Update on Hosting Move

As it turns out, getting a .info suffix routed to a new host can take 48 hours. So the move to the new host may still be a day or two out.

In the meantime, there are no shortage of archives, hundreds of stories to read.

EVstudio.info Moving to New Hosting

The material on EVstudio.info will be moving to a new host. You may notice a brief interruption over the next day or two. All links and addresses will be the same and the EVstudio.info domain will remain the same.  There will also be some changes to the format. I’ll let you know when its all through.

EVstudio Participated in the Milender White Construction Co. 10th Annual Charitable Golf Tournament

EVstudio participated in Milender White’s golf charity event at Fox Hollow Golf Club.  We are happy to be a part of a charity that raised over $30,000 for various children charities.  Unfortunately, our team of Greg Arbour with KLG, Carl Boone and Justin Boone with CandL Development and Jim Houlette with EVstudio came in last place and earned the ‘OOPS’ prize.  But we had a great time and we look forward to next year!

EVstudio Store – Now with Hats

EVstudio’s Apparel Store now includes baseball caps in a variety of styles and colors. Show your EVstudio style on your head.

Pink Fog Studio Stairs – Open Riser Steel Stair With Oak Treads

Jim and I went by Pink Fog to inspect the steel connections on the stair to the loft.

Due to existing conditions, we designed a stair that would avoid placing a post in front of a window. The design required both cantilevered upper floor framing and a cantilevered stringer. In order to make this work, we utilized a unique structural design with a bent frame to handle the torsional force and the cantilevers.

New Openings in Existing Concrete Double T Wall at Evergreen Mercantile

On August 18, the removal of the 2″ concrete flanges of the concrete double T wall began.  EVstudio engineered the front wall to allow for the new openings and provided details to adequately brace the structure with the remaining wall lengths.  When construction is completed you won’t be able to tell this was once a double T wall building with the typical visible flanges.

The Prairie Style Home

The Prairie Style is often associated with Frank Lloyd Wright and the Arts and Crafts Movement of the early 1900s.  One of his finest examples was the Robie House with its dramatic overhangs, stretches of art glass windows, open floor plan, and sweeping horizontal lines that echoed the prairies of the great Mid-West.  The Prairie style is seen as Wright’s reaction to the overly-ornate Victorian style of the late 19^th century. Although it was designed nearly a century ago, the Robie House remains a prime example of modern residential architecture.

Today’s Prairie Style homes include many of the same attributes: shallow-pitched hip roofs, oversized eaves, cantilevered projections, open interior spaces, central chimney massing, minimal exterior ornamentation, and low proportions.  Different geometric shapes are often highlighted through window arrangement, columns, low walls and planters, all which create an aesthetically appealing home.  Transitions between indoor and outdoor spaces are seamless with broad covered porches and large masonry columns.  Large casements as well as rows of clerestory windows are commonly seen in Prairie style homes to provide plenty of daylight for a comfortable interior and also to accentuate its linearity.  Massing generally consists of boxed shapes at varying heights and depths.  Layouts tend to include open common areas with no hallways on the main level, and a modular grid floor plan using only right angles.

Brick is the most common exterior material used in Prairie Style design, but today many of these homes combine it with other materials such as stucco, stone, or concrete block.  The materials were generally light-colored to blend in with the home’s natural surroundings.

How To Read Metric Rebar Marks on Steel Reinforcing

In order to identify the basic information about the rebar that is delivered to a jobsite, it is important to know how to read the mill markings that are stamped on every bar. This is especially critical to ensuring that your materials match up with the specifications in the plans.

These mill markings illustrate the “soft metric” system adopted by CRSI member mills in 1997 (see our post about metric and imperial markings):

Images and bar marking description courtesy of CRSI

The top letter or symbol identifies the producing mill and deformation pattern.

The next marking is the bar size.

The third marking symbol designates the manufacturing material — usually either “S” for carbon-steel (ASTM A615) or “W” for low-alloy steel (ASTM A706).

Finally, there will be a grade marking (4 or 5, for 420 or 520) or by the addition of one line (420) or two lines (520) that must be at least five deformations long.

For more information, please visit www.crsi.org/rebar

Trusses Go Up at Kershenstein’s Honka Log Home

On Sunday I stopped by the Kershenstein residence to see what progress has taken place. Along with the upper floor framing and upper framed walls, the upper level trusses look to be almost all in place. Also on the lower level, temporary bracing is in place until the stone clad concrete masonry columns are built to support the main level deck above.

2009 AIA Denver Design Awards Gala

AIA Denver is hosting its Annual Award Gala on September 11th at the Pepsi Center. Bruce Fowle, FAIA is the jury chair this year.

This is my fourth year as chair of the AIA Denver Awards committee and the eighth year on the committee. I recently attended the awards jury in NYC and we’ve got some great winners.