It’s that bitter sweet time in which we are pleased to see the completion of a project we have been working on for so long.  The “bitter” is that we no longer have that weekly interaction with the great clients you grow to have a great relationship with.  The “sweet” of course is to finally see the final built product of the design, and a tangible result for all the ideas that were considered (some thrown to the floor in the process) and others  integrated into the final designand  drawings.

There is quite a lot of buzz about the restaurant as you can read in online sources.  The examiner.com published an Introduction by Sarah Gerhart-Bryan.   The Westword set up a profile which has a number of appetizing photos of the doughnuts and pastries.   I stopped in last weekend to introduce the family to the restaurant ArcWest had been working on, and to try out a few of their gourmet doughnuts.  The family thought they were truly awesome!

View of upper seating area and bar at the Hole Bakery & Restaurant

All said, it is certainly a proud moment to see the commercial project complete and the business in operation.  We wish the Delmonico family all the best with their new business and hope “the hole” sells lots of doughnuts.

For more information about the project and to see a series before, during construction and after photos, please see ArcWest Architects “The Hole” commercial project page .

- Robin Adams

ArcWest Architects has certainly seen a little more activity in recent months which we can only get excited about with cautious optimism.  It has been a challenging 18 to 24 months working to engage clients for active projects in this economy, we think it is only natural the company keeps it’s guard up.

This sentiment is resonated in Kermit Baker’s, AIA chief economist comments in the article.  “While this recent uptick is encouraging, this state of the industry is likely to persist for a while as we continue to received a mixed bag of feedback on the condition of the design market … “

That said, ArcWest is very encouraged by both the increased movement in the industry and the reports confirming other firms are experiencing the same.

Read more:  Architectural demand shows uptick – Denver Business Journal

Taking it a step further, there are many people who own small business who travel the same path of completing by taking on many of the business infrastructure needs themselves.

Not a week passes by in which we do not receive a call from a prospective client , in some cases a contractor, who is budgeting a small addition, residential modification, tenant finish for a leased space, the opening of a new restaurant or looking to build their dream home. The questions posed to the architect usually follow this line: Have you done this type of project before? How much do you charge?  Or how much will it cost to complete?  As we attempt to frame up the actuality of what it takes to complete a building project without completely discouraging the interested caller, we will start discussing the process for reaching their goal.

Question: Do I really need an Architect?  Answer:  No and Yes!

First step – We have to establish the clients goals and understand what they really want & what they really need- with what they can afford. Our questions in response to the call from a prospective client may be something like:

• Have you established a budget for your project? (We’re hoping to find out what it costs first)
• Are you planning on doing this yourself or do you have a contractor on board? (not sure yet)
• When do you want to start? (hmmm…)  As architects we are searching to get a sense of where the  client is in the “process” and what the expectations are.

• Do you have a drawing or sketch on hand that illustrates what they want?  This is good!

If a project is anything other than adding a new awning, patio structure, replacement of an old piece of HVAC or plumbing equipment, more than likely you will need the services of an architect. At a minimum, the architect will guide you through the process and can ultimately provide documentation to the building department required for a (residential or commercial) building permit. The prospective client can do a substantial amount of the initial work making it simpler for the Architect and less expensive for the client  At some point, the architect needs to take the reigns of the project to drive the process towards the final goal.  The final target is to have the “vision” of the prospective client come to life (within budget) in built form “blessed” to be safe and sound by local governing agencies.

Reality Checks:

1. Building permits are required for new construction to insure the proposed building project will be safe and built to industry standards.  Completing a building project that is not permitted and inspected by the local regulatory agencies can set you up for problems down the road.  Resale of a property with nonconforming improvements can be very expensive in many ways.  You may have to correct the item prior to the transfer of the property and/or take a lower bid for the sale to compensate for the issue.
2. In the City and County of Denver, for instance, stamped (architectural) plans with framing and foundation engineered by a licensed professional are required for any major (residential) addition over 400 square feet
3. Building permits are required in order to insure the proposed building project will be safe to the occupants, future owners and guests, in addition to the safety and welfare of the adjacent properties and occupants.  Aesthetics aside, architects and engineers are licensed to assume the role to design and plan accordingly.

If you have any questions about a project you are considering or the process required to obtain a building permit, please contact us:

Directly by phone at: 303 455 7741

or email: radams@arcwestarchitects.com

Mentoring a high school student as part of his senior experience certainly has no clear association with the business of Commercial Architecture in the Denver area.  Nor does it provide a dash of new income to the company.   This said, it was truly a professionally enriching experience.

When approached to become a Mentor to a student from Westminster High School, a Denver metropolitan school,  it was somewhat unclear what that meant.  Would we just go about our business of Facility Architecture and Planning and allow him to shadow us?  Would we try to educate this senior student in the profession of architecture? Would we tour a selection of Commercial and Residential Architecture projects completed in the Denver Area?  The curriculum provided was unclear and unhelpful.  The direction was to provide experience in the chosen field of study, but left how that was to occur totally up to us … A couple of Architects with little or no experience in the education process.

What we found out is that we had more experience in education than we thought.  We had roughly 20 hours of face time as part of the curriculum.  With in short order of our first hesitant meeting with our young Architect, we started to cover the basics.

We covered the many long sleepless nights ahead for him while working in studio……

We discussed the starving artist nature of our business……

We even covered the bonds that academic hardship would foster and the parties that he might participate in……..

We very quickly moved on to what makes something architecture.  It is not Art.  It is not sculpture.  It is problem solving to create both Art and Sculpture that can be occupied.  Our Mentor grasped this immediately and filled in the rest of the curriculum by asking to be guided through the creation of his first piece of Architecture.  Every architect has contemplated his ideal house.  Few Architects actually design this enigma.  There is never enough money and we can never actually make a final decision on the final product.  By guiding our young Mentee through this process, we were afforded a learning experience ourselves as to what really goes into the design process.  We were not designing for another, we were guiding an uninitiated individual to the design process.

The process is at the core of what an architect is all about.  Some go through the process intuitively, skipping back and forth from phase to phase, without even realizing.  Some step through the process religiously not advancing from one phase to the next without completing the last.  Regardless there is a process and guiding someone through the process, fighting the urge to provide all the answers, illustrated how important the process is.

Exploration and Result of the Design Process

The sketch  above was completed entirely by our student.  It is understandably rough, but was completed after only 7 hours of background discussion 13 hours of numerous iterations.  It represents many of his personal own concepts of the ideal home and was completed using the same planning process used in the architectural profession.

Hopefully our student gained as much from his experience as his Mentor’s did.  In our environment of Commercial Architecture, Residential Design and Facility Planning, along with running the day to day business, sometimes a reminder of the core process is welcome.

- Todd Heirls

…… Just an informal note updating a few activities of the New Year.

First to share a highlight of the day to day business |  The ArcWest Partners  are taking time to meet with and mentor a local high school student who is completing a senior project to explore the profession of architectural practice.  The student has a definitive interest to become an architect and notably made this effort to contact a local company to help them understand more about the business of architectural design and engineering.   I think this will turn out to be a good lesson for all involved.

Back to task | The partners at ArcWest have been very busy during the month of January, and the first weeks of February, with active architectural projects, new endeavors and prospective opportunities  including:

• Completing and coordinating a set of documents submitted to the Denver Building Department  (DBD) for a proposed Bakery in the Highlands neighborhood.   With the contractor on board, the owner is anxiously waiting for the building permit pending review comments from the DBD.
• Providing a proposal to a prospective client for multiple fast track projects out of state … Hopefully much more to share on this soon.
• Meeting with a residential owner to discuss their desire  for different improvements to their Denver Bungalow, including vaulting the ceiling of their living room, building on a rear deck above grade that aligns with the main floor and basement remodel to allow for two new bedrooms that comply with the local building codes. We are very excited about this opportunity!
• Providing a complete Architectural and Engineering proposal for a prospective Irish Pub and Restaurant to be located in a nearby suburb of Denver.  The owner is completing their due diligence for the leased space and completing applications for their financial resources.   We are eager and very interested to be involved with this project as well – This will be fun!
• Kicking off a community redevelopment project for a main street building facade improvement in East Denver.
• Meeting with a husband and wife who are interested in taking a “warehouse” approach for the construction of a new home in a surrounding Denver suburb.  The prospective client approached us with the concept of using a premanufactured metal building for the exterior then utilizing an architect to complete a custom plan layout and interior finishes design.  We anticipate we would also assist with the coordination of foundation requirements for the building shell, along with proposing elevations and building forms that will work with the metal building system … This could be a lot of fun and an interesting challenge!
• Offering strategic business planning and operational consulting to a national corporate client.

We are very encouraged with the level of activity we’ve been experiencing at the start of the New Year.  Our goal will be to write further detailed and illustrative articles (including pictures and drawings) in the coming weeks about the subjects introduced and outlined above.

ArcWest wishes everyone is having a great start to the New Year!

ArcWest Advertisement in the Denver BBB Premier Issue

Street view of mixed-use project for NW Denver Neighborhood

As a step in the feasibility planning process, a due diligence exercise was completed to confirm the local Denver Zoning regulations.  Particular details included:

• Identify the Zoned District of the prospective site
• Validate allowable uses within the district
• Examine particular limitations and conditions for permitted use
• Understand the allowable building area and building height
• Review adjacent zoning districts for potential impact to the site
• Study the Bulk Plane standards applicable to the site
• Research applicable parking requirements

Other aspects of the feasibility and planning study included a site visit to confirm existing site conditions; arranging for a civil / property survey; preliminary review of the building code; and the diagrammatic layout for conceptual floor plans.  Finally the rendering above was generated for the owner to review and use for promotion of the project.

For more infromation, please contact ArcWest Architects.

Proposed Main Library Elevation on HWY 72

The project  will allow for the opportunity to propose a “green” building design practices that will incorporate sustainable features at the inception, such as:

• Sustainable Site Design
• Natural Daylighting
• Locally Sourced Materials
• Recycled Building Materials (High Recycle Content)
• Natural Ventilation and Cooling
• High Efficiency HVAC
• Solar Power
• Sustainable Irrigation Systems using “Gray” Water

Proposed Site and Building Plan

The Team at ArcWest Architects is very hopeful that our design will generate the level of interest that will allow for future discussions leading to our involvement with the project.  As the community of Nederland is  our “backyard”, we would be very excited at the opportunity to work with our mountain neighbor!

The orignal article can be seen by clicking: “Wash. Publisher Moves to New Digs”

Skagit Valley Publishing Office Entrance

• What is the long term strategy?

• What is the vision for the company’s position at the end of this financial storm?

• Tough question: Do you expect to be on point for the rebound that will come?

Nobody knows for certain exactly when this recession will recede, and the economic engines will fire up again.  Optimists have indicated the 3^rd quarter of 2009 or earlier, while others believe that it could be another year or more pushing into 2010.  If our companies want to be on deck for the ebb in which the tide turns, whether its 6 months or 18 months from now, the Time to Plan projects is now.  As dark and gloomy as recent media reports have been, there is no doubt that there will be an economic recovery.  We all want to be in the best place to take advantage of the market when the funds start to flow freely again.

Update: See recent article “Intel to Spend Heavily on U.S. Plants, Calls on Others to Invest” from the Wall Street Journal “... follow (their) it’s strategy of investing during the down turn“

There are numerous sub-topics and side debates to this overarching issue, the main point to make is that the current conditions actually presents a golden opportunity for positioning a company and business model by planning capital projects now.  This is parallel with Warren Buffet’s attitudes about current markets and economic timings. A quote from a NY Times article by Warren Buffet published October 16, 2008:

“A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful. And most certainly, fear is now widespread, gripping even seasoned investors. ….. What is likely, however, is that the market will move higher, perhaps substantially so, well before either sentiment or the economy turns up. So if you wait for the robins, spring will be over.“

How do the current conditions of the economy present a window of opportunity?  The major costs for a new facility project, perhaps obviously, are the site and the building.  With economic conditions as they stand, the first costs for both of the above have never been lower and most likely will continue to shrink.

• Real Estate:  The prospect to negotiate a favorable lease or purchase of a property has never been better.  The market is extremely motivated and great values abound.

• Financials:  Interest rates are at historic lows.  And despite the fallout on Wall Street, there are plenty of banks open for business with cash available to lend to qualified interests.

• Material Costs:  The costs of building and construction materials have ceased to escalate and are moving lower.  They currently are lower than 2 years ago.  For example: “$1.75 Price of an 8-foot stud, the lowest since 1990“

• Fuel and Energy: The depressed market value of crude oil is a bonus too.  Not only does it reduce the associated transportation costs of building materials, it also factors into the construction process and resulting cost.

• Construction Companies:  There are many companies fortunate to be currently involved with large projects that came off the drawing boards years ago.  Just the same, the firm positioned for 2010 is considering now what project they will have in backlog.  Other construction firms are eager to get involved with a “shovel-ready” project next month.

• Architectural and Engineering Firms: A recent AIA study indicated that the billing index for architectural firms was reported at 34.7 in October 2008, 15 points below the median which reflects no change.  Firms providing planning, design and engineering are eager to provide extremely competitive proposals for projects.  ArcWest Architects included!

Timing is everything:  From the moments a capital project may be conceived in the board room to the point that it’s a built reality in operation typically requires no less than 12 to 18 months.  If we conservatively anticipate that the economy will have moved past the recession one year from now, one might deduce that we are already behind the eight ball.

Our optimistic view is that the 2009 glass is half full, and the time to plan is now!

- Robin Adams

Please contact ArcWest Architects to learn more about how we can assist you.

It’s very satisfying to walk into the New Facility, see the final product being utilized as envisioned, and that the employees appear excited and energized by the new space.

Please feel free to contact ArcWest Architects to learn more about our company and services.

- Robin Adams