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AIA Small Project Design (SPD) Knowledge Community supports, celebrates, and promotes small projects by engaging designers and the public.

  • 1.  2017 CRAN Symposium

    Posted 07-17-2017 07:55 PM
    Registration for the 10th Annual CRAN Symposium is now open. Join us this year in Miami, Florida for another event filled with great speakers, houses, sponsors, and fellow residential architects. Every year we hit our max registration earlier than the previous year, so do not delay in signing up.

    https://network.aia.org/cran/home/symposium/2017symposium

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    Jared Banks AIA
    Shoegnome, LLC
    Seattle, WA

    If you're not following CRAN on Twitter ( https://twitter.com/AIA_CRAN ) or Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/AIACRAN/ ), you should. We post lots of news and interesting stuff pretty much daily.
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  • 2.  RE: 2017 CRAN Symposium

    Posted 07-19-2017 02:04 AM
    Hi, Gang!
     
    Indeed, 'tis good to see Manual (Personual?) Drawing back in the discussion!  Several months ago, there was a long string about this, and in the process I met several fellow, happy dinosaurs.
     
    But first, an aside on a recent comment:
    1.    It doesn't take just a texter (or tweeter) to have bad grammar, or ---
    2.    To not be able to figure the sales-tax before getting to the check-out, or ---
    3.    To not know when the Millennium actually arrived...
     
    Anyhow ---
    Old-timers?
    One writer said there couldn't be too-many folks left who started-out on manual drafting at work.  But that's the early '80s, "only" 35 years ago, which is not, to me, a full career.  So, I'd guess most folks who started then, are still at it.  Especially with Architects; people ask me about "retirement" (I'm 71).  My response is; "Never!  Most Architects never retire; we just draw to a conclusion..."
    My "History of CAD(D)":
    1966:
    In 1966, our amazing Dean Bruno Leon, at the University of Detroit School of Architecture, (then 6-year B.Arch., w/ lots of co-op work) brought-in a guest speaker.  A man from General Motors showed-off a new computer-powered Design tool they'd developed, showing the latest Corvette concept model ["Mako Shark"] being smoothly rotated for views all-around, and from above-&-below.  We were all duly amazed.  And the cost of that system was now below ten-million Dollars!  Dean Leon said we'd all be drawing that way, someday...
    1966:
    In my first job in an Architects' office, all work was of course manual, on vellum.  CADD was never even dreamed of.  The Secretary was dreaming of getting an IBM Selectric typewriter (the one with the type-faces on interchangeable "balls", for a readily-switchable choice of fonts --- a very creative analog concept).
    1978:
    About 8 offices later, CADD was still NOT being seriously discussed, if discussed at all.  In one office in '78, the guy behind me was fooling-around with CADD, but only on his own, on a wee little, early computer.
    1980:
    As I started in my last job in someone else's office (Dec. '80, stayed 3-1/2 years), all work was manual, now generally on Mylar.  It was "large" for an Architectural office (16-to-20 people).  With manual work, there was a wonderful comradery, as we all worked 60-to-70-or-so hours a week, with the music cranked on Saturdays and Sundays.  Is there any of that in current offices?  We had a couple of great "Green Visors", Professional Drafters, who had little care for Design, but knew the Code, and construction detailing, cold, and so could crank-out amazing "Working Drawings" (now "CDs").  This was before energy-considerations came along, so detailing was far, far simpler...  (The actual green visor faded-away mid-century, but the term stuck.)  And Dick Wilson had a wonderful sense of humor.  When we were all really cranking, I enjoyed hearing the "happy slap" of all those drafting tools.  Around '82/'83, 1-or-2 jobs (not "projects") were done on the pin-register drawing system.  What a dog!  It demanded perfection (uh-uh), and of course de-registered on the now-still-standard rotary-printing systems.  Nobody had flat-plate printers, for 32" x 40" sheets, or even 24"x 36".  So, we dumped that.
    1984:
    I went out on my own, mid-year, sort-of-assuming that I'd switch to CADD someday.
    Mid-1990s:
    My favorite local Land Surveyor, Tom Wilson, very generously gave me an extensive look at his all-CAD home office (this is about when the second "D" was D-leted.).  After all the discussions of capital costs, renewal charges and re-learning curves on revisions, maintenance, etc., I was convinced...NO WAY!!  Surveyors now, probably more than most other drawing professionals, are very, very married to CAD, with GIS driving it all now.
    2017:
    Like recent contributor Leah Greenwald AIA, I am solo, doing small projects, manually.  Design meetings are at the Clients' kitchen or dining-room table, and I'm paid at the end of each meeting.  We step outside when visualization is being discussed.  I love this work, and I'm a night-owl (Architecture 101 requirement), so I could care less when meetings occur.  For young couples, I offer "after bedtime" (usually +/- 21:00 start-time) meetings, when the house is quiet(er).  For business-owners, there's always the 5:30-or-so meeting (we can toast the sunrise w/ our coffees).  And, uh, what is this "weekend" thing I hear people talking about?
    When people ask me about CAD, and animated fly-throughs, etc., I readily concede that manual work now is only for the small projects that I, and some few others, do.  There aren't 5 other disciplines sharing drawings, there's no BIM, etc.  We draw our drawings, and our small jobs get built by local G.C.s who drive their own pick-ups and swing their own nail-guns, and we generally have happy Clients...
    Wrap:
    Whew, finally!  At some point soon, I'll discuss my drawing methods...
     
    Thanks ---
    Bill
    william j. devlin aia, inc.,
    ARCHITECT
    Springfield, MA 
     
     
     





  • 3.  RE: 2017 CRAN Symposium

    Posted 07-20-2017 05:43 PM
    Hello Bill, et al,
    I enjoyed your post & agree with you only about 100%.  Manual drafting works fine for small projects & hiring CADD drafts-help works for all other projects plus it's easy to scan & forward pdf's of my drawings.
    Best regards from Sonoma, California.
    Adrian Martinez Architect AIA, APC

    ------------------------------
    Adrian Martinez AIA
    Adrian Martinez, AIA, Architect
    Sonoma CA
    ------------------------------



  • 4.  RE: 2017 CRAN Symposium

    Posted 07-21-2017 07:47 PM
    I used CADDAM in-house at IBM, starting in 1989 as an architect.  It's mainframe driven, and if you're not familiar with it, you draw directly on the screen with 'pen' and a simple keypad on the side.  (It was originally developed by the aerospace industry.)  For lines mode, press the lines button and click on the screen where you want to draw; to draw circles, press circle button; to trim press trim, etc).  Totally intuitive. I loved it!  However, in '96 they went PC and converted over to Autocad.  After doing over a hundred projects in CADDAM, Autocad was truly a dog.  User unfriendly and tedious.  I've literally been waiting 20 years for a program as easy & simple as CADDAM.  I've heard it's still being used by other companies.
    That said, I do drawings manually, but notes and titles in Word, iPhoto for pics, scan and copy for surveys and specs.  It's cut and paste,
    and it works for me.  I've had my drawings showcased at a town as a model for what they would like to see.  I also deliver PDFs for every job along with the hard copies.  If people want cad drawings, I offer to have them turned into dxf files for a fee.  Not one person has ever taken me up on that!  As a matter of fact they really appreciate hand drawing over cad, and it gets me even more work than I can handle.

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    William Figdor AIA
    Art & Architecture, LLC
    Maplewood NJ
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  • 5.  RE: 2017 CRAN Symposium

    Posted 07-20-2017 06:08 PM
    Bill,
    Along with the drafting room comaradery, you neglected to mention the age-old ritual of "the washing of the tools" which one did before beginning a new project.  All of that old pencil lead dust, ink smears, etc. to be banished for good luck.  And, while you were at it, throw a couple of those Scum-X bags at each other.

    I'm also a sole practitioner, but a user of electronics and wite-out on paper copies more than manual.

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    Joel Niemi AIA
    Joel Niemi Architect
    Snohomish, WA
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  • 6.  RE: 2017 CRAN Symposium

    Posted 07-21-2017 07:01 PM
    Mr. Niemi & All ---
    Hello
     
    (BTW, I'm sorry I clicked on CRAN Symposium when I joined this string.  This stuff has nothing to do with the planning of the Symposium...)
     
     
    Ah, yes --- cleaning the tools (how DID you do the bottom of the parallel-rule, without having water stuck in the roller-holes?!).  Re-taping the triangles' "bottoms"...  Don't forget the templates, especially doors, circles, & plumbing fixtures.  While tossing "ditty-bags" (Scum-X), trying to land an old one on top of a light fixture...  Who, me?  Like I said, I didn't use drafting dust anyway.
     
    All my original tools (from '64 on) were lost-in-the-shuffle in my brief stint w/ a foreign office.  So, in late '80, I went to Charrette's main store, outside Boston, and loaded-up on all-new goodies.
     
    Drawing-out the best in us...
     
    Thanks, & Happy Friday!
    Bill
    william j. devlin aia, inc.,
    ARCHITECT
    Springfield, MA





  • 7.  RE: 2017 CRAN Symposium

    Posted 07-22-2017 12:18 AM
    Edited by Rudolph M. Beuc III AIA 07-22-2017 12:23 AM
    Ok, way past beer:30, but I'll have a whack at this....

    My experience, I graduated in 92, hand drafted up to the late 90's, Architectural Desktop, and now Revit.

    Each iteration meant a retooling and a new learning curve. A three stage process if you will.

    A. Learning the basics. In hand drafting this might be compared to getting a feel for the tools and what they may do. In the CAD world it means learning the commands.

    B. The midway point. In hand drafting I might compare this to starting to gain a better grasp of lettering, line weight, and ect... . In CAD it meant for me a more in-depth knowledge of commands, workflows appropriate for the particular software, and generating graphically desirable results.

    C. The mastery stage. Things become intuitive. In hand drafting lettering becomes natural, muscle memory glides one along, and line-work flows from mind to paper. In CAD, one does not have to think for the appropriate command, one is thinking 3-4 steps down the workflow process, and one had a firm feeling about how the final graphics will print out.

    Tools used badly will always preform like crap.

    Life is learning curve. Here's to many more curves.....

    Toast....

    Thanks,


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    Rudolph Beuc AIA, NCARB, CBO
    Architect
    R. Beuc Architects
    Saint Louis MO
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  • 8.  RE: 2017 CRAN Symposium

    Posted 07-21-2017 08:16 AM
    hahahahaha Bill - I totally agree with you re the vellum and ink!!! I'm a lefty so I had to use a hair dryer.  Cadd liberated me.  I'm a 79 grad of UD - I will never forget Dean Bruno...I have a few stories about him and his interactions with the students (sorry re the underline.....I'm new at this ....always learning!)

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    Nancy Perez Miller, AIA
    AR 17002 AA 3376
    NPMA LLC
    Florida Keys
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