Project Notebook

Category: Inspiration and Ideas, Working with an Architect

Focus on Flexibility

Within the last couple of weeks, I’ve been seeing more articles about residential architecture and how it will change given how things have evolved during the pandemic. For the most part, the articles have focused on interviews with architects acting as experts, sometimes referring to their own houses and other times offering predictions on how houses will look in the future.

We’ve been listening to our own experts here at TPD – our friends, clients, colleagues and families! Our survey results are starting to show some clear focus areas, which are consistent across regions of the country as well as age groups. A full 45% of our respondents indicated that flexible spaces, which could accommodate different activities and people at different times of the day would be something they would consider for their homes in the future.

Category: Inspiration and Ideas, Working with an Architect

Join the Conversation

We’re eight weeks into the pandemic, and what used to feel strange is starting to feel a little normal, which is even stranger. At TPD, we’ve been working remotely, visiting construction sites after hours, and coming up with new strategies to help us work effectively with clients, vendors, and contractors. This transition has been made easier because part of the intent of this firm is to allow for flexibility: we’ve been working from home when we needed to for years. But we still miss seeing folks. We miss having coffee or a glass of wine with each other, being able to work together with the amazing contractors who build what our clients dream, and being able to sit around a table together with a big roll of trace and just sketch out what we are thinking. In short, we miss the conversations.

For us, conversations are learning opportunities that help us do our work better. In that spirit, we’ve launched a short survey on the website, accessible here. The goal is to talk to as many people as possible, all over the country, and find out how their houses are holding up with the extra demands placed on them right now.

Category: Inspiration and Ideas, Working with an Architect

“Last week, everything changed.”

I was just on my weekly call with a small group of architects from all over the country, a group organized through the EntreArchitect network. We have been meeting every Wednesday via Zoom for years, and I am so lucky to call this talented, thoughtful, funny, smart and devoted group of people colleagues, and more importantly, friends. (As a side note, anyone who believes that remote communication is always a poor substitute for in-person community building, this group’s success proves the opposite.) On our Wednesday call, one of our members said something that struck me: “Last week, everything changed.” And that’s true across the board. Everything has changed for our country, for our families, for our systems, and for our health. It’s changed for our habits, our social patterns, our work and our homes.

Category: Working with an Architect

Aging in Place: A Conversation about Living Longer in Our Homes

Last month, I received my Certification as an Aging in Place Specialist through the National Association of Home Builders. When we posted the update on various social media platforms, I was frankly blown away by the number of reactions. This post received 100 times the number of views as my average LinkedIn update. And while Graham Yelton’s photography is extraordinary, I suspect that the reason the post has garnered some interest is the subject matter.

Category: Working with an Architect

Open Houses

As the holidays quickly approach, the hubbub of preparation for impending festivities and celebrations goes into high gear. Holiday open houses, hosted in shops, offices and homes, speak to the sense of hospitality that accompanies the season.

I’ve been thinking about this hospitality lately, especially in light of a recent three-day workshop I attended in Chattanooga. Sponsored by the National Association of Home Builders and taught by Steve Hoffacker, the workshop was focused on Aging in Place and how we can make our homes more livable for longer. One of the concepts presented in the workshop was the “visitable” home. Aging in Place design has several design categories, each focusing on different priorities, including Universal Design, Adaptable Design, Accessible Design, Visitable Design, and Livable Design. And while the technical recommendations associated with each category varied, the simplicity of the term “visitable” home particularly appealed to my southern sense of hospitality.

Category: Inspiration and Ideas

Gratitude

I recently attended a roundtable luncheon attended by women from different professional backgrounds and business endeavors. Our speaker for the luncheon, Kim Davis from Synovus Bank, gave an inspiring talk about our “one thing,” and distributed a lovely illustration by Ellie Tew of the Japanese concept, Ikigai. The Ikigai lies at the heart of the intersection of some objective “whats” and some subjective “whys.” It takes into account not only what we want, but what the world, our community, and our families need. It’s a beautiful expression of the necessity of interdependence, and I loved the chance to think about my purple dot at the center of all of those overlapping circles. Each of us at the table had the opportunity to speak a little about what their “one thing” might be, or what they saw as their Ikigai. It was a powerful conversation, and I consider myself lucky to have been able to participate.

Category: Inspiration and Ideas

Places Where

We were in NYC for a quick trip to celebrate our twentieth anniversary and our oldest child’s first parents’ weekend at Princeton. While my husband worked at his firm’s NY office, I did what I love to do in the city, and headed to the Met with the express goal of visiting three galleries I had never seen before. Unencumbered by kids or husband, this was to be a much easier task.

Category: Publications and News

Taylor Plosser Davis, AIA Welcomes Landon Rosemore As New Designer

Taylor Plosser Davis, AIA welcomes Landon Rosemore as the firm’s newest designer. Landon grew up in Birmingham and earned a Bachelor of Human Environmental Sciences in Interior Design at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Following graduation, she moved to Rosemary Beach in the Florida panhandle where she worked for an architecture firm for nearly three years. Landon brings her considerable interior design talents and knowledge of millwork and finishes to the firm.

Category: Working with an Architect

Summer Empty Nest

We are fledgling empty nesters for another week. Our oldest is in Italy studying Latin for the month of July, and we dropped off the younger two at their respective camps in northern Alabama last weekend. In truth, this is not the first time we have been childless for a couple of weeks: our kids’ camp schedules have coordinated for the last three years, but I am thinking a little differently about this summer’s child-free window.

Category: Working with an Architect

Five Ways an Architect Can Save You Money

Last weekend was my 25^th college reunion (#legendary), and the whole family attended. A 15-hour car ride left me with some time to catch up on social media, and there’s nothing better for Facebook/Instagram surfing than I-81 in Virginia. Summer is peak renovation season it seems. Owners want to have renovation projects completed by the holidays. I saw lots of good questions out there about how to complete renovations and new construction in a way that solves problems and fits budgets. Like any other question posed on the internet, everyone has an opinion, and there is a good deal of confusion about how architects fit into this process. The issue of cost frequently surfaces: owners want value for their construction investment, and architect’s fees can appear to be just additional cost. To the contrary, however, a good architect works with you as a steward of your investment, potentially saving you money on your construction project.