the homeland

So I am heading back up to British Columbia (Sunshine Coast to be exact) on Wednesday to check on the progress at Nanaland.    And I have to say, I’m really looking forward to it.   Just to clarify, I am not originally from BC.  In fact, I am a born and bred Torontonian.  And when I say that, I really mean – downtown downtown.  I grew up in an apartment at Avenue Rd. and Bloor St. watching the skyline of Toronto slowly mask the view of Lake Ontario.

But I digress…  Vancouver and the Sunshine Coast (which, according to my iPhone won’t be full of sunshine whilst I’m there…) belong to my adult life experience – grad school, friends, husband, first job, the launch of Studio North, first child.  And as such, hold a special place in my heart, and have me very excited about spending a couple of days up there.  In addition to seeing my sister-in-law and her lovely family, there are also other perks – friends I haven’t seen in at least a year, Kit Kats (the Canadian version is superior both in its wafer and chocolate), NeoCitran,  Lipton’s Chicken Noodle Soup in the little baggies, Dressew, and (for strangely nostalgic reasons) the Starbucks in Kerrisdale to name a few.  Oh, and I almost forgot, the little single serving of Dad’s Oatmeal cookies the steward on the put-put plane that flies up the coast, gives out in the little wicker basket after take-off.  Home sweet home…

Progress

One of the most satisfying aspects of furniture design is the immediacy of it:

– doodle on the back of an old envelope

– some creative criticism from Dylan

– more refined doodle maybe on a clean sheet of paper with some dimensions

– some experimentation in the shop, and a splash of creative language when things don’t go together the right away

and usually, at least the prototype is done.

An architectural project, is a different kettle of fish entirely.  Not that this is any real surprise (I mean, even a casual observer understands that it takes time to build a building).  And yet, to be honest, it still surprises me.  Part of it is that in designing a building, you are constantly looking forward, rather than being in the moment (like when you are standing over a piece of furniture where the glue is setting, and you realize the joint isn’t square, at which point you frantically try to either jam it together properly, or wrench the whole thing apart – neither option is typically very successful…)  In an architectural project, you are looking to get the job, develop an idea, determine what you think the costs may reasonably be, anticipate the needs of the client, foresee any regulatory bumps in the road, envision how it goes together, think about how details in construction can be resolved…  And the list goes on.  As a consequence, when construction starts, it is usually a pleasant, if not naive surprise to see tangible progress.  I think I can say with some confidence that most architects have experienced that feeling of  “hey, the ______ has gone in, I remember thinking/sketching/drawing/drafting that!”

We have been working on a cabin up the coast of British Columbia, which we affectionately call Nanaland because the driving force behind its construction (i.e. client) is my Mother-in-Law, who is equally, if not more affectionately, called Nana by her 6 grandchildren.  Compared to most architectural projects, this one has progressed fairly smoothly; it started as a renovation which rapidly became a demolition and new construction, and is located in a part of the world where most materials have to be brought up the coast from Vancouver by barge, and subject to 4-6 months of rain and cold which can make for an interesting construction schedule.  Having said that, we’ve got walls, sub-floors, a roof, and now, even windows and doors – all elements that were drawn on paper almost a year ago, and which started to go up, about 9 months ago.  And so, even though I currently have my head immersed in kitchen and bathroom details, when I do raise my head and see that corner window installed, and hey(!), it looks just the way we had drawn it a year ago, I can’t help but feel that though it has been a wait, it has been well worth it.