04 - 06 Design and Construction

Eliza Scrbing...

Calvino Rabeni: Does work go in cycles?
Wol Euler: for architects, definitely.
Wol Euler: there is a lead-in time of at least 18 months before work starts on site, which is pretty intense.
Wol Euler: getting things figured out
Calvino Rabeni: Long cycles
Wol Euler: then the building work commences, and the architect is suddenly *extremely* busy
Wol Euler: because all of hte errors and inconsistencies and forgotten corners suddenly come to light.
Wol Euler: and have to be dealt with instantly, else the contractors put in a claim for damages because they can't continue to work
Wol Euler: once that is sorted out, it gradually tapers off to nothing at all, until about a month before completion
Wol Euler: when it becomes clear that the project is running irretrievably late :)
Wol Euler: and then it gets frantically busy again
Wol Euler: in short: yes :)
Calvino Rabeni: What happens between the extremely busy periods?
Wol Euler: well, there is always something to do. The building trades are on site sequentially
Wol Euler: you need to build a wall of bricks before you can plaster it, and you have to plaster it before you can paint it
Wol Euler: generally we try to keep ahead of the trade that is about to start next
Wol Euler: so we are working on documentation for them
Wol Euler: (drawings, materials, prices)
Calvino Rabeni: So that's not design then, it's process management
Wol Euler: right
Wol Euler: this something that is NOT taught in schools :)
Wol Euler: there is a huge paradigm switch in the middle of hte architectural process
Wol Euler: when you start a project, it's about space and volumes and usage, who sits where, how the light enters a room
--BELL--

Process and experience - develop in their own way...

Wol Euler: but that changes when you finish the rough design and are about to make it buildable
Wol Euler: after that point, what you draw is not about space but about *processes*
Wol Euler: who does what in which order
Wol Euler: I only figured that out after many years in the profession
Calvino Rabeni: That sounds like construction process ? Or do you mean the design patterns of how the building is to be inhabited?
Wol Euler: what we do first is the latter, how the building will be inhabited.
Wol Euler: what we do in the second stage is the former, construction processes
Wol Euler: and aso the dividing up of responsibilities: who will do what
Wol Euler: because that is not always clear. The woodwork of the roof plane might be put up by the steelworkers rather than the carpenter

http://wiki.playasbeing.org/Chat_Logs/2010/09/2010.09.04_01%3a00_-_Breathe_while_Working
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Eliza Madrigal: People don't seem to dress up for UU churches either
Bruce Mowbray: Oh yes -- I was a public school teacher in the days when we had to wear suits.
Yakuzza Lethecus: hey everyone
Bruce Mowbray: Good day, Yaku.
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Ya :)
Eliza Madrigal: Yes, that must be why Bruce
Eliza Madrigal: What did you teach?
Eliza Madrigal: English?
Bruce Mowbray: You got it!
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eliza Madrigal: wonder how I knew that
Bruce Mowbray: Now, how did you know that?
Eliza Madrigal: maybe because of words like ‘detritus'
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Bruce Mowbray: Ha!
Eliza Madrigal: ;-) yes, notice the little things... haha
Eliza Madrigal: It is nice that in teaching you obviously kept affection for your subject
Eliza Madrigal: Do you write as well? (I have my nosy hat on today)
Bruce Mowbray: Nosy hat is OK - and also appropriate dress for the pavilion. . .
Eliza Madrigal smiles
Bruce Mowbray: yes, I do/did a bit of writing.
Bruce Mowbray: Nothing grand or published...
Bruce Mowbray: just poems and short stories, and a few essays (for local newspapers).
Eliza Madrigal: Wonderful :) yes I wasn't asking if you were grand or published... that is a given
Eliza Madrigal: Ah! Nice
Eliza Madrigal: those count :)
Bruce Mowbray: Well, I write for myself, actually -- a way of getting better clarity on thoughts -- sort of like meditation, sometimes.
Eliza Madrigal: So my real question is then... how do you think this developed for you?
Eliza Madrigal: Oh, you answered me :)
Eliza Madrigal: yes I understand that
Eliza Madrigal: Okay, nosy hat off... I'll let you off my hook if you like
Eliza Madrigal giggles
Bruce Mowbray: If I need to "understand" - for example - some difficulties in a relationship with a friend, then I'd probably write about that.
Eliza Madrigal: yes, me too
Bruce Mowbray: It is quite all right -- although I'd love to hear more from Yaku, too.
Eliza Madrigal: In this way, writers are engaging in Being Seen ...
Bruce Mowbray: Mmmm. . . yes, I guess you're right on that.
Bruce Mowbray: I have written a ten-page letter to a prison friend every other week for over 25 years.
Eliza Madrigal: Oh, that's really beautiful Bruce
Bruce Mowbray: I tell him EVERYTHING - as does he tell me about himself.
Eliza Madrigal: everything?
Bruce Mowbray: Mike was my inmate clerk when I taught at the prison in the early '80's -- and he's going to be there for the rest of his life -- so we exchange letters twice a month.
Bruce Mowbray: LONG letters!
Eliza Madrigal: wonderful practice... like exchanging lives sometimes I'd imagine
Bruce Mowbray: These have become my personal Journal -- since I relate to Mike everything that happens in my life -- so it is a sort of history -- since I keep copies for myself.
Eliza Madrigal: a gift to have someone you might feel that open with
Bruce Mowbray: yes, Mike might be my best friend in the world.
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Bruce Mowbray: Unfortunately, because of crimes he did over thirty years ago, he will never be paroled. . .
Bruce Mowbray: He's still completing the first of five consecutive life sentences. . .
Eliza Madrigal: Oh My
Eliza Madrigal: You must help to keep him connected to sanity
Bruce Mowbray: I doubt that he will ever finish even the FIRST of his 5 life sentences. . . He's in his 60's now.
Bruce Mowbray: I hope I give him some alternative things to keep his mind occupied -- but he's also a great "reality check" for me.
Eliza Madrigal: one heedless moment can change one's entire life
Bruce Mowbray: Whenever I feel sorry for myself - I simply remember what Mike lives with every
hour.

http://wiki.playasbeing.org/Chat_Logs/2010/09/2010.09.05_07%3a00_-_Around_the_Clock_and_Around_the_World