dbBrad and dbBenton at the Jackson House Restoration Project

The Jackson House was at an unlikely intersection of a coffee house, a gas station and a traffic light along some highway in Southwest Washington.

Cutest Aussie ever, even out of focus.

After getting a great cup of Coffee and waiting at a stop lights for 12 minutes, we spend some time in a nice little park.

Cutest Aussie ever, Benton looks down from  a 4' tall rock wall.

Along the many back roads I took driving to Portland to support my parents in riding the STP, Benton (worlds cutest Australian Shepherd) and I stopped at many parks, but this little find was the best.

Monumental Australian Shepherd  Mounting!

Benton and I did lots of training.  I've taken an interest in agility competitions realizing that Australian Shepherds and Border Collies dominate agility and Frisbee competitions in the medium weight classes.

Determined Australian Shepherd.

Like me, Benton likes to climb.  He gets up on every bench, table, rock or wall thinking it's what I want him to do.  What, is he telepathic too!

Benton looking to me for permission to jump the  fence.

Its a pleasure working with a dog that seems to be smarter and more willing to learn than many people I know.

Benton as a puppy, the cutest Australian Shepherd puppy ever, and still a very cute dog.

The Jackson House, a lovely restoration.
A few shots and a few details for those interested.

Seattle to Portland, Breaking at the Finish Line

Seattle to Portland (STP) ride has thousands of bikes going all directions on many many roads, but mostly riders headed south.

Fran, Ed, Kerry and Benton (cutest dog ever at STP 2011)

Dogs not allowed. Never more apparent than a restaurant or a bike rally!

Benton contemplating all the logistics of herding so many bikers (STP 2011)

My task was to entertain the dog and man the support vehicle. However to ensure my Mom could finish the ride, all 204 miles, I jumped in for the last 60 miles of day 2 to help break their bike for the finish line.

Benton and I stopped at many parks for fun and training. He loves to carry his frisbee in 'flower formation' !

I didn't mean to slow down the bike for the grand galla awaiting all at the finish, an entire city block park filled with bicycles and riders and cheers!

Ed and Fran round corner at lunch stop day one.

But, on the last hill headed into Portland, our derailer suffered some serioius damage with a dropped chain. Kerry and I managed to bend the derailer arm and chain into an acceptable form which got us to withing 1/4 mile of the finish when this time it exploded, springs, gears and pins shooting out in all directions.

Expert at drafting, Fran was right on the tale of the rider infront of her, all 204 miles!

No need to brake when you're Broken!! The good news, Fran finished the entire ride, crossing the finish line on foot with her bicycle, son dbBrad, husband EdwinA and dog, Sir Benton (goddamn he's cute) Cowboy all there to share in the moment.

Brad walks across the finish line with bare feet.


Rhonda and Finn welcome Kerry and the FrEdLey team across the finish line.
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Design Inspired by Nature

When I look upon the marvels of this planet, I see dwellings. Dwellings that mimic the landscape, draw upon it's lessons and accent it's features. Humans within the landscape, living in the cliffs and under the hills, and up in the sky.

Nature inspires me to dream of buildings that employ crystallization like rocks, structural systems like the Xylem in a tree or the exoskeleton of an insect, buildings that filter light and clean the air like a rain forest or that store their energy in complex starches like the tail of a lizard or a Yam.

Above all however, is the concept that the buildings work with the earth, within the ecosystem which it resides and utilizing the local features available to it. Historically, human development has done exactly the opposite.

A quick study done years ago while getting my Masters in Architecture from UCD. The premise was to take a complex idea derived from nature and graphically represent it in a clear, concise drawing.

Most likely I was inspired by:

a) my love of Structures I and II and Mechanical Engineering

b) the value of analyzing, simplifying, developing and representing (graphically) developed during Precedents by Mark Gallertner,

3) The teaching's of Keith Loftin in a design studio who instilled in me a process of design so simply I'm only now truly understanding how it has helped me develop my own design process which has further develpment into my own language and style, identifiable amongst other architects works as 'oh, that's dbBrad's work.'

Tucking Fruck

dbBrad gets a new truck. Not for vanity, show, luxury or fuel economy, but strictly for work. My old truck transmission died and I replaced it so I could keep on working.

This is not my new work truck, but in the days of my youth, I too wished for a gas guzzling, jacked up, ridiculously modified and useless truck with monster tires and highways of mud!

It happened like this. Maranokos didn't have my rock and couldn't deliver. Frustrating, but these things happen and I worked the problem. Simply borrow a trailer from my dad and pick up the rock myself.

dbBrad's truck with dbDad's trailer and a dbDead trany.

The pavers were 4200lbs, the 3 large granite steps at 900lbs each makes 2700lbs and the three little steps were only 1800 combined. Because of ease of loading, the pavers went in the truck and the trailer was loaded with all the granite. Seemed like a decent way to do it but clearly my truck was overloaded and more weight should have been on the trailer. None the less, my little 250 did great with the 8700lbs. Including 1600#'s for the trailer, I was at 10,300.

dbBrad and dbDead truck, being towed away. This was the second attempt to tow it as it was dropped off the first truck, bending the bumper.

My truck, a 1996 F-250 is a work horse. It has 180k miles and is still running strong. In fact the engine has more power than the transmission can handle apparently.

The old wonder truck, an 85 Nissan, still running with 320k miles.

So on Friday, Memorial Day weekend, at 4:45 pm, in Kent of all places, my truck is doing great one minute as I'm talking about needing to charge clients delivery fees to cover my costs and how I could hand pick the rock, deliver it, and still save them some money, when I look in my rear view mirrors and see smoke.

Turns out the seal on the transmission failed, probably due to overheating of the trany fluids and it was dripping onto the exhaust and hence the smoke. I was able to drive off the freeway, but there I was, 100 miles from home, 15 minutes before every single store was going to close for the next 3 days, with 8700 pounds of rock.

Thank God for my Dad and for Del's truck rentals. They had a lovely truck which I could rent if only I could get there by 6:00, before they closed. I spent 10 minutes asking anyone I could find for a ride before I realized that all the nice trucks in the parking lot belonged to guys in the bar who probably couldn't drive by this time and I was screwed.

A very nice rental truck from Del's in Woodenville, with the Dura-Max engine and leather king cab. Nice truck!

So once again, my dad came to the rescue and picked up the rental truck, brought it to me, and helped me move the stone out of my truck and into the new one and I was home by 8:00.

dbBrad having a little fun with his new truck. I purchased it a long way from home so to make it simple, I rode my motorcycle which I loaded in the back.

Still needing a truck for my current projects, to get to the job, haul materials, and to move my excavator, I found a new one on CraigsList which has turned out great. Very similar to my old one, but a 350 with duallys and only 60k original miles, less than 1/3 that on my broken truck.

dbBrad proudly stands on his new truck.

Latest dbBrad project, landscaping and earth work

My latest project is not really design or build, but more like install and sculpt.

dbTruck, dbTrailer and dbTractor.

While it's not exactly what I thought I'd be doing with my architecture, art and engineering background, I'm very much enjoying doing restoration and working outside repairing the land. Plus it's keeping the crew busy.

We staked out the utilitites prior to beginning work..

Get to know the site, the design and the materials-dbBrad

We've been at it for two weeks now and here are some shots of the tools, the materials, the yard and the process, with a back-flip for kicks!

Loosening up the earth to remove Aspen roots and for reshaping.

Some of the design objectives are to simplify the front yard and to improve the relationship to the land around it.

dbDog on Granite steps loaded on dbDad's trailer.

There's also a functional component, to add parking and create a more obvious approach to the front door. The generous steps, large stepping stones and an inviting path directs people to the main house and makes approaching the detached apartment less obvious.

The mulch made a great spot to dump the pavers which I did by myself on Memorial Day Weekend so I could return the rental truck. See More

The landscape design by Fran Abel accomplishes these objectives with simplicity, low maintenance and a timeless garden that will only get better with time.

dbBrad and DEW excavator at work.

Many of the rocks were already on the property which I placed with ease, but 5 of the rocks were a little bigger and needed a bigger machine. Placement is to aid in retaining and help transition the house and land visually from a massing standpoint.

dbBrad dumbfounded by d'big rock! Andrew had to remove the tailgate to get the rock in the truck.

There are also 3 large granite steps (900lbs each) leading up to a crushed granite path with large stepping stones set into the CGP (crushed granite path). All this in a more intimate garden between a beautiful house and the lovely field and forest in front of it.

dbBrad and dbDog, Sir Benton 'damn he's cute' Cowboy, the eviscerating Aussie!

All the new beds are being mulched, several inches of aged wood chips over a continuous and overlapping layer of cardboard. This will look great immediately, but will control the weeds and encourage development of healthy soil.

I like to find rocks with a patina and moss and apply finesse when moving them to minimize damage.

We're planting trees now, but will wait until the mulching does it's job before we plant all the shrubs and smaller plants. The irrigation that's going in now for the trees will be easily added on to when the final planting happens, probably this fall.

dbLight, an Italian lamp in a rock from the property.

Lighting was an issue and we wanted a more subtle and natural source of light. Inspired from the second street park lights (Langey WA), I teamed up with Lloyd Whennel of Fine Art Builders, who is carving rocks from the property which we will be insetting with sweet little indirect lights from Italy.

Trees, Tractors and Rocks, co-existing!

Even when all the materials are on site and it seems all the decisions have been made, Fran and I found ways to make little improvements all along the way. The touch of a master adds allot to the placement of a rock or the fluff of some mulch!

db-Landshapers setting some of the larger rocks while Fran and Brad worry about scratches!

And a little fun had to be had on the job site too. When the mulch is this soft and fluffy, you just got to take a minute to jump into it.

dbBack flip!

Goodbuy Tater Tot, my kitty of almost two decades.

But say hello to my new CAT, or rather, Kubota mini excavator.

dbBrad low impact machine.  Kubota KX-91

It's cute. It purrs. It's soft and fuzzy and available for any and all low impact earthwork and water solutions.

New dbBrad Kubota ROCKS!

A green wall system using old futons and fallen branches.

The GWS (Green Wall System)
and futon recycling project-another dbBrad original

Recycled steel left over from another project, discounted/damaged hog wire panels doubled up and off set to make a 2x2 grid, old door hinges, fallen branches and some door hinges complete the list of materials.

Cutting and fitting the panels.  Note the offset 4x4 panels to make a more dynamic 2x2 grid, perfect for moss and plants.

The simple frames are made of hog wire and 3/4" angle iron.  Four little welds in the corners and about a dozen tacks between the hog wire mesh and the frame complete the basic panel.

Welding the WWM (Welded Wire Mesh) to the angle iron frame.

Recycled door hinges are welded at the bottom so I can open it and maintain it.  I weld right through the holes and fill them up which makes for a quick strong nice looking weld.

The panels are hinged for assembly and major re plantings. Gravity and time can be problematic with moss, earth and decaying wood so with time will settle out and need re-doing, but it's far from a quick process to take them back down.

There are no baffles inside my wall. It's 8' tall and the mossy branches I collected which run vertically and fit into the corrugations of my container. The remaining space is filled with sawdust and mulch.

And then the recycled futon is installed to act as a drainage plane for the container, a membrane to help support the material and keep it from sluffing and my hope is to provide great water storage and growing medium for the moss.

Zip strips were used to hold the logs to the mesh.  the futon was just tacked at the upper corners to hold it in place during assembly.

The panels get tipped up and bolted to carriage bolts which I welded right to the container.  Four bolts will hold it tight and ensure it cant fall of during transport.

The moss panel being hoisted into place on the side of my container/shop.

There is a gutter running along the entire top edge of the container.  This is to shed water that drains off the roof from dripping onto my tools and work space, but is also the support for the awnings which are welded to the outer edge of the channel.  This serves to hold them out for the side of the container, allowing for the thickness of the moss panel as well as to direct water to the panels where it waters the moss.

The finished moss wall panel

My primary objective with the container is to create a great shop.  My goal with the green wall panels is to create an interesting container and to explore the concepts of living buildings that are affordable.   I've got a lot of work to do yet, but it's looking good so far.