Two New additions to MAP

Better Late than never... I actually modelled these about a week or so ago but forgot to mention and add links to them via my blog. The first one is the "Atlantic Center Plaza" buliding designed by Smallwood Reynolds. this building is part of the Atlantic Center complex which also includes the "One Atlantic Center" designed by Phillip Johnson. One more building is proposed for the office building complex and has been designed by Handel Architects.

The second building is the Mellineum Midtown building which sits at West Peachtree and 10th Street. this building is an odd one as it has it's loading docks on 10th street, a major East/west road through midtown, and then its main entry is on the backside of the building facing it's parking deck. Architecturally it isn't really anything special, using a combination of metal panelling, brick, and glass, and has a spire element on the corner of the building at the street intersection.

Here are the links to the models on 3DWarehouse:
Atlantic Center Plaza
Mellineum Midtown

SMyrna's Market Village

Just recently I had made comments to another blog on "lifestyle centers" by C. B. Whittemore (see blog here). In this commentary, and after she asked me for images related to my comments on Smyrna's Market Village, I realised I hadn't been down there to take any pictures. This seemed odd, as I was involved in the master planning of the project, and that I live just over a mile from it. So, I decided yesterday afternoon that I would go down, once the sun started to set, and take some pictures.

What I thought was funny was that I thought I wouldn't have much to shoot. I am much more into modern design and modern architecture. I don't hate traditional, but I just see too much of it done very very poorly. Anyhow, I was pleasantly suprised that I really enjoyed shooting the village and its traditional architecture. You can view my Flickr photo set of the Village HERE.

Now, if your not familiar with the Village and you live in the Atlanta area you need to give it a visit. there are shops, restaurants, and they are always having festivals and stuff there. It has become a really great place. The city of Smyrna's municuple facilities can be found here too (planned and design by Sizemore Group). City Hall, the main library, the cities community center, and the police station, all within walking distance of each other. This development has won some urban planning national awards and is a fine example of how a small town or community can recapture a city center.

MAP - Graves Building

So, I have had some time to kill this weekend and decided to build another model for my Modeling Atlanta Project. This building is in Midtown Atlanta and is just south of Tenth Street along West Peachtree. The building was designed by Michael Graves and was completed in 1989. It stands as a "post-modern" landmark in Atlanta and is one of only two projects designed by Graves. There is a sense of permanence about this building and it has held up very well in its 17 year existence. Find out a bit more about the building HERE. Also, you can see some pictures of the building on my Flickr page HERE.

the 3D Warehouse link:
Ten Peachtree Place

Modeling Atlanta Update

It has been a while since I have done any MAP Models. I think July actually. Well, I've been busy :) Anyhow, this one is called Two Midtown Plaza and was design by the architecture firm of Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart Stewart & Assoc. These guys have done a lot of design work in Atlanta, some OK and some not so good. There is a second building to this complex but I will have to get to that later.

As I have mentioned before, and if you are coming by my blog and are hearing othis for the first time, I am hoping for others to jump on-board and do other models in the Atlanta area and add them to MAP (Modeling Atlanta Project). When you create a model and are putting in the info about the model for the 3D Warehouse just make sure to add the "Modeling Atlanta Project" tag Thats all I ask. You can view the models I have created so far to get an idea of the level of detail that the model should have.

Here is the direct 3d Warehouse link:
Midtown Plaza

Edit: I have added the second tower to the Midtown Plaza complex which is available in 3d Warehouse. 11-19-06

Below is a snapshot from Google Earth of the project so far. All midtown buildings at this point. Now off to enjoy the rest of my Friday evening, preferably not on my computer...

My first "guest blog" article

Recently I had a message from C. B. Whittemore (mentioned in an earlier post)that I had one of my images being used for a blog article discussing Atlantic Station. I made some comments (you can see these at the end of CB's article on Atlantic Station I linked to) in regard to her article about my opinions on the new development here in the Atlanta area. CB seemed intrigued with my ideas on planning and urban design and asked me to elaborate on some of my comments. After doing this she asked if she could publish the comments as a "guest poster" on her blog site. I agreed and she has made that post "live" as of Monday the 13th of November. You can check out the article HERE.

This interaction with CB and the whole Blogging thing has really been interesting. I have had some other contacts regarding my opinions in the article and other possible discussions on city planning and development. We will see if that goes anywhere. I have definetly caught the bug...

Project underconstruction

I just learned this week that a project I was involved in, during the design phase, is under construction. This will be the first building I have had a heavy hand in designing that will be built since graduating from school and joining CDH partners. Unfortunetly I didn't get a chance to have more influence in the document process but from what I have seen the design intent has been kept from our original design and I think this building will turn out to be a nice addition to the current church campus.

Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center

Just down the road from my condo is a new building rising along I-75 in the cumberland Mall/Galleria area. I hadn't heard about it until I saw the construction starting, as I frequently drive by the area. The building was designed by Smallwood Reynolds and has involvement with the Facilities Group, two firms not neccessarily known as "design" firms. So far I have been impressed with what I am seeing so far, as you can see from a few of the pictures I am posting along with this blog, and wonder, even though the building isn't being done by a starchitect that it will garner any respect in the architecture world. I will look forward to seeing more as the building gets closer to completion and will share images of the process from my Flickr page. You can see more about the building HERE.


So far I would say that this building has the potential to be a landmark building in Atlanta. It has a presence about it, from its context, that is Disney Hall-ish. Now I am not saying that the building has the ground-breaking aesthetic or methods of construction that Disney had, but what I am saying is that the presence of the building seems to respond, in its form and relationship to its surroundings like Disney (though in a much different kind of context). It seems foreign from its context, yet seems to belong too. If you live around Atlanta or are heading through definetly drive by and check it out, I think it is worth your while.

My images on the web

I got a comment via one of my photos on my Flickr site today. The comment had a link and mentioned that that particular image was used in a blog talking about the Atlantic Station development in Atlanta, Ga. Anyhow, it was cool to see others liking my photos and the article that the image is apart of is worth a read. You can check it out HERE

Webpage - Portfolio section

I have added more content to my website the last few weeks. The latest section I have added is the 'portfolio'. This section of the site is basically a control panel that will link you to all the work I have done from my college years to the present. Take a look and see if you see anything good :)

Wizum.com Live

So what are you waiting for? go check it out... www.wizum.com

I got myself some free webhosting from Godaddy.com and have gotten my webpage up on the net... Finally!!!

The site is basically a "table of contents" that will act as home base for all my stuff on the web... my Flickr site, this blog, and other content that will be apart of the page itself... The one big reason I have decided to start this page is to have a place to put online a database of info and links to architecture throughout the world, via KMZ files (bookmarks for Google Earth)... What is great about these KMZ files is that not only you do you get a quick location on the Earth to a particular spot, you can attach weblinks and images to the placemark. This creates a great way of providing information on a particular place or building. Anyhow, you will be able to find these in the section called "architecture"... which is not up yet, but stay tuned :)

Portfolio updating

I Realised after reviewing some of my portfolio work, mainly from my school years, that I hadn't finished uploading several images from my 3rd year of work. These images were of my weather center design located on the Outer Banks of North Carolina in Kill Devil Hills. If you ever get a chance to see this area don't miss it, very beautiful and a great place to visit.

This design was supposed to be submitted for a design competition when I was back in school but I never got around to submitting it. Oh, the missed opportunities :) Never the less I have always liked this design and really learned a great deal from it back in the day. So, go to my Flickr photo set and check it out in detail. I have images showing the full development of the design from intial concept sketches, study models and drawings, and the final presentation work I submitted at the end of the semester.

You can see the photo set here: Weather Center Design

Turner chapel photo visit

I have known about this building since way back in school (mid to late 90's) but yet I never made it over to it. As I met a fellow architect I was in school with to find a house by the same architects I decided to stop by on my way home to take a look at this building. To my suprise, as I had only seen a couople of images, the building was realy exciting to see.

I had found the location of the chapel from Google Earth, and so as I turned down the street it is on, I found myself in an apartment complex called Turner Village. as I traveled through this complex of brick and student living I came across the architectural suprise that Turner Chapel is. The building was designed by the architectural firm of Scogin Elam back in the late 80's and is apart of the Turner village which houses theological students from Emory University.

The Chapel is nestled amongst trees and though it has a dynamic shape, as its roofs peak outward towards you, it isn't an overwhelming building at all. Its walls are primarily made of a dark grey brick and has a piercing frosted glass double wall that creates an axis through the building. At the rear of the site you will find a tower element that is of a white steel frame that reaches for the sky. At the base of this tower is a small prayer chapel that is disengaged from the main chapel building but is not lost to the overall site layout and architectural composition of the whole.

You can see my Photoset of my visit here: Turner Chapel photoset

Flickr Photo Sets

If you haven't tried Flickr your really missing out on a great way to store your images and organize them online. I have been using it now for almost a year and I have found it to be invaluable. You can open an account for free with limited sets, or purchase the "pro" account for about 2 bucks a month. Not to be an advertisment for Flickr :) but as I have begun to collect a number of "photo sets" I was trying to figure out a way to make it easier for peopel looking at my Flickr site to find my images. I remember coming across the idea from the discussion groups on Flickr some time ago but finally thought I would give it a try. So check out This LINK and see what you think. I just have one image up in this set but will add others as I get more time to do so.

Columbus, In Weekend Trip

The weekend of the 27th I was given a wonderful suprise by my girlfriend. She had asked me to take both Friday and Monday off the weekend of the 27th of August, and so I did. She said she had a suprise for me but kept the secret from me until the week we left. To my suprise she had planned for us to take a trip to the town of Columbus, In.

You maybe asking yourself, Columbus, In.? what the heck is in columbus, In.?" Well check out this website to get a full understanding and history of the town.

What you should know is that Columbus has been named, by several "sources", the 6th overal city for significant architecture in America (only behind New York, Boston, Chicago, D.C. , and San Fransisco). what is impressive is the town has a population of less than 40,00 people.

I really wasn't sure what to expect from the city and its architecture, but I pleasantly enjoyed the experience of seeing it's architecture and what well designed buildings can do and mean for a city, regardless of its size. Many of the buildings were a bit "dated" modern designs, but many of them still were well done and in no way were "icons" of themselves or the architects that designed them. There was a responsiveness to context and scale that made the architecture work very well. To some extent some of the buildings could have even been a bit more articulate and expressive in there form and presence.

What did bother me about some of the architecture was the lack of care some of the buildings seemed to have. Several of the schools really needed a pressure-washing and some fresh paint to make them shine again (Clifty Creek, by Meier, and the Fodrea Comm School, by Rowlett Scott to to name two). This seemed to strike me as sad and this even jumped out at my girlfriend who doesn't normally notice buildings the way I do.

The people of the town are very friendly and most seemed to really take pride in the heritage they were apart of and lived in. We even got to stay in a "bed & breakfast" that was an old victorian/plantation converted style house built in the 1800's. Did I mentioned we got to use the first working inside bathroom in the State of Indiana? the hosts were a wonderful and the experience was one that I will try again.

And just to drop a few of the names of architects that have worked in Columbus...
Richard Meier, Robert Ventrui, I.M. Pei, Kevin Roche, the Saarinens (Eliel & Eero), Gunner Burkerts, Cesar Pelli, SOM, and others...

Photos shown (from top): City Hall by SOM, Irwin Union Bank & Trust Main Office by Eero Saarinen, & First Christain Church by Eliel Saarinen.

AVP Atlanta

This last weekend the AVP (Association of Volleyball Professionals) was in Atlanta for one of their tour stops. If you have never seen beach volleyball played at this level you are really missing out. I have been playing volleyball for over 20 years now, off and on, and It is always just incredible watching these athletes compete.

I did give a few thoughts of playing in the qualifier, but as they made the Atlanta Open a shortened draw they only allowed about 32 qualifying teams to play for 4 qualifier spots for the main draw tournement. But lets be real, even if they did have a spot open I wouldn't of tried anyhow, I'm Just not in any kind of shape to compete anywhere close to that level right now. Maybe next year :)

And, to show just how incredible and attractive the sport is, my girlfriend came and spent the whole weekend with me watching... She couldn't get enough... We are planning on making the Birmingham stop this next weekend too. We are also discussing heading up to Cincy for that tourney in August. I'm telling you its a great event worth seeing if only on of the shorter night sessions.

Here is a shot from the stadium court during the men's finals...



Here is another shot of taken from the side courts... Eric Finio just setting The big guy, George Romaine...



You can see all my pics from the Atlanta Open on my Flickr set HERE

And... 2 More models

got around to doing 2 models the other day for "MAP". These were for the Mayfair complex buildings & parking deck and the One Atlantic Center building (the third tallest in Atlanta). The Midtown is starting to really shape up and I will soon be building models for some of the buildings south around 10th street and that area. Here is a quick snapshot of the models so far from Google Earth.


Here are the links to the two new models:

One Atlantic Center
Mayfair Complex

2 more "MAP" models

I finished the Colony Square complex with the Sheraton Hotel Tower and I also have completed the 1180 Peachtree building (also known as Symphony Tower). So at this point I have now completed all four corners of the main midtown intersection of 14th Street and Peachtree Street. From here I will be branching out to add in other surrounding buildings in the midtown area.

Another Thought I have had about "MAP" is how I will or need to tackle working on buildings that are much smaller in scale compared to the main Tower/highrise buildings. Obviously to model all of Atlanta every building should be considered to make the project complete, but as of right now my feelings are that it would make sense to go forward with knocking out the bigger buildings and then coming back in and adding the less substantial, or smaller buildings.

Anyhow, here are the links to the two newest models:

Sheraton Colony Square
1180 Peachtree (Symphony Tower)

Also, here is an updated snapshot of "MAP" so far...

"MAP" model update

Prominade II is now completed. This one was maybe the most challenging one yet. This building had some interesting layering of geometry but then as I was counting floors to estimate the building's heights I got the floor to floor initially wrong (12'... don't ask). So, then I had to raise it all up to make the floor to floors 15' to get the proper proportions of the building so it looked correct, and to get the building height to the proper 691'. A few more buildings and the midtown area is going to start to shape up... heck it already is when I view these models in Google Earth.

Here is the link to the model:

Prominade II

Also, here is a snapshot of what I have modeled so far for MAP...

Another MAP model

Just finsihed a new office tower in Midtown along Peachtree Street. Its the 1100 Peachtree building (tower) design by Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates. while putting the finishing touches on the model I came to realise, after about an hour or so of work, that I did not make the building square (it is slightly a rectangle). Anyhow, I was thinking I could shift or scale out one side to make the sides equal, without effecting the opposite side. But, to no avail. I am stuck with a slightly incorrect model. Heck you wouldn't probably even notice it if I wouldn't of mentioned anything. Details, details, details.... :)

Here is the Link:

1100 Peachtree Tower

Coincidentally, Smallwood, Reynolds has designed the Cobb County Performing Arts Center which is currently under construction along Interstate 75, just inside the perimeter at the Cumberland area. From the rendering on the construction sign this looks like it will be a very cool and sleek looking building. I am anxious to see its completion and get some tastey pictures of it.

"MAP" model update

I started and posted most of the Colony Square model complex. I still have the Sheraton Colony Square Hotel to complete the whole development.

Also, if anyone happens to come across these models and wants to use them as a base model and add more detail, ie. more windows, materials, etc., please feel free... All I ask is that you refer to the "Modelling Atlanta Project" in your tag for that model when you upload it to 3DWarehouse.

Here is the link to the Colony Square model:

Colony Square
Colony House

Condo Remodelling

I have finally gotten around to doing some serious remodeling in my condo (no thanks to my dog). I was not neccessarily going to replace my flooring (carpet) but after my dog decided to eat a hole in the seam from my living room to my sunroom, and get a hold of a bag of potting soil (yes that one was my fault for leaving it to where she could get to it), it was time to do something about the floor.

Anyhow these following pictures are a few I took during the process of installing the wood laminate flooring in my living room & dinning room. I will later be installing slate in my sunroom, kitchen, and entry/foyer area soon.

This image is of the living room as it was with the tan colored carpet... oh and my wonderful dog (sally, in front) & her best friend Lucy (my girlfriends dog)

And another shot of the living room looking towards the sun room...

Here is a similar view from the previous image showing the carpet and carpet padding gone... Just rough concrete... really makes you wonder why people do carpet... its nasty stuff...

here is an image showing the wood laminate flooring being installed. This is looking towards the dinning room from the living room.

A final shot of the flooring looking again at the dinning room. The only thing missing is the quarter-round that will hide the 1/4" gap between the flooring and the base boards (currently being installed).

Also, I have not completed the last pieces for each bedroom doorways. I am still trying to figure out the best way to fit in the flooring so that the fit is just right. Check back soon for more images of the wood flooring and slate being completely installed (and I can't wait to get it all done)

More "Modeling Atlanta Project"

I have now completed 3 models for the "Modeling Atlant Project" (and since I am getting tired of typing that whole thing out I will for now on refer to it as MAP).

So far 3D Warehouse is working great for doing MAP. You gotta love Google and their purchase of Sketchup. I was hesitant at first but I see a ton of potential for what Sketchup can provide with the resources Google has.

It would be really cool if I could begin to eventually get some contributors to MAP. I think I have established a good "base-line" of how much detail should be modeled. I have tried to not spend more than an hour for each model. that includes getting the details of what the building looks like, importing in the GE surface into Sketchup(free), and then actually doing the model and uploading it.

Here are the quick links to the 3D Warehouse pages for the first three models (I will add new links as I complete them):

1. The Campinale
2. Prominade I
3. The Proscenium

Here is a picture of the progress so far. A Snapshot from GE

First Google 3D Warehouse upload

I finally got around to figuring out how to upload a sketchup model to Google Earth. I downloaded the new Google Sketchup (Free) and it makes it nice and easy to create the location for your model on Earth and then upload it to the 3D Warehouse site.

Now that I have seen how easy it is for this to work I have also re-thought how I can make my "modeling Atlanta Project" work. With the 3D Warehouse I can hopefully start to promote the idea through the 3D Warehouse site and any forums related to it. with this I should be able to get someone interesting in making models and then uploading them to the site. Once there anyone can use them and they are stored "free"... one of my little says... "if its free, its for me" :) yeah, stupid, but I use it...

Anyhow if anyone happens by my blog site from the google/sketchup/3dwarehouse community you can type in "modeling Atlanta Project" and it should bring in the models I have uploaded,

and how can I forget... here is the link to the model: The Campanile Building

and here is a quick pic from Sketchup

First Atlanta Google/Sketchup model

Finally was messing around and got to finishing up the first model of my modelling Atlanta project. so far we have Colony Square (two white block towers) and the campinale building (by TVS Architects). This picture is a snapshot of the Sketchup model so far. Stay tuned, more to come. You can see a photo I took of these buildings at my Flickr site.



Also, If you haven't heard Google has released a Beta version of their 3D Warehouse. The attempt here is for poeple to model their houses, favorite restaurants, and/or their favorite local buildings (and yes there is now a free version of Sketchup). With this a collaborative effort can be done for the whole world to eventually be modeled and then have the location of the model to be exported to Google Earth. It will be interesting to see how this all works out and I am thinking that this would be a good place to find others to help me model Atlanta (Wondering...) ?

Atlanta Google Earth/Sketchup Modeling Project

As I was taking pictures of buildings in Atlanta I began to realise that I didn't have a very good grasp of what many of the buildings were called or who designed them. This seemed unfortunate to me, being as I am a practicing architect (intern) in the Atlanta area. as I began to surf the net for more information on buildings in Atlanta I came across the Emporis website. A great resource if you don't know about it, giving info and images of individual buildings in most of the major cities in the world.

After this discovery, and the recent purchase of sketchup by Google, and how this is going to impact both Sketchup as a design tool and Google Earth as becoming more useful with the 3D side of it, I thought it would be interesting to start putting together 3D models of the whole downtown area of Atlanta.

I started in Midtown with Colony Square and The Campanile building by TVS. I haven't gotten beyond these buildings yet but it got me thinking the next day, "what if I could have other people help me with this?" Not them doing the work but putting together a group of fellow Atlantans to callaborate on modelling Atlanta.

How would I go about asking or assembling anyone to do this? Well, I haven't figured it out yet but figured that if I get it started atleast that maybe others will see what I am doing and maybe it will attract some interest. We will see.... I will of course post the progress of this new "project" soon.

Wizum's Blog

Don't know why I didn't think of it before, but I had made my main blog as 'wizumlinks' before instead of just wizum... Silly me! Well I have fixed that and this will be my main page for posting for now on...

This blog is about my thoughts on architecture and the design world or anything else worth talking about I guess. I originally was just making this a place for my links but as I began to think about it I felt I could make it a blog discussion too. So if you look to the right I have posted my links, which were previously in this area, on the side menu.

These Links cover my portfolio, photo gallery, and other stuff that I feel are worth linking to.

Just below are some links to discussion forum threads I have been involved with or have created discussing or presenting architecture and design.

Sketchup user forum Links

First Model - Sketchup Forum - Gallery post of first model of a residence
Bible Center Post - Sketchup Forum - Gallery post of initial church design
Dennis Method - Sketchup Forum - Gallery of this Rendering technique
Medical MOB - PushPullBar.com - thread on process & design

Online Articles

AIA article on CDs - Article