A Shift in Perspective

Earlier in the week I wandered back home from from a clients office to find a letter from who else but David Cameron. I had a feeling it was genuine because of the mass produced signature and the "we know it has been tough for small businesses" rhetoric. The long and short of the letter seemed to suggest some type of tax break and a request to consider employing someone. While my partner carried the letter away to feed the shredder I gave the matter a little thought.

It seems quite a few people leaving schools and universities can be lacking in basic skills. It can be quite easy to find someone who is capable of operating a computer, but areas involving reasoning, craftsmanship and the fine line between creative flare and real world experience to problem solving are sometimes not what I would hope for. Recently we were contacted by an architecture student who was offering to work for us for free, sadly we were not able to help her as she had chosen to attend a university who concentrates heavily on conceptual architecture and does not cover many of the skills and specialities we work with. In essence after all her studies I would have needed to train her from scratch and invest a considerable amount of time to begin getting her proficient in our field. It is surprising how precious your time becomes when you are trying to ensure a continual stream of both work and income.

Today I found myself back in a clients office working on a couple of schemes. After a few busy (and productive) hours shut off from the clatter of the office environment with headphones, I took a break to find my clients employees discussing a howler of a mistake on a CV submitted for an apprentice position within their company. The applicant had listed "time keeping" as one of his strongest points and had backed up his statement by  presumably attempting to say "he always turned up early for a shift", sadly his typo was to miss the f from the word shift. I found myself wondering if the mistake was just clumsy or perhaps deliberate after someone cajoled him into applying for an unwanted position.

Despite some of the head shaking moments, onwards we go taking delight and inspiration from those with a dedication and a passion within their life and remembering to learn from the mistakes along the way. It seems when you have a passion for what you are doing, the mistakes are still hard but are approached differently and the willingness to learn and improve becomes stronger.

Grass Roof Technical Sketch

Recently we (and our good friends from Green Igloo) have been fortunate enough to be appointed to do the technical drawings for a grass roof extension in a beautiful area of Derbyshire. The client had a few questions about the appearance of the eaves and the way it could go together. Seemed like a perfect opportunity to put pen to paper and give them an indicative sketch.

Swinderby Church in Sepia Inks

I have been using brown and sepia tone inks for a number of years now, however last month I decided to experiment with the technique a little further and attempt to make some improvements. I chose the subject of the church in Swinderby, Lincolnshire. The sandstone on the main church together with the timber framed and shingled gate seemed to lend itself well to the possibility of a monotone illustration. The many years this church has stood within the village and the long effects of the weather have also softened the materials and edges, adding to the beauty of this wonderful old building.

After outlining the illustration in a light pencil line onto watercolour board I applied a brush wash of the diluted Winsor & Newton peat brown drawing ink to add in the sky and base tones. The ink can be added in layers to build up the wash effect and colour depth but I have never been entirely happy with the ink when applying it with a dip pen and I have stayed away from using it with Rotring Isograph technical pens for fear of ruining the nib. For this reason I switched to the Winsor & Newton sepia calligraphy ink.

The calligraphy ink, was both predictable and gave a deep defined colour from both the technical pen and the dip pen allowing me to get the definition I wanted around the foliage, forms and the shadows. All in all I was pleased with the combination and performance of the different inks. A little knowledge and experimentation with different types of inks is well worth while for those who wish to get familiar with the medium and will help control the extremes of wash and depth to gain the effect desired for the subject.

Stone Pillar for Set

Here is an initial sketch for a stone effect pillar for a guards gate set.

Possibly built from layered sheets of plastazote the intention is for it to be light, stackable and as safe as possible should anyone fall onto it during use.

The recess and flat top surface would allow for removable led lanterns or glow sticks to sit on it.

The base would fix to the ground to try & prevent it blowing away during windy events. This would need covering with foam rubble and artificial greenery to allow it to blend in.

The Detailing of Industrial Architecture

Over the years we have had an involvement in many different fields of architecture, one of these is the industrial sector. It may not have the appeal of working with historical buildings or the higher specification of materials and costs of leisure or retail, but it still requires care and precision. Many of the challenges are the detailing of fire walls, the coordination of process equipment and services together with the requirements of the structural engineer.

The tried and tested method of sketching still works, forming the link between the disciplines and giving an indication of the implications of requirements. Below are a small selection of sketches for recent projects we have been working on with a client.

Composite fire wall detailing at column splice positions 

Detailing of a removable concrete push wall (cladding above must remain in place

Steel corbel penetrations through a fire wall (fire wall is also an insulated thermal wall for an adjoining office)

Sketch detail of insulated cladding on steel frame sitting on insitu concrete wall

Strengthening the Handrails

sketch 1 existing

Back in the spring of this year I received an e-mail from a client (also a good friend for many years) asking for help. I had been out of contract with my client for a while, but he felt I might be well placed to try and help solve a problem or two on a project which had come off track. The following evening I arrived at his home to find a tired and stressed soul in need of a little help & support. After a chat and a catch up to lighten the atmosphere we began the work of following the paper trail to find out what had gone wrong & what could be done to put it right. I don't intend to go into the contractual issues here or begin pointing the finger of blame, instead I will focus on the issues of detailing and sketching which helped resolve the problem.

A balustrade surrounding a timber deck was simply not strong enough to suit its purpose, I was asked if I would take a trip up to site to have a look at what exactly had been built and put together some sketches to suggest a way of correcting things before producing a set of full working details. The project engineer had offered to make himself available to contribute to problem solving, between us we felt confident we could find a way forward. I was also asked to be discrete whilst onsite and avoid any heated debates with the contractor or destructive testing as things were somewhat tense!

The first sketch highlights what had been built & point out some elements to be removed and checked to investigate further. The balustrade appeared not to have been engineered and aspects such as the blocking timbers between the joists were missing, fixings were inadequate or into the end grain of the timber, the steel stems had also been drilled and tapped into the timbers without appropriate fixings. The end result was the handrail had significant movement when pushed and could actually be lifted off the balustrade by the lightest of taps.

sketch 2 possible solution

The second sketch shows an initial suggestion of replacing the timber balustrades with steel units, adding in the blocking timbers and an improved fixing plate to get a better fixing. The intention was to recycle as much as possible, but bring in additional strength. After another meeting with my client he decided to play safe and provide an even more robust detail by taking the steel shs uprights down to localised pad footings and replace almost all of the rail saving only the infill bars to avoid any chance of movement in the rail and ensure the end user/project client could let out his building with full confidence. We agreed the fixing details, sizes and centres with the engineer and produced an A1 sheet of full working details by the end of the following weekend to pass onto a specialist balustrade contractor to begin ordering and working to.

The end result was the balustrade was erected in time and the first visitors to rent out the lodge were unaware of the proceeding flurry of work and could enjoy their holiday in blissful ignorance.

Before

After

Working With The Peak District Vernacular

Often a simple sketch can speak volumes for proposed renovation & extension work. One project we are working closely with Green Igloo with is an extension to a cottage in the Peak District in Derbyshire. As the cottage sits just within the Peak Park area the planners are understandably cautious over extensions and ensuring the character of the area is preserved. As part of the submission this little sketch has been included to try and assure the works will be in keeping.

Drawn with Derwent Pencils on A4 layout paper
http://www.green-igloo.co.uk/

(Blog Post by Al)