The Importance of Master Planning Your Home

Many people start tackling projects on their wish list without thinking much about the future, resulting in homes that don’t meet their family’s needs, lack any cohesive look, and cost more over the long term. As the old saying goes, if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. A better approach is creating a long-term plan, or master plan as it is called in the construction industry, that encompasses work you are doing now but also looks ahead to your future needs and wishes. Here are some common considerations to help you start your master planning process.

The Ergonomic of Interior Spaces

Ergonomics as a science strives to bridge the gap between man and his surroundings. The knowledge gained in this endeavor is most commonly applied in the workplace setting. That is, it is thought that by applying ergonomic principles to the design of the interior spaces, greater functionality can be achieved yielding higher levels of comfort, commodiousness, and efficiency of effort.

Everything You Need to Know about Shipping Container Homes

Shipping containers fill a crucial niche in the world’s economy. They are large and sturdy enough to uniformly transport goods but small enough to fit on trucks and light enough to be moved by cranes and forklifts. However, over the decades a challenge emerged: an excess of used containers. Where some saw a problem, innovative architects see an eco-friendly opportunity.

Timing Your Construction Project

As with many things in life, the timing of your construction project can be critical to its success. Construction tends to be a seasonally-driven industry, with the prevailing goal being to avoid breaking ground during the winter rainy season. This is not a hard-and-fast rule of course – there are notable exceptions which we will discuss. To best understand the ins-and-outs of project scheduling, this article outlines the design process, from selecting your design team, to how permit processing can impact your project schedule, to ball-parking how long it takes to build a construction project.

5 Kitchen Remodel Ideas That Pay Off

Kitchens are a place of sustenance and sociability. Food, family, and friends mingle to create a winning combination. So it makes perfect sense that remodels are so often geared toward the kitchen. What about thinking of your kitchen in the long-term sense, in terms of investment and return? Will your kitchen remodel projects be a positive contribution to your home’s value or will they erode that value?

A Step-by-Step Guide for Building Your Custom Home

You know you want to build your dream house, but don’t know how to begin? It can seem like a daunting task to build a custom home. And admittedly, it is complicated. This 3-part checklist is aimed at getting you on the right track and providing an overview of the process.

Five Best Design Practices for Small Homes and ADUs

Over the years our architectural practice has worked out some best design practices for the design of small homes and accessory units, as well as the design choices that should be avoided. You can benefit from our experience. Here’s a list of common design mistakes people make when planning their Not So Big House or accessory dwelling unit.

How China Built an Emergency Hospital in Just 10 days

On 2 February 2020 China opened an emergency hospital set up specifically to tackle the novel coronavirus. The emergency specialty field hospital constructed from 23 January 2020 to 2 February 2020, taking only 10 days to construct.

7 Smart Strategies for Kitchen Remodeling

Homeowners spend more money on kitchen remodeling than on any other home improvement project. And with good reason: Kitchens are the hub of home life and a source of pride. A significant portion of kitchen remodeling costs may be recovered by the value the project brings to your home. To help ensure you get a good return on your kitchen remodel, follow these seven tips.

Timing Your Architectural Project

When Should You Start Designing Your Project?
If you’re planning an all interior project, you can start any time! The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll have your house in the condition you want it to be, and the sooner you can start enjoying it. If you’re contemplating an addition or exterior alteration, it’s ideal to start planning your project early, but that’s not a hard-and-fast requirement. Starting early will give you and your architect sufficient time to develop the design and drawings on a more relaxed schedule, submit your project for Planning Department approval, and negotiate a contract with your contractor.