Homeschooling Tips

Here are some helpful suggestions for hopefully keeping everyone sane during this stressful time. We’re also making surgical masks which will ideally help our healthcare workers and is also providing us with a greater sense of purpose.

Do what you can, be creative and share tips.

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Tips for Architects Working At Home During COVID-19

“We encourage all architects and designers to do what we do best: face the future with optimism and creativity, and adapt to your present circumstance so that when the coronavirus pandemic passes, which it will, we will emerge ready to design a better future.” - ArchDaily

I believe this statement above and wanted to share it as a reminder and here is the list of tips for most people that will be working from home.

Be good and be well.

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DIY Surgical Masks

This instructables link is the best resource I’ve found so far for mass producing masks. It has scaled printable patterns and additional information at the end.

Here is another simple video tutorial shared by Auntie Jen at RecoverGirl.

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My 13 yr old and I made these 2 masks last night. We added thin aluminum with rounded edges in the one at right to close down around nostrils. We’ll keep modifying more today.

My 13 yr old and I made these 2 masks last night. We added thin aluminum with rounded edges in the one at right to close down around nostrils. We’ll keep modifying more today.

Nextdoor Groups

We’ve just invited several neighbor over email to join our city block group (example: see left bar on attached image) on Nextdoor and will flyer the remainder of the neighbors for whom we don’t have contact info.

We imagine it might be useful for things like sharing supplies (flour, aspirin, cleaning goods, etc.), checking on those not connected online, assisting individuals or families with minor DIY tasks when needed, etc.

Reach out if you’d like learn more how we’ve done this and if you’d like to set this up for your block.

Here is more explanation on TechCrunch.

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Starting Seeds

Seems like there could not be a better time to start planting seeds - we set up our future garden 2 weeks ago on our kitchen window sill. Here is a link from Plant Talk Colorado on how to start your seeds indoors.

Everyone be well.

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Brick

This is one of those projects that beautifully merges what computers can solve for mathematically to facilitate what humans can construct physically. See more here.

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Geodesic Domes

I found this project when looking for geodesic greenhouse examples. The most interesting part about this house is - it has no frame, which, not surprisingly is based on a design by Buckminster Fuller. Read more about this tiny insulated geodesic dome project here.

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Here’s a framed dome structure I found that seems like it would be fun to make with use of a CNC machine.

Here’s a framed dome structure I found that seems like it would be fun to make with use of a CNC machine.

AS-BUILT Measurements (dimensioning existing structures)

Utilizing existing technologies and for efficiency sake, these are 2 new tools we’ll be trying out this year. The TapMeasure Application, in theory, should record dimensions and sync with SketchUp (our preferred modeling software). The laser measurer appears to be highly accurate (+/- 1/8”) up to 65’ and will be used to verify dimensions. Keep an eye out for future posts once we’ve tried them on several projects.

TapMeasure APP

TapMeasure APP

Laser measuring device

Laser measuring device

Happy 2020!

A goal of ours at b i g f i s h d e s i g n, was to post one inspirational blog entry each day over 2019. It was typically design related, but also included impressive artists, musicians, technologies, scientific advances, etc.

Over 2020, our focus will be more around systems & processes – how we approach projects or maybe how we’d like to improve the ways in which we do things, or…what others are doing that just seems smart and worth sharing. We’ll plan to drop a new post each week (ideally Mondays). 

Here’s an example of a process I’d like to try in 2020. 

Have the color palette for a project derived from nature (e.g. butterfly wing, bird feather, etc.). I jotted this idea in a sketchbook 25+ years ago and haven’t tried it – this feels like the year.  

 Thanks for visiting and all the best in the new year/decade.

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A.O. Scott - film critic

Scott’s criticisms remind me of the no-bullshit reviews of Pauline Kael and Roger Ebert. Their perspectives on the history of film anchor their viewpoints.

Example: JOKER

“To be worth arguing about, a movie must first of all be interesting,” A.O. Scott writes. “It must have, if not a coherent point of view, at least a worked-out, thought-provoking set of themes, some kind of imaginative contact with the world as we know it. ‘Joker,’ an empty, foggy exercise in secondhand style and second-rate philosophizing, has none of that. Besotted with the notion of its own audacity — as if willful unpleasantness were a form of artistic courage — the film turns out to be afraid of its own shadow, or at least of the faintest shadow of any actual relevance.”

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Black Mirror

This is one of those dark and sometimes funny, sometimes beautiful (Netflix) shows that hits its mark consistently - often highlighting some near technology gone awry.

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