Techne Kraft

01/27/2024

That feeling you get, when someone moved the camera, probably the ex-wife, just before the divorce!? And you don't notice until 12-years later when you transfer your photo library to a new desktop;

If the camera was set, slightly to the left as originally placed ... leverage would have been on my side in the divorce; as just like a liberal politic her, she redefined everything.

Obvious too ... is someone/something, also re-dated this photo to Dec. 31, 1969. Hardly, as I was then 9-years old, and in a different state, contemplating my future as a poet, priest, or politician.

Had hair then; lol!?

And you thought STING's lyrics were original.

11/13/2022

A re-deployment of an existing building to house various users, as a guest due tourism, professional entrepreneur due increased business access, and a place of refuge due natural disaster emergency displacement (topical).

If the criticism of “Build Back Better” is operable anywhere, its most utility of purpose would be in a state that has eco-tourism, growth in service sector, and increasing exposure to natural disasters due effects of a humid climate.

Thus, the most secure place to envision a multi-purposed application is on an Airport, preferably a third-tier site, such as Sanford-Orlando which has existing secure infrastructure.

By adapting an older administration office/classroom (1345 E. 28th), designed originally to withstand regional severe weather, and constructed of engineered precast concrete … you have an opportunity to build back better.

And “redux” the interior back to minimal, a basic shell, plug-in a new prefab container, that is tight, insulated, and for 1/2-persons, expandable to families for a temporary stay.

11/13/2022

I answered a Craigslist Florida add in or about 2021, to a Walton Beach Area resident, a retired Navy Veteran. He was looking to convert his unused attic space above the garage, to a much more enhanced space, to supplement income, by adding a loft for a "temporary stay" tourist, business-persons, roommate, or emergency disaster relief support.

After all, this region was prone to severe weather.

While the client could not afford the $ fee, and the exchange of temporary accommodation seemed to small, the project remains "unbuilt".

I still created models to see if a standard, typical CMU Floridian home, could adapt to a more complex program. I looked at the LOFT being a kind of guest quarters for a Mother-In-Law apartment, or a roommate, whereby access would be from within the existing house footprint. Scheme 1;

Then I developed a "plug-in" container arrangement, where the access, utilities, and security would be separate. I proposed a modular shipping container element, insulated on exterior with an EIFS system or metal siding, that would affect less of the original roof, and only require structural upgrades in the garage area. Scheme 2;

Scheme 2 shown;

11/13/2022

I answered a Craigslist Florida add in or about 2021, to a Walton Beach Area resident, a retired Navy Veteran. He was looking to convert his unused attic space above the garage, to a much more enhanced space, to supplement income, by adding a loft for a "temporary stay" tourist, business-persons, roommate, or emergency disaster relief support.

After all, this region was prone to severe weather.

While the client could not afford the $ fee, and the exchange of temporary accommodation seemed to small, the project remains "unbuilt".

I still created models to see if a standard, typical CMU Floridian home, could adapt to a more complex program. I looked at the LOFT being a kind of guest quarters for a Mother-In-Law apartment, or a roommate, whereby access would be from within the existing house footprint. Scheme 1;

Then I developed a "plug-in" container arrangement, where the access, utilities, and security would be separate. I proposed a modular shipping container element, insulated on exterior with an EIFS system or metal siding, that would affect less of the original roof, and only require structural upgrades in the garage area. Scheme 2;

Scheme 1 shown;

11/13/2022

A younger builder-client purchased an 1860's balloon framed residence in Lykens, PA; which had a smaller deck expansion enclosed in the 1970's.

Originally the client wanted to add a new addition and deck. But the new energy codes (adopted more restricitve in 2022) would require extensive alterations to the existing (less tight) envelop.

So I showed him a creative interior layout for 3-bedrooms (original goal), and led him to make the 1970's addition to be more habitable by raising the roof to code height.

Then develop the new 2nd floor deck, to be prescriptive (not requiring certification), as the engineering would be codified.

07/24/2018

In its premise, the modern regiment sprung from or released, as confetti from the grounded base of the ancient regime of neo-classicism ... Hadid stands at the edge of, at once a gap in architecture, a crisis point, an opportunity to comprehend ... both/and; exclusion/inclusion, and a complexity and contradiction;

She is no better, or worse, then when Chris Wren extended the medical chaos of old Hampton Court with his neo-classical and contemporary-then addition, as a response to palladion-like confetti, albeit highly ordered confetti;

It is as radical as Wren deciding to juxtapose crenalated towers, twisted Tudor parapets and chimney flues, as well the asymmetry of pointes arches, with the regularizng of an addition’s every element to a proportion and rational order;

If such a social media existed at the time, you would hear nothing but support for how the old was respected, and the new allowed to spring from the ashes of what had to be crisis;

Completed in 2016 in Antwerp, Belgium. Images by Helene Binet , Hufton+Crow , Tim Fischer. The new Port House in Antwerp repurposes, renovates and extends a derelict fire station into a new headquarters for the port – bringing together the...

03/21/2018

Sometimes you do a lot of work, to try and develop a proposal for an architectural project, whether it is an small general aviation airport terminal, or in this regard, a Day Care Center. While terminals are easy, unless maybe Jacksonville's ... turning a shopping center box, long since abandoned into a safe and clean place for a Head Start and Early Head Start ... you would think was easy too, But what is intriguing about this project, as a learning center, in approximately a mile from the Indianapolis Speedway, which has north of it, a much rundown corridor; is to try an make what was well built in 1964, into a useful community asset. Not the abused exterior, it appears now.

From a life-safety and building code standpoint, to get the essentials of this Day Care to meet the code, without causing a major teardown, is a true balancing act, and the hardest design aspect.

While this looks regulated, the idea or plan generator, was at the beginning, a reference to Jefferson"s University of Virginia. Somewhat classical, but not so literal, as his education village, was based on ancient principles, and geared toward changing the way "Americans" viewed buildings. Jefferson somehow understood, that like written documents to frame a new world, there also needs to be a sense or means to arrange 3D structure. About the only comparison remaining, is how economic his approach had to be, yet, how bold his 3D solutions was for his day. To do whatl once was in Rome itself, a series of inter-connected colonnades ... why you could go for a spring walk in the rain, and not get wet there; virtual none of these colonnaded squares and porticus remain today, just one portal in much the ruined state, and of course, most of the columns of Rome, are unfortunately relocated.

The columns herein, on this project, are a tribute to that time, and Jefferson's, though mine are thick sanna tubes of cardboard anchored from within, and filled with stone dust. It mimics some of Jefferson's penny-pinching ideas of using a single wythe of brick, in a tall wall, forming a serpentine plan to make self supporting. Was it less expensive? Sure, in materials. But to lay that wall level took experienced masons ... a lot of time.

Of course, herein, you removed the dreary canopy, that so many abandoned storefronts have today, to meet the issues of the newer codes, but also to let light in ... the essence of what an educational village for younger kids was in the days of Antoninus, more recently Jefferson.

06/15/2016

I grew up along the Swatara Creek, and it was prone to flooding. And after Katrina, I pondered an idea of how to approach the "low areas" with foundations that mediate water, and the new urbanism and green design that wants to make the form, different than a box, and less federal, country, and transitional. In college I had designed a SeaWorld habitat that placed shelters within the lagoon, to integrate the staff and guests to the world of the Walrus, Seal and Otter. While that foundation used a modular storm sewer structure, this square form is more typical, and can be used for carport, patio, and storage.

I give you House "X"!

It still is in late stage development, needing the final stair, handrails, windows and doors to be completed. But its essence is solid. A deconstructed riverboat.

06/13/2016

More Food for Thought!

Can you envision the taste of the Watermelon? The idea was to get a job, a real job, rendering kiosks for food displays. Sounds boring, and this was my idea to "test" if I could do it, fast, and with an older version of software. lol!

Needless to say, while I failed to get the job, I rather liked the idea of trying for it. I learned a new way to render melons. Import clips to enhance the viewing angle, though I need higher quality art clips. Like "IF" formulas in excel. Better know that for some job interviews. Now I write algorithms. lol!

And I reinvented a display system using stainless steel demountable partitions and display boards. While not cheap, with a dwindling of labor (you really think immigration will outpace retirement schemes), and of course, fruits and vegetables decay and spoil creating a mess, so anything you can envision to save time, can add to value.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present A FOOD DISPLAY!

06/13/2016

I display "House T". Of course one could ask, where is A thru S? And what is to come, with just 5-letters left. Hmmm!

I guess you will have buy the book! lol!

AS to the BOOK: To find out, how an Architect, finally builds his dream house!!!

But in the mean time, I present HOUSE T.