November 15, 2010 - Sometimes it takes "out of the box" thinking to come up with just the right solution. Since the inception of the project, we had the Creative Co-Op building to the south of our studio. Since we have 3 acres to our south, and just a 1/2 acre to the north (ie. in front of our current building), it seemed to make the most sense to put it in the back. For the past couple of weeks we have been battling with this choice. What seemed to make so much sense…
November 2, 2011 - It is hard to believe that almost a month has passed since we did our last blog entry on the project. Over the past few weeks we have made significant progress. Earlier this year there was a glut of shipping containers and Hi-Cube Cargo Containers (Ocean Worthy Quality) were running about $1900 each for units that were just 5-6 years old. A variety of market forces has turned the container business upside down, and for the past 3-4 months, the price of containers…
October 8, 2010 - The Woodlands, Texas - this afternoon we got a call from the Permitting Department in Conroe, TX informing us that the Fire Marshall and County Engineer signed off on the building plans we submitted on September 6th. With the 4 permits in hand (Normal0falsefalsefalseEN-USX-NONEX-NONEMicrosoftInternetExplorer4/* Style Definitions */table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-priority:99;mso-style-qformat:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in…
August 30, 2010 - Work on the Creative Co-op building continues at a brisk pace. Last week we reached a significant milestone on the project - We completed the technical plans and drawings for the building and our project Engineer - Ron Saikowski - signed off on the drawings. Wally Westbrook the President of Wally Westbrook Designs, was there for us every step of the way. For those who have not gone through the process, I will share with you what we learned. This phase of…
May 18, 2010 - When our architects first mentioned using cellulose as the primary insulation for the Creative Co-Op, I have to admit it was not even on my radar screen. I have a great deal of trust in their material choices, but the idea of using recycled newspaper for serious insulation alluded me. I grew up in Brooklyn, NY in a bungalow style house built in 1922. When built, most of these homes had no insulation in the walls and attic whatsoever. Cutting holes in the walls and pumping…