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Feb 6, 2012, 1:36 pm
Got busy over the weekend and added this:
Samuel Alden Swinburne born 2/4/2012
to this:
Charlotte Farrin Swinburne born 10/26/2006 Comment - Like
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Jan 22, 2012, 5:00 pm
I was recently sent a “suggested” floor plan for a renovation project that gave me a good laugh. It was for an old house where rooms opened to each other gracefully and the back parts of the building (not original) contained hallways and many smaller rooms. There was not a big budget. The pla... Comment - Like
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Robert Swinburne - Vermont Architect
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Dec 30, 2011, 12:11 pm
Here is a house I have been working on. I took an image from the sketchup model, added some site photos to create a background saved an image, touched it up a bit in Photoshop and here it is. Comment - Like
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Dec 1, 2011, 12:33 pm
CLOG – the complete construction log for Tiny house.
Caleb and Laura kept a CLOG or Construction Log for their tiny house in Brattleboro.
Plans for it are for sale on HousePlans.com Comment - Like
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Nov 30, 2011, 10:10 am
Anyone can draw up a floor plan right? well….
Drawing a a floor plan is more complicated than most people realize.
Floor plans are a fun but small part of what I do as an architect and involve much more than sketching on graph paper. To create a floor plan, or I should say; while creating a flo... Comment - Like
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Nov 29, 2011, 11:03 am
I am gathering old blog material to sort through in hopes of coming up with a half dozen topics that would make a good set of articles to pitch to my local newspaper. The overall subject would be “Home Design” or something along those lines. Does anyone out there have any suggestions?
Plannin... Comment - Like
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Robert Swinburne - Vermont Architect
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Nov 21, 2011, 3:43 pm
Sometimes it helps me to think about how a plan “lives” by spending some time on it with colored pencils and markers exploring relationships, light, land…. This design is similar to a house I’m working on right now but there are a few crucial differences that represent how I would have deve... Comment - Like
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Nov 17, 2011, 7:31 pm
The idea of architect billing for their services as a percentage of construction cost has, in the past, struck me as inherently unfair but increasingly, I am seeing the merit in that method of compensation.
In my own experience, when building hourly, this leaves the opportunity open to pick and cho... Comment - Like
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Oct 31, 2011, 9:38 am
Bob Borson in his blog “Life of an Architect” touched on the Red Flags subject recently which put me in a grumpy architect mood. I would like to elaborate on his list of red flags. Beware clients who want a very limited set of drawings.
I am often approached by potential clients wanting incom... Comment - Like
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Oct 12, 2011, 10:50 am
What would I like to say to a client who asks: “why should I hire you to design my ______?”
Because you will get a better _____ for the same amount of money if you pay me a small percentage of the money to bring your _____ project to a higher level of perfection than you could achieve on your o... Comment - Like
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Oct 7, 2011, 4:34 pm
I added a page to my website called MA Mod with a few photos from a recent project.
I will be doing a post soon on construction administration – what it is and why you should hire your architect to provide this service Comment - Like
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Oct 3, 2011, 11:14 am
We have a cemetery on our land with two skeletons in it.
This will probably be an excellent source of terror for our kid at some point. We also have the stone foundation of the house where they lived over 100 years ago. The barn foundation is across the road. There are some old rusty sap boiler ... Comment - Like
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Sep 25, 2011, 8:16 am
since high school for anyone interested
I thought I’d write down a bit about my life since high school (over 26 years now) (!) in a very abbreviated form. After high school I spent a year at Bridgeton Academy, a post graduate prep school, taking college level courses simply because I didn’t do... Comment - Like
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Sep 2, 2011, 10:52 am
Peter Q. (q for cute) Puppy, my constant companion over the last decade passed this summer after a year of decline due to a degenerative spinal condition which, thankfully, was painless but resulted in his becoming gradually paraplegic. I spent the last year helping him go outside to take care of h... Comment - Like
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Aug 10, 2011, 12:47 pm
I am looking for a job! For all the usual reasons of course but I’m trying to look at the downturn in the economy (my personal economy) as an opportunity – a fresh start, a reset button, the chance to do something fun. I can’t afford to go back to school to study biology (my next career as ... Comment - Like
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Jul 22, 2011, 10:37 am
I have been thinking a lot about traditional vs. modern home design. These terms are gross oversimplifications and this is the categorization of style issues I like to complain about. In the eyes of the populace it seems that modern still connotes white boxy houses with flat leaky roofs. Traditio... Comment - Like
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Jun 30, 2011, 8:56 am
When I was in high school I spent more time ogling bike catalogs than studying. I was drawn to the art and science of bicycles. I liked riding too and did a fair amount of racing. I subscribed to bike magazines and learned about the Tour de France and the Alps and Pyrenees, form and function, I l... Comment - Like
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May 24, 2011, 11:58 am
Until I have as built construction photos this will have to do. I put the Brattleboro tiny house in context replacing the garage behind Vermont Simple House 1 on sale at houseplans.com. I am readying tiny house for sale there as well. Comment - Like
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May 23, 2011, 7:12 am
What follows is a discussion from Bluetime Collaborative’s Facebook page. For those of you who don’t know, Bluetime is Vermont Architect. It represents the increasingly collaborative nature of running a small architecture business.
Bluetime Collaborative:
I just attended a mini seminar at Bui... Comment - Like
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May 14, 2011, 7:23 am
Here in New England everyone seems to like to build neo-Greek revival. The original Greek Revival was referencing the original Greek. The first revival was far away from the original in form as well as geographical location and had its own set of clearly defined rules set out in builders guide book... Comment - Like
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May 8, 2011, 10:27 pm
Building Science gives me a headache.
I read the usual sites: Greenbuildingadvisor.com, building science.com, plus a few others, I attend seminars, I get all the proper magazines, I belong to the correct organizations such as the USGBC. I’m a good little architect. But I am confused. The more... Comment - Like
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May 2, 2011, 11:31 am
Here is where I can really embarrass myself! I grew up in rural Maine in a rambling house and barn that my father built in the 70′s We moved there from coastal Maine when I was 8 years old. The new place had 40 acres of land which was fairly flat and included several fields where the topsoil had... Comment - Like
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Apr 20, 2011, 2:48 pm
Coffee with an Architect is a blog that has really gotten rolling. Why is it suddenly everybody does this way better than me? In any case what caught my eye recently was some lovely photos of the rural studio work at Auburn University So I followed the link and found a treasure trove of beautiful i... Comment - Like
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Apr 6, 2011, 7:30 pm
Now Taking orders for the plans for the Brattleboro Tiny House. The size is 16′ x 22′ with a sleeping loft. Super insulated double stud construction using advanced framing techniques. An excellent do-it-yourself project. Replace your old garage with something that can make an income as a re... Comment - Like
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Mar 23, 2011, 10:21 am
Life is complicated. We all long for a return to some point in our lives when things were simpler. So along the lines of what it is like to be an architect in rural Vermont I thought I’d write up a summary of what my life is like without getting too personal of course.
In 2000, my wife an I wer... Comment - Like
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Mar 11, 2011, 8:03 pm
I’m working on a new project – a tiny house in Brattleboro Vermont. The house will be about 320 square feet and will replace an existing garage and serve as a rental unit. The goal of the owners is to build this this for under 30k. Obviously, that includes doing the general contracting themse... Comment - Like
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Feb 26, 2011, 9:09 am
More and more I am using 3-d modeling to completely figure out stairs. Even with my ” incredible spatial cognitive abilities” I find this method invaluable as well as a time saver. Comment - Like
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Feb 21, 2011, 11:44 am
I am a big fan of tiny houses. When I was a teenager I built a 12 x 16 cabin on my parents land and lived in it during the summers for more than a decade. It is still standing thanks to a tree that grew up right next to it. My mother in law is a fan as well and turned me on to the TinyHouseblog we... Comment - Like
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Feb 14, 2011, 9:22 am
Charlotte (age 4) and I did some painting this weekend and made a brilliant mess which we cleaned up before mom got home.
Maybe this will be the year when I get back to my art in earnest, develop some ideas and maybe go big!?! Comment - Like
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Feb 10, 2011, 3:53 pm
This is a photo from a Greek Revival I designed and built as a carpenter on a crew back in 1997 or so. There are lots of hidden messages inside the walls – I always carried a sharpie in my toolbelt. Plus 3 foot high letter on the roof under the shingles that say “Sean is a Nerd” Comment - Like
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Feb 7, 2011, 5:08 pm
Here in Vermont we really see it all when it comes to what rains down from the sky and onto our roofs. Rain, snow, sleet, freezing rain, frogs, tree limbs. It seems that the severity of what our roofs deal with has increased in recent years. This winter I have observed lots of snow rakes in actio... Comment - Like
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Jan 29, 2011, 8:08 pm
I am working on schematic design for a nicely mod house with a modest budget.
At this stage I am trying out ideas and trying to pull together a whole package to a uniform degree of resolution. In the old days this is where I would be making models left and right out of chipboard and doing sketche... Comment - Like
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Jan 21, 2011, 9:21 am
Fine Homebuilding magazine has run a lovely and concise article by Martin Holladay this month (March 2011 actually) that covers the options for a small, low heat load home (my favorite type to design) What I like about this article is that it is simple and clean enough that I can ask clients to rea... Comment - Like
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Dec 13, 2010, 12:28 pm
I have started working on the Perry Road porches. Freezing my butt off and that sort of thing. But it is fun to do a bit of carpentry again. I will post pics here as things progress.
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This is yesterdays (1-4) photo. I spent today finishing up details before metal roofing goes on.... Comment - Like
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Nov 29, 2010, 4:41 pm
I have been rather absent from both this blog and from my office lately. Fall is a time of “busy” for me. The first cold snap sends me scurrying for my chain saw when I realize I have made little headway towards getting the winter wood supply cut split and stacked. Typically, I fell some tree... Comment - Like
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Nov 12, 2010, 12:27 pm
This from Duo Dickenson of CORA about the relevance of architectural education. (or lack thereof)
It is clear to me that the architectural profession’s cultural irrelevance (and thus mass unemployment) is born of intellectual distortion caused by an exclusive internal focus and “let them eat ca... Comment - Like
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Nov 7, 2010, 7:39 pm
Short and anecdotal, this one. Perhaps I need a new category – TMI (too much information)
I live in a small, poorly insulated house with a wood stove for heat. The wood stove is rather small and fits in a stone fireplace. The stove is also fairly new and efficient but really doesn’t hold a f... Comment - Like
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Oct 28, 2010, 8:52 am
Here is an interesting lesson to learn if I can figure out what it is. Perhaps writing this blog entry will help.
I tend to attract the sort of client who wants a 2500 square foot house with porches, hardwood flooring, granite countertops and an attached garage and wants it for $275 K. If they do... Comment - Like
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Oct 25, 2010, 8:26 pm
I’m probably shooting myself in the foot here because this company is sort of on my turf. Unfortunately they are too far away for me to go work for. Connor Homes in Middlebury Vermont has a “pre-engineered and component building system” that is very appealing to me as delivery process for a ... Comment - Like
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Oct 15, 2010, 11:42 am
Last night I attended a tour at the Putney School in nearby Putney VT to get some continuing education credits and to see some of the new buildings from their architect’s perspectives. The tour itself was rather slow but having my daughter with me for the first half hour livened things up a bit. ... Comment - Like
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Oct 4, 2010, 3:34 pm
I whipped up this as a graphic logo for the Brattleboro Outing Club logo contest.
I am a member – nordic skiing – and train on the BOC trails. Comment - Like
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Oct 4, 2010, 3:19 pm
Brute Force Collaborative
A well done blog with lots of good pictures
Public toilets and Passive Houses!
“It is our goal to advance the green discussion beyond ‘sustainable’ carpets and bike racks – and moving it towards sensible, intelligent green design. This will manifest itself throug... Comment - Like
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