My other part-time job is as a designer for Santa Clause. Are you making any cool gifts this year? #santashelper #woodworking #design #lifeistooshorttosleepin (at Lancaster, Pennsylvania)

Another beautiful day at the office. Although we have an open office plan, peoples voices mimic the peace of the site. Come visit some time. How about this Wednesday 12/19 5-7pm? We have Lancaster’s best gingerbread display, this years theme Mt. Gretna. #snowday #rlpsarchitects #mtgretna #gingerbreadhouse #openoffice #architecture (at RLPS Architects)

Another 4:30 am class in welding and fabrication. Who knew piecing together triangles would be so time consuming? It’s a trinitarian dance! #fabricationnation #tigwelding #paramedic #sculpture #contemporaryart #430wakeup (at Lancaster, Pennsylvania)

Ending a Monday morning fabrication session. No off to my real job. #welding #interiordesign (at Lancaster, Pennsylvania)

Friday sketches in the interior design work log. #fridaysketches #dreams #furnituredesign #interiordesign #sketch #illustration #workingdrawings #design #architecture

Opening night of the RLPS Gingerbread display is always for the client party. Last nights winner was @dustinjulius with a fixer upper theme. The gingerbread display will be open to the public the next three Wednesday evenings. Hope to see you there! #rlpsarchitects #gingerbreadhouse #architecture #design #christmas (at RLPS Architects)

Barn love.

What difficult achievements in your life or climbing journey have lead you to believing any thing is possible? In preparation for a multi-day climb in British Columbia scheduled for summer of 2018 I have begun climbing once a week. Thanksgiving morning we hit the local climbing area, Safe Harbor and climbed a beautiful 150ft dihedral called Autumn Arch. I was about to leave when a discussion arose of why. Why was it a good pitch of climbing? We all agreed that it was good because each move was equally difficult, analytical problem solving was required to move forward and with every move there was a risk of failure. I replied, although much harder, that is the “why” a route called Machismo is one of the best routes in all of America. Sustained climbing where every moved is extremely challenging and requires the climbers full attention.  My climbing partner Ian (who had taken several large falls earlier in the morning) smiled and said, lets climb it today! I looked at him, he was serious. With my toes headed towards family and turkey I froze…..Lets do it i replied! This photo was taken by Chad Esh, as I am leading through the crux moves on Machismo. For me successfully climbing this route in 1997 removed many metal blockades in my climbing career and ultimately to me climbing 5.13’s and many multi-day routes in Yosemite National Park. #rockclimbing #safeharbor #autumnarch #machismo #climbing #paclimbing #thanksgiving #lancasterparockclimbing #sportclimbing #goals  #lancaster #life #risd (at Safe Harbor Climbing Area)

Happy Thanksgiving!!! #thankfulness #lists #debtfree #family #goodness #rest (at Lancaster, Pennsylvania)

Christmas Gifts and TIG Welding.

Christmas Gifts and Tig Welding.

I had my first easement inspection as a Historic Preservation (HPT) Trust board member this week. The easement was on a farmstead that is located at 1630 Millersville Pike and consists of almost five acres and three structures. The standing buildings are of three different architectural styles, and reflect the construction techniques of the period in which they were built. 1175 Original Log Cabin 1775 Distillery, w/ Spring 1836 Federal Style Brick House 1869 Brick Barn The current owner has done much to preserve and maintain these buildings and yet there is still a threat to this historic site. The primary threat to the site is lack of maintenance to its buildings. The secondary threat is Lancaster’s rampant suburban development. If you are interested in helping preserve Lancaster’s historic architecture and agricultural heritage you should consider becoming involved with the Historic Preservation Trust. This photo was taken inside the 1775 Distillery, that was originally used to distill rum. It has been reported that the the rum produced by the owner, Mr. Bausman was sold as far west as Pittsburg, Pa. One the unique architectural features of this structure is a spring that runs through the basement. This feature is common to historic buildings in the area and the sounds it creates adds a pleasing spirit to the structure and site. #farmarchitecture #barnarchitecture #lancasterpa #lancastercountyfarm #farm #preindustrialrevolution #lancastercounty #architecture  #design #craftsmanship#architecture #interiordesign #preservation  #lancasterhistoricpreservationtrust #suburbansprawl #architecturalhistory #lancasterhistory (at Lancaster, Pennsylvania)

See for yourself, why every one is talking about The World Trade Center Transportation Hub by #architect #santiagocalatrava (at New York, New York)

#lists (at The High Line)

Tobacco shed chiaroscuro: The tobacco harvest in Lancaster Pa, is still an entirely manual process, designed around  the size and weight of the plant and the strength of a man. The architecture for curing the tobacco plant continue this design logic and is subdivided into 12’x12’x12’ structural cubes. The cubes are subdivided into thirds and a rafter system stores the thousands of the 40lbs tobacco lath. Each lath is composed of six green tobacco plants. #agriculturalarchitecturemachines #designlogic #design #farmarchitecture #barnarchitecture #lancasterpa #lancastercountyfarm #farm #preindustrialrevolution #lancastercounty #architecture #masterplanning #design #craftsmanship #farmer #tobacco #tobaccoshed #tobaccobarn #preservation #light #chiaroscuro #architecture #interiordesign (at Lancaster, Pennsylvania)

Barn as abstract art. #barn #architecture #barnarchitecture #lancasterpa #preservelancasterfarms #preservation #farms #contemporaryart #abstractart

Very little architecture emotionally moves or compels me. Why is it that ancient barns connect strongly with us? From a young age, I spent most of my free and working time in theses structures, exploring and learning how to operate these agricultural architectural machines. What most people called child labor was only part of being in the Barley family. As a Barley, the farm work I loved the most was the tobacco harvest, and even from eight or ten years old, I dreamed of having tobacco in the to gables of the barns. These memories haunt me. It makes me wonder, was the danger of climbing into the peaks of the barn as a child, something that compelled me to climb the big walls in Yosemite? Maybe I’ll never know.  Leave your thoughts below, why do we connect with old barn architecture and old ways of farming? #farmarchitecture #barnarchitecture #lancasterpa #lancastercountyfarm #farm #preindustrialrevolution #lancastercounty #architecture #masterplanning #design #craftsmanship #farmer (at Lancaster, Pennsylvania)