I recently rewatched Doug Pray’s excellent 2009 advertising documentary, ART & COPY and the thing that still sticks in my craw is, “Got Milk.” It is a remarkable tagline. Forget the bad grammar, the difficulty I have with digesting lactose, and the millions of thieves out there that have co-opted the “Got” message to sell us everything from vacations to religion – two words that instantly mean something to almost everyone is an amazing accomplishment. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but sadly all the imitators have… READ MORE.

Even though it’s not always thought of as “green,” thin brick is an environmentally sustainable product. Brick has a superior life cycle and can be recycled in any number of ways. But what makes brick unique is that it is made up of two of the most abundant materials in nature: clay and shale, which are products of the earth’s surface. The process is simple. Once the clay and shale are mixed together they are cast in the shape of the desired brick form and fired in a kiln.… READ MORE.

The following guest post, from Architect Magazine and authored by Ernest Beck, is gratefully acknowledged. Contact Ernest Beck at ernest@winterhouse.com for more information.

It takes a moment to snap a picture, but days to shoot a building. Nick Merrick, an architectural photographer with Hedrich Blessing, explains how to approach buildings — and their designers.

For the past 30 years, architectural photographer Nick Merrick has logged thousands of miles capturing vivid images of houses, orchestra halls, museums, airports, corporate headquarters, and other types of structures. Whether it’s a small residential… READ MORE.

A few months ago we secured the website buildingproductmarketing.net in our efforts to continue increasing organic relevancy for our expertise as designers and consultants for manufacturers of building products. My continued promotional and marketing efforting (yep, just add “ing” and you get a verb) has revealed some interesting players in the building products / marketing arena. One of them is Chusid Associates. Chusid’s website home page states: (They) “improve the quality of the built environment by identifying and promoting building products that redefine best industry practices.… READ MORE.

Visit the Architerials Blog here

Architects are visual people by and large, and we don’t like clutter or disorganization unless it’s a very carefully ordered chaos within acceptable parameters. (If you disagree with this broad generalization please feel free to express yourself with wild abandon in the comments section – it is the perfect forum for dissent). Anyhoozle, I’m bringing this up because a lot of the product data we look at when assessing different building materials that get specified for projects makes my head hurt.… READ MORE.