Story No. 32 for the blog www.architects-tales.com by Dale R. Ellickson. This story is in the public domain and is not copyrighted by the author. The following article, Meet Dale Ellickson, FAIA. was recently published by AIA’s Virginia Society of Architects to highlight architects who have been elected to the high honor of the College of Fellows. A short biography. I have been a licensed architect and attorney since 1975 and 1976 respectively. Elected to the College of Fellows of The American Institute of Architects in 1991, I managed the publication of AIA’s Standard Documents fo ..read more

Story No. 31 for the blog, www.architects-tales.com, Copyrighted 2019 by Dale R. Ellickson I am often asked when I first meet someone, “How did you become both an architect and an attorney?” An Architect First I wanted to become an architect since my pre-teens when I read about Frank Lloyd Wright, whose picture appeared on the cover of Time Magazine.  It turned out that he came from the state of Wisconsin as I did. In high school, I read his autobiography.  The truth be told – major decisions are made for the flimsiest of reasons.  I did not like English courses with their man ..read more

-I always have a quotation for everything – it saves original thinking.- Dorothy Sayers, novelist Post No. 30 of the blog, www.architects-tales.com; Copyright 2019 on only format, notes and arrangement by Dale R. Ellickson Note to reader In case you have not noticed, each of the previous stories posted to this blog has been proceeded by an appropriate quote or saying attributed to a particular source. For your further entertainment, I have provided additional material about architects and architecture. This will be followed by a recap of the list of quotes or sayings that have pre ..read more

-What is the best way for people to deal with their differences?-Roger Fisher and William Ury Story no. 29 for the blog, www.architects-tales.com; Copyright 2019 by Dale R. Ellickson Many architects of my generation lament that they had no formal training in negotiating. That is no accident. Schools of architecture have a notorious reputation for over-emphasizing design theory and shying away from practical practice issues.  Yet, the blame does not exactly belong with the schools back then since the systematic and scientific teaching of negotiating is actually a very recent development ..read more

–Learning never exhausts the mind.– Leonardo da Vinci Blog story no. 28 for www.architects-tales.com, Copyright 2019 by Dale R. Ellickson It was a typical hot and muggy day in Atlanta when the bulldozer was driven off the flat bed trailer and sent to clear the site for a new shopping center.  As the dozer began cutting through the ground vegetation, it started sinking lower and lower until it was completely gone from sight – driver and all.  Sketch of dozer sinking into kudzu The construction superintendent and his surveyor’s crew scrambled towards the sound of the still rumbling ..read more

– ” A woman with organization skills can run a construction company without ever picking up a hammer and nail.” –Warren Farrell Blog story 27 for www. architects-tales.com, Copyrighted 2019 by Dale R. Ellickson Avis and Dean Hilfinger, FAIA, with their medals for the Senior Doubles Championship title in 1997 The day started like any ordinary workday in 1966. In the early twilight, Dean Hilfinger arose, showered, combed his crew-cut,[1] and dressed in an architect’s customary business attire – a blue blazer with gray or brown slacks.  Then, he caught a train from Bloomington, IL ..read more

Contractor’s specification: Pound to Fit, Paint to MatchAnnoymous Blog Story No. 26 for www.architects-tales.com, Copyrighted 2019 by Dale R. Ellickson It is hard to say when the crisis began.  Although by the post-war year of 1950, architects and their lawyers sensed a significant change was in the wind.  Up until that time, architects seldom faced law suits by their clients or by third parties due to a set of legal barriers put in place long ago by English common law.  First, there was the legal concept that whenever the owner accepted the building, usually by occupying it, the owner wa ..read more

– “God is in the details”- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe -“God is a verb.”-Buckminster Fuller Story No. 25 for the blog, architects-tales.com, Copyright 2019 by Dale R. Ellickson Many professions such as lawyers, doctors and architects have a rule of halves. The rule of halves is a restatement of the meaning of “median” in statistics: that is, in any group of people, half of them will be on one side of the median and the other half will be on the other side. For aspiring architects, the rule is first encountered as students when they enter architectural school and are told that one ha ..read more