Besides going to museums, trade shows, seeking out wonderful buildings to study and appreciate, architects tend to like to cook. Having spent most of the last 7 years living and cooking in Italy I decided to write a couple of cookbooks. Check them out here:
http://booksbyhelmmelacini.blogspot.it/
You might also like my book on how to use PowerPoint to produce your own book.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Saturday, October 13, 2012
The addresses below give direct access to the book locations on Amazon, no need to search.
In the US, unless you are an Amazon prime member with free shipping, order it from this site as it is the one that benefits us the most due to our own efforts at advertising.
Otherwise use any of the fallowing Amazon sites depending on your location:
http://tinyurl.com/9cs5byj United States
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Buy Our Cookbook
We love to cook so we decided to make a book. Check it out, it´s all about Italian food.
Search on Amazon for CAMP COOKING ITALIAN STYLE
It is a book born from the idea that good food can be cooked
even while camping, but it is not just for campers. Below you will find the sites where you can
order it. You will also find the Kindle version.
In the US unless you are an Amazon prime member with free
shipping, order it from this site as it is the one that benefits the author
most due to his own efforts at advertising.
Otherwise use any of the fallowing Amazon
sites depending on your location:
www.amazon.com United States
www.amazon.co.uk United Kingdom
www.amazon.de Germany
www.amazon.fr France
www.amazon.it Italy
www.amazon.es Spain
Tuesday, June 05, 2012
Working in Two Countries
How we work in
California as a company split between Italy and California:
The most important thing we have to offer is an experienced
team with many years of combined experience working as architects, contractors
and developers on a wide variety of architecture and construction projects in
the US and Italy. This experience allows
us to be fully aware of all aspects of architecture and construction including
budget considerations, building codes, project management, and most importantly
the needs of our clients.
In particular our
offices offer the following advantages:
Experience and knowledge of both
design and construction and an acute awareness of both the functional needs of
our clients and their budget.
We offer a savings of time in the
development of our clients projects because we can offer a nearly 24 hour
service, work may be started in California and continued in Italy while
everyone in California is sleeping.
By utilizing our facilities and
people in Italy we can generally do the same work at a lower cost.
Our multicultural training and
experience means we also offer the best of American and Italian design.
We can give our clients access to
the latest in Italian design and products shipped directly from Italy for cost
savings and uniqueness.
Who do our clients
work with and how is their project accomplished:
Our clients work directly with a licensed and highly
experienced architect. He or she will be
the project architect the client´s direct contact throughout the project. The project architect provides the personal
client contact, design input, practical onsite work and coordination with
planning and building departments and with the construction contractor.
We make full use of
the latest electronic technologies to virtually eliminate the distance between
our offices, and give the client the best possible service as well as make it
easy to understand and visualize the project.
Some of these technological advantages include:
High speed internet services on
both ends.
Internet based telephone service
allowing free calling between Italy and the US.
Video conferencing
Cloud computing, that is making
documents available offsite for access anywhere anytime.
Setting up project specific web
sites.
Email, faxing, and scanning of
documents and sketches.
3D models of most projects,
including renderings and as needed video animations.
3d model placement in photos of
the actual environment
We use the latest version of one
of the most sophisticated CAD programs, giving us the ability to make BIM
(building information models) and do various animations including solar
modeling.
Digital photography of sites,
existing buildings and use of such services as Google Earth for instant aerial
surveys.
We have the latest and complete
office software from Microsoft, including Microsoft Project which allows us to
make a complete project schedule, including also when requested by the client a
complete construction schedule from start up to move in.
We have accounts with local
printing companies that allow us to transmit CAD drawings directly to their
printers. They can then make prints and
deliver them to the client within their normal delivery time schedules – in a
rush this can be within a couple of hours or less.
We make pdf files of individual
drawings, 3D renderings, documents, and complete project plans which can be
visualized on any computer even carried on one’s tablet. 3D animations can also be viewed with common
software programs.
What is the process
of design and production drawing:
During the first design meeting with the client we begin to develop
a written set of notes and a program outlining the client’s needs. In the case of home design we ask the clients
questions about how they live, their family makeup, their likes and dislikes
about design and also about the way they live, that is how they intend to use
the spaces we design. We ask them to
give us their ideas about design perhaps giving us pictures as examples of what
they like. From this information we
begin to piece together all the elements of the new project. And then we begin with just paper and pen or
pencil to sketch out the general layout of the new project. Working back and forth between the two
offices and the client a very rough design is developed.
This is followed with a client meeting to determine if we
are going in the right direction. The
work presented in this second meeting might be as loose as simple bubble
diagrams, traffic flow sketches, and notes about the effect of the environment,
sun wind etc. From this meeting we can
then proceed to refine our ideas based upon input from the client. The project architect will then work with the
other designers in the firm to refine and develop sketches. This process of meeting with the client and
development of the design continues until the client is fully satisfied that
the project meets his needs. During this
initial process we will also transition from simple hand sketches, which are
still the easiest way to begin a design, to more refined work with our CAD
program. At the same time the design
will be done in three dimensions and 3D models presented.
During this initial design process the client’s contractor
or other consultants may also get involved so that their input can be
considered at the earliest affective stage.
Once the initial design is settled final design drawings are prepared in
CAD. The final design is then presented
to the client for approval. Any final
changes are made and then the construction drawings are started. Most of production drawing work is done in
Italy by the principal architects or under their direct supervision. Once the final construction drawings are complete
they are transmitted to California electronically, printed and distributed as
needed. The local project architect
submits the plans to planning and building departments for approval. Building department corrections when
available are sent by fax or email to Italy where corrections are made.
Also note that since all drawings are digital, that is they
are CAD drawings, they are easily sent to the various consultants for their use
during the entire construction document process.
Finally, consider that our experience, ability to understand
our client´s needs and our ability to express those needs in a successful
building project is our most important asset.
We offer the combination of California and European design uniqueness,
cost savings in lower fees and fast project turn-around time.
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