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EVstudio joins the Apartment Association of Metro Denver (AAMD)

Rich Muller — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:00:52 +0000

With the turn of the new year EVstudio has embarked on a new emphasis in the multi-family residential market. Seen as a growing field and coupled with a recent up-tick in architectural billings, multi-family is poised to represent a large portion of the construction market here in the Front Range.

EVstudio recently inked a major multi-family commission in Colorado Springs. With 288 units on roughly 6 acres the development is targeting the Colorado College and University of Colorado at Colorado Springs populations. We also have two 100 plus unit projects in Central Texas slated for the spring.

Heading the multi-family push is Rich Muller who comes to EVstudio from Houston, Texas where he had worked in the multi-family arena for several years and has over 3,000 designed units to his credit. His specialty is high-density, urban developments as well as suburban garden-style apartments.

EVstudio recently joined the Apartment Association of Metro Denver and is looking forward to becoming an active member in the Association, offering classes and lending an architect’s perspective to the industry.

If you are planning on a multi-family development over the next year, please feel free to contact EVstudio to discuss entitlements, density and overall strategy.

Originally posted 2012-01-19 13:59:26.

The Easiest Place to Find Fire Rated Assemblies is the Gypsum Association Manual

Sean O'Hara — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:00:47 +0000

After several projects of fighting with the UL Manual (Underwriters Laboratories) and the International Building Code I discovered that there is a much easier visual way to find fire rated assemblies.

I use the Gypsum Association Fire Resistance Design Manual. Everything is visual and it is generally acceptable to building departments. It contains the most used gypsum fire rated designs and it also contains information on sound ratings for most of the assemblies. Plus it is a free download which the others are not.

The main note is that you need to read the ratings carefully where some of them are proprietary and designed for one manufacturer's gypsum product. In many cases there will be another number for the same assembly from a different manufacturer or a generic product. You can list them as alternates.

In addition you should read the general notes at the front, they tell you about ways that you can modify the assemblies and still maintain something acceptable for the rating. This is important for adding insulation, adding other layers to the assembly or changing the size of framing members.

Finally, if you need a rating that doesn't involve gypsum board then your best bet is probably Chapter 7 of the IBC. That's where I go for concrete and other assembly materials.

Originally posted 2008-10-27 22:27:18.

Education and Training Required to Become a Licensed Architect

Sean O'Hara — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:00:36 +0000

One of the most common questions I hear from clients is "what does it take to become a licensed architect?" The answer is relatively simple to explain but difficult to complete.

Most states have adopted a common process for architectural licensure:

The first item is education, you need an accredited degree from a NAAB (National Architectural Accrediting Board) approved program. This degree is either a Bachelor of Architecture, Master of Architecture or Doctor of Architecture degree. If a degree is called anything else, it isn't an accredited degree. Generally going the Bachelor's route is a 5 year program and a Master of Architecture takes 2-3.5 years depending on your undergraduate education.

Then, there is the internship, and yes, interns are paid. The internship is a process that takes a minimum of 3 years during which the intern completes the Intern Development Program through NCARB. The IDP requires experience in all of the common aspects of the job of a licensed architect including design, construction documents, construction administration, management and professional/community service. Many interns take longer than 3 years to complete their internship.

The last requirement for licensure is the completion of a series of exams. The Architectural Registration Exam is a series of 7 tests over approximately 34 hours. The exams cost $1470, the exams can be taken at your own pace and the pass rate for each section is about 70%. After completion of the ARE, some states have their own additional exam. In most states you can only takes the ARE after completion of the IDP, but some states now allow you to take the ARE prior to completion of the IDP.

Upon completion of the accredited degree, IDP and ARE the candidate is eligible for licensure. The application is made to your state and generally takes several additional weeks. At the end of the process, you are a licensed architect in that state and eligible to apply for reciprocal licenses in other states.

In additional to this primary route, there are several states that will allow additional experience to substitute for the NAAB degree. Colorado is one of theose states. States have different rules for reciprocal licenses from other states and foreign architects.

In total, the process generally takes a minimum of 8 years but most candidates take longer than the minimum. Among my peers, it is probably closer to a 10-12 process.

Originally posted 2009-08-30 17:45:22.

The Front Porch and What Makes it Functional?

John Olson — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:00:21 +0000

Front Porch: “an exterior appendage to a building, forming a covered approach or vestibule to a doorway.” (Definition from Dictionary.com)
Front porches are often installed on homes, but many are not used. Some porches are simply appendages of a home to give the traditional appearance to a home, but virtually unusable if a homeowner had the desire to use it. I have lived in multiple homes in my life and have always had the desire to use my porch. However every home I have lived in, aside from my current townhome, did not have a porch that was functional. I would like to discuss what components of a porch are key to make it functional.

Overhead Structure or Roof:
A porch without a roof is not considered a porch. The roof defines the porch and gives it the “covered approach” in the definition. Regardless of the size of the porch I have had, with every porch I had the desire to be on it when it was raining or when a storm was passing through. I do not think I am in the minority because in all neighborhoods I have lived, I would see others on the porch during storms. The roof provides the shelter and the depth of the shelter is critical in a rain storm. If a porch is too shallow, the rain can easily make contact with you.

The porches on these townhomes appear nice along the sidewalk, but the depth is limiting to the function.

Porch Depth:
To this day, I have not lived in a home with enough depth to the porch to utilize its full potential. I feel that a minimum of 6-feet is necessary for optimum use of a porch. I currently have a porch in a neo-traditional neighborhood and the depth of it is generous in comparison with CSD (conventional suburban developments) porches, but still inadequate for optimum use. The depth of my current porch is about 5-feet, on which I have a porch swing turned perpendicular to the street (though towards Pikes Peak). With an extra foot, I calculated that I could have comfortably positioned chairs and a small table between them and still leave room for leg room and passage by. With three extra feet, I could have turned the porch swing toward the street without risking rocking into the house.

Porch is sited for privacy and interaction.

Porch Height:
Another important consideration of the porch is the height of the foundation and its proximity to the sidewalk. Height is important for the feeling of privacy and use of the porch. Aside from ADA exceptions, a porch should be no less than 18” above the sidewalk height. Steve Mouzon, of the New Urban Guild, put together a great chart which can be seen in his book, A Living Tradition: Architecture of the Bahamas and also New Urbanism: Best Practices Guide which illustrates a ratio of height to setback from the sidewalk to allow for optimum privacy, yet interaction with passersby.

Adaptability and Flexibility:
A porch should not be considered any differently than anything designed. It should be adaptable and flexible for several uses. Some may wish to have their porch be purely decorative, with nice yet uncomfortable furniture. Some may desire a place to rest and read a book. Others may desire a place to drink their morning coffee or evening glass of wine. My porch is used most often for kids playing and sidewalk chalk but the point is that it must be flexible for all of these uses. In a home, we must adapt and change the functions of a lot of the rooms, bedrooms to offices, to playrooms, etc. The same is true for the porch, after all with the frequency of changing residences that our country has grown accustomed to, we can not anticipate remaining in the same house our entire lives like our ancestors once did.

The details of this porch provide the authenticity of a porch in South Main.

Architectural Details and Vernacular:
I have listed the details and vernacular last because they have the least to do with the function of the porch (at least with today’s technology), yet they have the most to do with the appearance of the porch. Have you ever looked at a house and thought “Something is just not right with it?” As a non-architect, I felt this way about houses and structures for a long time and could not peg what the problem was. This was true until I discovered new urbanism and its many facets including traditional architectural detail. The reason that we (as non-architects) have this sensation is because we have seen enough beautiful architecture to know what is right and what is not.
I am always reminded of a professor of mine at Kansas State who explained to us that when designing a raised deck, or similar raised structure, that we could structurally support a large mass with very little. He was referencing utilizing very small lumber and very little lumber for support. However, if we did use something so small, it would not appear or feel safe (modern architecture or modernism is notorious for this factor). Therefore many will not use it. Much of today’s home building provides a good illustration of this. Homes are built with the minimum amount of supports or columns that take the authenticity away. On a porch as an example, columns are spaced to a maximum. This maximum is not equal to the maximum that homes used to have because we did not have the technology. For a home with a porch frontage of 30-feet, historically we may have had six columns, whereas today there are typically no greater than three. There are many other details not mentioned that should be carefully analyzed when designing your porch.

Originally posted 2010-04-29 02:50:42.

EVstudio in an Architect Who Accepts Credit Cards

evstudio — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:00:19 +0000

We've had a few clients ask us if we accept credit cards for payments and yes, we're happy to. We have long realized that every construction project has a different financing and we want to work with you to make your project work. Architecture fees are often one of the largest items that you pay for prior to having your financing in place and a credit card payment can help stretch that out.

Now, we don't insist on credit card payments either. If you are able to pay with cash or check, that is still our preference, it saves us on the large credit card fees and we really appreciate that.

If you have any questions about the available options when hiring EVstudio as your architect, please ask and we'll figure out what works for you.

Originally posted 2009-03-22 15:49:38.

Why Hire an Architect When a Contractor Offers to Design-Build

Sean O'Hara — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:00:15 +0000

Design-build is a common delivery method in construction and a popular buzz word in the industry. What it generally means is that you hire a single person or company who both designs your project and builds your project. Design-build can be great and it can be a real mistake. What is important is to know who the players are behind the design-build label.

Just to admit bias to new readers, EVstudio is an architecture and engineering company, we participate in many projects titled "design-build".

Design-build can be a great setup where you have a company that has experts and licensed professionals working on both the architecture and construction portions of the project. They can typically deliver a project on budget and they may be able to reduce your upfront design fees because they bury them in your total project cost.

Unfortunately, what often happens is that the design-build team is an outgrowth of only one profession. You frequently have a general contractor who has decided that they can do the design work as well. Suddenly you are hiring someone to design your home who is only marginally qualified and yet you are paying enough for the service to hire a full time architect. With this approach you are also hiring someone to design the project who is often most concerned about the simplest details and is likely to give you reasons that you can't have something more complex.

What I would advise all clients entering a design-build setup to do is make sure that you know who is actually doing the designing on the project. You should be meeting with the architect directly and be pleased with the design work that you are receiving. When we participate in design-build we meet with clients directly for the design and the contractor meets directly for the build. They only pay one bill but it is distributed according to the work involved. The architect is your advocate and more able to provide solutions based on years of full time design experience rather than excuses.

Another solution that works well for the client is hiring an architect and a contractor at the same time and working as a team throughout the project. We do this with many of our favorite contractors and it is a rewarding way to bring experienced professionals and still give the client an integrated project. While it is not truly design-build it offers many of the advantages.

There are a large number of project delivery methods in architecture and construction, please ask questions or give us a call.

Originally posted 2010-01-20 00:01:06.

Agreements, Proposals and Contracts Used by Architects, Engineers and Contractors

Sean O'Hara — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:00:12 +0000

There are no shortage of different forms for agreements, proposals and contracts in the design and construction industry.

The base contracts of the design and construction industry are the contracts produced by the American Institute of Architects. These contracts have been in place for more than 120 years and they are the standard. They cover all of the relationships in the process not just those involving the Architect, a common example is the Owner/Contractor agreements.

The primary reasons for choosing an AIA contract is that the contracts are generally fair and balanced and they have been through legal proceedings enough that their definitions are well established. They aren't very open for interpretation. The contract document software also has a feature that tracks changes so if you know the usual contract it is very easy to understand the changes. In addition the various agreements all tie together create a comprehensive set. What this means is that the obligations in the Owner/Architect agreement match up with the obligations in the Owner/Contractor agreement and the Architect/Consultant agreements.

The primary reasons that people choose to avoid AIA contracts tend to be complexity of the contract, scope that is very unique and attempts to produce contracts that are tilted towards one party.

At EVstudio we emply a variety of contracts. Where owners have their own contracts we will review them to verify that they are workable. When we propose on most smaller residential and commercial work we have a 4-5 page agreement that is much less intimidating than the 20+ pages in an AIA contract. We also enter into a number of different AIA contracts depending on scope and coordination with other agreements. We also suggest contract forms for owners to use with other parties. We've put together enough to guide you through your choices.

Originally posted 2009-02-16 23:16:22.

Links from EVstudio.info to Your Website

Sean O'Hara — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:00:04 +0000

With the increasing number of link requests that we get from Consultants, Clients, Engineers, Contractors and Builders, I thought it would be useful to explain how to get EVstudio.info to link to your website.

First, an important distinction, generally speaking our evstudio.us domain does not provide links unless we have an interest in the company. Most of our linking comes through evstudio.info which actually has higher page rank anyway.

What we have devised as the most fair way to distribute links is that we provide links within posts where describe projects. That way if we're only working on one project with a certain company we are providing less links that if we are working on five projects with another company. Just let us know that you'd like to be mentioned in conjunction with projects and we'll make sure that we do. The blog currently has a page rank of 5, so we can really help out.

The other way is we provide links to organizations and blogs that our readers may find interesting, just email me and I'll look over your site.

We always appreciate any reciprocal links as it helps more people find us and the information that we have generated to let them know more about architecture and the architectural process.

Originally posted 2009-04-16 00:46:42.

Finding and Choosing the Best Architect for Your Project

Sean O'Hara — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:00:01 +0000

Last week I gave a talk on "How to Work With an Architect" as part of Colorado Architecture Month. One of the questions from the audience was "how do I find the right architect for my project". Of course I told them to just talk to me afterward, but it did raise an interesting question. How does someone go about finding an architect?

Your first option is always referrals from other friends and family members that have worked with an architect. If you have already selected a builder or contractor for your project they may have some recommendations based on their experience.

Oftentimes, the next source should be the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Both the national website and the local websites have tools to link you to architects that do the type of project you have in mind. Not every architect is a member of the AIA, but I'd recommend working with an AIA architect.

The next source is going to be the internet. My main caution is that you'll really want to dig through the results. In my test searches, many of the top page results are about architecture but not necessarily about architecture firms. In addition, the top search results are often about larger firms who may not be the right choice if you have a smaller project.

The phone book is an option, but without any images of the work, it could make for a daunting task.

Finally, one last plug for my company, EVstudio. We do a wide variety of project types and a variety of styles throughout the country. Please feel free to email me or give me a call. I'm happy to give you advice on your project and if I can't help you, I'll give you good advice on your architect selection.

Originally posted 2009-04-19 23:34:37.

Renaming Your Default Profile in AutoCAD is Easier than Changing the Profile that AutoCAD Defaults to

Sean O'Hara — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:59:57 +0000

One of the most difficult things about installing AutoCAD on multiple computers is setting up the profile over and over again. You can export your profile and then import it on the other machines. Then you have to go into your options and set the new profile current or change the profile information on the icon that you use to start the program.

However, there is an easier solution. AutoCAD Architecture is set up to look for the "AutoCAD Architecture (US Imperial)" profile when it starts. So rename that profile to something else (so the name is free) and then rename your favorite profile "AutoCAD Architecture (US Imperial)" and restart the program. Problem solved.

Originally posted 2008-11-03 22:52:56.