Architects Anonymous

Travel Guide For Magnificent Miami

Florida’s Miami not only offer wonderful, white beaches and bikini models, but also features myriads of event and activity options including skydiving, kayaking and snorkeling. As for events, the International Hispanic Theater Festival is considered as one of the biggest Hispanic events in America while the largest festival called Carnaval Miami is observed for nine days.

Hot Miami in Florida is the spot to be visited. It lies at the southeastern end of the southeastern state of the US. The city has a remarkable influence of Latin America as fifty percent of the populace is Hispanic. For some laidback visitors, the city is all about music, Latin American gastronomy, and language. Yet for millions of guests, Miami is all about impressive art deco architecture, dashing night life, bikini models, parties permeated with glitterati, and sure enough, white beaches! The majority of guests take a break at Miami Beach which is an exclusively independent town of mainland Miami. The Miami Beach or billed by the folks as the “Billion Dollar Sandbar.”

Best Time To Visit

The peak season in Miami is during winter seasons. The months of August until November offer an assortment of beguiling events and it’s easier to make reservations. November’s White Party and March’s Calle Ocho celebration are crowd pullers.

Events

a. During the months of May though middle of June, the International Hispanic Theater Festival is celebrated. It is considered as amongst the biggest Hispanic events in America. This festival showcases Latin American, Caribbean, US, and European theatre organizations.

b. At the start of March, the largest festival called Carnaval Miami is celebrated for nine days. The event covers a beauty and inline skating contests, jazz musicale, shows at the Orange Bowl, and a Latin drag program.

Activities

Miami puts forward so many activity choices. The following are just some of them.

• Kayaking

You don’t have to an expert to be able to do kayaking or canoeing. You can opt for the Wilderness Waterway shore or the Everglades to row on all sides of the 10,000 Islands. Just rent equipment and you’re up to a thrilling kayaking exploits through the mangroves.

• Skydiving

A lot of exploration businesses provide gears and chartered planes so that tourists can savor the energizing air in Miami. Homestead General Aviation Airport grants training to better equip you with skydiving proficiency.

• Air Adventure

Dade County put together a ground exclusively for Homestead General Aviation Airport’s small aircrafts because light airplanes have turned into trendy.

• Snorkeling

The east of Key Biscayne offers a fantastic diving and it’s the area where Biscayne Wreck situates. On Key Biscayne’s southeast portion is where John Pennecamp Coral Reef State Park sits and Key Largo is the ideal origin for walking around the park. This park is a protected area of the Florida Reef. The park’s Schooner Wreck Reef and Elkhorn Reef have the best snorkeling and diving offerings.

Miami’s Deco Architecture

The city is prominent for its Art Deco architecture some of the most beautiful structure in the US. The Art Deco Welcome Center has a Deco-styled permanent exhibit. Sitting next to it are three archetypical models of Deco hotels-Cardozo, Carlyle and Leslie. The chic Cardozo flaunts curved, smoothed edges and was fabricated by Henry Hohauser. The avant-garde Carlyle was included and highlighted in the movie “The Birdcage” while the Leslie has a form likened to a box.

Weather

Generally, Miami has a warm climate. The months between December through May are just perfect. During these times, Miami Beach’s rain is limited and temperatures are normally between 15°C and 30°C. Summer seasons can be extremely searing and sultry, with August as the hottest month. From July until September, typhoons and hurricanes are frequent while June offers the most rainfall.

Site Lighting

When developing a site lighting system, the most important thing to keep foremost in mind at all times is lumens per watt efficiency. Because energy costs are continuing to rise, new laws are now requiring a .15 watt per square foot maximum for outdoor site lights, making it necessary to both choose fixtures that are more efficient and to pay closer attention to site geometry to pinpoint optimal locations for fixture placement. Working with a vendor of specification grade commercial lighting such as RLLD Commercial Lighting will help you propose a system that is aesthetically pleasing, economically viable, and fully compliant with regulatory codes.

Parking Lot Lighting

Parking lot lighting represents a critical element of site lighting and must balance functional lighting levels, aesthetics, energy efficiency, and regulatory compliance in order to be truly effective. Higher poles tend to light larger areas, helping keep the site’s overall lighting in compliance with energy efficiency codes. This must be balanced, however, against any local dark sky laws that limit pole height to a maximum height. As a general rule, it is almost always a better idea to use cut off luminaire designs with tempered glass lenses and reflectors formed from specular facets. These fixtures do a better job of keeping glare at a minimum and dispersing light over greater distances, keeping power consumption down while simultaneously increasing the total square footage they illuminate.

Architectural Building Lighting

When it comes to buildings themselves, site lighting must accent the architecture without overpowering it. In order to do this, it is necessary to light only the most significant features of a building rather than the whole building itself. This not only helps curb energy expenses and minimized light pollution, but it also creates a secondary effect of accenting that which is truly important about a particular buildings design, and it represents savings as well on the number of luminaires necessary for a truly superior outcome.

A few areas almost always require the attention of site lighting designers. The building entrance itself will need vertical light over the vestibule or front door, and any signage on the building itself will require emphasis in order to advertise company branding. Columns will require lighting as well in order to maintain the building’s sense of balance and proportion, and anything positioned on the rooftop will need its own special light as well.

Fixture positioning is the key to success when it comes to building site lighting. Hiding the light source as much as possible creates a more aesthetic sense of seemingly sourceless light that makes the structure itself stand out even more. Wall packs, canopy lights, roof mounted lights, and a wide range of sign lights can be installed in strategic locations so as to make them virtually invisible to the casual viewer. When working with a vendor of specification grade architectural lighting fixtures such as RLLD Commercial Lighting, the options expand even further when one considers the wide range of options in wattages, luminaire mounts, reflectors, and cut off designs the contractor has available.

Landscape Site Lighting

The significance of the landscape to a site lighting theme depends on three things: the site geometry itself, the amount of actual greenery versus structure and pavement, and the type of industry representative of the business. Some businesses such as strip centers and commercial office parks have almost no greenery whatsoever, so outdoor site lighting takes the forms of low voltage step lights or garden lights around trees and flower beds. More ornate corporate campuses with park like areas require a bit more attention and almost always synthesize general landscape lighting with security perimeter lighting. Much like building lighting, this can be done very effectively without exorbitant expense on large numbers of fixtures. They key here again is to highlight features of the landscape rather than light then entire area. Pathways and decorative benches can be lit quite cost effectively with fluorescent lighting bollards. Low voltage halogen lights can be used to accent waterways, commemorative statues, ponds, and fountains. Decorative lighting posts with ornamental fixtures can be used to create historical themes or aesthetic elements in key locations without overkill or over spending.

RLLD Commercial Lighting not only provides detailed information on these and many other subjects free of charge to all of our clients, but also publishes information on new technology and industry trends to all who enroll in our online community program. Contact us now for more information.

How to Make Your Website Structurally Sound

You’ve decided to build a website. Great! Your first step is to determine its structure?the pages you want to include and the information you want provide to visitors. But how to begin?

Your first instinct may be to make your site different from everyone else’s. After all, trying to differentiate your business is what you’ve been doing throughout your branding process.

Building a website is like building a custom home

When you create a custom house, you can arrange your floor plan however you want, paint the walls as you please and fill the house with furniture you love. Your goal is to create a unique space that stands out from everyone else’s.

In the same vein, there are elements of your website where standing out makes sense. For example, the overall look of your site and your copy should be different from other sites?especially those of your competitors.

Differentiating your website is good for your small business?to a point. What you don’t want to do is reengineer its basic structure.

Standing out isn’t always the stable way to build

Underneath it all, even the most unique custom home has the same foundation and spacing between studs in the wall as every other house on the block.

By following underlying principles of construction, builders help ensure that the house is structurally sound. Why not use the same approach when it comes to your website? That way, your site is far more likely to work well for you.

To use site building rules, of course, you need to know what they are.

Rule 1: Do competitive research

Before someone sets out to build a custom house, they’ll probably do quite a lot of research?looking at other houses, determining the architectural styles that appeal to them, and perhaps even checking out homes in the neighborhood where they want to build.

The same goes for your website. You need find out what you’re up against. Once you’re familiar with competitors’ sites, you can make sure that your site will not only be different in the right places, such as look and feel and content, but that it will also be comparable in the right places.

Most likely, your competitors have been building their sites for some time?and probably updating them to answer customer questions and market their businesses more strongly. You don’t want prospects to pass you by because your site doesn’t answer an important question that a competitor has addressed.

Visiting other sites and making notes of basic structure, business information presented, customer questions answered and even relevant tools and articles gives you a jump start on creating a site that facilitates apples-to-apples comparisons.

Rule 2: Plan your site architecture

As you may suspect, planning your site architecture is like drawing up architectural plans for a custom house, where you plan just what you’ll include and what will go in each space. For example, do you want a library? A formal dining room? And where will you put the piano?

Similarly, for your website, you must decide the pages you’ll include and the information on each page.

When planning your site architecture, think about what you’d like your website to do for your business. Do you want it to bring in clients and close sales? If so, pricing information and even a shopping cart can help do that. Do you need your site to get media attention? Then a Media Room might be the key. Make sure to include the pages and content required to get the job done.

In addition, think about how you plan to expand your website in the future. At the beginning, designing a website of more than 10 pages can overwhelm a small business?both in terms of budget and time required to write the content.

But, if you create an expanded site map at the beginning?a website wish list if you will?then you and your website strategist can determine which pages will be most important in helping you reach your goals. You’ll also have a clear roadmap you can use to add on to your website as your budget and schedule allow.

For more about the pages to include on your website, see this article: Pages To Include On Your Website.

Rule 3: Name your pages in a way that makes sense

Have you ever walked into an unfamiliar house and been unable to find your way around? You probably asked the hostess where the kitchen was so you could drop off your pot luck dish or the way to the bathroom.

On a website, though, visitors don’t have the luxury of asking where things are. So you want to make it as easy as possible for them to find the information that they need.

Some small businesses want navigation button names to be clever or interesting. But, it’s important to think about the website visit from your customers’ or prospects’ point of view. They often come to your site looking for specific information. Even if they’re just browsing, they want an organized way to look around?where clicking a link takes them to the page they expect. Remember that visitors don’t have a lot of time or the patience to bumble around your site.

You see the same navigation buttons on every site you visit for a good reason. Established usage conventions have trained visitors to look for names like “Services,” “About” and “Contact” when they’re out browsing around. Capitalize on this and your visitors will be able to find what they’re looking for quickly?keeping your site and your business in their good graces.

Following these three simple rules makes it much more likely that your website is structurally sound and that your visitors will have a great experience there instead of a frustrating one.

Website Building for Your Home Business is Easy and Free

In this article you will learn that building and publishing websites is far easier than you think, and you certainly do not need expensive software to build them. For those starting an Internet basd home business, the ability to quickly and easily create your own purpose built websites will be a useful tool.

For may people the prospect of having to build a website is daunting. Where do you start? What software do you need? What pages do you need to include? How do I include things like forms so people can contact me?

For those with the financial budget available, the first option would be to engage the services of a professional website design service. For many, with a lower, or non-existent budget, the easy option would be to opt for some sort of online website building software. Maybe one that comes free with the web hosting service.

However both of these options have drawbacks. The Professional designer will undoubtedly produce a great looking website. The downside is that, first, you will have to spend hours working with them to decide the look, feel and functionality of your site, and, because you do not understand how it all works, any changes you want to make will have to be referred back to them – equals more expense.

The online website building software can look great to, and you have quite a bit of control over your website’s design and content. But, my experience is that I have never found a single online website builder that does all that I wanted it to do. The other thing is that you are often limited to a certain number of templates, and they tend to look the same anyway.

So, if you could design and build your own website from scratch, and you were given some idea of the basics in terms of deciding site architecture, what pages you need to include, how to include forms to collect customer information, how to sell stuff, wouldn’t it be better to build and publish your own websites?

So, don’t you need expensive software, a graphics package, how much does Photoshop cost? What about software to create your website, how much is DreamWeaver?

The answer is certainly not! Open Source Software can provide you with an excellent range of functional html editors completely free. Similarly you can find free ftp software for uploading your website to your hosting service. What about Graphics – you can easily create great graphics using your wordprocessor, then use a free graphics package to convert your graphic to the right format for including in your web page.

Want to know more? Go to: http://www.e-bookcountry.com/ipvideos3direct.html

Design Summer Courses In Milan: discover the city on About Milan

Have you ever been in Milan, the capital of business, fashion and design?

If you are planning to go there or you just would like to find out interesting and curious things about this city, take a look at the original and useful website aboutmilan.com, then.

This website is a non-commercial project which offers many useful information about the city of Milan, that represents the Italian and international capital of fashion, design and contemporary art.

Milan – industrial emblem of Italy – is also the most internationally renowned Italian town in the world, and it assembles people coming from every region of the country and from any corner of the world, also due to the fact that during the last years it has turned into a cosmopolitan city that represents one of the main centers in the fields of trade and business.

On the site, which is continuously updated in order to help visitors to optimize at best their stay in Italy, you will find information about the events and news - comprehensive of weather forecast – about the city which represents a lively place both on day and night, with a wide choice of restaurants, discos, cinemas, bars and charming cafes offered.

On About Milan you can find essential information about the history of the city, its art and culture, its monuments, its museums and characteristic markets, but also many addresses and useful maps conceived to help visitors to move quickly once arrived there.

Have a look at our amazing photo gallery and marvel at Milan’s treasures in advance!

Milan is a city able to offer almost everything to its visitors and it seems to be also a perfect location for students who wish to have a unique learning experience abroad, for studying a language, attending a special course and to get in touch with a different culture.

On this subject, a new section has been created on About Milan dedicated to the Summer Courses 2009, for giving students the chance to find and attend high quality lessons on Fashion, Design and Graphics.

Such courses are offered by the Italian Language School Leonardo da Vinci in collaboration with NABA and are aimed to provide students a comprehensive Italian teaching and a program with classes, external visits and seminars to get them in touch with the creative world of Milan.

Students will have the opportunity to choose among a variety of courses, starting from Introduction – intended for who has no academic background on a specific subject area – Intermediate – Studio Level – or Advance level – intended for students who are attending their last year of university in the specific subject areas dealt with in the summer courses and for professional in those specific fields – according to their personal and professional skills.

Here you have a brief list of the summer courses you can choose among: Fashion Design, Styling and Accessories, Fashion Marketing and Merchandising, Fashion Photography and Journalism, Fashion Textile and Fibres, Interior and Product Design, Landscape Architecture, Lighting Design Studio, Graphic Design, Graphic Art Design for Fashion, Photography and the Moving Image, Theatre Design.

To find more information about Summer Courses 2009 visit www.aboutmilan.com

How to Start Designing Your Own House

If you are thinking of designing your own house, what steps do you need to take before you get started? Obviously, before you can ever build your own house, you will need to design it. The biggest decision of all will probably be actually deciding on a house plan.

Where do you go or how do you go about making your own house plans? There are thousands of house plans available and ways to find more than you could ever need. Some places you might look are building and renovation magazines, the Internet, or on CD-ROMS.

Should you want to create your own house plan, your best bet is to get a special home design software. There are a couple good ones on the market and they are reasonably priced. In fact, with this type of software. it will not take you very long to be able to design that dream house yourself.

Another, more expensive option, is to have a local architect draw your house plans. This can get expensive however, and that is why I would recommend having something to hand him from the start. You can get an idea of what you want by using one of the computer software programs and then you can have the professional complete the design.

The bottom line is, your budget will be an important factor in your every design decision. A professional will be able to help out in this area as he can give you estimates on what things will cost. Professional architects are there to be used and they will help answer all the questions that a piece of computer software cannot. Used together, computer software and a professional architect will be your best choice for designing that house you have always dreamed of. 

Sprink Tech Hits Milestone of 2,000 Fire Sprinkler Installations

DATELINE:  BELLINGHAM, MA…

Since 1991, the company has been designing and installing fire sprinkler systems for developers, owners and general contractors of residential apartment complexes; industrial buildings; condos; apartment buildings; retail centers and distribution centers.

What sets Sprink Tech apart from other sprinkler companies is not only sheer manpower with their team of 40 field installers, but their in-house design services, which enable quick permitting.  Their utilization of this state-of-the-art software program for design along with prefabricated pipe for installation ensures high quality, accuracy and rapid turnaround, in addition to lower costs for the client.

Unique Fire Sprinkler Service Plan

Sprink Tech backs up their design and installation services with the option of a unique fire sprinkler service plan geared towards keeping commercial developers and building owners’ property in compliance with all federal and state laws.  Sprink Tech’s Fire Sprinkler Service Plan essentially provides the required quarterly inspections, tests and documentation.  Building owners and developers can rest easy knowing that a sprinkler system is up to date and conforms to the latest codes and regulations. A single system inspection starts at $500 for four inspections per year and the documentation is kept on file at Sprink Tech headquarters.

The company also provides 48 hour turnaround for inspection and 24 hour service calls. 

“The number of licensed service professionals that we have on staff greatly contributes to the number of installations we are able to provide annually.  We are one of the largest outfits in the New England area and we pride ourselves on our ability to complete a job on time, often ahead of schedule.  A typical design and installation job takes three months,” noted Andrew Abysalh, Business Development Manager at Sprink Tech.

Abysalh noted that larger jobs, such as designing and installing a system in an apartment building, may require up to 18 months to complete. 

About Sprink Tech

Sprink Tech Company, Inc. is a leading provider of sprinkler systems for educational commercial, residential and retail clients in Massachusetts.  Founded in 1993 by Scott Dwyer, Sprink Tech’s expertise includes autocad design; backflow prevention; wet and dry pipe systems; fire pumps; testing and much more.  Sprink Tech’s licensed professionals have a combined 50+ years of experience in fire sprinkler design, installation, service and inspection and the company has a total of 45 employees.

Their extensive client list includes Fox Sports Network television station in Burlington; Avalon Woburn a 350 unit apartment complex; The Preserve at Walpole, a 14 building multi-story apartment building; The Shoppes at Blackstone Valley in Millbury, a 300,000 square foot lifestyle retail development; Advo Distribution Center in Taunton and the Dedham Middle School.

Sprink Tech is headquartered at 31 Maple Street in Bellingham, MA.  For more information, visit their website at www.sprinktech.net or contact (508) 966-3375.

Identifying It Skills Is A Vital Component Of It Training

Training and seminars on information technology are important in any kind of business. This is primarily due to the fact that most operations and processes in business rely on computer and other technological tools. The acquisition and availability of information technology will be ineffective and senseless if the employees who are supposed to use such, do not know how.

IT training is basically composed of lectures and discussions of how to use, create, and construct information technology tools such as computer hardware, various computer software, computer programs, computer applications, and computer operating systems. This kind of training covers a wide range of topics and various forms of specializations. IT training is also categorized according to the type of IT skills being disseminated and the type of certification and qualification that will be gained.

IT Training and IT Skills

These days, there are many companies that offer IT training for businesses. Evidently, most of these trainings are provided by the manufacturers and developers of the IT tools and equipment. However, some companies composed of skilled IT professionals also provide training.

Before availing of any IT seminar or workshop, the company should first be able to assess what type of IT skills is required for the business. To add to that, the company should also be able to assess what IT skills do its employees already possess. By comparing the needed IT skills for the business and the present IT skills of the employees, the company will then be able to identify what more IT skills are necessary.

The various types of IT skills

Prior to IT training, categorization and identification of the present IT skills of the employees is necessary. Basically, the company can classify the skills of its labor force according to the kind of the know-how that each employee have which are as follows:

Application-oriented skills:

These IT skills refer to those that are used when working with application software packages. Among the most well known computer applications are the “Office applications” that allow users to create documents and presentations (i.e. MS Word, MS Excel, MS Powerpoint, MS Publisher and other basic applications).

In addition to these office applications are the more complex software that allow the user to design graphics and construct computer images and web pages such as Adobe Photoshop, Macromedia Dream weaver, Corel Draw, AutoCAD, and many more.

Development skills:

These IT skills are those that are commonly possessed by computer programmers, developers, and database administrators. These are used to construct or modify computer software, computer programs, and systems. These are the skills that are usually required for the IT personnel of the company. If an employee is equipped with development skills, he is expected to be very knowledgeable with both the hardware and the software components of computers and computer systems.

Operations skills:

These IT skills are those used to maintain the efficiency and security of computer systems and infrastructure. Such type of skills requires basic knowledge of both application-oriented and development skills. These skills are often required for computer engineers.

Sprink Tech Hired for Schoolhouse 77 Fire Sprinkler Installation

DATELINE:  BELLINGHAM AND ROXBURY, MA…

Schoolhouse 77 is approximately a 150 unit, HUD-assisted multi-family housing development.  Dell Brook Construction out of Braintree is the general contractor for the job.  Sprink Tech will be designing and installing fire sprinkler systems at buildings located at 60 Brookledge; 610 Cummin Hwy.; 6 Kenilworth and 37 Williams St. in Roxbury.

Sprink Tech will utilize their state-of-the-art software program to design the fire sprinkler system and prefabricated pipe will be used in the installation.  Sprink Tech’s in-house design services, their team of 40 service professionals and pre-fab pipe will ensure high quality, accuracy and rapid turnaround, in addition to a lower cost overall.

The work will be done between August and November of 2008.

“It’s a good opportunity for us and we’re pleased to have been selected for the job,” noted Andrew Abysalh, Business Development Manager at Sprink Tech.

About Sprink Tech

Sprink Tech Company, Inc. is a leading provider of sprinkler systems for educational commercial, residential and retail clients in Massachusetts.  Founded in 1993 by Scott Dwyer, Sprink Tech’s expertise includes autocad design; backflow prevention; wet and dry pipe systems; fire pumps; testing and much more.  Sprink Tech’s licensed professionals have a combined 50+ years of experience in fire sprinkler design, installation, service and inspection and the company has a total of 45 employees.

Their extensive client list includes Fox Sports Network television station in Burlington; Avalon Woburn a 350 unit apartment complex; The Preserve at Walpole, a 14 building multi-story apartment building; The Shoppes at Blackstone Valley in Millbury, a 300,000 square foot lifestyle retail development; Advo Distribution Center in Taunton and the Dedham Middle School.

Sprink Tech is headquartered at 31 Maple Street in Bellingham, MA.  For more information, visit their website at www.sprinktech.com or contact (508) 966-3375.

Sketchup and Online Landscape Design – Creating a 3D Landscape

Sketchup is 3D design software that is used for many different industries.

However, for the hard to visualize area of landscape design, it can provide one of the best portrayals of the 3D landscape.

Sketchup was originally owned by @Last Software, but it was bought by Google. Hmmm….I guess Google thought it was pretty good. And it is.

There is a free version and a paid version. For the average person, the free version is fine. If you want to get more intricate with such things as grading and showing different elevations, then you will want the paid version.

For residential design, you can use this program in a couple of different ways.

The first way is to design right in the program. With a click of the mouse, you can set the drawing in a perspective position. Guidelines help you make sure you are drawing correctly. You can enter actual heights and lengths of objects, such as a house. You can put in the dimensions of the house, ie., length and width. Then use something called the pull tool to extend it up to the correct height.

It is all very user friendly. Also, what is created has an artistic flair to it, which makes it a lot of fun!

You can also view different materials for landscape elements. For example, if you are drawing a patio, you can go to the Materials area and choose what you might like. There are many different materials and you can change them as you like to see the differences. Some choices are stone, pavers, brick and concrete.

A plant palette is offered also. These are fine. However, for a more sophisticated look, there are other inexpensive components you can buy to use in your design.

The second way of using Sketchup is to create a 2D drawing in such programs as AutoCad, and import it into Sketchup. In this situation, you are working from your drawing so that an exact replica of the design is created. This allows you to see what a drawing will look like when built. Changes are easily made if there is something you don’t like or want to add.

Some of the components you can add to the 3D landscape design are people, cars, grills, pergolas, plants, any many, many more. These are available directly through the program or through something called Google Warehouse. They are all free.

There is a lot of flexibility with the components. You can resize or rescale them if you need to. You can also change colors of both components and materials.

By adding window components to a house, you can actually position a person inside the house. This allows you to attain a view as if you were inside looking out. What a great feature to see what your view will be like.

You can also create scenes. Scenes let you save a particular view. These scenes can also be exported into jpeg images. You can also create an animation which is a fly by or walk through of the entire design!

Any or all of these features can be used to suit your purposes. The software can be used in both simple and sophisticated ways. There are many other features available also. All in all it is a great 3D program.