. . . ECOLIEBHABITAT . . . is the creation of Dan Liebermann, teacher and extraordinary organic architect. A friend worked for him on a house, and when it didn't win easy approval for permit, Dan's approach was to fight the building officials. But consider the outstanding results and the dedication to teaching and pro bono service, and the picture is so positive the combativeness must be worth it.

Suspended ceilings were a great mystery. Are. So several searches later came up with a Salt Lake City resource, and contacted Armstrong.

A potential ceiling or wall finish material turns out to be more than the budget a current project can stand. Panels for the ceiling would be $51,000. A four by eight foot panel of the least costly material would be a little over $400, and 32 panels would be needed to make up a $13,000 minimum order of 1000 sq. ft. Wall facing for the total project is approximately 7000 sq. ft., $91,000.

A digression is DSA Architects straw bale with research into stressed skin. Alusion is a quirky aluminum foam product that is mainly used decoratively, not structurally. Green Home Building has a good page on manufactured systems such as SIPS.

Results of "curved building panel modular foam" are not very good. This page gives some general ideas of curved architectural panels, and this page, Galileo, specifically calls for sandwich panels for this, but unfortunately it is European. Loxley provides many related solutions, but it is very difficult to find a real product for a low-budget project since the company is offshore. ThermaSpan residential has a metal and foam profile that matches imaginative ideas of colleagues of what a panel should be, but there is no picture of a curved panel, and the supplier is offshore. If the project were huge, then Radome might be the answer. Kalwall is a product that might be the answer, a real product that offers curves and light transmission. It has a person where the project is located, a spec, and systems applicable to walls and roofs. Todco can do almost anything in a curved panel, but apparently on a high budget. One of the approaches in mind at the outset of search was corrugated or honeycomb kraft.

Search for "building panel modular foam" casts a wide net. Here are some of the results. An Australian firm offers panels for structural concrete applications, Unibuild, with US application. The National Park Service uses modular construction for collection storage inside historic buildings or in separate outside structures and offers many pointers in this Conserve-O-Gram. Sustainable Building Sourcebook provides an overview of structural wall panels and green considerations such as molded expanded polystyrene (MEPS) are "acceptable insulation or an alternative that has no ozone-depleting chemicals must be used. Additionally, waferboard, OSB [oriented strand board], sheetrock and/or siding need to be used as facings....COST: $1.75 to $2.75 per square foot or higher (material only). This can be slightly higher than conventional framing costs." Vesta Builders, Inc., a residential contractor serving a specific local area provides solid guidelines for details and allowances. Structall is a typical panel manufacturer of a patented insulated panel. None of these systems lend themselves to curved walls, so try a different search.

Harrumph! has a brilliant post on Fourth Street. The deserted farms are worth a tour.

Goethean thought is a theme of Waldorf schools or Steiner or … The Trench is confusewd confused. However, it is worth noting the writing of Steve Talbott on the subject, To Explain or Portray?

Here are the pictures of the TransAmerica Pyramid shadow taken on the actual day of the solstice by another, June 21, 2003.

In gnomon land, there is a report to a co-worker as follows:

July 7, 2003

The more I work on the gnomon, the more needs to be done. For example, it might be a good idea to measure monuments relative to center of the Pyramid, and then graph against time. Then there might be a basis for correction.



The pictures you sent are quite something. Do you have a CD for them so that I can post on web with others? Lighting conditions on the solstice for conventional photographs, June 21, 2003, were much clearer than the day after for digital photographs, June 22, and film also has more resolution, but main reason to keep the digital photographs is the record of time when the observation was made.

As to the Coptic eye, I did look for the Great Seal on the web and have a quote from greatseal.com below. I also wonder if instead of the TransAmerica Pyramid, the Great Pyramid stood in the same place somehow, would the shadow actually clear the base?

Reverse

In the zenith of an unfinished pyramid is an eye in a triangle surrounded with a golden glory. Over the eye are the words Annuit Coeptis. On the base of the pyramid the numerical letters MDCCLXXVI, and underneath, the motto Novus Ordo Seclorum.

Visit AkuAku for scene of horse grazing in the ruins of 80% completed and abandoned hotel somewhere way far away.

Some solstice gnomon pictures are up. These are pictures of the shadow of the TransAmerica Pyramid on Columbus Avenue and later, Hotaling Place. Pictures are from the 22nd, and orange marks are observations from the 21st.

So there are words and sort-of words.

Brooklyn Bridge Hard to Topple, see cryptome, via newthings.

So the observations take place, beginning 11:55am PDT and continuing through 12:20pm on Columbus Avenue, noon in the middle of the street. Paint orange circles indicating the tip of the TransAmeica Pyramid.

Technique is to stand in shadow, approximately two feet. At the penumbra, where the shadow of observer’s head emerges from the shadow of the tip, mark. Verify previous observations, and another observer questions whether they line up.

1pm, stand opposite fourth support of the pyramid, its center. Other observer photographs position and verifies pyramid shadow extends up the side of 500 Washington buildings. 1:10 to 1:20pm, make two observations on Hotaling.

Columbus Avenue is a good bet for observing the gnomon represented by the TransAmerica Pyramid during the winter months. Say 10am.

Here’s to three square miles of Berkeley and Oakland hills after the fire, complete in one page.

When there’s a post to Trenches, watch out. Lenedra Carroll in The Architecture of All Abundance writes,

“He is wise who sees action in inaction and inaction in action,” the dream voice [an owl’s] had said.

and

Remember that you are an artist.
Know that you are more than the things that happen to you.
Always make space for magic to happen.

If an architect makes space, and anybody can be an architect, Carroll is a good, intuitive place to start. Now on to professionalism, even when it’s at the earliest stages.

Olympic Stadium concept. For whatever reason, the local museum looks more like a box.

Merriam-Webster defines gnomon as the pin of sundial. A tall building such as the TransAmerica Pyramid can serve this purpose, provided there is a marker of some kind on the ground indicating the shadow measurement at a specific time of day. If the shadow aligns with the marker, the time of day should match the previous time of day when the marker was set. Because the TransAmerica Pyramid is so tall, the behavior of the “instrument” is particularly dynamic compared to an ordinary sundial from the vantage of the observer. All bets are off in foggy weather and during an earthquake.