The end of last week, I helped with a foundation for a new house.
It's a TGI, I still don't know what that means. But it's different than the other houses so far, in that it's not a solid concrete slab. Instead, it has 2-3 foot concrete walls (which were poured) and then a wooden grid built within that. This is more labor intensive, but since we have a lumber grant, it's pretty much free. I also heard that it's less of an insulator (vs. a solid slab), but that's the trade off. It was good though. There was an architecture firm volunteering, they did a good job. Four people, about my age, graduates from UC Berkeley. Reminded me of the design students from Davis. And the lead associate seemed to know his stuff. He took over directing people as soon as T took his first smoke break.
I also stopped by the office this morning, to observe L, the in-house architect. I guess it was a slow day. From what I could gather though, his job was mostly organizing, making check-lists, putting together presentations.