Under Construction in beautiful Palm Springs, California!

My design for a small pool pavillion is under construction. Here are a few snapshots of my first structure to be built in Palm Springs. The design has evolved somewhat from the preliminary sketches, the columns were paired and moved to the sides to make a central more prominent bay, instead of three equal bays in the sketches. The idea was to be sympathetic to the adjacent house but have a seperate identity as well. What was originally presented as an open pavillion now has more enclosure, a small utility room now terminates the west(Mountain) side, where a full length mirror is slated to be installed. It should be a fine folly in the classical modern tradition- see my October 25th post for more theoretical discourse.

I always get a thrill out of seeing something I draw get built- My ouevre is small, but increasing, I have designed far more buildings than have been built, what designer hasn't ?I love drawing, so sometimes I can be creatively satisfied through sketching alone, atleast there I am unencombered by gravity! But I must confess there is a real "Man in possesion of the Earth" feeling seeing something built from my imagination. I must also express gratitude to my clients in this case who shall remain anonymous, they have been a joy to work with and to bounce ideas off of. So if anyone is looking for a starving undiscovered talent to tap send me an comment!

Happy New Year !

Started the new year by heading for Vegas yet again. We left on New Year's Day beating all the crowds and stopping at Barstow Big Boy along the way. The Barstow Bob's Big Boy was formerly a Harvey House Restraunt, and is still in great shape. Although not an original it had plenty of Googie charm and enough of a retro vibe.

I often wonder if the latest flirtation with modernism in the mass culture is just a fad or the emergence of a new accepted past style, a sort of Mid-20th century modern revival taking it's place along accepted past styles like Craftsman, Victorian, Colonial, etc. I sure hope so.

While in Vegas we stayed at the beautiful Las Vegas Hilton, formerly the International Hotel, former performing home of both Liberace and Elvis Presley ! Anybody who knows me is aware that I am a major fan of both and so was glad to see some bit of classic Vegas intact. While there my Father, an original Trekkie from 1966, myself a "2nd generation" Trekkie, and my son a "3rd generation" Trekkie partook of the Star Trek Experience as often as we could. Loads of fun as usual, can't get enough of that Star Trek: The Next Generation Enterprise Bridge set, oh and the Transporter effect is awesome, you really feel like you are beamed aboard! While we were there they were celebrating the Tenth anniversary of the attraction. Three guest stars were on hand for the occasion. The first was Lawerence Montaigne who played Romulan Sub-Commander Decius, in The Original Series episode "Balance of Terror", he also played S'Tonn the Vulcan who stole the heart of T'Pring; Spock's fiance/"Wife" from The Original Series Episode "Amok Time". My appologies but i don't recall her name but the actress who played the lone female "Blue Shirt" casulty of the aging syndrome in The Original Series epispode "The Deadly Years" was second. From Star Trek: The Next Generation, Voyager, and Enterprise Actress Susie Plakson, she played Vulcan Doctor Selar, and Klingon/Human Emissary Keh'Leyr mate of Lt. Worf and Mother to his only son Alexander, Q's wife from Voyager, and an Andorian from Enterprise. All three performers were extremely carming but at 20 bucks a head for a personalised item it was too pricey to get a souvenir from them.

Vegas Baby! Vegas! Part II

We got back from another trip to Sin City ! This time we stayed at the legendary Sahara Hotel. As part of my continuing exploration of "Vintage" Vegas I excitedly visited this property founded in 1952. Of course like most strip hotels there is nothing left of the original hotel. But they have begun marketing the nostalgia of the place, which of course usually means the wrecking ball is not too far away. The "legendary" Stardust got the nostalgic treatment the year prior to being imploded. But back to the Sahara, large photo murals of the property in glorious black and white line the halls of this otherwise inoffensive structure loosely inspired by North Africa. The exterior of several of the hotel towers show some midcentury charm , including some nifty concrete cantielevered sunscreens and interesting penthouses. For the most part though it is a fairly standard big hotel, with ordinary slightly comfortable rooms. We stayed on the 21st floor with a view of a lot of condos going up, including TRUMP Las Vegas; a tacky bronze box with giant gold roman letters on top. I am reminded of Donald Trump's retooling of the Conan O'brien show where the entire show was plated in bronze, the set, the characters, everything, even the host.

Took another trip to Fremont Street, see Vegas Baby! Vegas! Part I. And we spent some time at Star Trek: The Experience. I am a huge Trekkie and find moments of this attraction thrilling, others disapointing. We arrived too late to see the History of the Future Museum, or to go on the rides, but we had dinner at Quark's, and did some shopping at what used to be the Deep Space Nine Promenade. The fake second story has been enclosed and is now a function room for the what must be the booming themed Star Trek Wedding business they do. So now the "Promenade" lacks it's viewports and balcony ; replaced with a poorly plastered dropped ceiling. The walking characters are fun and try earnestly to stay in character. The huge models overhead are a treat, and the merchandise is fun. Every Trekker seems to walk out of there with a large bag of loot; rumors since it was built some 10 years or so ago are always that is about to close, but employees denied it. The shops have lost some of their luster but let's face it Star Trek is in a bit of a holding pattern right now. Things might look up next year with the new movie. When first built the attraction was built on a Next Generation/24th century foundation but it is interesting to note in Star Trek: The Next Generation's 20th anniversary year that The Original Series Merchandise out numbers anything else and sells better too. Classic Trek seems to have a staying power that the 24th Century is lacking.

Of Course maybe time will reverse this; Star Trek: The Next Generation wore out it's welcome with a series of lackluster feature films, and 18 years of constant production is bound to wear out most audiences. Maybe time and nostalgia by those who grew up with the sequel/prequel shows might propel a future revival. I think with the shear amount of films and television there is going to be a tremendous amount of good entertainment, and plenty of turkeys too. Overall I am a fan, and enjoy even the worst Star Trek sequel/prequel episodes, but "my heart yearns for starflight" that of the Original Series.

On the drawing board...

I have a commission for a series of interventions on a 23 year old estate in the Old Las Palmas neighborhood in Palm Springs. My clients are re-imagining the modern/post-modern house and have tried to unleash it's inner pure modern side while expunging the post-modern elements. I have a couple of sketches here for a pavillion in the garden. This is an exciting small scale design that has a long architectural tradition. The folly in the garden was a popular motiff of English neo-classicism as well among the staples of Palladian renaissance architecture. Here the modern language of the house is combined with this neo-classical tradition as well as with the abstract planar language of modern architecture. Eight pillars support a slab at the midpoint of each pillar, the entire composition sheathed in white smooth troweled stucco. To contrast with the stark lines and lack of texture a handmade crystal chandelier is suspended from the center. The only imprecise shape, surface and texture of the project. It is a simle, elegant composition for admiring the surrounding garden, adjacent pool and the distant vista of the borrowed landscape of the neighboring properties.

I am a Modernist, I don't see my work as the beginning of history and I am not reinventing the wheel. I devour books on modernism. I study the masters, how did they use the common materials around them to compose space, structure, and shape. I apply the lessons I have learned to the contemporary problem at hand. My designs are the interaction of planes in juxtaposition to each other to define space. The precisioned geometric plane is shorthand for the mastery of nature that is unique to man. It is the abstract language of the architect's tools, It is an outgrowth of simple construction. Wood stud, concrete block, stucco, this is the language of most California construction; it is the tradition I work with and within the skill level of most competent constructors.

I say this because we are in the midst of a revival that is rarely being acknowledged as a revival, there seem to be several camps on the issue, some try to distance themselves from the source of their forms. Their compositions are new, unique, dynamic, etc. but the form language is from a specific period of the past, specifically 20th century modernism, or mid-century modernism if you prefer. Designers will either say the are engaging in nostalgia, or they will try to deny any connection to the historical trend, typically they may engage in distancing themselves through declarations that sound like "my designs are an independent response to specific parameters, I am not a modernist, I am not reusing designs from the past,"etc. I think there is some truth to that but I don't see the need for the distance. I do not borrow/steal designs, re-hash, or engage in nostalgia, as I have said before I acknowledge precedent and try to apply infered lessons to a present problem.

I find it important to recognize that, even if it is unpopular, but I will admit it has gotten me into trouble. There is no visible reward to being transparent about your methodology, people want to think you are looking at history a new with every design, at least to pay lip service to that heroic artist ideal. I presented a design to a client once complete with a design statement that acknowledged my influences, the project was shot down for being too retro, Using the same design methodology I presented a similar project without acknowledging my influences and It was welcomed as being fresh. It was the same journey that brought me to two different places. Needless to say I don't connect the dots for people anymore, maybe that is what others do as well, but on my forum I want to share with my 2 readers the truth.

Quakers and Dingbats

Since moving to Whittier I have re-read one of my most favorite books; Los Angeles:The Architecture of Four Ecologies by Reyner Banham. Banham was an English Architectural Historian who wrote one of the most important appreciations of Los Angeles as a great city. I discovered the book while a student at Cal Poly, Pomona. A great deal of the curriculum is L.A. based as it should being one of a handfull of Architecture schools in the greater Los Angeles area. What is so unique about Banham's book is it takes what most people see as the negatives of a place like Los Angeles and uses them as a way of defining why L.A. is such a remarkable place. The book breaks down L.A. as a place formed by it's ecology, broken into Surfurbia, the Foothills, the Plains, and the Freeways. It examines the idea of L.A. as a region formed not by an increasingly growing city stemming from a vital urban core but by a vast network of communities born out of an extensive linear transportation network first, the railroads, to have been replaced by the boulevards and eventually the freeways. It was a unique idea in that it established L.A. as a series of settlements that grew together.

Our new home is in a city laid out not so much as a suburb of a booming metropolis but as a neighboring community; at first an agricultural colony by Quaker settlers. The city was named for the noted Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier, you'll find reminders in the street names "Greenleaf" "Whittier" (duh), "Philadelphia". "Penn", etc. At the heart of the town was a Quaker College bearing the name of the town. Eventually the Quakers left and now the college is a charming liberal arts school. It would not be unlike the Colleges established in nearby La Verne, Claremont, and further east in Redlands. Even the old hometown of Rialto was suposed to have a methodist college at it's heart. This was a established pattern of settlement in Southern California. Among the legacies of this are fantastic mature trees and landscaping and a rich Architectural traditon with all styles Victorian, Craftsman, and given the quaker connection a descent dose of east coast styles: Georgian/colonial/neo-classicism, which you don't usually find in Southern California.

"Dingbat" is a typographical term for the asterisk-sputnik like device you'd see in publications from the 1950's. it also shared the form with a type of lightfixture often found on the simply shaped box-like modernistic apartments that sprang up in Southern California in the sort of leftover spaces as the freeways and subdivisions filled in the space between the various towns and cities that make up L.A.. They are mentioned in the Architecture of Four Ecologies as a step toward densification in the leftover and older areas as the single family house propigated. They are largely simple structures with a designed front facade that might be highly articulated and adorned up front while presenting simple stucco boxes often on stilts above car ports at the sides and rear. As such they are a watered down version of the type of designs promoted by the great modernists, le Corbusier, Gropius, Vanderohe, as well as the Viennese emmigrants Schindler, and Neutra which are very much at the foundaton of Los Angeles contributions to modern architecture.

The complex we live in largely follows the conventions of the dingbat apartment ,and it was built on the remnants of a much older estate with a main house designed in a neo-classical style. The old house once crowned a hill with a spectacular view of the Los Angeles basin and commanded an ocean view. But by the 60's was being hemmed in by increasing development, as the newer ranch house subdivisions drew people away fron the old townsite. So the result here is an interesting mishmash of Victorian houses, Craftsman and Spanish Colonial Revival Bungalows, both freestanding and in "courts", scattered among these are the dingbat apartments built in the 40's-50's and 60's. Here the old estate was carved into several landscaped atriums lined wih Dingbat flats and townhomes. The main house was cut up into San Francisco like apartments and the stucco wings followed. The streetside facade is made up of brick facades with simple Tuscan columns, white trim and surrounds to recall the neo-classical detailing of the main house with it's brick walls, whitewashed colums, dentils, and cornices. I hope to detail the complex in a future post.

The result I think Is a unique and pleasant composition that relates in a simple apartment complex to both the rich local history as well as the spirit of the greater region.

Another move !

We have moved to "the big city", well maybe not THE big city, but within sight of it. I finally made the move out of San Bernardino County. Except for a month spent in Paris I have never lived outside of the "I.E.", and I am happy to have made the leap. Our new home is in a very cozy apartment complex located 15 minutes from my job in the foothills above Uptown Whittier. Whittier is a medium size city founded by Quakers in the 1880's. It was the hometown of President (and former Vice-President) Richard M. Nixon , who although was born and laid to rest in Yorba Linda actually grew up here.

Don't tell anyone but Uptown Whittier is a really, really nice place to live, it is an undiscovered gem(except for those who live here) whose reputation is attached to the overall city of Whittier and it's proximity to the "East side" of Los Angeles; this probably keeps most people away. But the rents are more than reasonable for quiet spacious accomodations in the heart of the Los Angeles basin. We are now minutes from everything. When we lived in Alta Loma we were 30-60 minutes from everything. When we moved to Highland we were 30-60 minutes from being 30-60 minutes from everything. Now we are 15-30 minutes from everything, but more importantly I have gained atleast 90 minutes a day with my family that I used to spend in my car.

Vegas Baby! Vegas! Part I

Just got back from Vegas after celebrating my 30th birthday. We spent it at the Hotel Fremont, which apparently was the location of the Vegas interiors from "Swingers" very cool, old school so to speak. The Casino is forgetable, except for a Brady Bunch Staircase in the lobby that has been badly carpeted over, but it is still cantielevered and could be rescued. To our suprise the rooms have been remodeled in vaguely retro-style. The hallways have been carpeted in a Googie style print. And the rooms are done in a swanky chocolate brown scheme with mod/googie prints and Hollywood regncy-ish lucite and wood lamps. The Plantation shutters mar the look but as far as budget accomodations go it has a fair amount of style and there is plenty to do on Fremont Street. It is still kinda seedy outside but hey, that is part of that Las Vegas Charm, right? I had always wanted to stay there as I love the vintage images of the hotel and wanted to imbibe all of that intact mid-century design downtown.

We spent alot of time downtown mainly because of the hastle of the Valet-only parking situation at The Hotel Fremont, but it forced us to take in plenty of Fremont Street. Binions next door formerly Binion's Horseshoe was wild west inside, but fantastic aqua and red outside. We dined at the Plaza, or as I like to think of it as "Biff Tannen's Pleasure Paradise" from Back to the Future 2. They have a new retro logo as well with "Plaza" in script against a guitar pick shaped background, and since it seems to have never been remodeled it has plenty of "Retro" (or is it "Vintage"?) charm. Be sure to check out the awesome Amtrak mural at the former gangway to the now defunct railroad station. It predicts the far off metropolis of the future complete with levitating Amtrak monorails probably set in the year 1999....

Some people think it's Hokey but I love the Fremont Street Experience, I dig the funky light shows and I appreciate that it turns the entire district into a place to hang out instead of scurrying about on tiny sidewalks. It also makes it tolerable during the day when it would be otherwise sweltering going from Casino to Casino. I think it is lacking an important element of public sculpture, it needs a convertible with a statue of Robert Urich placed along it as if driving through the credits of VEGA$, and it needs a red mustang on two wheels being chased by police cars ala "Diamonds are Forever" that would be the coolest thing ever...

Posting resumed!

I have returned from self-imposed exile and hope to engage in regular posting. I have settled into my position at my "new" job and have been there now for going on 10 months, the same amount of time at Modern Living Spaces, so the fingers are crossed until I hit 12 months!

I like my position, and have picked up lots of computer skills, but in addition to becoming CAD literate, I am especially excited at the fusion of traditional and computer illustration skills. I take my hand sketches and import them into the computer where I render them in photoshop. Quite a 20th Century leap for this stone-knives and bear skins kind of guy. Our firm specializes in photo realistic digital models, but this is an expensive and time-consuming process especially in the early design stages. My sketching skills come in handy at those times when the design is still in flux.

I have not fully embraced technology. I have found that the hand drawing involves the observer in a way that engages their imagination and allows them to fill in the details of a design. This can be valuable as the digital model demands perfection and anything less the reality often hurts the presentation.

The Tolstoy House

                                     

The Tolstoy House by John Lautner is a remarkable structure built in the 1960's in the Alta Loma District of what is more widely known as the present day City of Rancho Cucamonga. It was built for a teacher whose family had cultivated the land years before as Citrus groves. Rather detailed descriptions of the house can be found in John Lautner, Architect by John Lautner and Frank Escher and in the monograph The Architecture of John Lautner by Alan Hess.

 

The house is all but surrounded by more recent developments but the carefully cultivated landscape isolates the home visually and it becomes a pavilion in a near tropical oasis.  The structure is a series of concrete curving walls with a daring steel cable roof structure over which is built a light weight wood sheathing.  Steel columns support plate glass windows.  The building is actually three detached structures( residence, a music studio, and an open air lath house) united by the common steel cable overhead.

I had the pleasure, honor really; of being a resident caretaker before the house was sold to the present owners, and my family were the first to live in the house after the Tolstoys moved out. It was a remarkable experience one I may detail in other posts but for now I wanted to post some images of this little known but significant design by one of the most important figures of 20th Century Modern Architecture.

A new chapter

When I set out to keep this blog (all 4 entries) I thought the focus would be primarily on the work I was doing for Modern Living Spaces. But life takes different turns, and the title of this blog is "How about a career in Architecture:, not how about a career at Modern Living Spaces. Let me say that my departure from Modern Living Spaces, was completely amicable, a good opportunity for my career and my family presented itself and I made the difficult choice of leaving an extremely satisfying position. I have nothing but warm feelings for everyone I had the privilege of working with there, wish them well in their endeavors and sincerely hope our paths will cross again. Modern Living Spaces will always be a fond memory and a highpoint in my development as a designer, the freedom, the canvas, the support of the team and the owner were overwhelming. To Mark Bodon, President of Modern Living Spaces I express a most heartfelt thank you for every opportunity you gave me, Thanks for taking a chance on me, I am very grateful for your patronage and your friendship.

A New Job

For the most part I have worked for myself doing small scale commisions for word of mouth clients, or have had work from smaller developers. People needing plans for speculative projects, some interesting work some not so interesting, but it was largely under my own supervision. My wife and I would work together on these projects. I am fortunate to have a strong enough relationship with her to be able to work along side her, something many people told us they would not have been able to do. In a creative sense this was a a highly succesful venture, and we still collaborate on projects in this manner. The work was dependent on a sometimes fickle construction market, sometimes we have alot on the drawing board sometimes not. My goal has been to one day become a licensed Architect, to do so requires a requisite amount of time employed by a Licensed Architect, although I met this requirement to graduate the flow of work was sufficient post graduate to not neccesitate my finding a job in the traditional apprentice model. With this thought always in the back of my head I kept a look out for the right position that might come along to put me on track for this requirement.

I was contacted by a firm intrigued by my independent experience and by my hand drawing abilities, after several interviews and an examination I was offered a position as a designer in their firm that designs large scale retail developments. I was completely open about my lack of significant computer ability, and to my surprise was informed that they would be willing to teach me. I have always been interested in Department Stores and hoped for the opportunity to design one some day. Resigned to the fact (for some unknown reason) that perhaps my destiny was as a residential designer I assumed I would never have a chance to work on any large commercial projects. So now I have a new job, learning by doing and getting paid for it, a truly happy occurence; CAD classes being very expensive. Plus the principal is a licensed Architect and should things work out will put me back on track to licensure.

It is a completely different environment from that which I am used too, and I am frankly pleased for this change, there is still a lot of design freedom, It is an informal yet corporate environment and the structure is actually not that hard to adjust to as I feared. I am very happy at my new post.

Googie Style

One of my passions is for the particular strain of modern architecture that is called "Googie" or Coffee Shop modern. It takes its name from a chain of Coffee Shops named Googie's; several of which were designed by noted Frank Lloyd Wright Apprentice John Lautner. Lautner designed several other Coffee Shops as well and is commonly refered to as the father of this particular movement. Now he didnt set out to do this and did not care for the label. Lautner did not see himself as designing Coffee Shop architecture, he was doing what he called REAL ARCHITECTURE and it happened to have the function of a Coffee Shop. Lautner saw Architecture as an individual response to an individual problem, his work is clearly of the "Organic" tradition of his mentor. Lautner was accused of arbitrary unsupported effects in his work, but he rejected the criticism as ignorant and had a justification for whatever he did, this was usually only communicated fully through the experience of one of his buildings. In fact pictures often do not do Lautner buildings justice, I had the honor of living in a Lautner residence and it truly is meant to be experienced. Lautner is about space, and how Architecture interacts with light, with the site, with the client, with the program. His work is never arbitrary nor is it a style with consistent repeatable motiffs, his language is not so much one of planes and structure like Neutra or most Mid-Century Designs but a language of form, solids, voids, light , and shadow. A unifying element of all of his work is the bold roof. Even his commercial projects usually are about a bold roof form. This is not unlike the legion of Coffee Shops by other Architects as well.

Why the emphasis on the roof? The fundamental principle of any architecture is shelter and a bold roof communicates this clearer than any other Architectural gesture. This is a recurring theme of Coffee Shop Modern. Think back to any vintage Denny's and the image is of that inverse check mark floating above walls of glass. At once you read the primal image of shelter, the cave and yet you know by the walls of glass it is no mere cave. Of course between the walls of glass are slender steel structural members, the real structure, but the image is communicated first, shelter, modern shelter. The Coffee Shop was refuge from the road, and yet with it's walls of glass the parking lot was practically wallpaper, It is an Architecture that is primarily associated with commercial uses but the underlying principles are not specific to those uses. There are Architects, like Lautner, who used the same ideas to inform their residential designs. That is the tradition I most like to work in. At BBarH Ranch there have been some opportunities to do so, here on this Desert Plain shelter is the first concern and so I designed a few projects around this idea.

This image is a view of a 3 bedroom 3 bath residence of 2200 square feet. At the heart of the plan is the Kitchen and Great Room, center of the family ala Wright. The imediate image read is the large soaring roof truss. It rises from a 8' plate at the bedrooms to 10' at the Master bedroom and kitchen before rising at another angle to 12' feet. The Soaring roof is the line of aspiration, it also provides at it's lowest point a sense of shelter and intimacy for the bedrooms. At the space formed by the intersection of the great room wing and the bedroom wing is a sheltered outdoor terrace, here both the greatroom and the master bedroom open onto an area the effectively doubles the living space. The Roof seems poised for flight being held in place by a slender steel V-Strut column and has two large openings through which pass mature Palm Trees blurring the distinction between the indoors and outdoors. Where feasable there are large expanses of floor to ceiling glass, and stone walls accent the stucco walls. The imagery is primal via the stone and heavy roof and yet sleek and modern through the steel strut and large expanses of glass. All of these being qualities compatible with the desert surroundings.

The Ranch

Most of my energies are devoted to BBARH Ranch Estates. These homes are located between Palm Springs and Desert Hot Springs on the grounds of the old B-Bar-H Ranch, a celebrity retreat prior to World War II. Stars like Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Joan Crawford, Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich, Tyrone Power, biggies like that from way back when would come to unwind , ride horses, do the whole camping and dude ranch thing. At night there would be swanky parties with dancing and what not. The developer was a producer named Lucien Hubbard, was involved with the film "Wings", the first best picture winner at the Oscars. Later he would have former Wright Apprentice John Lautner design a motel a few miles north, a motel that still stands. Building Modern here is a way to tap into both the celebrity connection as well as the Modern Architecture pedigree. You might say we are picking up a time tested method of building in the desert. Which frankly I think is a valid approach. There is a quiet restfullness to the stark setting here, the mountain panorama is striking, and at night the stars shine brightly as the developed areas are farther away here. It really is a wonderful combination of the Martini Modern lifestyle crossed with a zen-like setting.

The homes are set among existing non-modern residences, and the project calls for some 70 plus houses. We even have inspired two copycat builders building lookalikes here. The moderns sell better here though. Why build here? This is the most often asked question, why not in Palm Springs? The builders have built these homes in Palm Springs, but they wanted to do more than tap into the modern aesthetic, at the heart of building these homes out near Desert Hot Springs was the desire to make the houses affordable. Attainable Modernism is what it is all about, and the mix of buyers has proved this a correct move. Here you will find middle class full time residents alongside with more affluent weekenders, wanting a getaway but not a budget buster.

An Introduction

Who am I? Why should you care about anything I have to say? I can only answer one of those questions. And you should care about what I say because... my name is Scott , Scott Kirk Cueto to be precise, and you must not forget the Kirk Cueto because like assasins all great Architects have three names. I have been urged by a close friend to blog, and I have resisted to do so for several reasons, but things change and now seems as good a time, probably the best time atleast for me to start.

Since the beginning of 2006 I have worked for a wonderful company that specializes in modern homes near Palm Springs. I act as a design coordinator making sure the houses are built to the spirit of Mid-Century Modernism, I'll talk more about that later. This isn't meant as a sales tool, and of course these are my opinions solely and in no way represent those of Modern Living Spaces or any of it's subsidiaries(now that is over with) it is just a way to chart the architectural journey I am on here as I design interiors of houses that I did not design and work on all new designs . I suppose I'll chart the progress of that here as well.

The title of my blog refers to a career guidance book I inherited from a library purge when I was in Junior High School. I went to a school built in 1967 and so everything in the library was state of the art to that year, by the time I came along in the early 90's this jewel stared at me from across the room, here you could draw all day, and make models all night, which frankly is what college was somewhat like. Of course the reality was a little bit different from the circa 67 book, and now everything is done on computers, but I continue to stand tall with my dixie cup ready to collect the water gushing through the dam as i remain committed to pencil, pen and t-square. This book extolled the virtues of the profession at the period in which I found myslf most drawn. I pursued other period books and became versed in Architecture at mid-20th century. My High School was built in 1959, and so of course all of the books there were state of the art 1959 . I found a book on Frank Lloyd Wright and that sealed the deal. It wasn't until 2006 that my passion for Mid-century combined with a client wanting the very same thing. So now armed with a passion for my work I can write about it. Although I'll warn that Architects are notoriously clunky writers and for that I apologize in advance, but hey I'll bet most writers would be hard pressed to design a house.