Done again!

This time we've finished the design/build of a screened-in porch addition for a fantastic client in Wisconsin. We couldn't have asked for better clients or a better place to work. Glad to be finally done though (as I'm sure they are too)!
So if you need some design / drawings / work done on anything single-family residential, give us a call, cuz we're available!
Here are a few pictures, and if you want more, visit us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/pages/Chicago-IL/Grounded-Design-Studio)

Green Thoughts

We’re so Green right now it hurts. Here's the sarcastic version. Green means just keep doing things the way you’re doin’ ‘em. Be less bad. Put a recycling bin next to your trash can. The system works, we’ve just gotta tweak it a little. Don’t really question where it came from or where it’s going. Use less gas. Pollute less. Act nicer and put happy stickers on your bumper about changing the world one plastic bag at a time.

Green isn’t a solution, it’s a step. Right now, it’s a small step.
I’m not saying it’s not worth doing, but lets call it what it is, a small step towards a radically different mindset. Green is not sustainable. Let me say that again. Green is not sustainable. Sustainable is just that, sustainable. It can sustain itself. Indefinitely. It doesn’t need 1,000,000 gallons of foreign oil, water from someone else’s state, or food from someone else’s country. Or maybe it does, but if that’s the case our borders will have to be a lot looser and our politicians a lot friendlier.

So I went to Kite Day. It was great! Too long since I'd spent an afternoon out in the sun just enjoying life. Along with a jillion other people, most of 'em tryin' to get a kite into the air. The day was lovely, mostly sunny, 65, and quite windy! Unfortunately, I didn't have a kite of my own, so I just had to watch.
Here's that little story again for those a you who didn't see it: "Reminds me of the time Dad took me out to that big open park to fly kites when I was a kid.
Higher and higher it goes. Out of string. Tie on another roll. Higher still. Scared, I think it might pull me away into the sky. Out of string again. No more string! Now what? How ‘bout this roll of fishin’ wire? Yeah, that’ll work, just tie it like – sproing! No! It’s gone, it’s free! Run! Follow it, don’t let it get away!
Then standing there looking up at it caught in that tree. It’s gotta be at least a million feet up. Maybe a mile.
Guess we’re done for today huh, Dad?
To which my Dad said - I remember that day like it was yesterday. I pulled a hamstring chasin' that kite.
Brian

So the website is officially done, but we still have some tweaking that we'd like to do to keep it interesting. Here's a sneak preview of another collaborative sketch that just might make its way onto the background of our site soon.

Brian

Da first one

What’s aauuuhhhpp everybody?!
So Dan, Jamie and I (I being Brian) are finally getting this blog rollin’. We, of course, are the collective also known as Grounded Design Studio (www.groundeddesignstudio.com) and the Chicago reps of ADPSR (Architects, Designers and Planners for Social Responsibility – www.adpsr.org). But this blog is a bit more personal. Here you can find us cuttin’ loose, thinkin’ aloud, ranting, expressing, sharing, and hopefully posting a whole lotta cool sketches. Speakin’ of which, here’s the story behind those nifty little check boxes in the top right corner of Grounded’s site:
One day the three of us were having a pretty serious meeting, discussing our website and trying to make some progress on getting this ship off the ground. It had been a bit of a long day staring at pieces of paper and glowing computer screens. We were all getting tired, and rather than being productive we were more like starting to get on each other’s nerves. So one of us started sketching on the big piece of trace paper in front of us. Then another. Then all three of us had lapsed into silence and were doodling away! After awhile we stopped, and somebody suggested rotating the paper around and continuing to sketch on top of the next person’s drawing. We soon realized that this little exercise not only helped us relieve stress, but also gave us exactly what we were looking for as a background for our website!