PSC

Parkhill, Smith and Cooper, also known as PSC, is an engineering and architectural design group located all around Texas. Our class got to visit the location in Lubbock, Texas. This location was founded in 1945 shortly after World War I. Today, PSC has come a long ways from its beginning and now has locations in Amarillo, El Paso, Midland/Odessa, Las Cruces and Lubbock. It has grown from 3 people to 250+ people current day. Today, it is known as an amazing green or environmental friendly firm.

            PSC is not only an amazing company; the two buildings they have here in Lubbock are beautiful and green at the same time.  We started off in the oldest building, meeting in the conference room, where our guide explained to us some of the things we would be seeing throughout our tour. Our guide knew what he was talking about because he was the former IIDA/ASID Texas-Oklahoma chapter president.  The first building was beautiful and well worth the trip.  But across the street, the first green roof in West Texas awaited us.

            Our guide gave us some amazing facts about both the first and the second buildings that belonged to PSC and its workers. He told us that the newer and greener building lead to less sick day in those who worked there over those who worked in the older, original building.  Everywhere in the building where you could see the greener changes, all of them had explanations nearby that help you understand how much effort it took to make the building LEED certified. Even though my class didn’t get to go up on the Green Roof we were able to see cameras that showed us what it looked like (even though in dry and unpredictable November weather did not allow us to see the roof’s full beauty.)  We ended at the best place to end, which was overlooking the grass parking lot that helped with rain and flooding, and of course getting to see the LEED certified seal in person!

Learning Lunch

Learning Lunch

This year the keynote speaker at the IIDA Design Expo Learning Lunch was Brian Graham. This was not Brian Graham’s first year visiting Texas Tech. Last year, he came and gave a very interesting presentation. This year was another excellent presentation about his design process and how the details can affect the larger picture. But before we get into his design process, let me give you some background information on Brian Graham.

Brian Graham was born and raised in Southern California. He received a BFA in Interior Architectural Design from California State University, Long Beach. He currently resides and works in San Francisco. Some of his most famous work is with the company Knoll. Mr. Graham has created an amazing collection that can be used in many different spaces, but the most popular product and what he is known for are his case goods.

                As Mr. Graham was speaking about his design ideas, a lot of it really resonated with me. He went through his process which included drawing out his many ideas in a sketch. One thing that Prof. Collier always seems to harp on is consistency, which Mr. Graham restated that idea by saying that if you were to mess up and make a straight line wavy you might as well keep the other lines wavy to keep the idea consistent and make it flow better.

                One thing that I was truly amazed by was Brian Graham’s design process. It was truly magical to see, in his eyes, how he started with just a simple idea or statement and come up with a well thought out, innovative design. He even brought samples of his chairs with him, and as he was talking about them, you could see his eye for detail and making the simple idea of a chair more sustainable, and ready for use in this fast moving, design changing world.

Cork Flooring

In the above picture which flooring is cork?

That is a trick question! Both are! This picture shows the variety of this material! Instead of just using the material in its natural state, it can be stained to look like real wooden floors.

 Cork is an impermeable piece of bark that can be transformed into everything including wine bottle stopper, to pillow and of course flooring. Cork Flooring is new and innovative flooring that is becoming more and more of a trend in residential flooring.  Cork Flooring is a great substitute for wooden floors. It is a strong, durable substance that comes from the bark of a tree.  Cork floors come in a different variety of shapes and sizes. They come in planks and square tiles.

But of course, cork does have its downfalls. Because it is a natural element, when lying down a cork floor room must be left because the flooring does expand and contract in certain environments. Much like the gentleman who gave us a tour of the Leftwich Chapman Flooring store located in Lubbock, TX, said that they typically bring the floors to the house a few days before they install it, in order for the material to breathe and get accustomed to its new environment.   Cork floors will also fade with natural sunlight over time because it does have natural pigments that are sensitive to light. Cork floors and wooden floors are both natural materials therefore they do have very similar care instructions.  Natural floors require sweeping, mopping and occasionally vacuuming. Natural floors also seem to look better with age, after a few years of having cork floors they look will change looks.

Source:

http://www.efloors.com/cork-flooring.asp