Frog Up or Down

I received just recently a note from the Construction Products Association , asking if I want to be part of a review of a new system being discussed to add specific identifiers to manufacturers products, as part of the BIM process, they seem to think I am a manufacturer !. The whole concept can be seen on the Design Building Wiki , a site I have been reading for some time. I think its very early days for this but in principle,  its inevitable that we will do this, but there are several hurdle to overcome, what of the Agrement cert number, well it's not unique, as its date oriented, 97/1234, but maybe thats good, it still shows a life cycle, valid from !. Most manufacturers already have a product number system, so often together with batch numbers and a manufacture date,  so are we heading for say a number that looks like 1234/01-11/2015, perhaps with  machine identifier a bar code might make this easier to apply, and the date problem is sorted. The whole ide...

It's not till you walk through a city by night, do you get the chance to see all sides of a building, from the daylight shadows, and its general use by its occupants. But its a night you see a completely different side to a building, the suns shadows replaced by artificial lighting that competes with the moon and plays tricks on shadows never intended by the Architect. And it was as I walked back from the Hotel of the CIAT presidents ball, that I suddenly noticed this, the cold wind biting through a rather thin dress suite, I stood to look at a grand old building and admire the new  silhouette that now presented its self to me, where hours before I saw something completely different. We spend so long designing for daylight, but so often we ignore the dark and often n=missed opportunity to see a completely different side of Architecture, yet its one that during the winter months presents its self more. For me its a new side to my CPD, looking at shadow, and reflecting on...

I always wanted to visit the Guggenheim, so on a visit to New York a couple of years ago, I took the time and paid to go inside. My friends, a mixture of Architect, technologists and QS's rave about it, and I expected a lot, but,,,,, it just did not live up to its reputation, a tired building that has many design flaws, and detailing that just is plain wrong. I saw so many ooowing and aaaaaring, but I just could not see it, yes if you stand back and look at the building, I can see the Architecture as perhaps Frank Lloyd Wright might have wanted. But as a technologist, I see the detail and it just does not add up, I visited in the late December, and the building was suffering from condensation at a lot of windows, getting the concrete spiral handrail detail perfect is difficult enough, but with no capping to take up the inaccuracies of casting, its almost impossible. I have alway wanted to see Franks, working drawings and detail set, there are a lot out on the net, but ...

Is there was ever a product that could alter the way we see the construction industry, then this has to be it, the new Raspberry Pie Zero , at only 65x35x5mm and only needing 5v. The use of they little things can easily be embedded into several different types of product, from sensor packs, to products to small room sensors At around £11.88 each, it has the power and ability to run a small sensor array easily, and if connected to a say solar power supply and wifi, prove invaluable. Related articles Solar power is booming in India. Will it reach the people who need it most? SunPower to build 20 MW PV plant for Arizona electric cooperative Now, 3D printed vehicle that powers a house

In an excellent article in this months DEVELOP 3D magazine , the role of the China Academy of Building Research( CABR). The article is that the magazine calls Advertorial, so its an advert for the use of AMD, Firepro graphics card, and the way its been used to develop a new version of the Sausage module that is used to compute the effects of earthquakes on a building. Part of the PKPM which is the mainstay of construction design system. I know absolutely nothing about PKPM and it's role within (CABR), so I have opened up a new line of research to understand why, how and when its used and by whom. A first search brings up an article by Autodesk, looking at BIM , the PKPM, and CABR, but the first real stop has to be the CABR web site , and thankfully its in English, with a rather full menu so plenty to read through here. From first glance, it might seem that its a combination of tech building regs and British Standards pulled into one. but there is a lot to view and this will...

I can't find a blog I have made recently that goes so well into the Tesla Power Wall unit, its via the very excellent ColdFusion Tv unit, and again he goes into a subject and just gives fact. Although I like this, I think they have missed a vital point, in that we, the human, need to change, adopt a slightly different life style and use lower power consuming products, and choose when to use them, Heating and cooling are also overlooked, we can do away with cooling, but heating and staying warm, is a priority, which Tesla can't supplement. I remember the night storage hears of a few yeas ago, we need to take another look at this together with efficient ways to store energy that will be used for heating, Solar water panels come to mind, together with mass to store the heat, perhaps under the house. PassiveHouse comes very much to mind here. So yet again I add Passive technology onto my list and raise its rating to high.

The online paper by John Foley ,  ORACLE entitled " As Big Data Explodes, Are You Ready For Yottabytes? " is required reading to understand Big city data, the impact it will have and the actual size we are talking about. There are several links to other papers, which give depth to the subject, but I started making notes and went for over an hour just following up links, key words and concepts. You might think just what has this to do with Architecture and the Architectural Technologist, well we are the detailers, the designers of materials and their use, as we head further into BIM and the data it can generate, and the way this data can interact and generate its own data, ,,,,, need I go on, its a subject we need to understand now.

Take a look at this video in the Cold Fusion Tv series, the way Tesla is progressing in its software, is pushing into AI areas like we have never seem before, OIt applies to both the car itself, and the Big City data buildup. How can the auto home incorporate this technology, perhaps the way the hive can be used to inform and request information on weather, I am writing a paper on this and its difficult not to sit back and think of how the way Tesla is evolving and how it might so easily fit the Domestic and commercial construction market.   

This might seem a strange CPD blog, but take a step back and think about who owns the best steel literature in the UK , Tata Steel , and who also owns Jaguar and Land Rover , plus Tetley Tea. Ok the construction industry might run on tea, but its not a major factor, but the steel industry is and I for one, having once worked for a steel company, ASW Allied Steel & Wire, and one who details a lot of steel structure and detailing of component that need to meet steel structure, them my interest is roused. So I have blogged Cold Fusion Tv before, you cn see a list at the end of the Video below, its a sharp well edited video presentation, no waffle, just plain facts and great imaging. You might want to download the steel table, after this and store in Evernote. Unfortunately I always have problems finding Tata steel table, so always go to this site RoyMech , it has the serial size, weight, then the section dims in an easy to read table, just excellent.

Last week, I surveyed an oldish terraced house , with a view to a loft conversion , The survey its self took a few hours, no more, but the actual plot took about another 3 house, to produce three floor plans , a section and a couple of elevations. The reason I tell you this, recently several students asked, what to charge for work, the answer is not easy, I have immediate costs that need to be met, so insurance, computer, telephone & Internet, plus upkeep of my CAD package, and general office running expenses,  paper ink and the like, that just keep coming, month after month, then the final cost is how long does it take me to draw it to a level ready for say planning or Regs. Overall, I recon to at least a full day to draw, so say 7 hours, plus client time of half a day, so a total man hours of 10 hours, so the formula is : hourly on cost + 10 hour Now you need to sort out how much you want to earn in any year, and break it down to an hourly rate, oh and stay ...

Its always the same. you clip an address, then want it again ten minutes later, and have to go back to the site, perhaps searching for it,  using the history, but what happens if you copy text, or a picture. I use a little app within chrome that stores all this called " Clipboard History ", vey useful. It's a small icon in the top bar, clit it and a list of all your clips drops down, highlight and its back into your live clipboard. There is even a useful search bar to help, I have gone back over several days to pull a copy back.

I am old enough to remember cobbled streets in Birmingham, my old home town in the UK, so when, I went to a local store and had to drive down a road with old cobbled stones, laid in the familiar pattern, and with that so familiar, tyre sound, I was flashing back to my youth. But, I was so disappointed to see sections repaired in black bitumen, why, the almost perfect line and patten had been ruined,for want of a little care. So often you see this, paving flags liftedo repair a pipe only to be replaced by black Tarmac. A little care on the specification,  was all it needed to get the contractor to repair as original, the usual excuse is a lack of skilled workmen, and the specifier backs down and accepts, but had he pushed for what was specified, then perhaps a trade might have been kept alive, instead of being abandoned to blacktop. The original article and subsequent updates can be found on the Konrannsoknir.com site

Want to expand your reading subject list, try searching a subject in Google Scholar, and look for papers written on the subject you want, and then look at the bottom of the paper for the References and Bibliography, these are the writters reference cited papers and offer a wider view of the subject, either click on the link if its so, or redo the search with this new author. The original article and subsequent updates can be found on the Konrannsoknir.com site Related articles Free academic papers to all Architectural Technologist - ICAT conference Architectural Technologist - Trees and the built environment Architectural Technologist - Ambient Backscatter Architectural Technologist - Constructing Architect

I carry, almost all the tine several means of storing ideas when ever they occur. Mostly I use just two, my iPhone for capture of photo's and book page capture, with still the best utility, Evernote , I don't have to sink, as its on all my devices, and of course my trusty Moleskin, that I use to sketch and note. I use pencil, pen and marker pens , to highlight and I sketch, it makes no difference what, I have an idea I note it, and if required sketch, the highlighter pen is used to define. Be careful, the marker pens tend to bleed through the paper. I keep looking at Google Keep and so far it's just no where near Evernote, no OCR , I tend to test this witrh screen grabs i take of ebooks, but to date no OCR on the photos I have taken, But saying this, I tend to copy notes made into google Doc via iFTTT, a free cloud based app that looks and if it see's a new not copies it to Keep,,,,,, just in case Related articles Google's Evernote killer is finally com...

I carry, almost all the tine several means of storing ideas when ever they occur. Mostly I use just two, my iPhone for capture of photo's and book page capture, with still the best utility, Evernote , I don't have to sink, as its on all my devices, and of course my trusty Moleskin, that I use to sketch and note. I use pencil, pen and marker pens , to highlight and I sketch, it makes no difference what, I have an idea I note it, and if required sketch, the highlighter pen is used to define. Be careful, the marker pens tend to bleed through the paper. I keep looking at Google Keep and so far it's just no where near Evernote, no OCR , I tend to test this witrh screen grabs i take of ebooks, but to date no OCR on the photos I have taken, But saying this, I tend to copy notes made into google Doc via iFTTT, a free cloud based app that looks and if it see's a new not copies it to Keep,,,,,, just in case Related articles Google's Evernote killer is finally com...

All credit for the Paris logo goes to  @jean_jullien for creating the sketch he drew in response to the Paris attacks.

You may have heard me go on, in recent posts about the way my wifi drops has very load speeds, and in general just does not work, forcing me to use a hardwire link for my internet, where I get speeds in excess of 50mbs instead of less than 1mbs over my wifi, is  Google onhub the big picture, being missed, read on. My experience out and about is not much better, I live on the south side of Birmingham, where you might think I get high speed mobile 3G and 4G, and in the most part I do, but there are glaring gaps, and it disrupts my workflow plus my music far to regularly. Plus the amount of access to the internet given by my provider O2 is so often not enough, I end up with no coverage at all late in the month. So when I see two separate avenues being created by Google, I started to sit back and look at the big picture, what is the main thing they do not control, yet might be the biggest obstacle to innovation and seriously harm their existing product portfolio, dam right its...

This video has been out for a couple of years, and Sketch up has change ever so slightly, but its a great video introduction intoSite Modelling in SketchUp , and the way it can be used to build up some sort of 3D model. Any student of Architectural Technology, would do well to watch this excellent video, and make use of the many tips. Related articles Architectural Technologist - IFC viewer on the iPad World Builder 3D CAD or CAVE Multiple View 3D Sections My Moleskin is Half empty

I try so hard to make my mind work, and do simple calcs in my head, but sometimes its just quicker and easier just to use a calculator to do just a quick calc. I could dive into my bag and haul out my Casio, but its so much quicker just to put the calc into the search bar of Chrome, and see the result instantly. More its so easy to copy the answer and paste into a document.  The same method can also be used within some other programs, Vectorworks for instance can accept a calc instead, of a dim.

I think Corning is beating a whole new path with it's glass technology, this new video describes Willow Glass , the ultra thin flexible yet very tough glass sheet that comes on a roll The video, I think does not do it justice, there is so much we can do with this material from simple laminates, to complex laminates with imbedded printed circuits.

Over the weekend, I began thinking about the simple question, "Does Autodesk need IFC ", you have to wonder, when you see the full range of Autodesk programs, all integrated and supposedly working together. As a marketing tool, it's a no brainer, lock every one into the family, there is no need to go else where. But just in case we'll keep out links to IFC. I think they are missing to point. It's not that they are not doing a good job at the number of very good programs, but it just seems like if its not invented here then there is no use for it. You might say the same for Apple, I have used Apple since 1985, and loved it, the method of working was great, but try going outside Apple, it has not changed, I want to share my slides, yes there is a link, but it is not like Google , who seem to give every single option to share, and make it easy. Just a thought !

I had a conversation with several people recently re the way we draw, and as we progress through the 3D path, would it be possible to drop 2D CAD drafting. I must admit, 90% of my work is still 2D, but I see the benefits of drawing in 3D, so perhaps the next big project will be the one I turn a corner with, and reduce the %. But, yes it's that word again, But, even when I draw in 3D, the sections created require I draw in 2D, simply because the internal portions of any wall style is void of anything. So here is my thoughts on getting the detail at least partially drawn, and as I use Vectorworks primarily, that what I will talk about here. First lets look at the easiest to sort, brick coursing , we all use bricks, and their size varies from country to country, but their size is known, and the base point or the point at which coursing begins is also known. I see two alternatives, use Marionette to add coursing to any section, from the base point,  Have the wall style...

OK, it's raining, and going out dog training, looks increasingly a bad option, the coffee shop and pastry, looks like a much better option. In one of those office conversations, I had the idea for overcoming the problem of ceating sections, in Vectorworks where the wall has no detail, no brick coursing or for that matter material heights, I'm trying to work it out, so the moleskin is going to get a bashing today as I sketch and pull idea together. I had an Architect mate of mine make contact with a new job, so it looks like I shall be busy for a few weeks creating two house types and a site plan, plus all the usual details. I have had my paper for ICAT accepted, so its a race to get the paper written, well finished, I have had about 10 pages fleshed out with notes and research needed, so its just a case of head down. I have an appointment with one of the professors who lectures in big data at Birmingham City Uni, next week, so questions pilling up. The CIAT AGM is...

This article on City Metrics , on creating Google indoor mapping, is interesting, for existing buildings it could be a boon to internal shop or office owners wanting to get an easy fix on an internal map, I still think adding our plans is the better way, as it allows easy updates, but still, its interesting. The kit is a little cumbersome. and a tad obvious, plus how long does it last without a charge. Adding specific graphics is also a problem, I can see so many shops wanting their logo of corporate graphic jpg. Apple getting in on the act is not surprising, but their map is not in the same league as Google so it's a watch and see for Apple Maps. But indoor mapping is going to be big business, emergency escapes, show me the way to Starbucks, loads of possibilities. I tried to get a route from home to JD Sports in the airport, it located it well and added a touch more info, then I asked it to show me a route from home, this it did well, till it got to the airport build...

Have you noticed that Google maps has changed, and for the good, I might add.I use Google Maps, almost daily, so often hourly, checking sites, sorting routes and just being bloody nosey. But a service I liked a lot was missing, thats the send to devise, but, I was expecting it to be there as I sorted a complete route out, its not, its there when you search for a place, but goes as soon as you look at the route. So take my advise, find the destination and send it to your phone and let the phone sort the route. Other changes are the return of the short URL, which you can find under Share, which is also where you can find the map embed code. In all great improvements to Goole Maps, I keep telling my students how important Google Maps are to surveying and initial pre survey office prep. Add to this the excellent internal maps we see for major malls, airports and public buildings.