First Class Storage Facility

If anyone reading this blog has ever had to move their own stuff, then you know what a hassle it can be.  If everything goes smoothly, you can move all your stuff from one location directly to the next, or, if you’re really lucky, you can just hire a moving company.  However, most of the time, that is not the case, and something goes wrong, forcing you to use a storage facility for some amount of time. Personally, I do not enjoy these places.  I liken it to a prison for your stuff – poorly lit, cramped, sterile, and for some reason, they always seem to smell bad – like rotting cardboard and mothballs.  Add to that the actual lobby where you purchase your rental space – dirty, grimy and not particularly friendly.  The locations of these facilities are also problematic, as they are usually located in some sort of demilitarized zone – not the first neighborhood I would want to store my valuables. The entire experience is only slightly better then sitting through an insurance seminar at the DMV.

So, when Sure Storage USA came to Lone Wolf Drafting and Design to help them develop a premier storage facility, I was intrigued and very interested in taking the job.  Sure Storage wanted to create the anti-storage facility.  They wanted a facility that was bright, cheerful, warm, inviting and located in a safe, secure neighborhood.  They wanted the “Waldorf Astoria of storage units”.

So, with the input of a storage unit specialist, I began developing the space that they wanted.  They had some specific needs in there design program: a manager’s office, conference room, Post Office kiosk, and a moving supply sales kiosk.  Sure Storage was going to use several specific storage unit sizes: 10’x20’, 10’x15’, 10’x10’, 10’x5’, and 5’x5’. Therefore, I decided to use those storage units as the basis for the rooms that would be featured in there lobby.  The 10’x20’ unit was used as their conference room, and the 10’x10’ unit became the manager’s office.  The 10’x15’ unit became the Post Office kiosk, and the 5’x5’ unit became the security and surveillance booth.  The 10’x5’ unit was used as the moving and packing supplies kiosk. 

5'x5' and 10'x5' units

10'x15' USPS Kiosk

5'x5' Security Kiosk

Sure Storage not only wanted a warm looking feel, but they also wanted a way to convey their strength and security.  Therefore, I finished off the walls with a standard drywall and paint finish, but I added in a cutaway curve that shows the steel panel walls that makes up the walls of the storage units. 

One of the biggest requests that Sure Storage had was lots of natural light.  Therefore, the conference room and manager’s office has large windows cut into the outer walls, and the inner walls are glass curtain walls to allow as much light through as possible.  Skylights are cut into the ceiling throughout the entire lobby.  Florescent lights were not used anywhere in the building – instead soft white canned incandescent lights were used throughout. 

The main customer service counter consists of large, sweeping curve clad in Moz Designs Metals with raised lettering, topped with a black granite counter top – no vinyl or plastic tops here!  Large plasma screens show off Sure Storage’s latest products, while two large product kiosks display moving equipment and storage solutions.

The final result is a beautifully designed space that would welcome even the most discerning storage customer.  Do you have horror stories about storage facilities?  Would you seek out a storage facility like this one if you had the choice?  Share your thoughts and stories in the comments section!  I hope to hear from you soon!

Always Beyond the Ordinary

I love my job.  The love the fact that I work for myself and only myself.  I love the fact that my morning commute starts in my bedroom, stops in my kitchen for breakfast, and then goes down the hallway across from my bedroom to my office; my only traffic consists of a speed bump that I loving call “Jack” (Jack is my dog, not an actual speed bump). I love the fact that I get paid to create computer generated images.

However, my real passion lies in wanting to create 3D environments for video games.  I was never what you would call a “gamer” – my first system was a Colecovision. 

Then, a decade later, we finally got Nintendo. 

Then, another two decade later, I finally got into the big leagues with an awesome Xbox 360 Live.

I love this thing – seriously, I’m on it just about every day (My gamertag is LW DiVincenzo for anyone that’s interested).  Sometimes my morning commute takes me to the living room instead of my office.  Anyway, the first game I started playing on the 360 was “Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 2”.  Wow.  I mean really, wow.  While most people were playing online and trying to figure out how to level up, I was running the game in private mode just so I could look around and stare at the complexity and beauty of the gaming environment.  I found myself doing the same thing while playing Bioshock, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Split Second, and my favorite from an environment point of view, Grand Theft Auto, Liberty City – just amazing. 

I have so many ideas in my head for a digital gaming environment; I could spend the rest of my life creating them. However, I soon realized that I do not have the background knowledge necessary to work for a gaming design company.  While I have the imagination and static modeling talent necessary to create cool images and backgrounds, I do not have the slightest clue as to how to make it work in a video game.  Therefore, I have not had any luck working for a gaming house.  So, when a friend of mine told me that he had a friend looking for environmental designers, I jumped at the chance to show off to the best of my ability. 

I have never had so much fun.

The company, Always Beyond was looking for people to help them develop a new video game concept.  Due to the fact that the game is still under development, I wont give away any of game’s details.  The images that I created were for concept only – a way to start kicking around some ideas, and they all have a copyright.  Anyway, I was tasked with coming up with some environment ideas based on the following requests: a fort/ marketplace, a hanger, a sort of religious/ worship center, a central tower and an encampment.   Here is what I came up with:

The Fort/ Marketplace:

The Pavilion (the worship area):

The Cathedral Hanger:

The Tower:

Other aspects of the gaming environment, such as the encampment, are currently under development, and I will be posting them as I complete them.  Check back for updates!

Container Living

One of the hottest trends in “green” design is recycling material for a new use.  While the act of recycling is nothing new, container housing takes it to a whole new level. 

So, what is container housing you might ask?  It is turning an old shipping container into a beautiful, livable space.  Yes, that’s right, an old shipping container.  I liken this style of building to the adult version of Lego blocks.

A standard shipping container is 40 feet in length, 7 feet tall and 7 feet wide.  Each standard container is always the same, which makes them very handy for stacking and putting them together in unusual ways.

The process of converting a container into a livable space is not an easy one.  First, a decommissioned container must be thoroughly inspected for any structural imperfections or defects.  A container that is selected for conversion must be able to withstand the natural elements as well as the demands placed on it for human living. It must also be able to stack as well as carry the load of any other containers placed on it.  Shipping containers are designed to carry a heavy load, as they can be stacked 10 high on the decks of mega freighters.

After a container has passed the inspection process, it must be completely cleaned and stripped – the plank flooring must be removed and the walls must be scrubbed in a harsh chemical bath to ensure that no dangerous toxins become part of the new home.

Once the container can be used as construction material, the decision must be made as to how to use it.  Is it going to be a stand alone unit, or will two be placed side by side to make a double wide?  Will they be stacked up – if so, how many high?  From there, the interior must be designed, and this is where the real challenge begins. 

When designing the interior of the container space, you must realize that for the most part, you are constricted to a set parameter of space – there is no expansion unless you want to add additional containers.

For my first study in container construction, I decided to go with a 2 bedroom, 2 ½ bathroom design with a full kitchen and living room spread over two levels.  Therefore, I used 4 containers to create the full space.  The first two containers as set side by side to create the living room, kitchen, kitchen bar, half bathroom and staircase.  The second level consists of a master bedroom with a full bathroom and a second bedroom with its own full bathroom with a stand-up shower. I decided to stagger all of the containers for two reasons:

1. To allow for multiple balconies and patios.

2. To make the entire unit more visually appealing. 

One of the biggest challenges in container design is that you are already starting with a box, which in and of itself could be very boring to look at.  In order to make this design more interesting, I felt that it was important to set each container slightly askew from the one before it.  In the context of a full complex of container homes, the overall effect becomes quite pleasing to look at.

Here are the images of my design (more can be seen on my site – I will be posting them very shortly):

 

Container design is certainly not my creation or my brainchild – at all.  This trend began in London with Container City 1.  Since then, many of these container cities have started springing up all over Europe, and now, they are starting to catch on here in the United States. 

You can read more about container city here: www.containercity.com/home.html.

I am trying to throw my hat in the ring as a designer and renderer of these structures to companies in the U.S. that are starting to get involved in this type of construction.  Wish me luck!

My Florida Connection

In today’s world, it is easy to express one’s self when it comes to one’s own displeasure. In other words, if you hate something, there are about 150,000 ways to convey that hate.  You don’t have to go far to find someone gripping about something.  Lord knows I have communicated my displeasure about many things. 

In the small business world, most of our complaints focus on clients that don’t pay their bills, or are slow in communicating with us, or change their design plan or project scope 15 times in a day, and you know about every single one.

As much as I understand the need to vent, I also believe in highlighting the good guys.  For me, one of my star clients is The Sater Design Group based in Bonita Springs, Florida (www.saterdesign.com). Lone Wolf Drafting and Design has had the privilege of working with this company on several projects.  The Sater Design Group is one of those rare companies that are easy to work with, communicates their ideas and goals well and sends me interesting and fun projects to work on.  They are the trifecta of clients. 

Recently, I modeled and rendered some new homes that are slated for construction in Greensboro, North Carolina.  These are beautiful, modest homes that reflect a calming suburban charm that is hard to come by in the era of “mcmansions”.  Here are a few images of those homes:

 

One of the more interesting and complex homes that Sater Design had us working on will be located in the Cayman Islands.  Their client wanted a unique resort style vacation home right on the waterfront.  The client wanted to see what their new home would look like, so Sater Design came to us to render this one off custom design.  The results were, in our opinion, stunning.

Judge for yourself:

I look forward to continuing my business relationship with The Sater Design Group for years to come.  Thanks for being such a great client!

Which Route(r) Should I Take?

The wireless age.  It is a fantastic time to live in when it comes to networking several computers together.  It is also a wonderful invention when your cable connection is on the exact opposite side of your home, so your options are: 1. drill holes in your ceilings and walls, crawl through your attic and run 100 feet of Ethernet cable or, option 2: go wireless.

This is the story of option 2.

In every place that I have lived, at least one computer was wireless, and therefore I have probably used every router in existence, especially at my current home.  You see, in the 1950’s, when my house was built, a personal computer wasn’t even a thought in most people’s head, let alone wireless connections. Therefore building a house to accommodate a wireless connection was not something that anyone considered.  Another thing to remember about the 50’s is that people knew how to build a house. My house could probably survive a nuclear strike, if it had to.  The exterior walls are block construction with vinyl siding, and the interior walls use 6” x 12” stud construction with lathe board, dry wall and chicken wire (which is key to this story) with a thick hand plaster coating.  Yep, they knew how to build ‘em.

Enter into the arena, the first router, a Belkin Play “N” series router with a 300mb/s transfer rate antennae. 

This router worked great at my last apartment, which was only 800 square feet, and the computer sat about 20 feet away from the router with a clear line of sight, so the connection and speed was fantastic. Not so much in the new home.  The distance from the router to the computer is roughly 50 feet, which is not a great distance. However, the line of sight is apparently far more incredibly important then I originally thought.  Going in a straight line from the router to my computer, the signal must pass through 4 of those heavy duty plaster lined walls.  The Belkin failed to achieve this feat.

Next up on deck was the Apple Airport Extreme. 

I figured, why screw around with anything in the Belkin Play category, let’s get right into the big leagues.  So, off to Best Buy to purchase the Apple router. 

Before I continue, I feel it is necessary to inform you that another major disadvantage going for me is my internet service provider – Cox Communications.  Simply put, they stink on ice.  On most days, two tin cans and a string work better then anything Cox can offer.  As a matter of fact, if you have an alternative service provider in your area, then use it. 

Unfortunately, Cox Communications has somewhat of a monopoly in the area, so I have to use them. Cox’s modem of choice is the Motorola SURFboard SBV5422 Digital Voice Modem and Integrated DECT Cordless Phone System.

 

This thing sucks, too. I have been through 3 of them.  I mention all of this because while all of the routers that I will be discussing have had issues in one form or another, there is a good chance that my ISP and modem are to blame as well, so take all my reviews with a grain of Cox Communications’ provided salt.

Anyway, back to the router. The set up was fairly simple – my PC recognized it right away. My Mac, on the other hand, did not, due to the fact that I am still using Mac OS X v 10.4 operating system.  I know, I need to upgrade.  The Airport Extreme requires Leopard at least to operate with maximum efficiency.  However, the Mac was able to connect despite the lack of a software upgrade with the existing built in wireless card, it just had a weaker signal. I noticed that my signal on the PC was still very weak, and my connection was extremely poor, with a transfer rate of 13.5mb/s.  Unacceptable.  So, I went back to Best Buy and purchased the Airport Express – a device that is supposed to extend the range of the Apple Extreme router.

This did not happen.  My computer wanted to recognize the Express as the router, as opposed to the Extreme.  There was constant conflict between the two devices, and one would cancel out the other.  In addition to that, my signal was still extremely poor. Nope, Apple cannot contend with Cold War Era construction.

Next up: the Cisco Systems Linksys E3000.

 

Fail.  I mean all the way around, fail.  My computers could not connect with the router at all.  The signal was so weak that it could not get past the initial set up connection during the installation process.

Finally, we come to the winner, a Netgear N300 wireless router. 

 

Surprisingly, this is a middle of the road unit.  The reach of the signal is not as far as the Apple Airport and the E3000, but is markedly stronger.  I have to say, the installation process was a pain in the neck.  Not particularly hard or anything, just a pain in the neck.  I had to take my tower, monitor, keyboard and mouse to the router and run a hard-line Ethernet connection between the tower and the router to establish communication.  Once communication had been established, the rest was easy.  However, even though the signal quality was stronger, the router still had issues penetrating the walls of my house.  The signal was still hit or miss. 

Then, my tech savior, Rusty, gave me this handy little device called a Rosewill RNX-G1 antennae.

The installation of the antennae was extremely simple, and this ended up being the missing link, the solution to the problem.  The down side is that the maximum transfer rate is 54mb/s.  However, since the signal is strongest with this setup, I am able to use every bit of the 54mb/s.  Even though the other routers had a 300mb/s rating, the signal was so weak, I was lucky to get 20mb/s. 

With the stronger signal from both the router and the antennae, my signal has been strong, steady and interruption free.

Remember at the beginning of this post, I mentioned the chicken wire that supports the plaster?  Apparently, the chicken wire was dispersing the signal from the other routers to the computer; after all, the router’s broadcast frequency is just a radio signal.  Every router uses a different frequency to broadcast their signal.  Apparently, the Netgear Router uses a frequency that can penetrate the inner structure of my 1950’s walls.

For anyone trying to select a wireless router for their homes or office, I hope this blog helped. Something to remember that I did not in the beginning of my search for a router is the construction of the space around you and most importantly, the construction of any walls that may be between the router and the computer that it is serving.