I cannot stress enough on the 3 basic forces that influence a project, those being Budget-Time-Quality. It is known that you could push for the best outcome of 2 of them, however the third will suffer, or might not go as you expect it. For example if you want good quality and excellent budget, then your timeline will have to be very flexible.
Keep this in mind for your next project, it will make managing your expectations much simpler to understand. :)
I have always wanted to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity overseas, it just seems like the perfect mix of adventure and volunteer work linked to my profession. I have two kids, so going overseas is a bit tricky, but i found the next best thing, volunteering here at home. Habitat for Humanity here in Canada has a program where women raise money and spend one day or multiple days actually doing construction work.
June 5th was my day. Even when I have spent multiple times on construction sites, I have never done the work. My mission for the day: laying down hardwood flooring. I thought I could do it quickly, and oooooh boy I was wrong!!, you do need to understand the material and the machine and develop a technique...new found respect for trade work. By 2 pm I was hurting, muscles I didn't know I had,but I finished the day :).
SOOOO proud of myself, and excited about the family that will enjoy their new home. Habitat for Humanity works based on donations of time and materials, be certain that if you contribute in whichever way you can this is an excellent cause. Thank you for your donation, and allowing me to participate.
Do you ever wonder how a colour suddenly explodes, you start seeing it everywhere, from fashion to interior design. There are an incredible amount of colour variations, some people are luckier than others to perceive more variations, and some are even more sophisticated at selecting variations, if you do not believe me then consult a gemmologists; well, I believe I made my point right there, :).
If you are passionate about colour trend or just like to be ahead of the masses, you might not have to look further than the Pantone® Trend Forecasting (as simple as visiting their website). Every year they choose a Colour of the year, most likely you will "see it soon on a shirt near you". Some colours are more widely accepted than others, some colours are still catching up from previous forecasts. So take a look, consider it, maybe it isn't the colour for you, but now you know.
Pantone® 18-3224 Radiant Orchid - Colour of the year 2014
Pantone® 18-1438 Marsala - Colour of the year 2015
In my recent visit to Florida, (as usual) we took the kids to the parks, which other? Disney World and Universal. This time we decided on Universal alone (Disney was done too many times on previous vacations), and when I mean alone I mean their TWO parks, Universal Studios & Island of Adventures.
As a promoter of design and architecture, you are correct if you think I will judge every building and structure at these parks, but I cannot deny that they are Well done, specially when it comes to scale, these set designers have it down to the detail. The Scale is the play of proportions, for example a mountain or a castle that can be so deceiving to the eyes, they might appear larger or smaller than they actually are. Every corner is designed with abundance of details, I can just visualize the set designer on site telling the artist " we have to get it right, this is not the exact colour!", even when they have done test dozens of times once you are on site and lighting hits it a certain way, well, you have to edit it.
Fabricated Spaces such as extravagant malls, Vegas hotels, and super amusement parks, is something that architects based in the United States do regularly, and lets face it, architecturally speaking it is a young country so they have mastered it. You can read about architects like Jon Jerde or Frederick Law Olmsted and inquire further into these principles of fabricated spaces. Love it or Love to Hate it, as much as I would like to cling to some sort of puritanism within design and architecture, I must say these places can still impress me in their own right. I give them a lot of credit. :)
Hogsmeade, World of Harry Potter
Seuss Landing
Diagon Alley, World of Harry Potter.
