Dental Office Finish Board

This is the client approved finish board showing finishes for cabinetry, countertops, glazing and paint colors. Next we will be moving on to the dental equipment specifications.

Space Planning/Schematic Design

This is the architect's plan for the dental surgery. Several changes were made to the owner's original plan.
The entry door was moved from the side to the front of the building to face the street. This made the surgery more inviting and noticeable.

Five consultation rooms were placed around the central garden to give patients a calming, peaceful atmosphere.

A separate children's waiting room away from the adult waiting room was created for children to watch T.V and play computer games.

The reception area was relocated from the center right to the center left of the surgery in between the adult and the children's waiting rooms. A large window opposite the reception would provide plenty of natural light and again a view of the garden.

The restrooms were enlarged and modified to meet accessibility needs for disabled people.

A curved ceiling element running through the length of the surgery was introduced to define areas and circulation paths.

Programming and Pre-design

The next stage was to meet with the client and go through the programming to find the spacial relationship requirements. Included in our discussions were how many exam rooms were needed and what equipment would be going into them.

The owner's original drawings for the building showing survey dimensions. (Owner's drawings do not match existing conditions)

Pre-design bubble drawing showing early space planning.

With the programming information and the bubble drawing we could see how all the spaces could fit together with the existing building.

Case Study Of A Dental Office Remodel By CONima Architects

CONima Architects was recently contracted to remodel an existing building and transform it into a dental office.

Currently the building is in a poor state of repair and has been unoccupied for the last 4 years. We're using this as a case study of how to rehabilitate a commercial space and to address the challenges of a dental/medical facility within an existing building. Over the next coulpe of months we will be showing the progress of this project.

The existing waiting room.

A view of the dated existing bathroom.

A before picture of the reception area.

Art or Craft?

One of the great questions in architecture is whether architecture is an art or a craft. It is often posed to prospective architects in school as a way to make them question what they are looking for in the profession and how they perceive the role of their work in society. The common assumption being that by calling it "craft" it identifies a technical aspect to the creation of it requiring education and training in the engineering aspects that are needed to construct a building; whereas calling it "art" gives it an intellectual, philosophical, and spiritual significance that mere engineering does not possess.

To answer this question however is simple once a distinguishment is made between the two.

Art is defined as: the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects

Craft is defined as: an occupation or trade requiring manual dexterity or artistic skill

When taking these definitions into account, architecture does use skill and creativity, but the objects that are created are not purely aesthetic. However, architecture does involve both artistic skill and manual dexterity (in the form of construction knowledge, drawing, and specifying) to create. This is not to say that by being a craft, that great architecture is not also capable of transcending to also be 'art', appreciated for aesthetics regardless of function. With that said though, great architecture is still a craft as well.

Much in the same way that all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares; architecture is a craft, but on occasion is capable of being art as well.

Successful Environmental Inititiative

In Architecture, the push in the last decade towards sustainable design has been tremendous. However in the course of producing more efficient buildings, most firms still fall victim to an age old method of communication.

Printed Drawings:

Soon after it's inception, CONima adopted an electronic drawing delivery system. This may seem insignificant, but consider in the amount of drawing it takes for a small to mid-size project. Most drawing set are comprised of at least 50 sheets of large format paper, each sheet is close to 9sf in size. Each set is printed 5-10 times for each issuance, and is issued 4 or 5 times at various stages of a project. That can total over 20,000sf of drawings for one project.

Using the figure that 1 tree can make 16 reams of paper, which is just over 5,000sf, this means we are capable of saving an average of 4 trees for every project we do.

Midnight Oil

As I push my way through multiple 14 hour workdays, my mind has begun to stray from the task at hand. What seems more interesting to me now than coordinating a multifloor bathroom redesign and whether or not I will meet my deadline, is the role of stress in creativity, and the human capacity for motivation.

In architecture school I would often complain that programmatic and code requirements were totalitarian like obstacle in the path of great design. The truth however is that these obstacles are the only possible way to achieve great design. Not only do they provide purpose, whether filling the needs of a client or ensuring safety and accessibility to the occupants, they provide the basic challenge that must be struggle with and against in order to create something that is both beautiful and original.

What also strikes me is how significant the role of music is in creative enterprise. It allows your mind to be free from sensing all that present and around you. By engrossing your senses, it allows greater focus. The constancy of its rhythm allows you to charge through the night as if you were charging into battle.

However, this is not a thesis. The Stanford drawings are waiting for me…

EPRI selects CONima Architects

CONima has been selected to design safety improvements to the Electric Power Research Institute's Palo Alto campus. CONima will oversee multiple exterior and site related life safety and risk management projects to be completed in 2009.

Project Sequencing

The most common problem I run into in architecture and construction is that the scheduled duration of a project is inadequate. While experience has given me the ability to overcome this problem in most cases, saving a project schedule inevitably comes at the expense of either quality, creativity, or project cost.

Quality:
The main aspects of quality that suffer when a project does not have adequate time are materials. Almost all common building materials, unless already in stock and available, take 4 to 6 weeks to make. If specialty finishes or items are needed for their fabrication, then it can take 8 to 12 weeks. To break this down, use carpet as an example:

If a construction schedule is less than 4 weeks, carpet selection is limited to in stock items only.
If the schedule is extended to 6 weeks, 'standard' and 'quick ship' items now become available, even possibly if they are not currently in stock because the manufacturer already has the necessary yarn
However any higher end carpet will require a minimum 8 to 12 weeks in order to aquire the yarn, ship it to the carpet factory, make the carpet, and ship it to the construction site.

Now consider in the carpet scenario that the same thing is occurring in regards to cabinets, doors, furniture, and a host of other items. These items cannot all be installed simultaneously. Once this is taken into consideration, it becomes clear that, unless finish materials are identified and order prior to the start of construction, most tenant improvement type projects will require a minimum 12 to 14 week schedule for construction.

Creativity:
The limiting factors for creativity are two-fold. An abbreviated construction schedule limits the material choices available to a project. Also, the sequence of events that are needed to design properly are often forced to be abbreviated or eliminated altogether. The following stages of events and rough time lines should be taken into account:

Programming - May be done in house prior to hiring an architect, or done over a period of several days or weeks (depending on size) with an architect
Field Survey - one to three days typically for projects that are limited to interior scope
Schematic Design - This phase is highly variable. Depending upon the ability to reconcile a clients programmatic and stylistic needs within the framework of the building that has been selected, it can vary from 1 week to 1-2 months. However, for most small to mid-size projects accomodating 2 weeks for the planning of this should be sufficient.
Design Development and Code Analysis - This phase is mostly determined by the size and age of a building, and should range from 2-4 weeks. However on smaller projects this can commonly be condensed to one week.
Contract Documents - The final phase of architectural work prior to permitting is the creation of all drawings, details, and specifications for construction, as well as all information related to accessibility and life safety necessary for permitting. This work requires several weeks in most cases.

With all of this work taken into account, the design phase of a tenant improvement project should include 4 weeks for small projects, and 12-16 weeks for larger and more complex ones. When this process is shortened, proper programming usually has not taken place and the project specifications are left more generalized. Under extreme shortening of the process, an initial set may be required for permitting purposes only, with the knowledge that some construction details are not fully resolved. This of course leads to the last area of sacrifice.

Cost:
Cost gets impacted in three ways primarily.

Incomplete designs are bid to contractors, which result in modifications along the way that result in change orders to the construction contract.

The construction schedule does not have adequate time to allow for proper sequencing of events which results in overtime costs for construction labor

General Contractors are not given adequate time to investigate possible hidden deficiencies within a building, resulting in added costs to remedy those unforeseen conditions.

The variations of problems and requirements are endless, and ultimately every project must make sacrifices somewhere along the way. However having an experienced architect involved as early in the process as possible will help tremendously to navigate through these issues. A good architect can also overcome most of the scheduling hurdles thrown their way, but if the process is shortened, both the client and architect should discuss what sacrifices it will entail prior to starting work.

Picture of the Day

the ordinary is often interesting

Architectural Styles Defined: Modern Architecture

Part 3 in our series of articles on the misuse of terms as they apply to the architectural style of a building, and how that misuse leads to poor communication between clients and professionals. Here’s an in-depth look at what defines “Modern Architecture:”

Mies Van Der Rohe's Farnsworth House:

image source farnsworthhouse.org

Let me start by saying "Modern Architecture" is a misnomer. The term modern simply represents the current style of the day that reflects society's impression of itself to the world. Modern architecture as we know it today however started with the International Style, Bauhaus, and the impact of cubist art on the form of a building. Like most styles, it began as a rejection of what was accepted and as an embrace of new technologies. In this case, the progression of steel as a building material allowed greater spans, previously impossible cantilevers, and minimized the ratio of thickness for vertical support. All of which meant that buildings could now be built proportionally in such a different way that they actually didn't even look as though they were capable of standing.

'International Style' Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye:

image source wikipedia

While these buildings are examples of classic modernism, the problematic term is 'classic'. Soon after, a new wave of architects began a new interpretation of how to reconcile the traditional forms of architecture with the new styles and technology in what they called 'Post Modernism'. At the same time, another movement began called 'Brutalism' which spiritually could even be considered a hybrid between modernism and the craftsman movement for truth in materials by leaving rough exposed concrete and using the wooden formwork in many cases to create the finish texture of the concrete.

'Postmodernism' Robert Venturi's House for his mother:

image source about.com

'Brutalism' Paul Rudolph's Westport House (demolished):
image source nothingliving.com

As technology advanced, the limits began to push further. Architects began a new style a 'Deconstruction' which was based on taking traditional geometry, breaking it apart, and then recombining it in different forms. Simple things such as the value of right angles finally came into question, as architects attempted to incorporate new ideas such as chaos theory into space and form.

'Deconstruction' Peter Eisenman's Casa Guardiola:

The question however is, "What is Modern Architecture?" Within the styles described above, the consistent threads are challenges to traditional forms, proportions, and materials; an openness of space, flexibility of arrangement. For the greater part, modern architecture displays a truth in materials and construction. The problem with modern architecture is in the term 'modern'. As time passes, others will decide if the architecture of modernity in the last century is unified as one style and what that style would be called. In the present, there is a strong departure from classic modernism / minimalism, and the deconstruction movement. Whether it remains a pure departure or experiment within 'modernism' such as post-modernism and brutalism remains to be seen.

Picture of the Day 2/20

CONima Jet Fuel:

My friends at Mercedes sent this photo after they moved into their new space and told me to use it in an advertisement one day.

I have now fulfilled my end of the bargain...Thanks for the photo!