Ho Ho Ho and welcome to the end of the year!

Yes I know the attention span at this time of year is very limited and what we are all generally short of is TIME.

So I will make this short and intentionally lightweight.

Obviously with the break that so many people have over the holiday period, there is a mad rush from late October to get as much done as possible ‘before Christmas’.

Personally what I enjoy doing during that frenetic period is taking small moments to “stop and smell the roses” (or zinc – if you read my September Blog).

So, in the spirit of ‘reflection’ –  here is my brief ‘moment’ on my first year of blogging.

Actually I didn’t really start until May and begun with a little piece on cinema – not architecture. And I couldn’t really go much further before I had to write about my idol Frank Lloyd Wright (June).

It was astounding to visit his Hagan House (Kentuck Knob above) in Pennsylvania a few years back and to be reminded that he was 86 when he designed that house! He died when he was 92 and his Guggenheim in New York City  was opened 6 months later. He worked on that and other projects right up until his death.

The next two blogs were really an attack on volume builders like Metricon.

Obviously from an architect’s perspective I was really keen on getting across my thoughts on the value of superior design, documentation and construction management; not to mention great customer service. It is questionable as to whether you receive any of those from your local volume builder!

Surprisingly the most read blog was the September one ‘Stop and Smell the Zinc’; surprising really because it was the smallest project I have ever done. Thank you for your comments on the story. So many enjoyed it.

The October one explored the world of 3-D, virtual reality and BIM; and really how incredibly far we have come since I left university over 20 years ago without any computer education.

And finally last month was the ‘End of an Era’; a story about a very early project I designed (some horse stables) which, as a result of urban sprawl, was dismantled and reconstructed in another form 200 km away!

May I take this opportunity to thank everyone for a great year working on many enjoyable projects…the most unusual commission was without doubt an extension/renovation to a cottage in County Cork Ireland! It should be completed shortly and I sort of wished I’d put in our agreement an entitlement to a week’s free accommodation for my family.

I hope you all have a happy and safe festive season and I look forward to continuing my architectural journey in 2015 (and beyond….until I’m 92 years old!)