Author Archives: mike

Did we become snotty tree huggers? Or just insist on designing for the future?

California is in a drought, and it looks like this is not going to be a rare event going forward. So we’re getting selective. This means losing potential clients, who may not share these values. “I don’t want your values in my backyard!” anonymus caller No, that did not go well. Never mind that they’reContinue reading “Did we become snotty tree huggers? Or just insist on designing for the future?”

Mid-century patio gardens, 2008.

Sometimes everything has to follow one theme. Sometimes, not so much. This design created transitions between outdoor rooms, each with its own character. Arrive, entertain, relax Arrival The entire front, including the home’s façade and garage door, got a redo. The biggest issue was that once you were in the entry patio, you were basicallyContinue reading “Mid-century patio gardens, 2008.”

Retrospective: An early design

Endings. Beginnings. New Year. Time to run a retrospective series, telling stories of design across a not-so-epic scale. Hopefully you’ll be amused, entertained and enlightened. It started with a party in 2000 We came into this project after meeting an architect at a party, who was working on a custom house, very clean, very chic.Continue reading “Retrospective: An early design”

So long, Houz2. It was fun.

Houz used to be a great design resource. They even wanted us to upload images and tell stories. We even got badges for good work. Then the badges became more and more scarce, the sales calls more frequent. There was less and less reward for adding content to their site and more demand for “upgrades”.Continue reading “So long, Houz2. It was fun.”

Four options for a new back yard

This is an example of why we get professional surveys. We sketched a pool that encroached on some rock outcroppings on the slope, not readily visible from the house. The survey also gave us the exact slope, useful for calculating retaining wall heights, steps, terracing… This was supposed to be four equal sized images, sinceContinue reading “Four options for a new back yard”

Finally! Irrigation AI

Although it’s been a while that CAD programs were supposed to automate the creation of irrigation plans, it looks like they’re finally doing so in a usable way. We can create graphics that auto-calculate (mostly), pipe sizing (mostly), pressure loss calcs (mostly). Why “mostly”? Because the plan is schematic, so pressure loss won’t be what’sContinue reading “Finally! Irrigation AI”