Architecture Ransom Notes

A planning commissioner in the Tri Valley, one of the better ones I've seen, remarked in a planning commission hearing a few months ago, that this project was the first project he looked at when he was appointed and now it's the last project he's looking at before he terms out, eight years later. There has been so much tension and fighting between the developer and NIMBYs that it has taken eight years to get this otherwise straightforward project approved. He also remarked that the developers have given huge compromises to the opposition while the opposition hasn't given an inch. The project started off in architecture in 2011, with the intent to build 78 homes between 2300 and 3200 square feet on a slight knoll, overlooking the valley. Immediately, the community in the area came out of the woodwork with complaints. It's too dense! - it's less dense than the surrounding community. We loved walking up the hill to watch the fireworks! - this has always been...

Porches can be wonderful spaces to hang out in. It's an outdoor space where you can sit and read the newspaper with a cup of coffee while watching your neighbors walk around. It also helps activate the street with human activity instead of a street being devoid of life. They do need to be a certain depth to be really functional and comfortable to sit and relax in, which we've found to start at around seven feet in depth. However, even if you only have space for something less than that, it's preferable to just a stoop. You can place some decor and potted plants there, have space for visitors to stand in the cover from the rain, or build a small fort to pelt passers by with water balloons. I'll be the judge of that, says the Livermore development code  (566 page PDF; happy reading). You want an integrated porch in your new house in Livermore (4.03.050). Great! Due to the depth of your lot and your housing needs, you can only get a six foot deep porch, which you decid...

Pancakes are delicious. Who can hate a soft and fluffy stack of pancakes, browned on the edges, with a golden square of butter on top and maple syrup dripping off the sides? When I think of pancakes, I think back to the stack of delightful macadamia nut pancakes I had at  Boots and Kimo's in Oahu where we risked missing our flight out just to get a taste in. Not that missing a flight out of Hawaii is ever really a bad thing. Pancake architecture, however, leaves a different taste in my mouth. It's not a real phrase, as far as I know. I don't know that any architecture school out there teaches "pancake architecture". Some of my colleagues derogatorily refer to it as "wedding cake" architecture, but I prefer the term pancakes because weddings are always meant to be celebrated as a beautiful synthesis of two people. Pancakes are sometimes just pancakes, and when not executed well, which is more often than I'd like, you get a powdery undercooked goo t...