Just Do It! Building Construction Mistakes

Here is a good example of why line thickness is important. The contractor should have check the section of the CAD drawing.

A doctor can bury his mistakes but and architect can only advise his client to plant vines. – Frank Lloyd Wright

Don’t worry, we can always cover that odd spot with a potted plant.

Sandy Sucked

Finally got in the groove of things and sandy screwed that up. I was left without power for two weeks and now I'm starting over again. I just scheduled my exam for 12/22/12. I think this should be enough time with some hardcore studying. Below is a picture of my front door.

Finally In the Swing of Things.

Well I finally got in the swing of things and started to study and it feels great. What I noticed so far is that just preparing and finding a starting point is the hardest part. I tried to dive in and that didn't work. 

Since I was completely lost in "the gauntlet" I decided to sign up for the Fall 2012 ARE Boot Camp: Construction Documents and Services class held at the AIA NY Chapter. This helped me in two very big ways. 

1. The class pointed me in a direction on where to obtain some very valuable material.
2. It boosted my confidence by looking at some of the idiots that were sitting next to me. I personally feel the saying "there is no stupid question" is a load of crap. If you ask a stupid question that means you didn't do your due diligence and prepare properly.

The golden ticket that I received from the class was a link to audio recordings from Schiff Hardin LLP. They are a national law firm who gives architects seminars going over each document and they discuss them in depth. Below is a link to where you can find the lectures. You can also search their website to find the other recordings.

http://schiffhardin.com/design-build/lecture-notes/architecture-544---spring-2011

I downloaded them and played them on my Android phone. The problem I had was that I was unable to rewind the phone by a couple of seconds, if I missed something. My phone has some slide thing that is great for music but is horrible for lectures. I then found an application called Maple Player. It has a rewind and fast forward button just like a normal voice recorder. It has an equalizer too!

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sqr5.android.audioplayer&hl=en

Now I'm going over each document while listening to each lecture. B101 is about 3 hours long. I finally feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I can finally start cranking while sitting in bed and drinking a hot chocolate on a chilly autumn night.

Got the Wheels Spinning for CDS! (Kinda)

As I sat down and tried reading the documents, I'm not sure if it was overwhelming or if I was bored. I can honestly say I will no longer use NyQuil as the AIA documents do a better job of putting me to sleep. I get this feeling that it is so much information between the Ballast book and the documents that I get lost. It is very boring trying to memorize documents.

After reading a couple of recommendations on areforum.org I decided to order:

• Construction Documents & Services Learning System, 2012 Edition ($195.95)
• The Architect's Handbook of Professional Practice, 14th Ed ($187.50)
• 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design ($26.95)

I only have gone through the first chapter of the Kaplan book. It does seem like a great help and much better than the Ballast book. The Ballast book seems more like a reference than anything. Very boring to read and too much information. I really like how there is practice problems at the end of each chapter in the Kaplan book. The questions vary from each area of the chapter and help you figure out what areas you need to brush up on.


I also signed up for the AIA as an associate for $198.00. This let me join the AIA classes for $10 each instead of $75. It also as some benefits  however; some of them are a sham and you can find better deals elsewhere on the internet.

I then signed up for the AIA NY Fall 2012 ARE Boot Camp: Construction Documents & Services class for this Sunday. I'm hoping that this class will get me into a studying groove the way Dorf's video did for SD.

Switching Order from BCDS to CDS

     After reading online how BDCS covers topics from multiple exams I have decided to take that later on. For now I have started to prepare myself  for CDS.

     I've been trying to start studying for CDS, however; it's seems like so much information. I get lost and don' even know where to begin. I start reading the AIA documents but that just gets repetitive. I then jump to the Ballast book but that seems like so much information I don't even know what to highlight. I then go to the NCARB intro and that just scares the living crap out of me.

     In an effort to calm my confusion I have just purchased the Kaplan CDS study package for $220 shipped.  Hopefully that will give me a better understanding on how I should be studying and get my feet running. Until that comes I guess I will continue to use the Ballast flash cards and the Kaplan flash card on my Android phone.

Procrastination

Well, I've been really busy with work and life. I haven't studied for BCDS as much as I should have. This must be a common thing because at the end of every NALSA video Dorf says "Please don't procrastinate." I'm looking forward to spending the winter indoors and getting a lot of studying done.  I intend to take BDCS in October, and Structural Systems hopeful in December.

I will say though for the price of these exams I figured NCARB would have better software. At least software that would run on Windows x64 as it is becoming the new standard.

Rent a Frank Lloyd Wright House

I just recently came across an article describing how to make a couple of bucks by renting out your home on airbnb.com. I decided to check out the website and discovered you can rent Wright's Schwartz house and two others. You can also rent out several homes designed by Frank Gehry. I think I might take advantage of this one day but for now I have to get back to studying for BDCS.

https://www.airbnb.com/wishlists/airbnb_picks