As a creative, yet industrial professional, utility is not far from my mind when assessing options, but in many cases, particularly where daily human interaction is part of the design scope, aesthetics is of equal importance. Simply put, in the age of technology, an object must be able to be easy to use, and it’s …
Tag Archives: Design
Road Load Limits
The BC Ministry of Transportation has recently started a blog, following in the footsteps of others, like, "The Fastlane”, the blog of the US Secretary for Transportation, Ray laHood. One of my favourite recent posts shows the importance of following spring road limits, with these two photos (click on the photos for a link to …
Why I Write
Image by urbanworkbench via Flickr Writing is part of my daily routine, I write a lot, both for work and for myself. Being an engineer and a writer seems to be a contradiction to most people, as though the hard analytical mind of an engineer can simply not operate in a creative endeavor such as …
Simplicity
My whole life is surrounded by technology that has been discovered or invented in the past 50 years. I am a product of Generation-X, the epitome of consumerism. I love and want more technology, I crave the latest gadget, I consume therefore I am. But really, I am a poor example of a consumer, I …
Stormwater Design
Stormwater design is one of the most critical components of urban engineering. Unfortunately in Canada there is no national standard of design principals used by municipalities or approval jurisdictions. I come from Australia where there is a national standard called Australian Rainfall and Runoff that is published by Engineers Australia. Here in Canada, it seems …
Phone Funnies
The first days back at work can be a struggle after a holiday, and it was a good one, lots of family time, hiking, enjoying Spring and seeing the wonders of the Canadian Rockies. Lots of photos here and still more to come over the next couple of weeks. This morning I had a joyful …
Boring Playgrounds
“There is an overemphasis on brightly coloured equipment, an over-preoccupation with safety and far too little thought and time paid to making them playful, interesting places that adults will want to spend time in, as well as children.” ‘Boring’ playgrounds stifle children’s creativity – Telegraph. I get all the play module manufacturers’ catalogs at work …