Model Building

My best friend often recounts his days as a boy with tales of model building — the recollection of sitting at a table with minuscule pieces of plastic and metal that would slowly become a car, an airplane or a train. And glue. Lots of glue. Lots of toxic model glue in a ventless room accompanied by a Fluffernutter sandwich on Wonderbread and a 2-liter of Shasta creme soda.

His stories remind me of many a day spent in my room hovering over a shoebox full of treasures and trinkets that would decorate the 6-room dollhouse my father had built, listening to The Carpenters and belting out Top of The World or We've Only Just Begun as boldly as any eight-year-old in a plaid leisure suit and floral blouse could.

While our taste in music, clothing and food has evolved, we have both taken our childhood passions into our professional lives. Armed with 3-D printers, CNC machines, modeling software and a shop full of tools, we create our prototypes and final products — my BFF making titanium watches out of parts so small they have to viewed via loupe, while I design, build and furnish homes and commercial spaces. Though much of what we produce today is eventually modeled by computer, cut by lasers and stamped by machine, it begins with an idea, a pencil sketch, or a cardboard and paper model. And glue. Lots of boring, environmentally friendly, nontoxic glue. 

Being that most clients cannot read blueprints or truly grasp a finalized space by looking at 2-D images, models are an important part of the design phase. Basically an adult dollhouse, the model is a a tactile discussion tool that allows us to shape shift by hand in realtime, allowing the client to see the many possibilities within a space. Below are the 1/2" scale model images created by John Winston Studio for one portion of my current commercial project in Culver City. 




Sum-sum-summertime

God it's hot!  It's Vegas hot and Florida humid! 

This past month has been busy on the Westside. We are currently building two projects for the same client, both commercial and residential, keeping pace as the hottest and most humid June I can remember in a quarter century wraps its sweaty breath around us. Simultaneously, we are getting ready to roll out three more projects over the next few weeks.

As the projects develop, I will post some photos so you can see what we're up to. For now, I'm going to go pound some coconut juice and salted watermelon.

Happy July! 




Project Costs

There is a distinct difference between a bid and an estimate and, while everyone would like to know exactly what their project is going to cost prior to breaking ground, it is impossible to create an accurate hard bid without a comprehensive and thoroughly detailed plan set. Every week I receive several requests for bid. Occasionally, these requests are accompanied by a substantial set of plans and reports, with the majority of details included and finish materials specified. Very occasionally.  Honestly, if the definition of "occasionally" was "almost never," that would be quite accurate. More often than not, I am asked to estimate a project with a set of preliminary design drawings or concept drawings, my experience, and my very active imagination. 

Because I am both a builder and a designer, I understand everything that goes into the final product, allowing me to evaluate project costs in both scenarios with extreme accuracy.  Typically, final project costs on original scope of work are within 2%-5% of initial projections. This is achieved by breaking down a project into very detailed spreadsheets, with every aspect of the build itemized by line and associated cost. On a smaller project, my spreadsheets have roughly 100 line items; on a larger project, upward of 500 line items.

It's time consuming - taking two to four weeks to prepare, over hundreds of math-filled hours - but it's oh-so necessary to take the time.  While there are many different factors that go into a successful build, I believe that a detailed, no-stone-unturned approach to budget is the key element of achieving that success.  It is the first aspect of something I have come to call the "BRA," which I will write about at length in subsequent blog entries.  

For now, I'm going to wander back to my office to finish up some estimates on future dream homes.

 

 

 

The Artful Build

I grew up in museums and spent the majority of my youth studying to be a fine artist. At the age of twelve, I began skipping school and jumping the train into the city so I could make my way to the Museum of Fine Arts, sketchbook and pencil in hand, and sit completely immersed in a sculpture or painting. Nothing calmed my tortured, Sartre-reading, preteen soul like Monet's Haystacks and Rouen Cathedral series, as I studied the delicacy and depth of light and the ability to create a sense of substance in a shadow. Dirty Girl Construction's next build will be a study and exercise in both as we begin construction later this month, alongside architect John Winston, on the new Obsolete showroom and Slete Art Gallery in Culver City, CA.

Obsolete is currently located at 222 Main Street in Venice, CA.  We highly suggest you go there and sit for an hour or two!  

http://www.obsoleteinc.com