Strongwork Architecture

Site visit today out to former farmland on the edge of the 'burbs to see the Beaverton Cooper Mountain Aquifer Storage/Recovery and Reservoir project. Most of the architectural work is complete minus the supply chain casualty light fixtures and etc. Simple functional buildings but still fun to see the renderings come to life.

Once again a project site visit took us to a pretty not-to-shabby part of the region. The Warrenton Water Treatment Plant (located near Seaside, OR) has a leaky roof and we went out to take a look. One potential culprit is the clear cut surrounding the facility. Less trees = more wind = potentially more roof woes. Not a bad view though.

Quick site visit on a sunny day to this little old waste water pump station in Eugene, OR. I like to imagine it looks the same today as it did in 1964 when it was built. I don't know, there's some art here I think.

I wonder how many people walk or ride on the adjacent bike path and never give a second thought to this building silently pumping the p**p away in the background. I see you buddy. I see you.

More progress on the Duke St Triplex. Framing almost complete and trusses scheduled to go up today. The ROOFers are waiting patiently for their turn. Construction by Cronen Building Co.

Yesterday we met for our monthly in-person staff get-together, lunch, and design session. Justin presented some of his inspiring artwork, we ate some good Vietnamese food, and got out from behind our screens, sketched, and played paper dolls. All that with a sweet view of the muddy and full Willamette River.

Site visit last week to a Clean Water Services facility in Hillsboro. Always cool to see critical but "hidden" infrastructure. Bonus was checking out a couple unique vehicles.

First off, this cute little cart, after being repurposed from a life hauling baguettes around 1950s Italy, is now used by plant operators to navigate the underground Utilidors at the treatment facility.

Second, I don't know what this big yellow monster does, but I wouldn't want to get caught in it's jaws. Apparently named after Owen Wilson's character in The Royal Tennebaums, the Wildcat 510 means business, although personally I prefer the 610 model.

Happy New Year Everyone! I hope you all had a restful and relaxing holiday season and are ready to dive in and tackle all those new year's resolutions.

One of my goals for 2022 is to focus.

Increasingly I find myself a casualty of our distracted society.
- When I'm on a Teams call it is a challenge to not look over at the new email on my other screen
- When I'm hanging with the kids my phone is burning a hole in my pocket begging to be glanced at
- When I should be sleeping I'm lying awake thinking about all the things I have to do
- When I should dedicate a solid focused hour to a task, it turns into short disrupted and unfocused periods of shoddy work.

Potential solutions:
- Regular mindfulness meditation
- Follow the advice given by Cal Newport in his book Deepwork
- Email triage and the non-negotiable weekly schedule
- Quit social media
- Get outside (leave the devices at home)
- Turn it off! (self explanatory?)

Curious to know if any of you have any other advice on how to stay focused in our crazy mixed up distracted world?

After almost 5 years of design, permitting, and pandemic-ing, the Duke St Triplex is coming out of the ground. Super excited to continue working with Cronen Building Co. as this neat little multi-family housing project comes to life.

3 deadlines in the past 7 days! I am thankful for projects to keep us busy, fantastic superhero employees, and a holiday on deck. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Very cool to see this ADU conversion come to life. Cronen Building Co. did a great job transforming it into a cozy modern dwelling.