Meaning of "Architect"

I continue to read articles and hear advertisements for people to be "architects" of this or that. When the AIA hears someone that is in the field that is not a registered architect, they will prosecute. When is it alright to co-op a professions' title continually? If I continued to call myself a "space-doctor", I imagine that at some point the AMA would chase after me. I have worked to become an architect, in the classical term, for years at school, finish exams, and intern. It is a compliment and insult that the title is used by so many others. Obviously other professions aspire to our level of work, but don't care to leave their names alone. I shall work on creating a new interpretation of "architect" using other trades' titles! Suggestions?

Early December Update

Good News, two projects have signed on in the last two weeks! Additions and small business are the wave of 2010, and I believe for a few years. Pictures have been taken of some recent work and that will be added to the website soon. Unfortunately, I have mismanaged the facebook portion of BHA's online presence and have to figure out a resolution. Seasons Greetings and more updates soon!

Radio Appearance

I have solidified a time to be on the Radio! Listen to WCHE 1520AM, Tuesday January 18th from 3pm to 4pm to chat about architecture. The same host of the show is hosting a holiday party, so I shall attend that to get prepped for the broadcast. Please feel free to write with topics you believe are worthy of discussion, architecturally related!

Coming soon

Coming soon...t-shirts and post cards for potential clients and mailers. Want to be one of the first 100 to get a BHA shirt? Let me know and help quietly advertise! Still sending out proposals, getting some response, but still slow.

Photos

Working on new photos for the website of past and present work. Looking back at nearly 10 years of residential design means there are many happy clients and families that have been enjoying their spaces for some time. Time to look back so that I can move forward!

Pre-Holidays

Looking forward to some literature that is in production. Also making some t-shirts for low energy advertising. Remember, when you are visiting friends and family this Thanksgiving, if their house is tight or needs re-arranged, think, "An architect is needed!"

Quick Trip

Had a quick trip to Pittsburgh this weekend to finalize a design with my former realtor and her boyfriend for a house they are rehabbing in East Liberty. Great old how with great potential. Other houses on the block are just as worthy and being repaired also. Saw the inside of the new houses that Eric Moss Architect is doing. Some great spaces for thin city lots and light. The only trouble is the "Pittsburgh" ceiling, the sponged stucco has got to go!

Forum

I have tried to define this blog by posting about great local architecture, ensuring your home is safe, and the benefits of architects being creative. I occassionally post about work coming in to me. I try not be preachy or vain-glorious. This is not a place to complain, that is for sure! So with that said, I have more calls and work coming down the pike, just little to document here because most of the projects are still in planning or on hold. I vow to place more pix as a weekly update to show progress in the built world. As a side note, the land search has slowed, dealing with the banking realm is slow at this time!

Time away

Enjoyed a beautiful weekend get away to southern Maryland. Great weather, great food, great friends, .... bland architecture. Uploading pix soon, but the best buildings were a few churches. Domestic architecture was rather bland. Saint Mary's City was a nice high point. Similar to Williamsburg, but older. There is a bit more hint of English style than Williamsburg. Even the earliest houses and state houses show their own interpretation of classicism and domestic life compared to harsher English climates.

Work updates

Image of the cabin in Caln Township. Logs going in soon, first floor decking nearly done.

More regalia!!

Alrighty, I have some hoodies made and nice embroidery. Next I have one dozen hats, military comrade style, with stitching, pretty neat. Who needs a hat that will get some work?

End of the Summer

With today's rain, summer is over! A bit of a review for the past couple months. Placing a bid on a piece of land, drawings have been bid by builders, so waiting for the bank to crunch some numbers. Also have a small biz loan, that took a few months of wrangling and paperwork. Working on t-shirts, hats, hoodies, flyers, and more importantly, a display for future home shows. Visited with many builders this summer, brought in some more work, just a hot and crazy summer. More work is trickling in, just need to have something break somewhere. Stay tuned!

Farmhouse 93

Farmhouse 92

Farmhouse 91

Painted stone in the main line. Love the white and black motif. Simple americana.

Farmhouse 90

As with so many others, difficult to photograph due to the proximity to the street, but still is a great little house. Newer dormers, great porch.

Farmhouse 89

5 bay set back from the road, unusually so, but a nice lawn!

Farmhouse 88

Two bay exquisite stone example, in bright sunlight, highlighting the shadows and color.

Farmhouse 87

Twin with 2.5 stories, right along 322. Stone with stucco!

Farmhouse 86

A short series on houses right along Route 322. Added onto over the years, but still identifiable as an old farmhouse.

Farmhouse 85

Amazing farmhouse stuck between the PA Turnpike, Route 100, and a biz park. Love the green and white, the bays, and the half story! Had very agressive dog!

Farmhouse 84

Three bay-er set back behind a car dealership, well preserved and has some great typical details. Behind the Exton Nissan dealership, check it out!

Farmhouse 83

Unique way to incorporate a three bay into a strip mall, but at least the building was somewhat preserved. Great food by the way!

Farmhouse 82

Neat little two bay that shows some of the typical details, including the recessed entry and paneled sides.

Farmhouse 81

Great old hotel, or stagecoach stop on the railroad line. Unfortunately, it is falling into disrepair. Such a fantastic building in Exton, along Route 30, across from the local union training facility, but none of them or the local business can find a way to use this. Perhaps a bike shop?

Farmhouse 80

Twin chimneys with siding and shutters. The blue metal roof is unusual, but great. the 2 over 2 windows are more midwester, but they work here, making the house taller.

Farmhouse 79

The Zook House at the Exton mall. An awesome example of building over time. Great stone details and red windows and shutters. Neat sleeping porch on the right side.

Farmhouse 78

Inspiration for our house, love the wide porch!

Farmhouse 77

Great bank building at the Exton Mall complex. Abuts Route 100 and keeps the look, but has a grand porch and dormers.

Farmhouse 76

Stone 5 bay-er on Route 30, great shutters and stone work.

Farmhouse 75

An unusual brick farmhouse in rural Chester County with two twin chimneys.

Farmhouse 74

A hidden gem in a corporate development. Love the change of scale for the addition to the right.
Hail to Pitt!

Farmhouse 73

Another great house on Route 30. My guess is the part on the right is the original, mostly because the left part has an ornate entrance, meaning the farmer would have had to save for a while. The band across the right portion shows where there was most likely a porch roof.

Farmhouse 72

Great variation on a theme with the triple hung windows going right down to the floor. Easy access from any room to the porch. Dormers might not be original, along with the posts of the porch, but mostly true. A great example of a farmhouse with a bit of a twist.

Farmhouse 71

A double 3-bay, or a six bay with some modifications over time. Jergenhead gables and bay windows on the end feel newer than the original. Right on route 30 between Exton and Downingtown.

Farmhouse 70

A dilapidated German style siding 3 bay. It shows the need for more space with the "ell". So many of these houses give examples of how to use the same vocabulary and create broken down volumes instead of bloated "big box" houses.

Farmhouse 69

This is now "Lighting by Design" but is definately a great example of a 5-bay plan with additions to the rear. Parital inspiration for our house. Love the stone!

Farmhouse 68

Unfortunately, another one right up on the road. Still, you can see the twin chimneys, some shutters, and the nice cedar roof are great touches.

Farmhouse 67

This is another three bay with doors on the first floor in all bays. French style doors allow more air into the house.

Farmhouse 66

Four bay with rather heavy handed renovation. Twin chimneys give away the original footprint.

Farmhouse 65

Unusual three bay with windows that come right down to the floor. Other details are the post original brackets and I believe replacement windows.

Farmhouse 64

Like so many of the farmhouses around, they are right up on the road, surrounded by trees and difficult to photograph. Again, another three bay with older additions that are rather considerate.

Farmhouse 63

Three bay with a screened-in porch addition. Rather simple, nuff said.

Farmhouse 62

This total of 5-bay house is easy to see the stages. The two bay portion with the exposed stone must be the older portion, it has a larger fireplace/chimney and the more modest scale. The three bay two and a half story is a bit more extravagent and classic. The simple porch detailing is great and the shutters match even though the stages are different.

Farmhouse 61

4-Bayer with pent roof across the entrance doors. This was a "twin" in the olden sense. The farmer owned one side and rented out the other. You can really get a sense of the recessed doors into the stone with transoms above. The doors in stone houses are recessed and the sides paneled.

Farmhouse 60

This is a really neat house with 5 bays on the first floor and 4 on the second. Unusual, but fits very well into the genre. The rear "l" adds to the distinction of the farmhouse and the gutters on the roof are a great detail.

Farmhouse 59

Another 3-bay center entrance like yesterday, but has a nice pent roof over the front door to break up the elevation. Twin chimneys and a great addition to the left and the rear. Other buildings on this lot are a great spring house and garage.

Farmhouse 58

Simple center entrance 3-bay with a rather slap-dash addition, not taking into consideration the original.

Farmhouse 57

This 5-bayer also is a great stone house with the "t" shape in plan. A neat detail is the bay on the side, I am using a similar form for our piano bay. This property is currently for sale, with a huge barn, for over...one Million Dollars!

Farmhouse 56

Like so many of these farmhouses, they are crammed up against the road, so you have to do some legwork to find a "shot". This is across a pond, but the picture shows that the house is four bays wide with two and a half stories.

Farmhouse 55

Amazing example of how the house tells a story over time with additions, but they relate to each other and use the same architectural language, even though they might be decades apart.

Farmhouse 54

Simple, framed, three bay farmhouse with more "stick" style brackets and columns. Great simple eaves and gable details. White and dark green details again are prominent on this house that probably is covered in asbestos siding.

Farmhouse 53

The back of a house that is nearly un-seeable from Route 100. I like it because it shows the half story windows on the rear wing that I like to incorporate in designs for half stories, etc. Unusual 3 over 6 double hung windows are also a neat feature.

Farmhouse 52

This is the Upland Farmhouse in Upper Uwchlan Township. After walking through this and working with the historic planner, we found out about the stages this house took to get to this look, and it informs changes that I have seen in other houses. Not that all are the same, but you begin to see how the houses have evolved over the years. This was added to and then the gable turned and the cross gable added with the Victorian details.

Farmhouse 51

Semi-abandoned farmhouse near the "townhouses" of the Byers Station. Indications of shutters that have been lost, slightly gambrel-gable roof form, twin chimneys, another example that the farmhouse comes in many shapes, but follow simple rules. The modified entry with transom is a great way to differentiate this three bay-er.

Farmhouse 50

Renovated with the cross gable and brackets. Dark green and white body of the house. Deep door indicates stone walls.

Farmhouse 49

This farmhouse is stuck right in the middle of the new Byers Station development. What a loss of farming area and privacy to this farm. Again, simple gable roof form with the shed front porch, simple traditional columns, stucco walls and white windows. Another classic.

Farmhouse 48

An amazing little, did I mention little!, farmhouse located in the smack middle of the Byers station development. This is the "Love Shack". I really enjoy this neat 3-bay one and a half story cottage. Stone covered in stucco, classic and small. Shed roof porch, simple details, inset front door with paneled entry.

Farmhouse 47

Off of Fellowship Road, this is a more German style farmhouse with the stone and deep gable. Continuous pent roof and twin chimneys finish out the look.

Farmhouse 46

West Vincent township on display. Heavy handed addition to this 3 bay here. Twin chimneys are great, grey shingles are not. Poor replacement front door, but decent old-ish shutters.