Why I'm Different from Most Architects

I attribute this to 2 main factors: I have a background in construction, and I'm from Ohio.

Living in Seattle is great. It's a unique place with a lot of beauty and many wonderful recreational and professional opportunities. Seattle is filled with smart people with a mindset geared toward innovation. I love all of this. All of these things result in prosperity. Prosperity also enables options. Options can also enable bad decisions and stagnation. If there is not an option, you only have one choice, so you just act on it. I've noticed that Seattle has the luxury of trying different options and talking about them for a long time before choosing one and making it happen. That is the opposite of what I am accustomed to growing up in Youngstown, Ohio. 

Youngstown is in the center of the "rust belt." A decent sized city between Pittsburgh and Cleveland, it has been shrinking since the steel mills moved over seas decades ago. It was once a hub of activity, but now it's polluted with vacant factories, a failing auto industry, and no jobs for its inhabitants. As an architect, you get trained to build cities, but there's really no training on how to shrink one. You can only convert so many vacant lots to public parks before there's no resources to maintain them and chase the crime away. It has made the top ten list many times for murders per capita. Living in this type of environment leaves you with little choice. When something needs done, the resources are so limited that there's not much of an option for how to address the problem. It requires an optimistic, get-your-hands-dirty, MAKE-it-happen type of attitude to get anything to happen. This is the environment that raised me. My parents pushed me to simply START doing the things I wanted to do because nobody else was going to do them for me. Once you start, momentum takes over, and it's easy to finish.

I brought that "go-get-em" attitude to Seattle many years ago. While people are waffling over the options, I've already carefully considered the pros and cons and started doing the best option. Once you start, you can quickly decipher whether or not you made the right choice and adapt as necessary. I'm not saying anyone should jump to conclusions, but all too often, the deliberating is more costly than making a wrong choice. Deliberating is speculating, and many projects are so complex that speculating is merely guessing. I believe it's best to carefully analyse the information that is easily attainable, make a choice, and try it. The attempt will yield much more useful data than time (and resources) wasted with endless speculation. This meaningful data can then be used to confidently move forward down the correct path.  

A building department might say, "You can't build that addition because the slope is too steep to build on." Don't tell me what I can't do. Let's talk about what we CAN do. My immediate response to the building department is, "Fine, the addition won't have any affect on the slope because it won't touch the slope ... it will project above it...everyone happy? Good. Let's move on." A builder might say, "I'm not sure if we can make this trim work well. We have to think about [this, that, and the other] before we make up our mind." In the mean time, I'm cutting out scrap material to show you how it CAN work. Problem solved ... let's move on.

Quick thinking is part of the difference, but my construction background is likely the most important aspect that has lead to my successes. All too often, people forget that architects are part of the construction industry. An architect's job is to come up with solutions intended to be built, but most architects don't know how to build those ideas. I can build all of my ideas, and if I can't, I am the first to admit it and immediately work with the craftsmen to properly analyse the idea to determine if it is a reasonable one. I'll also typically join the craftsman on install day to get practice with the new method or material. (Although I can build most things, I do not want to confuse anyone to think that I am good at it. My craftsmanship is nowhere near the level of the experts in the field who practice daily.) I got this experience starting from childhood with my dad and Lefty (my next door neighbor who runs a construction company). They taught me how to be diligent, work your ass off, and to think through the task start-to-finish before you begin. (Simple things like putting a garbage can next to the saw, so you can drop waste in it instead of wasting time walking around the job site.) I learned to appreciate the expertise of the tradesmen who dig holes in the snow through the frost line and the roofers on a black roof on 100 degree summer days. How many concrete blocks can you carry? by hand? in a wheelbarrow? in a wheelbarrow going up a plank? How many bags of concrete can you carry and mix in a day? As a youngster, Lefty showed me how different buildings go together from start to finish, and he empowered me to try working on things that kids ordinarily shouldn't be trying. (While building a tree house, he showed me how to work a nail gun.)

Although I'm not born into a "privileged" family, I'm truly privileged to have the background I do. It wasn't easy, but I paid it forward. It has made life pretty fun and easy for me today.

 If you’d like to learn more about our design process, visit www.josharch.com/process, and if you’d like to get us started on your project with a feasibility report, please visit www.josharch.com/help

How I Earn a Living

It depends what you consider "living." I value actual living - that is doing things in life that I like to do. Those include baking bread, hanging out with friends and family, building things, playing hockey, teaching, surfing, watching the Seattle Sounders and Ohio State Buckeyes, and designing things. Those are the things that fill my life. I like doing them, so I keep doing them. Everything we do has negative aspects - including the fun stuff. Burning your arm on a bread dish, the cost of building fun projects, wipe-outs in the surf, building department debacles, etc. Despite the negative aspects, the good parts tend to outweigh the bad. The bad parts are so important though. They create CONTRAST. Bad makes good seem great. The same thing is true in design. Light enables dark, simple enables complex, closed enables open, etc. Doing a lot of different things in life also makes contrast. It is human nature to be inspired by contrast, and it is also human nature to feel good when inspired.

So, diverse living is how I earn a living.

Luckily I get paid for some of the living I do. I like talking about design and sustainability, so I teach college courses and participate in community events on those topics. It's fun, rewarding, and they actually pay me for it. It gives me a break from sitting at a desk, and it also gives me access to the school's wood shop. This brings me to the next aspect of living: building stuff. I have a lot of my own carpentry tools, but the school's wood shop has all of the items (and space) I don't have. I have built many of my own projects and helped students with their own projects over the years. This gives me the chance to experiment with different methods and materials which enables me to have a great understanding of custom solutions for my design projects. I also get practical construction experience from other places including my own home remodels, my rental home's maintenance, and because I commit to building one of my design projects per year. This is how I keep it real. When I suggest a design idea, I'm simultaneously thinking about the practical construction of it. I don't get paid for baking artisan bread or surfing - life's not that sweet. When one "job" is slow, I don't need to worry too much and hit the panic button. I can still keep my cool and focus on doing great work. The diversity of doing "other things" keeps my main gig so fun and exciting. When I'm sitting on my surfboard, staring at the horizon, waiting for the next set of waves, I feel at peace, and I can clearly think about the creative challenges that design work brings. I truly enjoy sharing my inspired mind with you.

If you’d like to learn more about our design process, visit www.josharch.com/process, and if you’d like to get us started on your project with a feasibility report, please visit www.josharch.com/help

Josh Brincko advising a group of designers for a fashion show.

Drywall Is Boring

One option that's not drywall...

Do you agree? Why is it boring? I think it's because you end up in a box with a flat ceiling, flat walls, and flat floors with no depth, texture, or unique shadow lines. It's ironic that there's plenty of depth and texture behind all that drywall, but we always cover it up. There's studs, plywood, columns, beams, etc, but we typically consider those items to be "rough framing" materials even though they can offer a lot of interest if not covered up by boring drywall. The problem is that normal studs and plywood for example ARE rough framing materials. In certain applications, these materials may be appropriate to celebrate instead of hide away. Fortunately, there are different options when it comes to rough framing materials. The studs come in different grades and appearances. If you are going to leave the studs exposed, you can spring for a nicer grade of wood that's straighter with nicer grain patterns and many different options of wood species. Instead of ordinary plywood, you could use a plywood with a nicer veneer of nearly any wood species you like. Alternatively, you could use tongue and groove boards (similar to flooring) instead of plywood. All of these items have so much more texture than drywall, but you may be wondering if it costs more. Well, it depends. Drywall is pretty cheap, but it does need cut, attached, taped, mudded, sanded, textured, and painted. The stud and plywood method needs none of that extra labor or material, so it can be cheaper. Studs and plywood are required regardless of your finish materials, but the difference is the quality of the studs and plywood if you choose to leave them exposed. You can spend a little more money on the grade of the studs and plywood to offset the money you're not spending on the boring drywall. 

Instead of drywall ... tongue and groove sheathing and exposed studs in an art studio.

Now you may be thinking about insulation. Where does it go if you're going for the honest look of leaving the framing exposed? Newer, more advanced construction methods, allow for insulation to be placed on the OUTSIDE. This is a great approach since the ordinary approach of putting insulation INSIDE the walls means your're leaving about 10% of your wall un-insulated. This is because you can only insulate the space between the studs, and the studs (which are about 10% of the wall) do not provide any substantial amount of insulation value. Additionally, typical insulation batts (the fluffy pink stuff we are used to seeing), will sag over time. This leaves the top part of the wall completely un-insulated, AND this is where most of the heat escapes your house in the winter since we all know from 4th grade science class that warm air rises. The thermal image below indicates hot and cool spots. Notice how the studs are visible as cold, and you can see the slumping of the insulation at the top of the wall. 

Thermal image of a stud wall.

So how does insulating on the OUTSIDE help us? It's because we can use foam insulation boards that are continuous. This means there are no interfering studs which leave un-insulated strips every 16". The foam board also has a much higher insulation value than regular batt insulation, so it does not need to be as thick as usual. Polyisocyanurate foam boards (ok, say it out loud: Poly - Iso - Cyan - Urate) offer about double the insulation value, AND they are also impermeable to air and water infiltration when installed properly. This gives your house an air-tight seal, so you can really retain more of the heat indoors with less insulation since there's virtually no gaps left for heat to leak out. These foam boards also have a reflective coating to initially reflect the heat back indoors. Over top of the foam board, the next step is to add a strip called a nailer. This helps to hold the foam board against the wall while also providing a surface to nail the exterior siding. When nailing the exterior siding against the nailer, this leaves an air gap between the siding and insulation. I call this air gap a drain plane. Typical siding is nailed flat against a wall, and any leaks or condensation (like on the outside of a Corona bottle) gets trapped inside your wall. Since this moisture cannot escape easily, it starts to rot away the building and cause mold or mildew to occur. The drain plane prevents this. Water intrusion is inevitable, so we have learned over time to plan for it instead of ignoring it. Knowing the water will occur due to condensation since your house is warm inside and cool outside, we need to provide a way to evaporate the unwanted moisture. The drain plane allows for the airflow necessary to keep your wall dry, as well as to prevent a solid from touching a solid. In other words, siding is a solid material, and so is plywood sheathing. We also learned in 4th grade science class that heat is retained and travels more easily through solids than liquids or gases. By putting an air space between the siding and plywood sheathing, the heat cannot magically jump across from the solid plywood to the solid siding. There's a lot of dynamics at play here. This approach can work with any type of siding - inside or out.

Nailer strips attached over foam board insulation on the exterior of the building.

So maybe you're not into the honest look of leaving your studs and plywood exposed. It's not appropriate for every situation. This means you're back to studs covered with drywall. Rather than finishing the drywall, it can be used as the underlayment for almost any building material. The cost of finishing/painting drywall is relatively inexpensive, so there's typically not a savings to cover the drywall (or backer board) with marble, tile, wood panels, metal panels, stone, translucent glass, etc. The added cost will result in a better result that gives you a durable material that functions well in your space, and that added cost can be strategically allocated to specific areas that require that added functionality. My approach to architecture involves finding those special spaces with special requirements, grouping them, and specifying the appropriate material to enable that special space to function as best as possible. (Form follows function).

Drywall is a conservative solution. Live a little.

If you’d like to learn more about our design process, visit www.josharch.com/process, and if you’d like to get us started on your project with a feasibility report, please visit www.josharch.com/help

Is Remodeling Cheaper Than Building New?

Here's what you might find behind your drywall. Don't worry. We know how to fix it.

This is a very common question, and I've done TONS of remodel projects. Let's analyse it. Your existing home is livable, but there's a few things you'd like to add or change. Let's keep the example simple: you want to move a doorway 3' to the left.

Relocating an Existing Door: (if you don't want to read all of this, simply compare the length of this paragraph to the next one, and you can infer the answer:) To relocate the door, you need to remove the existing door and carefully remove the trim if you want to re-use it. Not hard, but it takes a couple hours or more to pull the nails out of the trim and scrape off the caulk and glue. It's probably cheaper just to buy new trim. Next, you would have to carefully cut a hole in the drywall (on both sides of the wall to access the area where the new door will be placed. You need to be careful not to remove too much drywall, or you would have to replace more wall than you bargained for. Once the drywall is surgically removed, you'll see the structure: likely 2 studs at the top, a stud on the floor, and vertical studs every 16". These will need to be carefully removed, and a new door frame and header will need to be built. (If it's a load-bearing wall, the area above will need to be temporarily supported while you have the studs removed.) Also, there is likely a light switch next to your door, so that will need to be relocated. This requires removal of the old switch, adding a junction box to splice the old wires, installing a new switch, and running the wiring to it while ensuring other circuits tied into this junction box are reconnected. (Let's hope it's not old-school electrical work that requires additional replacement for safety purposes.) OK, now you have a door frame and electrical. In some cases, there may be plumbing or duct work in the way that may need to be re-routed adding another layer of complexity. (Let's also hope you don't find rot inside the wall that would also require additional reconstruction.) We can now cover all of the exposed framing with drywall (on both sides of the wall). Once the drywall is screwed in place, it needs to be taped and mudded on its joints and screw holes. The mud is a plaster that will enable the seams to be covered, so they cannot be seen. Once the mud dries, it can be sanded smooth. This will be easy if the existing wall is "straight and true." It will be difficult if the existing wall has a texture that needs to be matched, or if it was built with the out-dated lathe and plaster approach which is quite brittle and damages easily. Now that we have smooth wall board, it's time to install the door and trim. A standard pre-hung door will slide right into the opening, and with the use of shims (little scrap pieces), you can fit the new door within the "rough opening" of the wall. Some existing walls are straighter than others, so this may or may not go smoothly. Once the door is set in place, the next step is to apply the trim (on both sides). It will need to be glued and nailed on with a finish nailer. The baseboard (and maybe the crown molding) will also need to be extended or modified to integrate with the door trim. Once all the trim is attached, the nail holes will need to be filled with putty, and any gaps will need filled with painters' caulk. Now it's time to paint. The goal is to match the new wall and new trim with the old wall and old trim. You will likely need to paint the whole wall (on both sides). Once the door is painted, it can also be hung ... and you're done.

Building a New Doorway: In a new construction project, there's no demolition, so there's no surgical work or protection of flooring, ceilings, walls, etc. Framing a new wall with studs is easy because the carpenter has total control over the selection of straight lumber and does not need to integrate his or her work with any other existing (faulty) conditions. Pulling electrical wire in a new wall is also easy because there are no other existing conditions to deal with, and the maze of electrical is all exposed and easy to figure out. Drywall will go smoothly because it does not need to match anything else, and the new stud wall will likely be built straight and true. A new door wouldn't have any plumbing or ducts in the way either. Installing the door will go smoothly since the wall is straight, and trim can be expedited because the same conditions yield the same results when there are many of the same door in a new construction project. Working in bulk is quick. Painting will also be a breeze since the whole area can be sprayed without masking off existing conditions.

The Answer: Building new is cheaper. Remodeling has all the same expenses as new construction, but you still need to do additional tasks like, demolition, retrofit, and protect existing areas. Existing construction also has a lot of unknowns hidden under your walls: poor construction, asbestos, lead, rot, rodents, earthquake updates, etc. These problems tend to expand the scope of a project into all of the surrounding areas too. As an experienced architect, I think it is important to communicate all of these likelihoods up front. It is smart to prepare for them and hope they never happen than to be blind-sided with unforeseen circumstances. After seeing so many remodeling projects over the years, I have a good sense for problem areas and can offer alternative solutions to prevent them whenever possible. This door example is a simple one ... imagine a much larger remodel project.

If you’d like to learn more about our design process, visit www.josharch.com/process, and if you’d like to get us started on your project with a feasibility report, please visit www.josharch.com/help

BUREAUCRACY (almost spells: Bureau-crazy)

This is what an architect's stamp looks like in Washington. After 6 years of architecture school, 3+ years of interning, passing 9 state board exams, reciting all professional codes, and visiting your local stamp store, you can buy one! (or you could probably forego all of that and just buy one)

City of Kent, WA...an eventful experience with the building department:

While attempting to do some good for a non-profit, the City of Kent Building Department made the simple task of permitting the installation of storage shelves in an existing warehouse into quite a debacle. One of the nation's largest non-profit charities chose the City of Kent as a location for their new warehouse for collecting donations for underprivileged communities, and the city neglected to see the positive effects this could bring to their municipality. The plans were professionally prepared by a licensed architect and licensed engineer to ensure the storage racks would be installed safely and meet applicable seismic and fire codes for the safety of the building occupants, so there is no valid reason to unjustifiably scrutinize such a project.

(This is what I communicated to the City of Kent, Feb 2015): 

“There is no justification for you to deny the acceptance of drawings because the 3 required copies are not on the same brand of paper. One copy is on regular white 28 lbs bond paper, and the others are on white 24 lbs bond paper. It is all the same white paper, and you have no authority to make an applicant reprint the drawings on the same paper weight. There is no codified ordinance that requires this. Furthermore, you cannot claim the State of Washington requires you to deny acceptance of drawings because an architect's stamp was electronically printed on each of these papers instead of "wet stamped." This is an archaic formality that is no longer applicable, and the Revised Code of Washington has allowed copies of architects' and engineers' seals per RCW 18.43.070 for quite some time. (Somehow I cited this off the top of my head because of the significance it has in my line of work - imagine no longer needing to stamp and autograph 3 copies of a set of drawings with 100 sheets in the set.) Most building departments no longer require printing of plans in the first place because they want to reduce the carbon footprint of extraneous paper and unnecessary trips to their office. Government agencies should be on the forefront of sustainable practices and embrace the technology of electronic submittals to help our environment and speed up the process of approvals which in turn helps the growth of our economies.” I was on a roll that day. They eventually agreed to accept the plans.

The building department should focus on their true role of analyzing plans for their content, not the invented problems of whether or not a stamp was photocopied on a type of paper that is not their favorite paper weight. Hard to believe this really happened, but I did convince the City's reviewers to review the plans after unnecessary pleading and reasoning. These types of things happen all too often, and it is really unfortunate that some bureaucrats think it is acceptable to waste people's time and affect their livelihood. Building is an expensive endeavor, and delays are extraordinarily costly. There is no reason paper choice needs to contribute to these costs. If you ever hire an architect, this is why it's so hard to hire them for a fixed fee. We fight on your behalf to ensure your project moves forward as quickly as possible, and there is no way for an architect to predict these outrageous circumstances ahead of time. In this circumstance, I estimate my diligence saved my client a few thousand dollars that they can now spend on benefiting the underprivileged populations they serve. I shouldn't need to "save" my clients money though. The building department should look at the bigger picture instead of focusing on irrelevant factors unrelated to their job description. This is a waste of tax payers' dollars and fees when we are subjected to paying for unnecessary requests.

The building department plays a very important role in protecting the safety of building occupants, but these types of behaviors undermine their importance and relevance. Architects and engineers are extraordinarily educated and experienced professionals that are regulated by state boards, and they take their jobs very seriously. We respect the role of building departments and welcome their productive input that contributes to the well-being of our projects.

FOLLOW-UP: The next day I received a phone call from the fire marshal. From the start of the conversation, it immediately sounded like he was trying to stall the "project." (I put project in quotes because I was just helping a non-profit move their donated items from shelves in one warehouse to another warehouse - not much of a project, but happy to help.) The fire marshal asked me if the items to be donated would be "encapsulated." I replied "there's a chance, but I don't know how the non-profit receives or stores their donated toys/goods. Some items may be boxed, some might be wrapped...I just don't have control over the way people donate items to charity." The fire marshal remarked that he would have to put the project approvals on hold until we know for sure. Since I know it is not possible to look into the future and ask future donors how they intend to donate their used items, I had to interject. It is not a matter of answering the question, but rather providing a requirement for facility operations. I pleaded, "how do YOU want the items stored? We can require the non-profit to store their donations to meet your recommendation. If you delay the project, there is too big of a financial burden on the non-profit due to lease agreements, moving arrangements, and so forth." The fire marshal reluctantly said he would allow the project to proceed if the donated items were not shrink wrapped since the shrink wrapping would cause the existing fire sprinkler system to be less effective. Fair enough. Everyone is OK with this. The approval process should not be focused on stopping or slowing down projects. The bureaucrats should be honored to be part of such a good cause and positive development within their community. Since they are the expert authorities on building code issues, they should offer their expertise to team up with the community to offer possible SOLUTIONS instead of creating unnecessary road blocks.

UPDATE: The fire marshal called back a few minutes later. Again, he had the tone of postponing the project for two reasons. 1: He did not have structural engineering drawings. The day before, I gave the building department 3 copies (as required) of structural drawings and calculations (stamped by a licensed engineer), so he should have had access to those. I requested he check with his co-workers before postponing the project. 2: He did not want to allow the project to proceed because he did not know the height of the storage racks. I guided him to the 1st page of the drawing set that shows the drawing of the storage racks. It clearly indicated a 12' height, but his concern was the ceiling clearance above the rack. He wanted to be sure the items stored on the rack would not come within 2' of the fire sprinkler heads on the ceiling. I assured him the ceilings in the warehouse are quite high, and there would be several feet between the donated items on the top shelf of the rack and the sprinkler heads above. He asked how I could be sure since he didn't know the size of the items to be stored on the top shelf of the rack. I told him, "nobody could ever be sure or have total control over the items to be stored on the rack, but we could inform the non-profit to never store anything within 2' of a sprinkler head." He was uneasy since I did not know exactly what donated items would be stored on the rack in the future. I told him it would depend on the generosity of the people in his community throughout the years. Some people may donate bikes while others may donate dolls or maybe even doll houses. A toy giraffe could be an issue because of such a long neck. Again, with a reluctant tone, he decided he would move his review process ahead since we agreed the items would not be within 2' of the sprinklers. Rather than immediately taking a stance to delay the project, he would be well advised to offer acceptable solutions which in turn would benefit his community on many levels.

Why do building departments delay? There are likely many reasons, but one may be due to the financial incentive caused by delays. They collect an "intake fee" to simply take your drawings. Next they charge a "review fee" to cover the hours they spend reviewing the drawings. If they need more information, they issue a notice requesting that information, and the architect needs to pickup the drawings, revise them, reprint, re-submit, and the process starts over with additional fees. The more times the building department can get the applicant to re-submit drawings (due to paper color, architect stamps, or boxing methods, for example), the more chances they have to invoice the applicant for more time. As a business owner, I understand that you need to bill for your time to cover business operating expenses, but it should be done in an ethical manner. It should also be done in a way that keeps the goal in mind: keep building occupants safe. Delays due to paper color do not keep anyone safe - in this case, it prevents generous citizens from donating gift items to their community.

If you’d like to learn more about our design process, visit www.josharch.com/process, and if you’d like to get us started on your project with a feasibility report, please visit www.josharch.com/help