TEDxTriangleNC

Last weekend I had the opportunity to and Independently organized TED event. My first introduction the Technology Entertainment and Design conference was this Josh Prince-Ramus speech. I’ve compiled a short list of my favorite speakers, and thoughts:

Conversing with Kyran before the first speaker.

Hugh Hollowell: Love Wins Ministries

Hugh Hollowell is founder of Love Wins Ministries. Hugh makes a compelling argument about chronic homelessness, and the root cause of this tragedy being a lack of relationships. This concept is the basis for his work, Love Wins Ministries. Their work with the chronically homeless is based upon forming long-lasting relationships with homeless individuals. By building trust, support structures, and the kinds of relationships most of us take for granted, Hugh assures that when his friends do work their way up from homelessness that they never return.

Christopher Gergen: Life Entrepeneur

Christopher Gergen is coauthor of the book Life Entrepreneurs. Gergen gave a quick synopsis of ideas covered in his book, Life Entrepeneurs, which takes a look at life as an entrepreneur. Instead of blindly living our lives, Christopher advocates a planned-out and willful approach to ones entire life. Taking calculated risks and moving through every aspect of ones lives in a more intentional way. The book is a series of interviews and stories of successful entrepreneurs focused on what they all have in common, and what we can learn from them about living our lives with greater willfulness.

Joel Wiggins: Men Standing in the Gap

Joel Wiggins is founder of Men Standing in the Gap. Joel’s presentation was one of the most inspiring speeches I’ve heard in my life. He speaks as a man who has had tremendous business success, and yet found himself at a turning point in his life not knowing how to be a father and husband. Joel found a calling in leading other men in the process of learning himself how to be a man.

Lunch outside at the RTP Headquarters

After a wonderful lunch catered by Whole Foods, Kyran and I stayed for a couple more lectures before leaving for the day. All in all, it was an exciting morning filled with great speakers. I’ll leave you with this mind map, courtesy of Andy Hunt. Andy gave an early morning talk on the importance of keeping a notebook of ideas.

The next great idea that changes the world could be yours! Write it down before you forget!

Mind Map by Andy Hunt

Thanksgiving day two… We had lunch yesterday at one of my favorite places down in Morehead City, Sanitary Fish Market, with the extended family. After lunch, we got to hang out around the house and at the beach and closed the evening out with even more food over at the Deadwyler’s place. Tons of great food, lots of great family time, and there are many many more photos to post, but that is for another day. Cheers!

I once again had the opportunity to attend the Buildsense annual picnic out at Randy and Lori’s farm this weekend. It was an absolute blast! Also present was Randy’s partner Erik Van Mehlman whose new firm Studio B Architecture shares space with Buildsense. Erik recently completed a very cool Habitat house which was published in the News & Observer.

As always, Lori was a fantastic host with lots of good food & drink. It’s nice to get away from suburbia for a little while and be reminded of how people who don’t live on a cul de sac spend their time. (I’m also hoping it serves as an impetus for my wife and I to get our vegetable garden really rolling for next year.)

In doing a little research today I came across an interesting article in the Washington Post about Architects, and their fees. Being in the field of Architecture I have a pretty good idea of what most Architects cost, and where my firm lies within that spectrum… but there is one consistent theme I have found: Most clients don’t know what to expect for fees, and they don’t understand how we determine our fees.

If you shop around, you will find that the standard percentage fee varies from firm to firm, as do the standard services offered. In the Washington area, the standard fee can be anywhere from 8 to 18 percent of construction cost.

There is a lot more in the article which gives a good, albeit brief, look at what Architect’s do, and what we cost.

Triangle Modernist Houses has teamed up with area Realtors to bring yet another recent piece of Modernist Residential Architecture to the public, and I have again worked with the folks over at NewRaleigh to put together an article complete with 60 photographs attempting to capture the essence of the McCowan residence. The article can be found here.

I have also uploaded all the photos here, for your enjoyment and comment. The tour was a wonderful experience, and it’s something I hope TMH keeps doing. These brief tours have provided me a unique opportunity to write about architecture, and I’d like to take it further though I’m not sure how just yet. Being taught by several very talented architects who are also writers while at NC State’s College of Design may be a factor in my enjoyment of writing about Architecture. In fact, on my shelf I have 3 books by 2 of my old professors that I refer to quite regularly for inspiration and clarity at different points in the design process.

As a bonus, Saturday was the first time in recent memory that I met multiple new people in a non-work setting in quite some time…. It was also the first time I’ve had an opportunity to eat at Elmo’s Diner since I left BuildSense! (For the record, I highly recommend the Cinnamon-Apple and Cream Cheese stuffed French Toast if you go. They do serve breakfast anytime.)