Finding A Way Forward
So, for lack of a path forward from their various hilltop fiefdoms, the major players in the building industry wait for change from cross-pollination: radical, game changing ideas with game changing acronyms like BIM, IFC, IPD, LEAN, TQM, and others, that will propel their own company to new levels, and pull the rest of the industry along in their wake.
Building Is A War Against Inertia
Building is an act of war against inertia. Any change, physical, spiritual, or otherwise, requires effort, and effort is another way of expressing energy. Building anything requires a great deal of effort and energy to alter the physical, financial, political, and even cultural status quo. Building is not just the act of making something; it is also the act of giving up what might have been.
DNM Architecture Collaborates with Nonfiction to Bring Clean Energy to West Africa
Sausalito-based DNM Architecture is collaborating with with fellow Bay Area creative firm Nonfiction to design and produce Jaza Solar Hubs – field assembled power centers designed to bring clean, renewable energy to Nigeria localities – while empowering local women to run 100% of operations.
Geometry & Generalist
unlike specialized professionals such as structural engineers, mechanical engineers, or geotechnical engineers, an architect is specifically trained to be a generalist, to see both the big picture and oversee the details. There is a saying that an architect knows a little bit about everything, but not much of anything! No other professional on the building project team can talk with about space, light, building codes, history and the strength of concrete with equal ease (and sometimes in the same sentence!).
Navigating Technological Change in Architectural Practice
Starting somewhere in the 1980’s with 2D CADD software on mini and microcomputers, through the internet, worldwide web, 3D modeling and simulation, BIM, and, more recently, artificial intelligence, fast changing technology has often disoriented architectural practice and potentially threatened it both economically, but even existentially.
A Well Made Collaboration
DNM Architecture is proud to announce its collaboration with San Leandro, CA based WellMade Design Build to bring compact, modern and affordable ADUs to CA.. Our new partnership will help WellMade streamline the process of adding an ADU to any property, making on-demand housing solutions even easier for homeowners to implement.
A Humanist Architect
I am an architect, and I think of myself as a humanist. There are many definitions of humanist (it makes sense that there would be), but among the shortest I have found is “an approach to life based on reason and our common humanity, recognizing that moral values are properly founded on human nature and experience alone.” As a self-defined humanist, I tend to accept people as they see themselves, assume they know more or less what is best for them, and do what little I can to help them along their way.
Clients & Customers
I feel my clients hire me to look after their building project in the same way that a patient hires a doctor to care for their health…
Joining the AI…ehhhh
Image: Vintage Drafting tools, copyright Adobe Stock/Grigory I am a loyal, frustrated, enthusiastic, passive member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). I watch it commit tactical errors, abandon initiatives, be fleeced by corporate sponsors (full disclosure: I was one such sponsor in a past career), and generally spend too much time looking in the […]
New Rules Mean Adding an ADU to Your California Home is Easier Than Ever
Accessory Dwelling Units or ADUs may seem like a very new and different type of housing, but the term ADU actually refers only to the home’s legal status, not its physical characteristics. Small houses and apartments, whether called Granny units, In-law suites, cottages, Tiny Homes or just studios, have existed as long as there have […]