Swine Flu and Parking Lot

The two most important issues on my mind right now are the swine flu and the parking lot issues. Swine flu is a fast-growing epidemic of today that scares everybody. Easily it boosts the subtle xenophobia among the public. Often times the construction tradesmen and the laborers are immigrants, so we experience the social swirls day to day. Most of the times, we work with the subcontractors we already know, and they've been living here long enough and we know them well enough. My concern is that this kind of disease can easily turn into more than a health issue; it can develop into something bigger, like social, economical, and political problems. The world economy is already bad as of now, and people are worried that this flu can freeze the flow of world trades. Now, that is really scary for me.

On the other hand, I notice that a lot of buildings are being renovated and built right now in the neighborhood. Life goes on. It has to go on. One of our current projects is a parking lot renovation for a religious institution. I hope everything goes smoothly with the process; I know it will.

Safety in Design

The first and foremost principle in designing buildings is to assure the safety.

Our lunch seminar -- eat and learn-- takes place in a free discussion format. Yesterday's topic is "how to eliminate the potential safety hazard factors when designing" a structure or a space.

Key to a successful AND safe construction project? Communication. Surprised?

First Step

There is always the first step in everything. This blog site wants to be the first step closer toward the two way communication channel that I would like to create between the construction professionals and the public. Of course there are numerous people on the fence, life me, for example, who are interested in construction and architecture but can't exactly call themselves construction professionals. As a marketing personnel at an architectural company, I often feel like an auxiliary, not exactly the main forte. However, one thing I understand is that no building can be built purely with numbers and lines. Best construction projects of any size are possible when the communication flows smoothly, and without language, you can't really communicate.

As a matter of fact, this is my theme for the next Newsletter column: Effective communication for quality construction projects. Right now I am still brainstorming for it.

The truth is, even if you are not actually playing the ball game out in the field, you still get excited about it. In some sense, construction business has a lot in common with sport. It excites everybody around, whether you are players or spectators. When you see a superb performance or a superb building or room in a building, your jaw drops and go wow. The basics of the whole operation is pretty simple: you throw, catch, hit, or kick the ball to score (for sport) or you measure, plan, and put the things together (for construction). Finally, everybody knows a little about it, and has done a little here and there. There are millions of amateurs and fans and some professionals, but a handful of the best.