“Most people still live in the suburbs”….

In light of our recent participation in the USGBC’s Multifamily Midrise Competiton, this post from the New Geography site was an interesting read.

It is true that there seem to be two very defined camps in the “Sprawl” argument, and nine times out of ten I definitely am in the against group.  And yet I technically live in a suburb, albeit a suburb that was developed in 1949 and has since been woven into the urban fabric so completely I’m not sure it can be called a suburb any longer.

To me the thing that really defines a suburb is the distance of the commute.  If the only direct way to get from your home to the CBD is via a major freeway – you live in a suburb.  And lets face it – there are a lot of really good reasons to live in the ‘burbs that outweigh the inconvenience of long commutes.

If you spend any time on the real estate website HAR.com you’ve probably seen some tear downs and vacant lots in the near-in neighborhoods like Montrose, River Oaks and the Heights listed for WAY more $$ than a much larger, nicer, newer home in Missouri City, Katy, Pearland or Tomball.  Even if you include the total cost of your commute (maintenance, fuel, time, etc.) buying in the ‘burbs is still probably much less than that inner loop property.

What galls me is that those inner loop properties sit vacant.  They fall into further disrepair.  They blight the neighborhoods they stand in.  They catch fire or are damaged in a storm.  And still they sit.  No one is willing to pay the price they’re listed at – and the owners aren’t willing to accept a lower offer.  So nobody wins… What a waste!

One could argue that dense, mixed use, urban renewal projects have not taken off because the demand isn’t there – but I think the demand is there – its just not in line with the perceived $$ value of the demand.  What would it take to swing the balance?  Oil Shortages ($$ goes up higher)? Increased mass transit options from the outskirts of town to the CBD and increased mobility within the urban core (demand is lowered)?  Endless discussion of increasing density by focusing development in underutilized city centers is futile until the foundation for decreasing the cost of this development is established.

Also, I’m aware I largely left out the east part of town in my pondering here.  I’ll admit I don’t know much about Pasadena, etc. but I suspect it floods severely.  Is that accurate?

Chime In! What are the areas of town most due for renewal? Where are we wasting our breath? What has to happen before this issue gets legs (and walks down the block to grab a coffee with friends)?

ADG Enters 2011 USGBC Multifamily Midrise Design Competition

A few months ago, a group of us at ADG decided we needed a little challenge in our life. (As if work isn’t already enough of one…). Summer was just starting and it sounded like a fun activity. Well fun for architects and designers, anyway. Paul Suttles took charge and accepted the role of team leader eagerly. Let’s pick his brain.

ADG: What was the deciding factor in signing up for this competition?

Paul:  To take advantage of a design opportunity. I think it is important for young designers to maintain a keen sensibility for creative thinking outside the constraints of professional projects. Competitions provide a perfect platform for employees to discover design strategies (on our terms) that can be picked apart and woven into professional projects, whether it be implementing the latest architectural software or adding steps to the creative process.

ADG: What was the biggest design challenge you faced?

Paul:  Working the site into a free-flowing green area for the community, while implementing a strong community base for the surrounding neighborhoods.  We wanted the design to be a hub for community organizations/interaction, and I think we achieved that with creative circulation patterns throughout the site.

ADG: What were the main points you wanted to make through your design?

Paul:  We wanted the design to be an ‘event’.  We wanted to show the versatility of a rain screen acting as a shading device, hurricane protection, and rain water collection system. The rain screen acts as a scupper system to channel and move water throughout the site, creating interesting locations where occupants can visually/physically connect with the natural systems unique to New Orleans, as well as leading you through the site to other organizing ‘events’.

ADG: Did you make them all?

Paul:  I think so….. 

ADG: What score would you give the final product?

Paul:  7.5 out of 10.  Only because we needed more time, or better time management……

ADG: Do you see yourself entering another competition in the future?

Paul:  Definitely yes!  There is an ongoing debate between some of my designer colleagues and I, about whether or not competitions are a good or bad thing.  The argument being competitions don’t serve as a good judge of true architecture, because the sponsors push their own agenda, and pick the winner that best suites their needs. I see it as an opportunity to branch out and engage in design discussions with other designers about issues not typically discussed unless given the platform.

ADG Named One of Interior Design Magazine’s Top 200 Giants

Ranked at 191st – we just made the cut!

ADG has joined the ranks of some of the best and most prestigious Design Firms in the country.  This marks our first year to be included in Interior Design Magazine’s Giants List.  The magazine’s annual ranking of the “Giants” is based on the previous year’s interior design fees for major design firms around the U.S.

The list was published in the July issue and will be added to the website later this week.  You can find more info and view the entire list here.

Beusa Energy Awarded LEED Gold

The office of Beusa Energy, a leader in the acquisition, development, production and exploration of oil and natural gas properties, has been awarded

LEED® Gold!

Beusa Energy Lobby

The project earned 62 credits under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) ID+C Rating System established by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI). LEED is the nation’s preeminent program for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.

Board Room viewed from the Lobby

Designed by Abel Design Group, Ltd. and constructed by O’Donnell/Snider Construction, Inc, the space includes a number of green design and construction strategies that positively impact both the tenant occupants and the broader community.

By incorporating these methods, the project was able to:

• Divert 92% of all on-site generated construction waste from the landfill
• Use FSC Certified Wood for 100% of all wood based building materials
• Protect Indoor Air Quality by using Low Emitting paint, coating, adhesives, sealants and composite wood
• Specify Energy Star Compliant products for 100% of all installed equipment and appliances
• Achieve a reduction of 36% in water usage by specifying high efficiency fixtures
• Use products manufactured within 500 miles of the project site for 25% of total building materials
• Reduce the connected lighting power by 32% with the help of Lutron EcoSystem® Controls
• Include products with high recycled content which combine to represent 16% of all building materials

“There are so many ways to approach LEED ID+C, sometimes it can be difficult to decide which areas to focus on. With this project, we knew we wanted to achieve significant reductions in energy and water usage. This lead to design challenges, especially with some of the details we wanted to include in the corridors,” remarked Megan Stark, “We employed glass doors and sidelights for all of the perimeter private offices to allow light to enter the circulation space – thus allowing us to use some of our wattage allowances on design features which otherwise would have been omitted.”

Entry Detail from Executive Hallway

Jeffrey Abel added, “Beusa Energy’s commitment to the environment and their sustainability efforts are commendable. This project shows that LEED Gold is achievable even where LEED was not a base building consideration.”

Break Room and Dining Area

Even after the fact, Megan continues to focus on the green future of the area, “The base building is not LEED certified, but fortunately, The Woodlands and the Waterway development offer many amenities which contribute to the walk-ability of the location. There are also extensive dedicated bicycle trails that run right in front of the building’s entrance. If we could get similar trails throughout more of Houston, I think we would see a substantial increase in the number of daily bicycle commuters.”

This is ADG’s second Interiors project to achieve LEED® Gold. The Design Team was led by Jeffrey Abel, the Project Manager was Ezgi Bozkurt and Megan Stark served as LEED Coordinator. All are LEED Accredited Professionals.

Did you know… Sitting is KILLING you?!

IIDA’s Product Runway 2011 Recap

On the evening of May 5th, 2011, the Abel Design Group team was awarded with “Best New Artist” at the 2011 IIDA Product Runway Competition.

Best New Artist Award

Fast forward a month later and we are still recovering.  Let’s just say there was more than one late, LATE night sewing session as we scrambled to get our garment right. Not to mention our seam rippers saw quite a LOT of action in the days leading up to the judging panel presentation.

Now that its all over and emotions have settled, I can finally take a few moments to reflect and review the experience with my team mates.

This year’s competition theme was the GRAMMY awards. Each team was assigned a different musical genre to which their garment must somehow represent.  At the kickoff party, all of the teams drew the genres at random.  We were first up and drew… HEAVY METAL. YIKES!

Ana draws our Genre

Of all of the possible genres, this is probably the one we knew the least about.  So of course we drew it.  Of course.

On the up side, we drew great sponsors: Knoll and Mechoshade Systems.  Susan Quarles and Gaynor Shearer were unable to attend the kick off event. Luckily we had their numbers from having worked with them previously and quickly sent them a text to share the good news: we were their team and were ready to get to work!

Below are some thoughts on the Product Runway 2011 experience as shared by the ADG team – Ana Davoodi, Megan Stark, Stephanie French, Karen Houk and Ezgi Bozkurt:

MS: Within a few minutes we had our phones out researching Heavy Metal inspirations.

KH: The musical genre was a great jumping-off point.  Heavy metal provided a pretty deep well of costumes, music, and artist inspiration to draw from.  The challenge came from the process of assembling all the great concepts into one cohesive garment.

MS: Working with a musical genre in mind sent the design in a direction it likely would not have found on its own.

KH: When you look at the cover art of [albums from] our genre, there is sort of a mix of two predominant themes: armored men with big hair and men with big hair in jeans and leather jackets.  We wanted to create something that evoked both aggression and protection – something that a heavy metal artist could wear on stage.

SF: We started with YouTube videos of Black Sabbath performances and heavy metal album cover designs, but it lead us to more sophisticated sources.

AD: I think having a theme to work with helped us create something more “outside the box” rather than just a pretty dress.  We had a chance to use our creative side more freely.

MS: I researched several high fashion designers and had seen a Burberry Prorsum collection that had a strong heavy metal vibe – lots of leather and studding and spikes.  We also looked at some Galliano and Gaultier collections for guidance with the silhouette and materials.

AD: There was one jacket I loved that had all these spikey studs all over the shoulder and sleeves.  We tried to recreate that look using screws and bolts from the Knoll furniture line with the screws sticking up through the fabric and the bolts as anchors to secure the ‘spikes’ in place.

Burberry Prorsum Spring 2011 Ready-to-Wear Collection via Style.com

 MS: Once we decided on a direction for the design, we met with our sponsors to see what we could actually achieve with the materials available to us.  The competition rules required the garment to be made from at least 40% of products from each sponsor (totally 80%) and no more than 20% ‘other’ items, such as lining, buttons, accessories, etc.  We also had a material value limit of only $300 for each sponsor, so we knew we had to choose our materials carefully.

KH: We sat down with a huge pile of samples and basically folded, creased, twisted, ripped, and stretched our way through them to get a feel for what it would be like to work with each.

SF: MechoShade had a surprising variety of options and the vinyl-like black metallic fabrics seemed like a natural choice given our musical genre and their stage presence potential. As for Knoll, we wanted to use something that represented the iconic brand as well as our genre and the Generation chair back couldn’t have been more perfect. It gave the garment interesting structure and dimension.

MS: Unfortunately, it was also very expensive.  One Generation chair back would have blown our budget and with the design we were envisioning we would need at least two.  Fortunately, Susan got with MaryAnn Young at Knoll and was able to source two damaged chair backs for us and we were able to work around the damaged sections.  This material was used to make a bustier, a ‘panniers’ belt and the threading mechanism for the chain details at the neck.

SF: I wish the bustier would have turned out to be a bit more structured, but the Generation material turned out to be somewhat difficult to manipulate.

MS: The only way to connect it to the dress shell and in the back was to drill tiny holes into the plastic and then hand sew the pieces on like buttons.  Karen took on the belt and made it in much the same way.

KH: My favorite part of the entire outfit is the belt, probably because it turned into my personal project. The buckle is actually a Graham series grommet cover signed by Brian Graham when he was in town – he was so excited about the design and so gracious about signing it for us. But I wish I had been able to engineer it a bit differently so that the panniers met in the back instead of being spaced apart.

SF:  The grommet is probably my favorite detail of the design!  But its something that most people didn’t know about. Brian Graham gave a private lecture at the Knoll showroom and was very interested in our PR involvement. MaryAnne [Young] had the idea for him to sign the grommet, which he was extremely honored to do for us.  We used it as the belt buckle!

MS: As everything came together, we decided to really emphasize the construction of the garment.  We hand sewed all of the ‘studding’ on the jacket, made bias tape out of steam pressed Mechoshade strips and finished much of the garment using French seams.  The day before the judging event I had to attend a marketing event at a golf course and I sat in our tent and sewed washers onto the jacket most of the day!

AD: I have a sewing machine, and I’ve sewn blankets, pillows, curtains, etc, but never clothes. 

KH: When I was little I helped my mother cut out patterns and fabric to make clothes and costumes for school plays.  These days I can sew on a button, or hem a skirt, but that’s about it! I’m not a fantastic seamstress, so understanding some of the construction we used to create the jacket and collar I left to Megan.  I just cut where I was told to and took it on faith that the end result would work!

MS:I was fortunate enough to have two grandmothers who sewed, embroidered, knitted, quilted, crocheted…the works.  I competed in sewing competitions when I was younger and they taught me a lot about garment construction.  Then when I was in high school I interned in the costume workshop at Texas State University’s Theater Department. But the last time I touched a sewing machine was probably 15 years ago, so I wasn’t totally confident in my pattern making abilities.  Ultimately, there were some things which really turned out great, and some other things which could have been better.   We had to rework the bodice at the last minute because once Ana put it on, it got all these weird puckers and folds in the fabric and then gaped in other areas.

Team Abel Design Group 2011: (from left) Karen Houk, Stephanie French, Ana Davoodi, Megan Stark, and Ezgi Bozkurt.

KH: The skirt fringe was a bit of a surprise – it started as an offhand idea, sort of “let’s see what happens,” and turned into a major element that looked awesome.

AD: There were more than a few surprises – like when I melted part of the dress trying to iron it!

MS: One night, the week before the judging, I broke the sewing machine and couldn’t figure out how to fix it.  The material was so thick it bent the needle in half and pulled it right out of the machine!  I tried putting in a new needle but for some reason it wouldn’t stay put.  Thank goodness for Kathy Chauvin in our office!  She had another sewing machine she let us use while we tried to get Ana’s machine fixed.  Pat Kelly, our Office Manager, was finally able to find the sewing machine owner’s manual online and I was able to fix the machine.

AD:  I would have loved sleeves of some sort in order to be more comfortable on stage, but that’s just because I had to wear it.  The few minutes before I had to go on stage were so stressful! I was really scared that I would screw it up for my team.

KH: The wait for the show was SO nerve wracking! I kept imagining the dress falling apart backstage and making a desperate dash to the hardware store for parts.

MS: And I was backstage looking at all the other teams and their garments and thinking WOW! When I saw how intricate and well constructed some of the other outfits were I really started to worry that we hadn’t done enough and that our idea wasn’t cohesive enough to stand us a chance of winning anything.

AD: I’ve been to product runway every year since it started in Houston, and thought the concept was something that I wanted to be part of.

KH: The pictures from last year’s competition – the dresses were so creative and it seemed like such a fun challenge.

SF:Getting everyone on the team together at one time to work on the project was a struggle, but it paid off in the end.

Ana working it in Heavy Metal at Product Runway 2011

MS: As much hard work as it was, I honestly can’t wait to compete again next year!  I think we learned what works and what doesn’t in terms of team coordination and the planning process.  There’s no way to predict what we’ll do next year, but I can definitely say we’ll be prepared for whatever gets thrown at us!

ADG Wins Lights Out Houston

wowowowow! Its been a whirlwind couple of weeks here at ADG!  There’s so much going on its been impossible to sit down long enough to give due attention to this exciting bit of news – Abel Design Group has won the 2011 Lights Out Houston Poster Competition!

This is our 2nd year to take home the prize.  Earlier this week, I sat down with Daniel Arango and Chris Martin to talk about how they came up with this year’s concept:

MS: This year was a little different.  Tell me how you developed your theme for the poster?

DA: Well, last year the whole office participated in the conceptual design and the production of the poster, but since this year several people were already busy with the Product Runway competition, Chris and I were really the only ones available to put any time into it.

The design of the poster was a 100% collaborative effort. We did a first design meeting in which we discussed our ideas and agreed to develop two different models.

CM: Danny and I had our own ideas at the beginning and we both developed them on our own. We started to do some simple sketches of our ideas to explain to each other what we had imagined.

The next day we showed printed computer designed versions of the concepts we developed earlier and critiqued each other’s work. At the end of it we both felt that Danny’s concept was stronger.

DA:  We picked the “Paint it Black” concept I brought and Chris proposed to mimic the aesthetics of cold war era soviet posters. He did some research that helped us establish some line guides that allowed us to develop a preliminary concept that was shared with the office. We received some significant feedback that allowed us to develop the final poster.

Houston Skyline during Lights Out Houston

MS: Cold war era posters? Where did that idea come from?

CM: My poster reflected an Eastern European constructivist and social realist aesthetic  similar to El Lissitzky and Alexander Rodchenko. We made the decision to use the lettering and graphic style of this type of art. So, in that respect I suppose we decided to combine Danny’s visual concept and message with the lettering that I wanted to use and some elements of my graphic concept.

DA: Finding the aesthetical concept was definitely a Eureka moment, and I owe Chris all the credits for that.

MS: Once you had the concept down, were there any challenges you encountered in the actual completion and submission of the poster?

CM: I guess if there were any problems. It was that we were working in two different graphics applications… And, I did not know how to use the program that Danny was using.

DA: We both developed hand sketches and I worked on the digital file.  I do a lot of work in Corel Draw, which is what we used to lay out the design.  I finished it up in Photoshop.  The only obstacle I can mention in the process of completing the poster was probably the lack of time.

I really enjoyed sharing this team-based design effort with Chris, and I hope we’ll have more opportunities to work together in the future.

Chris and Daniel – you guys did a great job this year and it paid off!  Congratulations for taking home the victory!

Chris Martin and Daniel Arango at the Lights Out Houston Blackout Party

News and Updates From Abel Design Group

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/News-and-Updates-from-Abel-Design-Group.html?soid=1105083502587&aid=fiDbPq9l6EQ.

This email was sent this morning to friends and colleagues of ADG.  If you didn’t receive it but want to make sure not to miss out on any of the new and updates from ADG just message me and I’ll make sure to add you to the recipient list.

LEED ID+C and Common Area Restrooms – a Little Guidance Please?

Wow – no sooner than I published this post, I got a tip from a friend to check out Real Life LEED‘s post regarding this very issue – and the answer to my question was in the comments!

I’m reviewing the credit checklist for a potential LEED ID+C project which will occupy about 1/4 of the available rentable area of a multi-story office building.  So my question was – when calculating my water use reduction, do I have to include the common area restroom fixtures?

The last two LEED ID+C projects I completed required me to include them, but they were full floor tenants – so presumably their employees would be the only ones using those water closets.  But I can’t seem to find any clear guidance on projects that don’t occupy a full floor.

It turns out the percentage of the floor occupied does not matter.  The common area fixtures must be included only if credits are being sought in the WE category.  To meet the prerequisite, only fixtures within the scope of work (or tenant space in this instance) need to be included in the calculation.  If you want to go beyond that baseline reduction and try to earn credits, then the bathroom lavatories, urinals and water closets must be included.

Of course it doesn’t help that when you google anything about LEED, the majority of what is returned are sites trying to sell LEED classes or products.  Or other blogs sharing articles and press releases but nothing specific regarding this topic.  So I’m very happy to have found this information so quickly.  And I guess I should add Real Life LEED to my reader feed!

Eat Your Veggies

I actually wrote this post several months ago but just realized it never got published. OOPS!

So, I’m singing the praises of the Central City Co-Op http://www.centralcityco-op.org/

For the last year on Wednesdays I’ve picked up my small “share” for $18 ($17 + $1 day pass) and its a big bag full of fresh, organic veggies and fruit. Week one brought a head of lettuce, two apples, a grapefruit, two stalks of broccoli, a yellow squash, red potatoes, a red onion and a carton of cherry tomatoes. Last week it was 3 avocados, 12 carrots, a pound of zucchini, a russet potato, a red onion, and 2 oranges and 2 lemons.  You can choose a small, medium or large share, which weekly has extra items such as cauliflower, kale, eggplant and fresh long stem onions.  There is also a Gundermann’s Farm Share (when available) which features produce 100% grown locally as well as a fruit only share.

It may not sound like much bang for the buck, but I’ve found the quantity in even the small share provides a week’s worth of yummy veggies for my husband and I with some to spare.  And because the produce is so fresh whatever I don’t manage to cook in a given week holds over until the next week.  I haven’t done a true comparison, but I don’t think you can get this much organic produce at any grocery store for the price.

An added bonus – I don’t really have to think about it – I pay the same amount each time and then I just figure out what to cook for the week based on what I get.  And if you really don’t like what’s in your share, you can trade out that item for an item of equivalent value in the a la carte section.  I picked up some Swiss Chard with bright red stems and deep green leaves.  I’d never had it before and wasn’t sure what to do with it, but a quick Internet search yielded a recipe for ravioli with butternut squash cubes, hazelnuts and shredded chard.  It was delicious!

You can sign up online and pay using paypal.  Their website has much more information, including preview of the weekly share selections.  And for great veggie recipes, I suggest www.101cookbooks.com.