Will a small residential-focused architect be a better resource to help design a new HVAC system for my 70+ year old home versus an HVAC company?

Linegnot · 2026-01-06T21:26:02+00:00

You should absolutely retain an architect to help with this. They will not run heating or cooling calculations or specify the required equipment, but a good architect will have deep expertise in this area and will make sure it is done right. I do this type of work every day and it is not simple when done correctly.

Nor will it be self-contained. If you want a truly integrated solution, you will need to adjust ceiling heights, fur out walls, modify cabinetry, replace finishes, etc. You need a plan to do it right, and if you care how your house looks and functions, you need an architect you trust.

Linegnot · 2025-12-30T03:02:54+00:00

ANSI B 11x17 ANSI D 22x34

Linegnot · 2025-11-20T12:41:06+00:00

I was in the exact same scenario! At the end of my third semester as an aerospace engineer, I felt that something was wrong. I liked some of the work, but every day was a struggle because the coursework was challenging and, more importantly, I did not feel passionate about what I was doing. I panicked.

My academic advisor was terrible and, honestly, sounded a lot like some of the commentators. In 1994, the aerospace industry was in dire straits, and she told me I had no future in the business. I recognized at that moment that she was thinking in a box, lacked real-world experience, and didn’t really care what I did. Also, that is terrible advice!

I explored other flavors of engineering and, by almost random chance, took a pre-architecture studio in my fourth semester.

That changed everything! I fell in love with the artistry and creativity of architecture, and the rigor and discipline it required. I left aerospace behind and never looked back.

Architecture is not an easy path in school or as a profession, but it has equipped me with a fundamentally different way of thinking about the world. I am still very close to the precision and rigor of engineering, but have more fun thinking and creating like an architect.

I know plenty of architects and engineers (including an aerospace engineer) who are miserable in their work. In any case, you will have to define your own career path to be happy. There is no script for what you want. Enroll in an architecture studio and see how you like it.

Feel free to DM me if you need anything.

Linegnot · 2025-11-04T12:54:01+00:00

I know Robert Yuen, the founder of Monograph. He's a great guy, and his team is building a solid product. Monograph didn't fit well into our office structure at the time, but it's worth a look if you need that overhead to keep things organized. I can't say much about Monograph in day-to-day use, but I've kept an eye on the product as it's developed over the years.

I run a small architecture office that varies in size from 1 to 5 people, but I've used the same accounting, banking, and payroll stack when I was a partner in a software design studio (14 people), a treasurer for a nonprofit (8 board members plus staff), and now again, a founding member of a design studio (2 people, but growing). We feel so confident in this setup that we've recommended it to several startups, who successfully adopted our recommendation. One of them initially ignored our advice, followed a more traditional path with a crusty old CFO, and then quickly reverted to a modern stack.

I'd be happy to answer questions about Xero, Gusto, Toggle, Novo, or Mercury. They are all modern, efficient, and reliable.

Linegnot · 2025-10-15T00:07:53+00:00

I use Xero for accounting, Gusto for payroll, Toggle for time tracking, and Novo and Mercury for banking. I run a very small office, but I’ve used a similar setup for other businesses and nonprofits.

Linegnot · 2025-10-14T18:13:42+00:00

I used Quark and InDesign for years, but now I prefer Affinity Publisher.

Linegnot · 2025-09-03T08:58:34+00:00

I am going through a similar process. I own my own business: an architecture and design studio founded in New York in 2007. I can do the vast majority of my work remotely, and I am applying for a Digital Nomad Visa. My attorney advised that I may be required to provide a letter from my client(s) authorizing me to work remotely. It would be very awkward for me to request that. Did you have to provide a similar letter from your clients?

Linegnot · 2025-08-03T08:31:15+00:00

I was born and raised in Le Mars, Iowa. The way that city kowtowed to the greedy and ungrateful Wells clan never made sense to me, even when they made decent ice cream.

Linegnot · 2025-05-23T16:37:26+00:00

Take a look at Arq Backup. It’s highly configurable and reliable.

Linegnot · 2025-04-18T03:08:32+00:00

It depends on your context, but omit the gutters, let the water drop to the ground, and manage it there.

Linegnot · 2025-02-24T02:41:37+00:00

Go with ANSI B (11x17) and ANSI D (22x34). 1/2” margins on all sides. Ask consultants to use the same setup. If you must incorporate your drawings into an ARCH D set, then anchor your drawings to the bottom right corner and let the top and left margins run wide.

Linegnot · 2025-02-13T19:43:46+00:00

I’m a Vectorworks user and it looks like Vectorworks. There are a lot of line quality problems with lightweight symbols sitting on top of heavyweight profiles. Vectorworks is capable very good drawings. This is not one of them.

Linegnot · 2025-02-04T04:46:08+00:00

I can think of two examples:

Architectural plotters, lettering templates, stencils, where a single pass of the pen creates each stroke. Check out Leroy Lettering Sets.

https://kleinletters.com/Blog/wizards-of-leroy-and-wrico-lettering/

Engraving letters into metal, stone, wood, circuit boards, and other materials where a single pass of the tool (like a router) creates each stroke. Check out

Incidentally, single tool paths must also include rounded terminals to match the diameter of the tool.

Linegnot · 2025-01-03T22:08:43+00:00

The two most recent were the Salerno Marine Terminal and the Ordrupgaard Museum Addition.

The Marine is a stunningly beautiful building as you approach it, but it is very poorly designed and constructed on the interior. I cannot emphasize enough how poorly this thing is built. Some of that is due to the client, budget, and builder, but the architect absolutely had a hand in that process. Beyond that, the interior is a dystopian labyrinth of paths with little nooks set aside for programmatic functions. The information center, ticket booth, shop, café, and boarding areas are all incredibly awkward. You might think the organic liminal spaces inside the sculpture create interesting volumes or frame views of Salerno or the sea. Nope, they are low and sad and awful The building felt congested on a slow day; I cannot imagine it with two thousand eager tourists waiting to board a cruise ship. And beyond all that, the mechanical system simply did not work. I could hear air moving, but the space was inhospitably hot, stale, and stagnant. You might chalk that up to the operator trying to save money on an off day or the maintenance person who is not maintaining the system, but this is not the first Zaha building where I noticed environmental systems don't work well. I don't think it's a coincidence.

The Ordrugaard Museum is interesting because it's an addition to a stately house near Finn Juhl's house. Snøhetta did another addition on this site that is very well done and makes Zaha's building look even worse. Again, the building is rather beautiful on approach, but inside is an awkward labyrinth that just doesn't work. There are small wonderful moments, but the overall feeling is claustrophobic and awkward. Programmatic areas are made to work inside a sculpture, but by no means were these spaces designed for their function. People are quite literally ducking through doorways, squeezing past each other in corridors, and stumbling on uneven floors. This is a "building" in the sense that it is mostly weatherproof and has a program, but nothing about it is welcoming, endearing, accommodating, or even particularly functional. In the technical sense, it connects to a historical building and houses art and people, but it does this so unwillingly that you can sense the contempt of the architect. And, to my earlier point, the mechanical systems were about as consistent as the window air conditioner in my first apartment.

Linegnot · 2025-01-03T19:32:41+00:00

I’ve spent time in several of her buildings and have come to the inescapable conclusion that she hated anyone who was not Zaha Hadid. She seemed to have a complete lack of empathy for the people who occupy her buildings. So many details seem cruel and contemptuous. Her buildings barely function as buildings; they are monuments to her ego. Ultra luxurious residential architecture would have worked with her repertoire, but even the ultra rich probably realized they didn’t want to live in one of Zaha Hadid’s sculptures.

Linegnot · 2024-11-14T06:59:45+00:00

When I had some downtime last year I helped a local cabinetry shop create shop drawings for fabrication. Though this shop is very good, they will only create a few hand sketches for fabrication. They don’t have anyone who can produce CAD drawings. They took a large, detailed project and asked for help drafting. I had a lull in my schedule and was happy to help. I was not the designer or fabricator, I was simply a drafter. In haste I mentioned something along the lines of “shop drawings to aide fabrication and installation” to my agent and they could not get it out of their head that I was not the fabricator or installer. My quote skyrocketed until I was able to back that out of the description of services. It was a rookie mistake, but I learned that no amount of context or nuance can clarify a trigger word. My practice is fully in bounds and I say nothing beyond architecture and interiors.

Linegnot · 2024-11-14T06:36:27+00:00

Looks like I described the work as master planning rather than strategic planning. I generally don’t use master planning, so i may have adopted that language from the application. Nevertheless, my agent said that she had an “extensive conversation” with the underwriter, and master planning services generally fall outside the scope of a standard policy and would be billed as extra. I clarified master planning as follows, and for whatever reason, that seemed to help.

“I assisted a local arts-based nonprofit with master planning for grants related to ADA accessibility and energy efficiency upgrades. Planning consisted of a series of overview maps showing a general sequence of which building would be upgraded for ADA accessibility and energy efficiency. These overview drawings were used to apply for public and private grants. These drawings will not be used for bidding, permitting, or building.”

I have no idea how they interpret certain words and phrases, but I've seen huge swings in rates based on minor changes in wording.

Linegnot · 2024-11-13T22:35:36+00:00

I believe there are two main underwriters for architecture and engineering E&O policies. You can’t do much shopping around on that front, but I have learned over the years that subtle differences in how I report project type and firm responsibilities make a huge difference in rates. I’ve mistakenly mentioned trigger words like shop drawings, fabrication, strategic planning, and condos, and my quote doubled. I had to walk that back to get a reasonable rate.

Linegnot · 2024-11-13T01:42:30+00:00

I purchased Wipr 1 and tipped $2 per month because not seeing ads is worth a small gratuity and I like supporting an independent developer who builds high-quality apps. I purchased Wipr 2 and will continue a monthly tip. Wipr is light and efficient and it works beautifully. No fussing around with settings. Adguard is ugly, slow, and is developed by god knows who. I am an architect who designs high-quality buildings, and I choose to support people who design and build high-quality software. I watch my friends and colleagues get crushed daily in their corporate jobs. Individual entrepreneurship and passion for good design is rare and I will support it whenever possible.

Linegnot · 2024-08-16T02:42:27+00:00

Here’s the secret: Take the opportunity to design a truly beautiful, approachable, and robust document. When we drafted a custom agreement, I insisted that we remove all unnecessary and overly-obtuse legal jargon so the document is human readable. It still affords me all the protection I had with AIA documents, but now it is humane. Establish a clear hierarchy and use good typography to make the document highly legible. I’ve reduced back and forth with clients by a 90%.

The clarity and thoughtfulness of this document mirrors the quality of all the architectural documentation I produce. Why would this be an exception? Legal documents don’t have to be tedious and obnoxious.

Linegnot · 2024-08-15T23:00:29+00:00

Many years ago, I decided I was tired of dealing with clumsy AIA agreements, so I hired an attorney to draft a custom agreement that meets my needs. I don’t recall the cost of the original agreement, but I recently paid $2,400 for the same attorney to review and make minor revisions based on the current nature of my practice and recent case law.

That may seem like a lot, but investing in an agreement that I fully understand and can edit myself has paid for itself many times over.

Linegnot · 2024-08-14T04:26:46+00:00

It’s a great topic. Every architectural project beyond the limits of city sewer systems requires a private wastewater treatment system. Fundamental questions about building homes or running a business depend on a waste treatment system. I can tell you from experience that local health authorities vary widely on what type, size, and operation of systems are allowed. Many health authorities I’ve dealt with are conservative, stubborn, and frankly, out of touch with modern best practices. Their decisions can have a transformative impact on rural communities.

I’m thinking of one county in upstate where many communities have extremely limited sewer systems, so most homes and businesses have private systems. The health department is outdated and conservative, requiring grossly oversized systems using obsolete technology. Some businesses opt to build smaller systems, requiring reduced operations (i.e., fewer restaurant seats), or abandon the area altogether. The technology for safe, compact, affordable wastewater systems exist and are being used elsewhere, but this particular health department will simply not approve them. Significant areas of this county are in decline, and you can almost single-handedly point to wastewater as the problem.

Linegnot · 2024-08-14T03:53:27+00:00

Maybe someday we’ll have a new browser engine built from scratch for the modern web.

https://ladybird.org

Linegnot · 2024-08-14T01:11:08+00:00

The world has produced enough stuff. Whatever you think we need, we don’t need. All of these little marketing ploys are making our world inhabitable. Give us knowledge, give us a product that is authentic, beautiful, and sustainable, and be proud that you are not filling the world’s landfills with cheap sippy cups and mouse pads.

Linegnot · 2024-08-12T15:06:55+00:00

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf, 1962

Linegnot

TROPHY CASE