Design Software
The process of designing a project can be both exciting and stressful. The architecture firm has a vision for designing the project, but how is that idea transmitted to the client so that they really “get it?” It is the architect’s responsibility to communicate to the client and community how the building will both function and how will it look.
Michael C. Ellegood , the Public Works Director for Maricopa County, said that when choosing the right firm to work with you need to ask, “Do they have the staff, and do they have the software?” He believes that you should be less interested in firm charges and more interested in cost effectiveness.
Architecture firms using BIM (Building Information Modeling) software, such as Revit Architecture are finding that they can design more freely, keep information better organized, and administer more efficiently. Buildings are complex, and optimizing a building’s performance requires incorporating many variables into design. To meet the needs of the industry for sustainable buildings, accurate information and collaboration between disciplines are needed early in the design process. Revit is an integrated process for exploring a project’s key physical and efficient characteristics digitally. Because of this 3D modeling software, both the architect and the client can examine the project digitally before it is built. A major advantage of this digital review is the substantial elimination of costly change orders and project delays which can negatively affect a project’s success because of increased costs and scheduling issues. Firms utilizing this type of software have dedicated resources in training personnel, transitioning over their current systems, and purchasing the right software and hardware to meet these needs. This is an enormous value to a client who is using a firm that is offering this service.
Housing Is a Basic Need
Did you know that in 1900, the life expectancy was 47 and that 1 in 25 survived to age 60? Contrast this to 2011 where the first baby boomers will turn 65, and they will represent 20% of the population; and those 60+ are expected to continue to grow faster than any other age group. 1 in 5 will report having a chronic disability, and social security will continue to be the largest share of these aging adults’ source of income. Because of these statistics, now is the time for communities to begin preparing to create and develop new infrastructures to house and care for this increasing aging population.
Affordable and accessible housing for people with disabilities and older adults must be a priority. There is a need for consumers, non-profits, architects and developers, and government agencies to form community partnerships. Their goals must be to create more accessible housing using “universal designs” and “visitability” concepts – meaning they must address the needs of the people. Instead of segregating the elderly and those with disabilities, master-planned communities must be formulated.
Marc Center is a private not-for-profit organization providing educational, therapeutic, rehabilitation and social services to children and adults with developmental and physical disabilities and behavioral health challenges. Currently Saemisch + DiBella Architects is partnering with Marc Center to develop The Village at Oasis Park in Mesa, Arizona. This project is addressing the social issues involved in building a community for the disabled elderly, and will not only accomplish the creation of an appropriate and beautiful environment, but will also encompass all the support services within its community. Creating the proper design prior to construction is critical. The cost of adapting housing prior to construction is even less expensive than remodeling existing homes. Plus the units can be “adaptable” to the individual needs of the residents.
The focus on disabilities began in the 1950’s when many veterans were coming home from World War II and the Korean War. These returning soldiers faced both structural and attitudinal barriers. The government agreed that housing was a basic need for all individuals. They have been long concerned with helping to provide decent, safe, and sanitary housing; but now it is time to enhance this standard to provide housing that appeals to a wide range of people who may benefit from improved forward-thinking ideas and environmental designs.
Another great article about the importance of design for disabled persons
More than shelter: good design matters most to those who need it most Residential Architect
August, 2005 by Meghan Drueding, Nigel F. Maynard
Imagine designing a home for a client who may be deaf, blind, or mobility-impaired–you’re not sure which. The residence has to fit into a tiny space, say 250 square feet, and must be easy to duplicate 10, 50, or 100 times over. Before the permitting process even starts, you know the project will elicit passionate community opposition. You might have to rely on an intermediary to communicate the client’s preferences, and you’ll need to search out durable, long-lasting materials that require little maintenance. Oh, and the budget is infinitesimal. Welcome to the world of special-needs housing. A subset of standard affordable housing, specialneeds encompasses users including the physically or mentally disabled, the homeless, battered women, recovering drug addicts or alcoholics, and people with HIV or AIDS. Some of these categories overlap; the homeless, for example, are three times more likely than other people to contract HIV. Many special-needs communities are designated for just one user type, while others, like those funded by HUD’s Section 811 program, must accommodate multiple needs in each unit. The housing can be permanent or transitional, scattered-site or in one location, for single people or families, strictly residential or mixed-use. When a special-needs project also provides services such as counseling or medical care, it becomes known as supportive housing. sensitive side The architects designing special-needs housing are as varied a bunch as the residents themselves. Well-known California firms such as Pytaok Architects, Studio E Architects, and David Baker Partners came to it from doing straight-up affordable housing. Seniors housing represents another closely related field, because elderly residents often suffer from physical or cognitive impairments. Some practitioners have more of a health-care background, including New York City architect Roberta Washington, AIA, who specialized in hospitals before designing several supportive housing projects. And others arrive at special-needs through their own personal situations. Erick Mikiten, AIA, of Berkeley, Calif., can relate to the physical and emotional needs of wheelchair users particularly well, because he’s one himself. “A lot of the things I’ve learned are through seeing my own experience,” he says. “Like washing dishes and having the water dripping down my arm because the sink is too high
Whatever the firm’s history, designing special-needs housing challenges its empathy for future residents. Often they’re moving from an unstable or inhospitable living environment, and subtle design nuances can have a major impact on their well-being. Berkeley firm Jacobson Silverstein Winslow/Degenhardt incorporates porches and terraces for smokers into its housing for the mentally ill. “Smoking tends to be a big thing among the mentally disturbed,” says partner Barbara Winslow. “It’s a way of containing the pressure for a lot of people.” John Dickinson, AIA, a deaf architect based in Boulder, Colo., emphasizes sightlines in his housing for the hearing impaired, in addition to the more typical lighting and vibrations that tell residents when a phone, doorbell, or alarm is ringing. “The housing is more open and airy than usual,” he says. “There are no columns that will block the visual aesthetics.” And at Inglis Gardens, housing for physically disabled adults in Philadelphia, architect Nancy Bastian of Cecil Baker & Associates added angled mirrors above all the cooktops so residents can see into pots on the stove. Even basic, universally desirable features such as natural light, fresh air, and places to socialize take on new shades of meaning with special-needs residents, who tend to spend more time at home than the average person. Light and air combat the depression that often accompanies illness and homelessness. Welcoming public spaces give those who are down on their luck the opportunity to meet others who have been through similar experiences. “The social aim is to create places where people can develop relationships,” says Richard Harris, executive director of Central City Concern in Portland, Ore., which owns and manages housing for recovering addicts and other special-needs populations. “In a recovery, one of the main things is getting rid of the bad friends and getting hooked up with solid people who will help you.” money talks The list of clever, effective design elements architects have created for special-needs projects goes on and on. But, as with all affordable housing, the specter of a tight budget constantly looms. In order to eke out money for such worthwhile extras as well-landscaped courtyards or comfortable common room furniture, architects must think of ways to conserve funds somewhere else. And they do. “Every dollar does count, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do certain things,” says Dennis Langley, AIA, of Weese Langley Weese in Chicago. “You try to make a very efficient plan, and you use a lot of color and texture.” His firm often varies the colors of brick on their buildings to provide architectural detail without adding cost. At the Lyon Building, a widely admired renovation in Seattle for homeless people with HIV/AIDS and other health problems, locally based architects MITHUN made the most of the existing building. “Under layers of carpet we found beautiful mosaic and hardwood floors,” says Leslie Moldow, AIA, a principal at MITHUN. “They’re very durable, and we didn’t have to go to institutional vinyl.” For the award-winning SRO Chelsea Court in New York City, architect Louise Braverman, AIA, took the initiative, driving to Costco to find folding tables for each unit and coaxing a friend to donate artwork.
When Crisis Hits the Disabled
The article below is from the Wall Street Journal, and it is a perfect example of the need being fulfilled by ‘The Villages at Oasis Park’ project we are doing for the Marc Center.
When Crisis Hits the Disabled
Limited Options for Support and Housing
Exist for Aging Caregivers and Their Children
By CLARE ANSBERRY
April 29, 2008; Page A8
Seventy-nine year old Anna Dromgoole arrived at the Plano Specialty Hospital a month ago with severe wounds on her legs. Her 41-year-old son, Kent, who has Downs Syndrome, was at her side.
Ms. Dromgoole refused to be admitted unless Mr. Dromgoole could stay with her. She, like thousands of other aging caregivers across the country, had no place for her developmentally disabled child to go. When crisis hits, they find themselves at the mercy of strangers.
In their case, the stranger was Beth Lambdin, Plano Specialty’s clinical liaison, who found a semi private room for the Dromgooles, thinking they would be back home in a few weeks.
That scenario fell apart when Ms. Dromgoole went into respiratory arrest. That leaves her son, who himself has since been hospitalized, with no one other than Ms. Lambdin to turn to and nowhere to go once he is released from Plano Specialty later this week.
“I’m his one constant,” she says. “I’m really no one, just a stranger who met them three weeks ago.”
That Ms. Lambdin, an acquaintance of less than a month, may end up housing Mr. Dromgoole speaks to her character. But it also underscores the limitations of the nation’s programs to assist those with developmental disabilities, especially in emergencies, which promise to hit more often as the nation’s caregivers grow increasingly frail. “We have not addressed the needs of aging caregivers,” says Susan Murphree of Advocacy Inc., a federally funded protection and advocacy system for Texans with disabilities. “One of the things we don’t have is help for people in crisis situations.”
An estimated 2.9 million people with intellectual or developmental disabilities or some significant functional limitation live with caregivers — mainly parents — who are 55 years or older.
As they age beyond their caregiving capacities, as Ms. Dromgoole apparently has, their children need a formal and supported living arrangement. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough of those arrangements.
About 80,000 people with developmental disabilities nationwide are on waiting lists for various services to help them live in the community. Texas, alone, has about 35,000 people waiting for home and community services, in spite of funding last year to serve additional people.
Spending for such programs continues to increase annually, although levels vary by state. It reached $2 billion last year, which represented a 10% increase, says Charlie Lakin, who researches residential programs at the University of Minnesota. “But the reality is, it’s not growing enough to meet the demand.”
Moreover, options may narrow further as budget-strapped states try to hold down spending and the federal government looks for ways to control spending for Medicaid — the main source of funding such programs — the concern is that options will further narrow.
Mr. Dromgoole’s parents divorced when he was five and he has been alone with his mother since, most recently sharing a condominium.
His mother kept him close to her, taking him with her when she cleaned houses, played bingo and bowled. He took out the trash, got the mail and once had a job bagging groceries. “I help my mother plant some flowers and cut the yard,” he says.
Many people in Ms. Dromgoole’s generation didn’t expect their children with various developmental problems to outlive them and didn’t explore options for them to live on their own. In some cases, they were afraid that something bad would happen to their children without their attentive eye or they were frustrated by lack of options when they did look.
As she got older, Ms. Dromgoole had a harder time getting around. Her circulation was bad. Cuts on her legs wouldn’t heal and became severe wounds. Several weeks ago, when his mother couldn’t get up from the couch and he couldn’t lift her, Mr. Dromgoole called 911. “She’s real sick right now,” he says.
At that point, although she didn’t realize it at the time, Ms. Lambdin became his defacto caregiver. That first week, when both mother and son were at the hospital, Ms. Lambdin tried to keep Mr. Dromgoole, a likeable outgoing man, engaged. She brought him coloring books and paints and took him to Firehouse Subs, where he ordered an oversized sandwich dubbed the “Wreck.”
“He’s verbal and independent. He just can’t live alone,” she says. “He was never taught those life skills.”
When his mother’s condition worsened, Ms. Lambdin realized that the short term stay she envisioned wasn’t going to happen and that Mr. Dromgoole might not be able to return home.
She called every number in Ms. Dromgoole’s little phone book and found one living relative — a first cousin in Louisiana, herself elderly and with a disabled child. Neighbors and friends voiced concern but are likewise older.
Various social service agencies offered untenable solutions. One said Mr. Dromgoole could get emergency help if he was left at a homeless shelter. Groups that work with the developmentally disabled had an opening in a supervised residential program nine hours away in San Antonio, but nothing closer. Ms. Lambdin doesn’t want to move him that far from his mother.
She called her friend, Travis Fogle, at Silverado Senior Living, a well-regarded private pay home for those with Alzheimer’s and dementia. Silverado, she knew, would take people for three days in an emergency situation. Mr. Fogle extended that stay for a week and a half, at no cost.
Mr. Dromgoole flourished there, putting vases with daisies and carnations on dining room tables, and helping to feed residents, who couldn’t feed themselves. He went ballroom dancing, to his first hockey game and saw an Elvis impersonator. Staff trimmed his dark hair and cut his long nails, washed his clothes and his mother’s, too. Mr. Dromgoole requested and received simple meals he was accustomed to — corndogs, macaroni and cheese and skillet fried potatoes and onions.
“We just wanted it to be a positive experience for him,” says Mr. Fogle. It was, but it was also unsustainable. It would cost more than $80,000 a year for him to live there and Mr. Dromgoole receives only $1,200 a month in Social Security.
“They did as much as they could,” says Ms. Lambdin. Some Silverado families are trying to raise money for him to return.
With Mr. Dromgoole leaving Silverado, Ms. Lambdin asked Dr. John Lavery, Plano Specialty’s medical director, if he could return as a patient. She had noticed swelling on Mr. Dromgoole’s legs and suspected cellulites. After an examination, he was admitted. “He had a medical condition,” says Dr. Lavery, declining to elaborate. Medicare is paying for his stay, although Mr. Dromgoole will be responsible for his $996 deductible.
He is responding well to treatment and will likely be released in a few days.
In the meantime, he watches wrestling on TV and calls Ms. Lambdin several times a day. He asked for a birthday cake for his mother, who turned 80 Monday. Ms. Dromgoole remains on a ventilator. When Mr. Dromgoole visits her, he sings “Peaks and Valleys,” kisses her on the forehead, and says “Momma, you need to get better.”
Ms. Lambdin continues to search for an appropriate local residence for Kent. If nothing materializes, she will bring Mr. Dromgoole home to live with her husband and three young daughters, ages 11, 9 and 5. The stairs on their split-level home would be hard for Kent, who weighs about 260 pounds, but not impossible.
“I’ve got feelers out everywhere,” says Ms. Lambdin. “Unless by some miracle, someone comes in and says they have him covered, he’ll come home with me.”
“Repurposed” Spaces
Our nation is facing the deepest recession in years. Families, businesses, non-profit organizations, and the government are all facing shrinking budgets. This could be a time for keeping things the same and just sitting back and waiting until the economy changes, or it could be a time for gaining new knowledge and choosing to be innovative. This is not a new idea. People didn’t always have the money or the energy to build something new, so they had to take what they had and reinvent it.
Think of the field of education. It is always changing its teaching strategies and its environment. Research is showing that math and science need to work more collaborately with the arts. This means that new space concepts have to be designed that will look more to finding areas that can be repurposed into labs and eliminating the traditional classroom setting; therefore establishing “repurpose” space. Businesses, too, are discovering that with fewer employees less office space is needed. However their areas for marketing and advertising have to be recreated to become more technical and client friendly. Many are choosing smaller buildings and establishing more appropriate work spaces.
Choose to take a leadership role in showing that now is the time to be both innovative and progressive in originating new visions for design. We know one has to be smarter and more creative about how to get money and how to budget money for projects but helping clients to make an impact with their project is foremost. It is critical to make an environment that promotes-not hinders-open concepts, team building, and the well-being of clients, students, employees or patients. Understand the challenge-models have to change. Get creative. Re-envision your project and possibly “repurpose” a space-a penthouse becomes a college research center, an airplane hangar turns into a tropical rain forest resort, or a contemporary art museum is in the shell of a former power station. The possibilities are as endless as your ability to “think outside the box.”
Partners in Recovery Grand Opening in Mesa, Arizona
CVS building transformed by Saemisch + DiBella Architects into a beautiful open space concept for the mental health organization, Partners in Recovery.
Experts in Design Changing Mind Sets
What comes to mind when visualizing mental health facilities? Are you thinking older institutional facilities with monochromatic dull colors, bad lighting, padded rooms, and locked doors? Fortunately for those needing the services of mental health centers, that image has changed drastically thanks to the vision of those in the mental health field and Saemisch+DiBella Architects.
Our architectural firm, known for shaping human experiences through design, has joined with non-profit organizations to change the mind set of not only what mental health facilities do; but also in how they can be designed to change the atmosphere and quality of life for both the patients and the employees. We are proud to be able to say that our clients have found us to be innovative and progressive in exploring these new design visions. The “ village or open concept” plan has provided new possibilities for the mental health field. Patients and their families have found this design to be both a comfortable and approachable environment. Its plan allows a collaborative effort between staff and patient; plus multiple services are available at a single facility.
The results of our efforts have displaced society’s stigma of thinking that the use of federal and state funding in building mental health facilities will result in visually institutional low budget designed facilities. One only has to look at the “Partners in Recovery” facility to see quite a different picture. Collaborative design has created not only a beautiful atmosphere but a high functioning customer serving operation. Saemisch+DiBella Architects invites you to explore these projects to view the success we have enjoyed with our non-profit partners.
5 Important Facts About Green Architecture
The art of sustainable architecture is a practice of contracting buildings while taking into consideration relevant issues like environmental growth and sustainable progress. The basic motto of this kind of architecture is to reduce the impact of wide scale construction on environment by sticking to a minimalist attitude regarding consumption of energy resources, building materials and development space. The following points mentioned below can help in further promoting this noble practice:
Using Small Space Is Critical To Green Architecture
Building smaller houses has become the order of the day. We cannot afford to waste natural resources and earth space to fulfill our desire of constructing and living in extravagant houses. Smaller houses means more people get accommodation without wasting too much of natural resources.
Solar Energy And Green Architecture Coincide Side By Side
All our energy resources are on the verge of getting depleted. Hence usage of solar energy is being encouraged in almost all quarters of the globe. Apart from that, the inclusion of solar heating techniques make these buildings all the more comfortable to live in. A well contracted passive solar energy should be sufficient for letting in enough sunlight in the rooms.
Water Conservation Made Possible Only Through Green Architectural Practices
One of the main standpoints of green architecture is to encourage conservation of water. Minimum consumption of water is to be adopted while building green homes. Ideally the toilets, faucet aerators, showerheads ad flow restrictions should be chosen with great care to minimize the water usage in these houses. Residents must also be encouraged to plant drought-tolerant plant in their gardens.
Renewable Energy, The Main Standpoint of Green Architecture
An extremely effective method of generating electricity while saving fossil fuel can be achieved by sung nature agents like hydel power, wind power, solar power etc.
Conserving Local And Natural Resources Via Green Architectural Practices
Mother Nature has been kind to us human beings for millions of years. Nature has been offering all the resources we need to build our houses. Therefore we have to use them wisely while constructing newer buildings if we want to leave some of these resources for our future generations. You can also plant more and more trees around your home to enhance the natural ambience. Lastly stick to using local building resources as that can save fuel and energy which or else would have been used in transporting them to the construction site.
Green architecture when followed honestly saves you money, but more importantly saves the environment. So act smart and show your love and support for making Green architecture more and more popular in days to come.