility especially likes the decrease in rate of run off. In fact we have two spouts side by side to demonstrate the difference between the vegetated roof and an equal area of typical roof. The difference is dramatic.
Lately I've been wondering, "Is it just me or has the din about green roofs died down?" The touted benefits list is fairly long.

Benefits

• The roofing lasts longer
  
• Provides extra insulation  
  
• Moderates the temperature differential between inside and outside
  
• Slows time of concentration of storm water runoff
  
• Absorbs CO2
  
• Eliminates the heat island effect of the building
  
• Provides habitat