Project Notebook

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.

Category: On the Boards

Handprints

Groovy. Painted on the floor of a midcentury home’s utility/rec room. I love thinking about how the parents of these teenagers came around to handing their kids a couple of cans of paint and a paintbrush and let them loose. Maybe the slab painting wasn’t sanctioned. Regardless, the lingering effect of the graffiti on the floor for me was that someone had given the kids the opportunity to shape their space. The room was clearly their own: red and blue paint on the block walls, not quite adult handprints on the walls and floor, and “cool” and groovy” painted prominently on the floor.

Category: Publications and News

Women In Architecture Wednesday

This year, I have been meeting with a group of amazing women at our Birmingham American Institute of Architects chapter in an effort to engage women in the profession. Specifically, we are working on mentoring programs to help women in all stages of their careers, as studies show that professionals with mentors have demonstrably greater satisfaction in their jobs. As a part of this effort, AIA Birmingham is presenting the #WIAWednesdayBham series which highlights Alabama women in the profession and showcases their work. Nice to be included.

https://www.facebook.com/aiabirmingham/posts/1712692432153252

Category: Working with an Architect

Expert Guides

When we were in Italy this past summer, we worked with Context Travel for our day at the Vatican Museums. Being vaguely familiar with the crowds made me a little nervous about negotiating the vast museum complex with the kids, and I wanted to make sure they saw the things they needed to see, as well as some of the more obscure things that might pique their interest. Our guide, Valeria, met us at the entrance, and once past security and ticketing, air-kissed and waved us on to little used elevators and through roped off passageways at a quick clip, offering glorious tidbits of information along the way. Theoretically, if we had done our research, we might have managed the crowd aspect of the visit, but Valeria offered something we couldn’t have come up with on our own: an alternate route discerned through experience and ingenuity. We started with the Papal Carriages, a less visited and air-conditioned exhibit that served as a framework for understanding what we were about to see, a quiet place away from the crowds where we could ask questions and listen to the answers, and a starting point that was not overwhelming for the kids. In short order, it was clear we were in the hands of an expert guide, and I was so grateful for her experience and wisdom.

Category: Working with an Architect

“Do you know any contractors?”

Absolutely. I know great contractors who do amazing work. The more important question, however, is who are the contractors that would be a good fit for your project, your investment, and your family. Residential construction is personal, and there is no getting around it: your contractor becomes a part of your family for a little while. They know you and your kids, they work with your schedules, and they even feed your pets. The relationship is close, and it requires a great deal of trust.