3D Modeling for Real Life Results

Amanda Jaloway

It’s often difficult to envision what a 2D landscape plan will actually look like in the built environment. 3D modeling is a handy tool in the world of design to help our clients envision the true sense of place and we’ve found a great program to aid us in this endeavor. SketchUp is a 3D modeling program that, unlike many of its competitors, is simple to use and easily self-taught. One of the best features is that a free version is available for download through their website [www.sketchup.google.com] making it widely available- always a plus when trying to coordinate with clients, contractors, etc.

2D Rendering: Onstructure Amenities Deck for Multifamily High-rise

We have been able to utilize this product in many facets of our work.  Frequently the only tool we have to present a design is a rendered plan; though very useful, sometimes plans can be difficult to read, or more so, difficult to interpret how it will look in real life. This is where SketchUp comes into play. We can build a 3D model of our design to show the clients exactly how a design will look in reality.

Once the base model has been created we can then work out design details, such as material selections, furniture design and placement, planting design and selections, in the model. For example, if a client is torn between two materials for a certain area, we can easily import these materials into the model for a side by side comparison, greatly simplifying the selection process.

We have also been able to use SketchUp to work out the mechanics of certain design elements. In one such instance, we were designing a fountain and having a difficult time detailing exactly how all the elements would work together. We decided to model it in SketchUp and were then able to work out the fine details in a 3D environment, much more cohesive with real life.

All-in-all, we have found SketchUp to be a highly beneficial tool in the visualization and evolution of our designs in the built environment.

3D Rendering: Onstructure Amenities Deck for Multifamily High-rise

Written by Amanda Jaloway

Amanda designs and prepares most of our 3D renderings on Kudela & Weinheimers’ projects. Having 3D renderings is a valuable tool for helping our clients experience their space before it’s built.

Big Box Retailers Ahead of the Curve

Ryan Petree

Kudela & Weinheimer is a unique firm that gives its architect’s the ability to work on a wide range of projects. These can range from high-profile sky scrapers to big box retail. Surprisingly enough, it happens to be the retail market that is leading the charge for better building practices at the moment.

More and more retail projects are asking for advanced technology in regards to irrigation systems to better allow them to manage their typically large systems. This in turn leads to lower water bills. Large parking lots require much larger looped irrigation systems to reach the entire project site parameter planting and parking lot islands. Large systems can often mean more opportunity for a break in the system that can go unnoticed. Breaks can result in thousands of dollars in excess on water bills. High tech controllers (evapotranspiration controllers with weather stations) allow for a computerized system reports and monitoring that instantly recognized unusually high water usage for the irrigation zone with the break. The controllers can even shut off a particular zone, while the rest of the system runs and maintains a healthy landscape. These high-tech controllers in tandem with drip irrigation for planting areas often mean more efficient and more economical landscapes.

Controller used to detect breaks in large irrigation systems

Irrigation isn’t the only way retail projects are ahead of the curve. Landscape guidelines, from the client, have become more detailed and refined. This is not only in plant selection, but installation practices as well. The requirement of native and/or adaptive plants ensures the landscape is more tolerable in times of drought. This can be as simple as native or adaptive grasses and groundcovers in high heat areas such as parking lot islands. It also means that the material is grown closer to the project and reduces costs on shipping and ultimately the installation cost. Native and adaptive plants, in addition to responsible design help ensure that the project site fits in with the local style of the surrounding area.

Native & Adaptive Plants Example

Lastly, thorough construction administration (site inspections, monitoring and field reports) requirements help to lower overall maintenance costs. More site visits for inspections ensure less construction mistakes and a better finished project. This can mean higher consultant fees up front, but the inability for contractors to cut corners with more supervision on the project can pay dividends in the end. More material submittals also guarantees that plant material installed is consistent with the size and type specified in addition to being a better quality. Some clients are even requiring the more costly material such as trees to be tagged at the nursery by the Landscape Architect to ensure the best available plant material is installed on the site.

Retail projects often have less landscaping than other projects we work on, but that doesn’t mean they are inferior by any means.  If more projects took on the better building practices this part of the industry is embracing, development in general might be better off.

Written by Ryan Petree

Ryan spends a lot of time doing hands-on field work. Tasks including punching projects, tagging trees and ensuring installation quality control on site.

There’s No Place Like Home

Master Planned Community Landscape Designer

It’s the American dream: a beautiful home, 2.5 kids, a dog (or a cat if that’s your thing), and a lawn to mow on the weekends.  We all want a place to come back to at the end of a long day that feels like home, where you get to feel safe, and gives you a sense of community.

I find my passion working on excellent examples of this with Friendswood Development Company, who introduced the concept of the master planned community to Houston in the 1960’s.  For the past 5 years, I’ve been able to lend a hand in shaping some amazing communities like ‘West Ranch’ in Friendswood, ‘Oakhurst’ & ‘ Auburn Trails’ in Kingwood, ‘Lakemont’ in Richmond, and ‘The Lakes of Savannah’ in Pearland.  The glue that holds these communities together and keeps attracting future home buyers is a united goal in creating livable, walkable, interactive communities that cater to people in the various stages of life.  Creating the splash park that transports a kid into wonderland, the greenbelt hike & bike trails that encourages a healthy lifestyle, the sidewalks and rhythmic shade trees that get you out of your house and into socializing with your neighbors is the goal, creating your community & your home.

I continue to look forward to new phases being developed within evolving communities like ‘West Ranch’, and I especially enjoy looking back at an established one like ‘Oakhurst’.  There is nothing more rewarding than getting to finally step back and observe the environment you helped create:  ’The American Dream.’

Master Planned Community Landscape Designer

Lakes of Savannah Bioswale

Medians & Streetscaping at Lakes of Savannah utilize Low Impact Development

Splash Pad / Spray Park Equipment and Materials Board

Lakes of Savannah Community Splash Pad

Spray Park and Play Ground at Auburn Trails

Rendering of a Pedestrian Bridge in West Ranch Community

Written by Briana Hirth

 “It’s wonderful to work with a tight-knit group of amazing professionals dedicated to achieving a united goal of creating unique and creative spaces for the surrounding community”

After receiving a Bachelor in Landscape Architecture with Honors from Texas Tech University in 2007, Briana moved to Houston and joined the Kudela & Weinheimer team.  Working with her team, she’s been able to put her training into practice creating livable, walkable spaces, for a variety of developments including, mixed use, office, master planned community, multi-family and commercial.
Her hobbies include photography and activities that encourage being outdoors like jogging, hiking, and walking her two wonderful dogs.

Abundant Blessings 2011

It is always at this time of year that we reflect back on the past year. Playing Santa Clause for the past three weeks was definitely an improvement over the past two years. Overall I have noticed the business mood has lightened up a little bit and people are looking forward to new projects in the development world. Over here at Kudela & Weinheimer, we have been fortunate enough to be a beneficiary of the first development recovery, multifamily housing. As Mr. Weinheimer would say “We are busier than a one armed grave digger,” which is a great situation to be in considering the past few years.

Every year, K&W shows our gratitude to our top 20% of clients with a very special holiday gift. Our gift is a fine art photograph of a natural Texas landscape set in a different region of the state and taken by a different photographer every year. The image is printed on archival museum paper, signed by the artist and framed. The process is quite time consuming because once the image is purchased it is then sent off to Aker Imaging to be professionally printed and the final prints are sent back to the photographer for a signature and title.  When the printed images get back to our office, the Kudela & Weinheimer staff (aka elves) help to take the frames apart, clean the glass and insert pictures, a process which takes several days to complete. And all thanks to Mrs. Weinheimer the packages are beautifully wrapped with ribbon and embellishments which she is able to knock out like a crafting superhero.

From the Panhandle Plains to the Piney Woods…from Big Bend to the Gulf Coast…Texas offers a myriad of memorable vistas, which can keep the series going for a long time to come. Two thousand eleven marks the sixth year we have presented this type of gift to our clients (some of them have all six hanging right in their offices). In our reflection on the past year, Kudela & Weinheimer’s chose a photograph titled “Abundant Blessings,” taken by Joe Lowery, in honor of our current circumstance. The photograph is not only a beautiful print, but it also fits the emotional bill of our current circumstance, we have been abundantly blessed with the best clients a company could ask for! If you too, would like to be on our gift list, all you need to do is make your way to the top twenty percent of our clients.

All kidding aside, although we cannot afford, via time or money, to present every client with one of these gifts, we thank all 100% of our clients for bringing us Abundant Blessings! Our relationship with you is one thing we treasure. Thank you for the opportunity to serve you.

A photograph by Joe Lowery

Joe Lowery Bio Card

Building Bikes for Underprivileged Kids

‘Tis the season of charitable giving. For the second year in a row, the employees at Kudela & Weinheimer have volunteered to build bikes for Elves & More.  It is so much fun and thoroughly rewarding to build these bikes! Our employees get to spend some team building time outside of the work environment.

Elves & More is a non-profit organization that provides bicycles for underprivileged kids. However, they don’t just provide bikes, the kids must earn them. To earn a bike, a child must enter into a contract with his or her teacher or school and must meet at least one of the following criteria: 1) attend school regularly, and be on time, 2) behave well in class, 3) attend tutoring classes or Saturday school where necessary, 4) improve their grades in one or more areas or 5) whatever else the teacher believes a particular child needs to improve upon.

Check out the good time we had!

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20 Year Celebration!

On October 28, 2011 Kudela & Weinheimer celebrated the 20th anniversary of opening the landscape architectural consulting firm, which started as Kudela Design Works. I would bet there are not too many of you that know K&W started under that name!

To celebrate two decades of service to developers, architects and engineers, Mr. Kudela & Mr. Weinheimer treated the office to a lunch celebration at Benjy’s on Washington on that day. The event was attended by the K&W Houston office staff, we enjoyed appetizers, adult beverages and lunch as the bosses treat! Thank you Mr. Kudela & Mr. Weinheimer!

Wrapped in a drawing and signed by all of the staff at the Houston office.

As a gift of appreciation and pride in our firms’ long standing service, the employees at K&W wanted to present Mr. Kudela and Mr. Weinheimer with a gift. The gift was a 20 year plaque to coordinate with our KW Lobby sign, which was wrapped in a re-purposed [yep! being "green"] large color landscape drawing and signed by the office staff. Unexpected but very appreciated, Ed Williams at NEC Signage + Architectural Products, donated the 12″ x 12″, steel, 20 year plaque which NEC produced in a flash. Because they didn’t have much time to produce it, the sign in the picture is a temporary “mock up,” with a final product which is in production now. Thank you Mr. Williams for everything you do for us, we thoroughly enjoy working with you!

Also presented to Mr. Kudela & Mr. Weinheimer was a 20 year anniversary cake. Of course you can’t celebrate anything without a cake! Although as you can see from the pictures, our poor cake had a little mishap, or actually, the person carrying it did, but let’s not talk about that.

Sad little cake

All in all, good times were had by everyone and we extend our gratitude; and in the spirit of the season, give thanks, to our clients, partners and vendors for making Kudela & Weinheimer the firm that it is today! Happy Thanksgiving!

Want to know more about Kudela & Weinheimer? Visit our website, download our brochure, see a sample of our projects!

Sad little cake

Wrapped in a drawing and signed by all of the staff at the Houston office.

Fresh Student Housing at SFA

Study while you catch some rays!

Dormitories are not what they used to be, and that is a good thing! Stephen F. Austin State University is opened a new 400 room dormitory this fall. The Lumberjack Landing freshman only dormitory is packed with modern amenities such as larger rooms, microwaves and mini refrigerators, community kitchen, and according to the SFA website, a room designer. Say WHHHAAT?

The freshman only dorm also has a parking garage and outdoor amenities. Kudela & Weinheimer had the pleasure of designing the hardscape and softscape for the student housing facility, which was designed by Kirksey Architects. Although many of the amenities planned for the outdoor space were value engineered (a fancy architectural way to say eighty-sixed) the facility still ended up with a pretty swanky fresh air space. Just look at the pictures! Originally planned, the outdoor spaces included amenities like an outdoor movie theater which would project onto the garage, grilling stations, sand volleyball courts and a conversational fire pit area. The outdoor student space ended up with some great gathering spaces, none-the-less, with modern furniture, study spaces, and sunning areas.

Check out more Higher Education projects click here!

Study while you catch some rays!