Category: Design

Drywall Details

9/27/2021

Build your expertise in commercial construction

Building Acoustics For Architects

6/23/2021

We have all experienced rooms with poor acoustics, particularly unwanted sound transmission. To avoid poor acoustics you need to design a workable solution and you need to see that your solution is implemented.

Good Architectural Acoustics requires the use of just five simple concepts...

What's The Cheapest Way

2/15/2021

Nature encourages economy and so does human nature.

Rule Of Thumb for Expansion - Up? Out?

1/23/2021

Look At What Others Do For A Clue.

Conference Room Layout Rule Of Thumb

1/9/2021

SIZING A Conference Room

How To Design - Schematic Design

12/6/2020

The benefits of this Seven Step Process of Schematic Design

Cut And Fill Made Easy

11/22/2020

This can make engineers crazy.

Planning A Basement - Rule Of Thumb

10/18/2020

Basements sound like a really good value -
residential, yes; commercial, no.

Accessible Plus

4/4/2020

When your occupants are truly disabled, the ADA is inadequate.

Stories

3/28/2020

The inherent costs of your number of stories.

Why Your Logo Should Be Square

1/11/2020

Square saves a lot of aggravation

Commercial Stair Layouts - Rule Of Thumb

11/3/2019

Stairs can ruin the design budget. Early planning is the antidote.

Working With A Building Committee - A How To

10/12/2019

A Building Committee seems to be the preferred project management method for non-profits, church-based organizations and higher education.

The Inherent Premium For A 2-Sty Building - Rule Of Thumb

8/11/2019

This is not at all obvious, but here is how it works.

How Codes Affect Design - Rule Of Thumb

6/30/2019

Just about every project needs to address zoning and building codes.

The Six Key Issues

4/14/2019

Every project faces 6 key issues.

Coffee Bar Planning

3/17/2019

Our design of coffee bars / kitchenettes improved
immensely after we designed one for ourselves.

The Key To Estimating Building Costs

2/2/2019

The accuracy of estimating costs
relies on just five concepts.

How A Site Analysis Impacts Your Project

10/7/2018

A Site Analysis is a tool for maximizing the opportunity that your project represents by telling you up front which paths of site development will lead to achieving your goals.

Trash

7/29/2018

Have you ever tried to incorporate trash collection into a project during Construction Documents?

It is a mess, and the results will be less than stellar unless you go way in the hole by reworking lots of earlier decisions.

How to avoid the situation next time is the topic of this post.

Putting A Project Out For Bids

7/2/2018

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.

The Ideal Janitor's Closet

6/11/2018

orig pub 7May13

Most of us don't give a thought to a Janitor's Closet. We put a sink in a small room of 5'x5' and move on.

Well there's a little more to it if you want the space to serve the building owner. We learned what is really needed when we designed a supply warehouse for Banana Republic / The Gap. The owner's project manager, who was in charge of supplying the whole company with stuff for operating the individual stores, was basically an executive janitor.

We received very specific requirements for the janitor's closet. I am passing on his wisdom to you.

Zoning Analysis Tools

6/4/2018

Zoning is an odd duck. Zoning is unique among codes because you might not be able to build. Period.

Every other code will allow you to proceed if you can show compliance, which is generally just a matter of money - more of it.

With zoning, no amount of money can buy permission to proceed if you don't meet the requirements. Sometimes you have to wait a year before re-applying!

Flat Roofs

5/28/2018

Flat Roofs Don’t Leak

Flat roofs have a bad reputation for leaks, but I don’t think flat roofs leak. My experience is that any leaks aren’t due to poor roofing or poor roof materials. The leaks are due to the flatness of the roof, which encourages use of the roof for HVAC equipment.

Here is why that is a leak-producing situation, and what you can do about it.

Standard Details

5/20/2018

Image from Vulcraft

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 ...