Summer – Where Did It Go????

I woke up this morning and realized that today is September 1st. Where did the summer go? I had a great summer. I never said it was not a busy summer, but it was great. The family and I did a lot of fun things this summer, like walking many golf courses, enjoying little league softball games, visiting family out of town and spending time at the lake. But, one of my favorite summer highlights was seeing my 12 year old son learn to slalom ski. Even though I experienced all these things and enjoyed them, I had to stop and think, why in the midst of a busy schedule was it a good summer? It is kind of like experiencing a good building; you don’t always know why you like it; you just know you do.

Dan Gagen, our senior designer at PDMi, reminds me often that a well-designed building is experienced from three vantage points and that is what makes it pleasing to a person. Those vantage points are:

• Street Scale: This is where you are driving down the road at 55 MPH and you see the building. At that point you are experiencing the Massing / Colors / Proportions of the building.

• Parking Lot Scale: This is where you are still in your car and are entering the parking lot. At that point you are experiencing the Textures / Scale of the building elements / Landscaping & Signage of the building.

• People Scale: This is where you are walking up to the building. At this point you are experiencing Details of the Building elements / Entry statement / Warmth of the space.

If all three are designed well and fit together correctly you will love the building, but may never know why, and that is an architect’s goal. A sign of a great building is one that you like being in, but does not over power you. Like a good summer - you really enjoy it, for so many reasons!

We would love the opportunity of designing your next building so that you, and the many that will come through its doors, can enjoy it. I look forward to your call…

Design Development Process

We got a call last week from a client that we have done several projects with in the past. They are a faith based ministry that helps people through the recovery process of drug abuse. They are a great organization that provides a need in our community. They were looking to purchase an existing medical building in northeast Indiana and convert it into a group living home. Of course, this can come with many challenges. They had worked with another Architecture firm to do preliminary layouts and those layouts brought to light code compliance issues along with flow and circulation constraints throughout the space.

When the client called us, they were in need of a fresh look at the layout, flow and code compliance issues. We were able to sit down with them and come up with an efficient, common sense solution that would be tailored to their specific needs. Here at PDMi, we believe that good upfront design development is the cornerstone to a successful project. A little extra time spent on the front end of a project can save a lot of time on the back end of a project.

If we can be of help to you in the upfront design development phase of your next project, give us a call as we’d love to help you out.

Inside Out

As many of you have probably experienced with children, grandchildren, or nieces and nephews, they get to the age where they want to be very independent. One way of showing independence is getting themselves dressed. Typically, this isn’t a problem, except when they come out of their room with clothes on inside-out. Even so, it’s a simple fix to get things back the right way. Not only have I seen this haste and confusion with my children, but I sometimes see it in business too. Some clients are hasty and want to design their facility from the outside-in, rather than from the inside-out. This too, can be a simple fix if it is caught early enough. Let me tell you what I mean.

We got a call several weeks ago about a proposed new manufacturing facility. This new facility would be producing an established product, but using new/emerging technology. With all of this in mind, the client knew that his new building had to be designed from the inside-out. We all agreed that the process is what brings value to him, and his building is there to protect and support that value. We found that the form and physical attributes of the building would be determined by balancing the flow of product through the building. So, while our client stayed focused on the product, we got focused on the process, and then the facility.

Three steps that you can use to design your next facility from the inside-out would be 1.) develop production sequence process flow diagrams, 2.) establish an efficient equipment layout and 3.) design the building to function around the process and equipment. These steps will produce the criteria for your corporate decision making process. Designing from the inside-out offers the greatest opportunity of meeting your long and short term goals. Call us; we can help you design your next project from the inside-out.