Today's Buildings

Well, it was a good run (ha!) while it lasted.   However, I find their reasoning for the downturn - well, flawed.  In the report, the AIA infers the downturn could possibly be due to the warm weather...  then goes on to give the regional averages: Northeast (51.0), Midwest (50.1), South (49.0), West (48.0)

Here's the problem with blaming the weather - the warm weather was on the eastern side of the country.  West of the Mississippi the weather was more on average than not, yet that is where the largest decline is shown.  Given that they are a 3-month average, I can't figure out how the weather can be the causal factor here.

I am somewhat disturbed by the "spin" the MSM media has put on the economy as of late.  The word "recovery" is simply not appropriate here.  The various line charts showing "recovery" are only on the upswing due to the fact that we are long enough into this recession that it is affecting the "average".  Unemployment is down, but only because fewer people are counted as "in the workforce".  Many have given up looking.

In what I see here, there has been little movement in real projects - one way or the other - in some time.  Emotions have been up and down, hope building and then fading just as quickly - but the number of actual projects are relatively stable.  And few.

From the AIA:

Architecture Billings Index Reverts to Negative Territory

Decline is possibly a brief pause from unusually strong winter activity

For immediate release:
Washington, D.C. – May 16, 2012 – After five months of positive readings, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) has fallen into negative terrain. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine to twelve month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) reported the April ABI score was 48.4, following a mark of 50.4 in March. This score reflects a decrease in demand for design services (any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings). The new projects inquiry index was 54.4, down from mark of 56.6 the previous month. 

Though down from last month, the AIA billings index stays positive for the fifth month in a row:

Chart Courtesy Calculated Risk

From the AIA:

• Positive Conditions Persist for Architecture Billings Index

  Greatest demand for commercial building projects

  For immediate release:
  Washington, D.C. – April 18, 2012 – The commercial sector continues to lead the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) which has remained in positive territory for the fifth consecutive month. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine to twelve month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) reported the March ABI score was 50.4, following a mark of 51.0 in February. This score reflects a slight increase in demand for design services (any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings). The new projects inquiry index was 56.6, down from mark of 63.4 the previous month.

  “We are starting to hear more about improving conditions in the marketplace, with a greater sense of optimism that there will be greater demand for design services,” said AIA Chief Economist, Kermit Baker, PhD, Hon. AIA.  “But that is not across the board and there are still a number of architecture firms struggling so progress is likely to be measured in inches rather than miles for the next few months.”

There are many potential causes of AutoCAD crashing - this may or may not be the one affecting you, but here is one issue I've run across - a faulty video driver, or one that is not set up for AutoCAD (or Revit for that matter).   Read more about Performance Tuner

I was quizzed recently on just what is an "adjustable pile"?   Here's one version:

The two 2’ glulams are the “adjustable” part.  It is just blocking that acts as a spacer (it’s not a part of the building, it’s just for the piles).  If you want to raise the pile, you jack up the beam above, remove the glulam blocking and insert taller ones.

  Read more about Adjustable Piles

Believe it or not - this is on topic  - and just too cool:

What, you ask, could be the use for such things in architecture and building?  See the mapping robot portion of Vijay Kumar's presentation starting at 11:57 in the following video:

As-builts, anyone?   You could send the bots into mechanical chases, crawl spaces, attics...  and I'm only scratching the surface.  This is great science...

More information is available at TED.com.

. Read more about Robot Quadrotors Perform James Bond Theme