Great opportunity for Intern or Graduate Assistant to obtain exposure to all aspects of a respected Architecture Studio and work side-by-side with very talented, experienced, and thorough professionals.

Work from Laptop and SmartPhone, Multi-location including home and on-the-go.

Job Description – File Management, Submittal Management, Task Tracking, Website updating, Administrative tasks, Maintaining studio blog, participation in studio charrettes.

Requirements – Phenomenal Organizational Skills, Initiative, Proficiency with SketchUp, Photoshop, Office and Google Apps, Texting, Tweeting, Blogging, Facebook, Photoshop, Ability to speak intelligently about design.

Additional Requirements – High-speed internet connection and reliable transportation.

Additional Desired – Digital Photography, AutoCAD experience, IT literacy.

Please familiarize yourself with our work before providing cover letter and resume to position_intern@a3studio.com.

Please only respond via this email address to ensure your resume is considered.

Rare opportunity for a Project Management position with this small, respected Architecture Studio of very talented, experienced and thorough professionals.

Employment or Contract considered.

Work from home. Stipend or advance available for technology setup.

Job Description – Project Manager for multiple projects under the direction of the Studio Director and Dave Gibson, AIA.

Requirements – Professional License or Architectural degree, Extensive Multi-Family Housing and/or Hospitality  experience, Proficiency in AutoCAD, Office, Building Codes, Fair Housing Act, ADA, Construction Technologies, Project Management, Detail Oriented, Process Oriented, Design Sensitivity, Coordination of Consultants.

Additional Requirements – Monitored CAD Drafting Test, High-Speed Internet Connection.

Preference given to individuals with Hotel experience, Technical Specification Writing experience, and acute knowledge of AIA contracts. Working from home requires a self-motivated individual with a strong work ethic capable of working unsupervised.

Please familiarize yourself with our work before providing a cover letter and resume to position_manager@a3studio.com.

Please only respond via this email address to ensure your resume is considered.

Much of what has made this transition possible has been due to new/newer computer and internet related technologies.  When I consider the overall solution that allows us to work from X, it doesn’t really seem that complicated. The day to day use of this technology by the average user is not that much different than what it was in our studio space and that is what has made it so successful… regardless of what’s under the hood.

Where we are now, technology-wise, is still in the middle of an evolving set of tools and processes.  Some items have worked from day one (Gmail/Google Apps), others we still struggle with (errors with online stored/cached locally PDFs and Acrobat), and some have been abandoned (remote use of the large format plotter, and paper drawings in general).  W e’ll keep considering new ways to make what we do better.

Online file storage – JungleDisk

One of the biggest challenges in eliminating our studio was to find an online storage solution that was cost effective, provided fast access to files, prevented two (or more) users from inadvertently editing the same file at the same time, as well as several other features.  Basically, we were looking for the online equivalent of the typical office file server.  Unfortunately, that service doesn’t exist at present, at least not according to research that I did at that time.  After reviewing about 70 different providers, we settled on a 3rd party solution that provides the software for accessing disk space provided by Amazon S3’s massive online storage service.  Amazon, though, doesn’t really provide a useful way for the typical customer to manage their data and access to it… they only provide the programming “hooks” for others to write software that allows the storage to be used in whatever manner is appropriate for their end user(s).  JungleDisk appeared to be the best fit for the way that we were going to be accessing data.

File upload/download speed is very high and, with local file caching that is all managed automatically by the JungleDisk software, the lag time for opening files “from the cloud” is minimal for most activities, especially for current, active projects.  The biggest caveat is that there is no way to know if more than one user is accessing and editing the same file at the same time… that staple feature of an office file server that manages file access status updating is virtually non-existent.  In most cases, if you want to avoid this, you pretty much have to edit all of your files directly online, all the time, and this presents some pretty serious performance issues and isn’t even an option with some applications.  So far, though, it has pretty much turned out to be a non-issue for us… we simply have to let each other know what we are working on, especially when two or more of us are working on the same project.  In the end, this is good practice anyway.

Price for this aspect of the solution varied quite widely from one service to another.  Much of what we pay goes to Amazon based on actual usage with a small, set monthly fee to JungleDisk.  Since the calculations for exactly what the storage ends up costing per month is based on about a half a dozen variables, I can’t give a hard number, but for us it works out to about $0.11 to $0.12 per GB per month.  Very reasonable.

Virtual phone system – Vocalocity, Google Voice

When a client, contractor, or vendor calls our official office number, 317-423-0718, they are greeted by a recording that suggests a phone system that is typical in just about any office larger than 2-3 people.  The phone number for those systems either connects you to a receptionist that then transfers your call to the appropriate extension, or, as in our case, presents a menu that allows the caller to choose how their call is routed.  No separate dialing of phone numbers for individuals is required.  The typical system, referred to as a PBX, at it’s most basic level, has multiple external phone lines plugged into a box that has every phone handset in the office also plugged into it.  A simple computer then handles all of the routing.  Since we work from different locations, this type of device has to work a bit differently where the details are concerned, but in the end the basic functionality is the same.  We use what is called a Virtual PBX, and the connection media between the callers, the PBX, and our individual handsets is the internet rather than phone wires.  The technology term that you probably hear most for this type of communication is VoIP, which stands for Voice over IP. IP is the language that your computer uses to communicate over the internet; VoIP phones simply convert our analog voice to digital data in order to send it over the internet, it is then converted back to voice again at some point down the line.  All of this conversion back and forth is handled practically instantly.

All the rest of the features that you associate with a typical PBX are also there with a Virtual PBX, such as voicemail, transferring a call to another extension, handling multiple calls at a single handset/extension (ie a multi-line phone), etc.  Additional features such as call forwarding, find-me-follow-me, and simultaneous ring are generally staples of Virtual PBXs and allow the end user to have much greater control over how calls are routed to them… whether it’s to a conventional office desk handset, a cellphone, or a computer equipped with speakers and a microphone… to each in turn, or to all at once.  Anywhere there is a phone or internet connection is where the “office” is.  Although we chose Vocalocity, there are several good choices out there, and most of the decision came down to minor differences in features and cost, based on the number of extensions and abilities we required.

One of the specific features that Dave uses with his extension is voicemail transcription.  When someone leaves a message, the voice is translated into text that is then emailed along with the original vocal recording.  The transcription still leaves much to be desired when it comes to accuracy of individual words, but you can get the gist of the message without actually listening to the voice recording; very handy when you otherwise would not be able to listen to the message (such as in the middle of a meeting or at a loud jobsite).  Since the Virtual PBX isn’t connected to Dave’s email contacts, he can’t just click Reply from the transcribed email, much as he wishes he could (although Google Voice’s transcription DOES work this way).

Beyond the office level of phone service, a feature that I personally have started using more and more is Google Voice.  Basically, it provides VoIP service via your computer for a single person.  What makes it unique and extremely useful, is the fact that you can use it from any computer that you have the rights to install a small app (so you can’t use it on public computers generally).  Computers nowadays have exceptional quality speakers and sound cards, even on low end computers, when compared to your typical phone.  You also have exceptional flexibility when it comes to volume adjustment.  I use my computer via Google Voice to make speakerphone calls for most of my phone calls, and most don’t even realize that I have them on speakerphone.  Even better, I haven’t had an ear-ache from a 2 hour string of phone calls in months!  In addition, dialing is simply a matter of starting to type a name from my Gmail Contacts (similar to adding addresses to an email), cutting and pasting it into the dialer window, or clicking on a phone number link.  I rarely dial a phone number.   My personal cellphone voicemail has also been re-routed through my Google Voice account, and as a part of this, voicemail transcription is a standard feature.  My hope is that this will mean that voicemail transcription will one day be a standard feature with Virtual PBXs as well.

Collaboration with Email, Calendar, Documents, and Groups – Google Apps for Business

Email is such a standard and requisite tool in business now, that to be without an email address is to not be in business.  Collaboration between email users, though, isn’t as common yet, especially for small businesses that can’t afford to host their own email server/service.  Collaboration means that there is a secure way for users to read co-workers email and to even send mail on behalf of another user.  It also means that you can view and edit your co-workers’ calendar.  All of this access, though, can be controlled/restricted on a user-by-user basis.  There are many providers out there now that offer fairly cost effective solutions that use Exchange as the email service provider and collaboration framework, with which the individual users access through Outlook.  When it comes to a small business, nobody offers a better price, though, than Google.

Using Gmail as the user’s mail reader, everything is always maintained on the server and online (although there are options for making local copies and the like), and is accessed through any web browser via any device that has an internet connection.  At any time I can pull up Dave’s email, and when required, send out an email in his name.  When I open my calendar, I see my events, the other employees’ events, and project specific events… all at once and in one place, if I want.  This is about the extent of what a typical hosted Exchange service will offer.  With Google Apps for Business, you also get access to almost all of Google’s other services from one single login.  Admittedly, many of these service you can use for free anyway, but the Apps for Business adds in central management and additional features for some.  The additional “core” services include Documents, Groups, and Video.  Documents can be used as a replacement for Microsoft Office, and for an office that doesn’t have other online file storage, can fulfill that requirement as well.  Everything in Documents is done through a web browser and online, from anywhere.  Groups allows for online discussions without messy email trails.  Video is basically YouTube but with more security and robustness.  In our case, we use Documents as a secure way to provide files to clients and consultants without the need for FTP accounts or other complicated login procedures.  We use Groups to host inter-office discussions about policy and ways to improve our drawings/specs on future projects.  At $50 per user per year, it simply blows away the Exchange service options that typically run $20-$30 per user per month.

Remote control/presentation – TeamViewer

Architects tend to be visually oriented.  So, how do you work together to solve a visual design problem when you’re in geographically separate locations?  Files and pictures can be shared, but you still need a way to sketch ideas in real time and point your finger at items of interest.  Virtual reality isn’t a solution… yet.

We’ve solved that problem by sharing a computer screen via the internet with TeamViewer.  By making a phone call and connecting to one or the others’ computer, both parties can control the keyboard and mouse and discuss ideas while using the mouse cursor as a virtual “finger”.  More than two parties can be involved (for instance to facilitate design charrettes) and guest sessions can even be used to bring a client into a discussion without the need for the client to install any complicated software.  Fortunately, this particular software is pretty simple to install and use anyway, and you can try it out and use it for personal use for free.  Since the communication between computers is all handled by a third party (the TeamViewer servers), there is no need for complicated VPNs or Remote Desktop sessions.  It’s also cross-platform and works on Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone/iPad, and Android.

From the IT guy’s standpoint, this tool is one of the most valuable.  It allows me to evaluate and correct most any computer problem, except those that involve connectivity or hardware issues, without making a house call.

Check out the 2009 Indianapolis Monthly Downtown Condo Tour.

Landmark @ Lockerbie is our latest built work and will showcase nicely this weekend.

There seems to be something inherent in many Architects that reveals itself at a very early age. A keen awareness of their physical surroundings is probably one of the first signs. I know I was quite aware of the built environment in my earliest memories and always had what I’m sure seemed to others like a bit of a compulsive need to document it in drawings or play. That need to document surroundings and ideas seems to be another clue to the Architect within.

I was quite surprised when I got to college to learn that most of the other Architecture students didn’t have that same background. I’ve known only a handfull of Architects and designers over the years that have. We used to joke about it in college calling ourselves spacial.

Turns out my wife was one of these spacial people as well, and now my son. It has been exciting to see his development over the last few years. I listened in amazement one afternoon about a year ago, when then 4 year old Jack, frustrated because he was forced to watch tv in a different room than he had wanted, informed me that the house was too small and we needed a new one. He then went into a 20 minute dialogue about how this new house should be laid out, complete with very detailed ideas about programming adjacencies, scale, placement of windows for the best light and views, and segmenting the dog’s activities to assure he and his sisters had a clean place to play outside. He even expressed a need for the kitchen to be readily accessible for his sweet tooth cravings. I knew he understood Daddy was an Architect, and what that meant, but at this point I realized his own understanding of space. He comprehends space in terms of three dimensions and the effect of outside influences on it. He even had a grasp for conceptual space. Space that he had envisioned based on his own experiences. I think I have to concede, we have another Architect on our hands. My wife always said she wanted to see what a mini me was like. Well, for those of you who know Jack, she got it. It will be very interesting to see how his love of music influences the educating of this Architect.

Reproduced from Neutra, Barbara Lamprecht, Taschen, Tim Street-Porter, photographer

Like most architects, my approach to design is influenced by my experiences. My intuitive approach to design is likely due to my somewhat ravenous search for inspiring work, I have identified a small list of Architects here who I feel have had the most impact on me and my work, and whose ideas I come back to again and again, finding new reasons to hold them in high regard.

Frank Lloyd Wright – The obvious, yes, but FLW was also the first modern Architect I was exposed to as a child. To this day I have not experienced a FLW work in person, but have very vivid memories of the books in my parent’s Library showing, in stark contrast to the Early American Architecture I was quite familiar with, what appeared to me as the most natural, obvious architetcural solutions to living in harmony with your surroundings. As usual, my favorite works are the more obscure.

Thomas Jefferson – Nearly all my early exposures to travel and the house I grew up in were influenced by the likes of Jefferson. Though certainly far from modern, the straightforward approach and clarity of ideas exhibited in Jefferson’s work, or any classicist for that matter, is quite relevant to the modernist.

I.M. Pei – I don’t think anyone designs what I like in a grand way better than I.M. Pei. The simple yet grand gestues executed with such precision and clarity. Quite the career to admire. We won’t likely see the likes of him or his contemporaries any time soon. An understanding of his technical background makes it quite clear why I choose not to work at the scale he does.

Philip Johnson – In my explorations over the years I have compared side-by-side the individual merits of Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House and Philip Johnson’s Glass House, and somehow, in my mind Philip Johnson always wins out. Probably every modern leaning Architect’s dream is to design a glass house. I’ve gone over this in my mind for years, and can never imagine improving the perfection of Johnson’s house. Not always sure of his motives, but his execution always seems dead on. I love to listen to old interviews of this man.

Rick Joy – Jealousy probably best describes my infactuation with the work of Rick Joy. I discovered his work a few years back in searching for modern Architects whose work is grand in its restraint. The great care taken in the selection of materials and building methods coupled with the clarity of form and planning in a way that equals the unbelieveable beauty of their desert surroundings is evident in every work I’ve seen published. I sense that I know exactly how it must feel to be in each of those spaces.

Richard Neutra – I’ve been carrying around a photo of Neutra’s 1963 Taylor House in Glendale, California for a few years. I had the fortune of conversing with his son Dion Neutra a couple years back and mentioned my affinity for the Taylor House, he gave me the inside scoop on the work, as it had been one of his first projects while working with his father.

Albert Frey – In my opinion probably the greatest European trained American Modernist that lived. What is amazing is that everything about this man could be summed up in the two simple homes he built for himself in Palm Springs, California. This man lived his work like no other. No pretense. No self importance. Just a long life dedicated to some incredible ideas. I regret not learning of him until after his death. He would probably have been very approachable.

John Pawson – The one Architect I come back to from time to time to remind myself about the enormous effect simplification can have. Much of the photography of the detail of my work is looked at from the eyes of a minimalist.

Glenn Murcutt – On the level of Wright in his understanding of the impact of site on his work.