Everyday tools, new books, and inspiration. We spend the day designing, drawing, documenting, commuincating, and learning. These aren’t activities confined to Architecture, so feel free to see what has sparked joy for our team.
Art Tools
Kuretake Felt Tip Brush Pens
I have tested and used a lot of different pens. Hundreds. This set is my favorite for drawing. The wider brushes have enourmous line variation. The thin ones can be perfect for shading and texturing. They’re copic, so they become permanent under watercolors. I use the #2 for practically all of the inking ahead of a painting.
Kolinsky Sable Watercolor Brushes
Everyone paints a little bit differently. I feel like I paint, like I draw. Close to the paper, focused on the linework and then the shading. Kolinsky sable is the hair from a is a siberian weasel, and the rounded tips hold a decent amount of water/pigment and can taper into a nice thin line when needed.
Pentel GraphGear 1000
My go-to and favorite drawing pencil. Weighty enough to be precise, but balanced perfectly. Great for both loose sketching and detail drafting. I use the 0.5mm which seems to give that ideal blend of always-feeling-sharp and not-going-to-break.
This isn’t going to carry in a pocket, but it is permanentlly sitting on my desk.
Ceramic Watercolor Palette
Doesn’t need to be big, but does need to be heavy (so it sits still). I like this one specifically because both the round wells and the rectangle wells are sloped, so you can see the color variation within the pigments. It also helps mix and water down colors and keep a good visual on what’s happening.
The little starter palette is all most folks will need. I spend a year curating the colors within these, and trade them out when my personality or projects need something fresher. The really sloppy looking pans in the photo are ones I filled myself from other Daniel Smith watercolor tubes.
Books and Media
Pretty Good House by Michael Maines
We love the Passive House standard, and aim to meet that with every build. But HUGE gains can be made by
Pocket Atlas of Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky
Incredible map illustrations, and lovely travel writing, without the travels.
Designed to Perform by Tom Dollard
Great explainations and definitions of not just why, but HOW a high performance building achieves incremental benefits. This is a great read for folks to understand many of the strategies we pick and choose from to implement regularly.
Tools and Gadgets
Kreg Pocket Hole Jig
This tool entirely changed the way I build projects at home. It deftly and easily helps drill a semi-hidden angled hole and perfectly helps countersink a screw. Build clean corners, easily tackle deck railings and fences, strengthen wobbly old furniture! (There are a handful of different varieties, so read up on the style and type that best fits the type of project you work on. I have the 320, which requires another set of clamps, but can go most anywhere.)
Hang Em Fast Joist Hanging Tool
I laughed at this at first. Everyone has a trick for hanging joists. But I was quickly wn over by how much faster this was than any other trick I had ever used. Layout in pencil, then run down and install all of the hangers with ease. Perfectly aligned and without fussing with the level and tape.
Lego Heavy Duty Excavator
Lego has a incredible collection of Architecture kits, with landmarks from around the world. But my heart is still with the construction vehicles. They have a smaller mobile crane kit, and this larger Technic one, which is a really fun build.
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