THE FOLKS WHO BUILD THINGS:

Below are brief descriptions of some of the craftsmen and subcontractors who are currently building certain projects that we have designed, each one adding a unique contribution, building on other voices and contributions.  Together, with us, with the engineers, with the client (and others), we hope to arrive at a special finished place everyone is proud of.  We all have a desire to do our best work and to take away the knowledge that we added something to the quality of life of those who will inhabit and use the spaces.  We believe this hints at the collaborative intent of our work.

Getting to know some of the subcontractors and tradesmen/craftsmen on our jobs has been a great privilege.  Sharing our worlds, learning about our respective families, discussing what really matters, all helps to foster a bit of community.  We begin building projects that may last nine months or even many years-a long time.  Why not engage?  Coincidentally, this helps to arrive at better projects and better construction.  Who wants to disappoint a friend?  It works both ways.  Caring about the other makes it easier to discuss problems or problem work.  It's hard to look each other in the eye if things are not going well.  Fridays in our office, we have begun to play a variation of chess we call Collaborative Chess...it's the same game but , instead of pitting one against the other in the traditional way, we have teams that speak to and help each other.  We make suggestions to the other team, we tell them that, if they move that piece there, then we will move this piece there--should they reconsider the move?  And so, what was once adversarial becomes a partnering paradigm.  Building is a complicated business.  It makes sense to engage the other as a partner.  There is enough adversarial stuff going on in the world, right?

Kent:  Grew up in Snyder, Texas.  Worked for a construction company in Snyder, Texas until they went out of business.  Fortunately, Templeton Construction came to town to build a Walmart, he joined them (twenty six years ago), and has been with Templeton ever since.  He is a Project Superintendent overseeing jobs and he says that he loves what he does.  Best thing about the job: "it puts gas in his Harley."  Worst thing:  "dealing with those who don't take pride in their work or who try to take 'short cuts.' " Currently, Kent is the Project Superintendent for the YMCA Addition.

Wade:  Born and raised in San Angelo, went to Central High School.  Has been with Templeton since 1992 doing carpentry work of all types.  Best thing about job: "pays his bills."  Worst thing (he says with a laugh): "has to wake up early each morning to get to work."  Currently, Wade is working on the YMCA Addition and the Kinney Franke Office Building..

Steve:  Born in Paris, Texas but has lived in San Angelo most of his life.  Went to high school and then "the oilfield."  Has been in construction for nine years, working for Templeton.  Likes the Green Bay Packers.   Best thing about his job: Steve says that he enjoys all aspects of his work and the people around him.  Worst thing: "there are no worse things, it's all good."  Drives a Harley.  Currently, Steve is working on the YMCA Addition and the Kinney Franke Office Building.

Snake:  Grew up in Lampasas, Texas.  Went to TSTI to learn the electrical trade.  Has been with Wesley Crow electric for twenty years.  Travels throughout Texas to different jobs.  Loves his work because every day brings something different.  Likes working on the River Revitalization because its outdoors.

 

McCrae Construction:  The McCrae family has been hard at work on the Concho river for a long time.  L.B. McCrae (father) went into business for himself in 1964 and built the original fountains that line the river in 1983.  Today, in our current 2012 River Revitalization project, these fountains are being "re-invented" by his sons.  Mickey is the current owner of McCrae Construction and Randy McCrae is the Project Manager.  Danny McCrae is the mason in the field (with his son-in-law Brandon and a nephew, Justin) interpreting the plans and doing some phenomenal work that transcends the drawings.  Their work has been particularly inventive and creative.  Danny says that the river project has been one of the best things he's worked on.  He enjoys seeing the continuation of the family history in the masonry work at the fountains...and he loves being outdoors.  The old and tired existing fountains look new and full of life.  Here are some before and after photos:

Caleb:  Grew up in a town near Waco, Texas.  Graduated from Angelo State University and went to work for Reece Albert in 2000.  Worked in the office for a few years, worked in the field for a few years and now manages projects around the state.  Absolutely loves the river project because its outside...and because its different than anything Reece Albert (typically, they do road construction) has ever done.  He says "there is a lot to learn here."

Rex:  Born and raised in Cairo, Georgia.  Worked for his dad in the construction industry before joining the Air Force, flying cargo planes all over the world.  Moved to San Angelo where his wife's family lived in the early seventies.  Rex has worked with Templeton for thirty two years doing all different types of work.  Is working as Project Superintendent on the River Revitalization project and enjoys the variety of the work...and being outdoors.  Also likes that there are fewer trades to coordinate.

Thomas:  A native San Angeloan, Thomas was born into a family of craftsmen.  He has worked for various companies through the years and is currently with MidTex of Midland, working as the Superintendent for our Glenmore Elementary School Addition and Renovation.  Thomas is a master of the barbeque and has won several statewide competions for best in show.  We can verify that he is indeed gifted with barbeque...among other talents!

From Greyhound Buses to Architect's Trusses

The old Greyhound bus station in downtown San Angelo is officially on its way to becoming Kinney Franke Architects' new home. It is exciting for us to be able to work in a space that was once a starting point--and ending point--for journeys. We'd like to think of the process of architecture as a sort of journey as well. In the photo below, you can see where travelers have left proof of their travels on a limestone window ledge.

Construction has begun and the building has now been framed.

 Working out the design has been great fun for our office. Some of our "Fun Fridays" have been spent drinking beer and trying to sketch how the space should work. Here are some of our goals:

• Create an efficient and open layout, exposing the "bones" of the old space (specifically, the open web metal trusses). 
• Cost effectiveness (of course!)
• To create a dynamic anchor for the office (Conference Room) that is energizing, unique, and that encourages dialogue. 
• Allow room for growth.
• A sensible divide between our office and the retail space we have created at the front of the building. This retail space will hopefully be rented out by a chef with a vision in the near future.
• Signage and parking that is easy for the public to locate and access.
• And... a functioning kitchenette of course. 

Another benefit of moving our office to this location is that we will be across the street from the lovely and historic Wendland building which has been transformed into an artist's studio. We caught a few of San Angelo's trademark sheep, waiting to be painted and peeping at us on our way out. 

We'll keep posting updates on the progress of our new office. It's a great opportunity for us to create something good for our office and, hopefully, for downtown San Angelo.

'The Used Car Lot' to transition once again

What once hosted many retail car operations such as 'The Used Car Lot', then 'Tito Kustoms', and then possibly 'Fat Pop's Shop' is now the future site for the San Angelo Area Foundation's new office building. There is something unique and almost humorous about the tiny, asymmetrical 50's shack plopped on the spacious corner lot of Concho and Irving St. downtown. It seldom gets noticed. Now it is about to be demolished to make room for the San Angelo Area Foundation. We wanted, however, to document what we believe is a vintage piece of architecture. 

'The Used Car Lot' in all its vacant, rundown glory. The flat, straight lines in the building recall a bygone era...and echo the West Texas landscape. 

There are still spare parts laying around. Anyone need a windshield replacement?

The great, bold shapes give the building forward momentum. We are hoping to translate this momentum and sense of place into the new foundation offices. We intend to reuse the red roman brick in the new facade for the foundation.

The graffiti and paint jobs remaining gave us a taste of what the building's past lives may have been like. 

We feel that it was important to document these buildings and the site so that they can help to inform what happens in the future. 

From one life and generation to the next - such is the nature of buildings... and people! Much excitement comes from being able to be a part of these transitions as architects.  

Thoughts on building a new house, Part One

Our family lived in a large fifties “ranchburger” style house (see photo on right) ; It was a nice place to live and raise a family, in a lovely neighborhood, with large oak trees arcing over the roof.  Problem was, after ten years, I had had enough.  The lovely trees and yard could only be seen thru small divided lite windows and the ceilings were low.  There was little connection to the outdoors.  I was claustrophobic.  Something had to go.  Likely it was Middle Age catching up with me but I felt I needed light and air.  I needed something.

In our established 1920’s era neighborhood were perhaps three lots that were clear and unbuilt.  The most beautiful of these—by far—was on Sulphur Draw.  It had a small creek running thru with trees lining the water’s edge.  Old timers told stories of exploring this area in the thirties.  Neighborhood kids had installed a rope swing in the deeper pool.  It had the feel of being in the country.  It was also considered unbuildable due to being in the flood plain. 

Here is a photo of the site, pre-house, from Google Earth My wife and I had talked for years about moving out of the ranchburger, so she was on board.  As an artist, she needed light and air also. We had been looking for years to find a different house in the same neighborhood—with no luck.

We made a list of For and Against the move to build a new house:

For:

1. Being an architect reduced architectural fees considerably

2. Having engineers donate their services for “a good cause” helped the budget.

3. Having good relationships with subcontractors allowed us to get some really good pricing

4. Having good relationships with local contractors allowed us to accept certain valuable materials that would otherwise have been discarded in the landfill (ie: select fill from ditches).  We needed a LOT of this to raise the house out of the flood plain.

5. Most importantly, we had/have a father in law who was/is a master builder…and who volunteered his time to build the house.  He is retired which allowed him the freedom to really spend time at the construction site.  Needless to say, this was invaluable and something that was crucial if we were to proceed.  Neither my wife nor I had the time to babysit a construction site.

Against:

1. Lack of funds.

2. Wanting to do something that would really connect to the outdoors and the site required something we didn’t have: funds

3. Not enough money.

“For” won.  In the end, no list was going to make the decision.  What was money?  This was emotional.  My wife called the number on the For Sale sign of the flood plain lot and worked the owner down to $25,000.  We were committed.

Thoughts on building a new house, Part Two: Sustainability

What does it mean to be “sustainable” when you’re in the building business?  Isn’t that an oxymoron?  To build anything requires more “stuff” and energy.  Architects are trained to make things and things require energy and materials.  The most sustainable thing we could have done would have been to stay put in the ranchburger or renovate an existing house instead of building new. 

Clearly, we didn’t do the most sustainable thing.  But given that we were going to build we were committed to doing so with as little impact on the world as possible, as much as our budget would allow—not easy.  Though I am LEED accredited, I didn’t have the time or desire to do paperwork so we opted to simply do everything we could, within our budget, to “build green.”

Some primary goals we worked towards:

1. We researched energy efficient ways of building the shell: earth blocks, insulated concrete forms, straw bales, and structural insulated panels.  SIP’s won in the end due to the advertised ease of construction (not so, in our case) and because the factory is located two hours away (next door in West Texas).

2. An efficient, zoned, HVAC system.

3. Water saving features.

Some things we included in the house:

1. Across from our office (see photo at right), the two owners of a house built in 1901 were tearing it down themselves, board by board.  I asked if we might buy the lumber.  They were thrilled and so were we.  As I type this, I look down at our longleaf pine floor boards from the house (originally the shiplap interior siding in the rooms) that date back to the time of Jefferson and Washington.  I counted 223 rings on some of the boards—so I come up with 1779 as the date of the pine seedlings.  The floor is beautiful, dense, and lustrous not like the quickly grown wide grain pine wood of today. Not to say there wasn’t work involved in the reclaiming.  We planed and sawed and tongued and grooved.  Overall, it ended up costing about $9/sf.—pretty good

Additionally, the soffits above our patios came from the floor of the old house.  Glue from old carpet still stains them—we left all the “history” on them even though our workers begged to sand and finish them. 

Finally, we bought all of the old studs from the house. They were straight as an arrow and hard as nails.  All the lumber used in our house ended up being reclaimed.

2. We installed a white PVC roof (Durolast) that reflects the heat away in our desert like climate.

3. Installed a 10,000 gallon water cistern to catch rainwater off the roof.  This feeds our large grass lawn that leads down to the creek.  All other landscaping is xeriscaped.

4. We installed low water flow fixtures and used a continuous loop that circulates hot water to fixtures only when there is activity in the house.  This has been one of the things we like most: no wasted water waiting for a shower.

5. Installed insulated Low-E glass with thermally broken window mullions.

6. We carefully positioned windows so that they rarely receive direct sunlight and so that, during the day, we rarely turn a light on.

7. Used a high SEER rated air to air heat pump, zoned.  When the kids are at school, we turn their systems off.   During temperate months, we try not to use the system at all, using natural ventilation and ceiling fans.

8. We tried to minimize trips to the dump by creating a dumping ground of our own for discarded building materials.   Below the extensive fill used to create the slope up to the house we encouraged the tradesmen to dump scraps of lumber, stone, cmu, and other non-toxic materials.  This was the PHOTO donated fill saved from the dump.  The SIP panels, to their credit, had little waste due to their being built (to our design) in the factory.

9. Lastly, we reused a great old fifties globe chandelier that was pulled from a dumpster—it used to hang in the local Junior High School Library and was thrown away(!) during a renovation.