As architects we do a lot of different things. It’s more than making drawings.
As an example, in August I finished the permit drawings for
- a commercial project in San Francisco,
- an accessory dwelling unit in Sunnyvale,
- the conversion of an existing garage into an accessory dwelling unit in Oakland.
I also evaluated a property in San Francisco for the feasibility of adding an accessory dwelling unit.
I joined a client and his other team members for a meeting with the San Francisco Building and Fire Departments about some code issues we face in trying to legalize some unpermitted dwellings in a building which is considered an historic resource.
I did the research for and wrote a feasibility study for tearing down an existing house and building a new house in it’s place.
I worked on the design and drawings for
- a remodel to a house in Hayward,
- a project to legalize an unpermitted in-law unit in San Francisco.
I also met with 5 potential clients and, consequently, wrote 5 proposals.
As I recently posted, I also came to grips with the impact of the new 2016 Energy Code on how buildings are going to be built now. I have been working on creating new standard details for the kind of typical construction that most of my projects use.
And I haven’t even mentioned the projects that are under construction.
August was a very busy month for me with three projects having deadlines at the end of the month (which is unusual). Normally, I try to time things so that I don’t have concurrent deadlines. But sometimes it can’t be avoided.
This week, we will be applying for permits for the commercial project in San Francisco and the ADU in Sunnyvale. Later this month we will apply for permits for the project in Hayward, and, possibly, the in-law legalization project in San Francisco.
Tomorrow I am restarting an accessory dwelling project in Oakland which has been on hold for the last 18 months. The image above was created about 18 months ago just before the project was put on hold. I’m eager to see this one built.
This is what an architect does!
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