Rebuilding south florida by learning

In an ideal world, like school, I’d have an answer for every question whirling about in my head right now. Instead, what feels like a million vague answers to these questions about how to rebuild after Hurricane Ian float about. My heart aches for my hometown of Fort Myers. This past week I have been debating about how to express my heartache, my desire…

Fools and Floors

I had a choice: click in place wood flooring or look like wood porcelain tile. Naturally I picked the tile. The hardest, longest flooring to put in and which I have the least experience in. Oh boy have I learned a lesson. Don’t get me wrong, I love the flooring! I am just not as in love with the process of getting it done…

Painted Up

With the majority of the demo done it was time for some pretty progress. I had spent weeks pouring over paint palettes considering how to style the condo. I love color! Bright, vibrant and lively colors. I really don’t shy from stronger colors. However I do want to be able to sell the condo without having to put too much work into it. I…

A sketch for Tomorrow

The whole field of design is built on imaging the many futures awaiting us. JKRP, a Philadelphia firm, is currently hosting a student sketching competition looking at the future of Philadelphia. Interested, see the flyer below for competition brief: There are soo many views in Philadelphia that perfectly showcase the past, present, and most current future in progress. Right in the foreground of those…

Home Garden

While at home I had a much larger garden to plan and a series of projects inside and outside the house, my second home doesn’t need quite as much work. Having left my apartment in March I knew that coming back in August one thing would certainly need work: my garden. The before was just too sad to photograph but the after is quite…

Project Porch

The Back Porch has seen better days. Up until this past week (think June when this started) it has been the safe house for many miscellaneous items from the Florida sun, rain, and heat. As the redesign of the backyard ramps up the design has extended into this poorly used space. Project Porch was officially started earlier this week with a clean out. Bulky…

Architect’s Weekend Out

  Falling Water: https://fallingwater.org/ Ohiopyle State Park: https://www.dcnr.pa.gov/StateParks/FindAPark/OhiopyleStatePark/Pages/default.aspx Flight93: https://www.nps.gov/flni/index.htm Falling Water is a classic house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The number of times this house alone is mentioned in a school setting makes it one of the top buildings on any architects travel list. I probably would never have considered a visit if I hadn’t been inundated with the praises and wonders…

Sally Week: Urban Hopes

PhillyEarth: https://phillyearth.org/ Village of Arts and Humanities: http://villagearts.org/ Phildelphia Orchard Project: https://www.phillyorchards.org/ Day five was unexpected. I knew we would be focusing on more city systems but wasn’t ready for what we came into contact with. I found the work being done in the North Philadelphia around Germantown and Temple University area really meaningful. It was inspiring to hear the stories of the area…

Sally Week: A Bird’s Farm Song

Rushton Preserve: https://wctrust.org/rushtonwoodspreserve/ Day four was delightful. The class traveled to Rushton Preserve to observe both the catching and banding of birds and a tidy urban farm nestled into habitat and research. The process of catching, tagging and releasing the birds was something I had never seen before. The bird nets were so light I couldn’t believe that they held such vigorous birds. But…

Sally Week: A Snake’s Tale

Day three was long only due to the soreness from Day Two’s hike. We went many places this day of which I will only discuss two. I cannot discuss the wonderful things we saw and learned about the wildlife in this area to protect them from others. As such no photographs will be included or linked to this post. The first trail through the…