Specifying in a Pandemic
What's VVAS doing during the COVID-19 pandemic? We're writing specs, that's what! As a business owner, it's my job to keep my team safe,...
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Vivian Volz
Jul 22, 2015
ADA! Hooray!
I hear from the Instagram grapevine that today is a day for celebrating 25 years of the ADA. So it's the perfect day for a quick post...
Vivian Volz
Jul 23, 2014
Mockups for Range—for Glass?
We all expect natural materials to vary in color, pattern, and texture. Concrete, too, and other things that are, let's face it, made of...
Vivian Volz
Sep 26, 2013
You might be a specifier!
There will always be a role for someone with a knack for organizing verbal information in design and construction work.
Vivian Volz
Aug 25, 2013
Zero-VOC: Beyond the Headlines
For most projects, a paint that claims "zero-VOC" is equal in quality and compliance to one that claims "less than 50 g/L VOC."
Vivian Volz
Jun 21, 2013
Off the Schneid Again
In honor of the NHL Stanley Cup finals, and because it's been a while since I posted, I thought I'd give you an update to my...
Vivian Volz
Mar 1, 2013
Perot Museum: Mistake or Science Lesson?
Is this naïve design gone wrong... or a clever demonstration of concrete's need to shrink as it cures?
Vivian Volz
Feb 23, 2013
Naïve Design
We technical designers make a sport of bemoaning the cluelessness of aesthetic designers. My colleague Louis Medcalf tweeted a common...
Vivian Volz
Feb 5, 2013
Anderson Todd
Perhaps I did have an inkling that Anderson Todd was important during my years at Rice. I spent some time at my dad's house this week...
Vivian Volz
Jan 16, 2013
Talking About the Spec
Are you communicating with your specifier during construction administration? Are you, perhaps, a little afraid to tell your specifier...
Vivian Volz
Dec 19, 2012
Ignoring the Spec
I’m specifying a system that depends as much on the fabricator as it does on the materials. In this case, it’s a concrete countertop, but...
Vivian Volz
Oct 4, 2012
Ceiling Fans
I recently needed to help a client select a ceiling fan, and I wound up learning exciting new things about motors. (Yes, it's a motor...
Vivian Volz
Sep 10, 2012
Specs: The Sexy Part of Architecture
Think specs aren't the sexy part of architecture? They should be. I stayed in architecture, when engineering was looking awfully tempting...
Vivian Volz
Aug 31, 2012
Anderson Todd's Most Valuable Lesson
Anderson Todd taught my freshman architecture class in the fall of 1986 at Rice University. It might have been his last freshman studio...
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