LACSI | Newsletter | August 2013 by LA CSI

Presidents Letter

August Dinner Meeting

Sept (Gala) Dinner Meeting

Buch Notes

05-08 Curdmogeons Corner 09

Golf

National Convention

11-12 LAX Tour 13

OCCSI

board of directors

New members

advertising

Volume 68

So the only real way to carry a four foot inflatable Mickey Mouse across a parking lot into the office is to take him by the hand and just go for it. Needless to say, my co-workers loved it. In fact, I've had to ward off several mouse-napping attempts. It's been an interesting way to start my presidency. I have to give a big Thank You to the awards/ installation team who put together such a nice event at the City Club - Kathy Greenway, Karen Zatermann, and Jennie Guida, who bought Mr. Mouse to the party. Also a big Thank You to Jay Nordsten, our former president, for carrying LACSI through another successful year. Well, I'm excited about getting the chance to serve as your President for the coming year. I think we're going to have a great year and I truly hope that all of you will come on out to join us for the upcoming excitement.

ed and interesting. I want to give a big Thank you to everyone who attended, and to our brilliant presenters, Toby Pugh, Sharon Toji, Dennis Zanrosso, and Michael Ellars.

up for a picnic and John Williams at the Movies with Fireworks! The Hollywood Bowl is an LA tradition and there's no better way to spend a Saturday evening with your friends.

Another great event was our meeting out at the LAX Flight Museum, where we got a tour of the soon-to-be completed Bradley West Terminal. I want to give a huge thank you to Stuart Fricke for setting it all up for us. Also, to Tim Ihle with LAWA, who walked us around inside and showed off the fabulous new terminal. ISEC sponsered dinner, which was delicious, and made sure we were all well fed. A good time was had by all, and I really appreciate the effort that went into this special tour.

There's lots more great things coming up and I'll be talking more about them soon. I hope to see you all soon at our events! Remember - LACSI is as good as our members - and we have great members!!

We've kicked off the year with a bang and there's still plenty of excitement to come. Mark your calenders for the annual Patio dinner at Cafe Pinot on Aug 28 - always a great time to just come out and have a lovely dinner on a summer evening in downtown L.A.

We've already started things off with a very successful Accessibility seminar given at USC on Saturday, June 28th. We had a full house for a Another great event coming up is our Hollyquartet of topics, all of which were well present- wood Bowl picnic. On August 31, we're meeting

See you soon!

Kathryn Marek

King, the Kennedys, & Los Angeles In the early 1960s, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy symbolized hope, change, and the dawn of a new era for a country that was caught in the clutches of Cold War fear, and in many cases, clinging to certain outdated social attitudes. By the end of the decade, all three men laid slain by an assassins’ bullets, with only part of their potential realized. The exhibit “King, the Kennedys, & Los Angeles” presents images of all three men during visits to Los Angeles for various events, including political rallies, campaign banquets, and civil rights gatherings, and explores the impact they had on the city - both in life and death. Featuring photos exclusively from the Los Angeles Public Library’s Photo Collection, “King, the Kennedys, & Los Angeles” presents a view of the 1960s and its legacy through the lenses of photographers from the Los Angeles Herald Examiner and Valley Times newspapers, along with images from local photographers William Reagh and Rolland Curtis. In some cases, the images have not been seen since they first ran in the local newspapers more than 40 years ago. “King, the Kennedys, & Los Angeles,” not only presents the enormous impact these men had on the city, but demonstrates how library collections continue to preserve and promote the legacies of our past. Library Exhibits: http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/exhibits

Please join us for a memorable evening on Wednesday, September 18, 2013 during which the LA Chapter of CSI celebrates its 60th anniversary. Our venue will be a familiar one for many of our long-time members, the Doubletree Los Angeles, formerly the Grand Kyoto and New Otani. Mementos of the event will include a commemorative champagne flute and memory book. Our social will be held in the rooftop gardens and we will begin dinner with a champagne toast. Our entertainer for the evening will be Richard Lederer, a past West Region CSI speaker. Richard Lederer is the author of more than 40 books about language, history, and humor, including his best-selling Anguished English series and his current books, The Gift of Age, A Tribute to Teachers, American Trivia, and Amazing Words. He has been profiled in magazines as diverse as The New Yorker, People, and the National Inquirer and was founding co-host of “A Way With Words” on Public Radio. Dr. Lederer’s observations on language appear in magazines throughout the United States, and “Lederer on Language” appears each Saturday in the San Diego Union-Tribune. He has been elected International Punster of the Year and

Toastmasters International’s Golden Gavel winner. He makes about a hundred appearances a year and, as a speaker, is at home in almost any venue. Richard Lederer is the proud father of professional poker players Howard Lederer and Annie Duke and poet/ memoirist Katy Lederer. Richard and his wife, Simone van Egeren, live in San Diego. Following his program he will entertain questions and host a short book signing event. Please join us as we honor our past, consider our current status, and look forward to our future. Dinner selection: Napa Chicken served with Mushrooms, Herbs and Wholegrain Mustard Sauce, Roulade of Basa served with a Rice Wine Glaze, Vegetarian Pasta, orVegan Tofu Stir-fry Parking: Complimentary self parking or Valet parking is $12 Want to help sponsor our celebration? Click here. Interested in staying overnight? Click here.

Sea to as far away as the Holy Lands. Construction of the Tower was eventually completed in 1370 at which point it was already 1.6 degrees out of plumb.

A Skewed History of the Tower of Pisa is Nicholas Shrady’s retelling of the world’s most famous foundation design mistake. The book begins with the early history of Pisa, continues with a description of the on and off again construction of the Tower, or campanile, describes the numerous unsuccessful attempts to stop the progressive leaning of the Tower and concludes with details of the successful stabilization of the Tower’s foundation in 2001.

The Tower, baptistery, and duomo were constructed in the Pisan Romanesque style exhibiting influences from Byzantium as well as from Rome and Lombardy. The Tower is approximately 52’ in diameter and 151’ high, measured to the 7th cornice located just below the belfry. The tower’s foundation is merely 10’ deep into a sandy, clayey bog. Stone for the Tower was quarried not far from Pisa and conveyed on barges to the Campo dei Marcoli via a canal excavated for the purpose. Stone blocks were allowed to cure on site for nearly a year before they were shaped into the 32,000 pieces necessary for construction of the Tower. The architect of the Tower is not known.

foundation, the “high” side of the Tower. This was so successful that the tilt was reduced by 20”, and stabilized, at the tilt present prior to 1838. Surely this has to be considered one of the most significant foundation engineering achievements of the 20th Century. In addition to the story of the Tower itself, the book includes a chapter describing the attraction the Tower and Pisa had on Shelley and other Romantic Poets of the early 19th Century. It also dispels the myth that Galileo performed his famous experiment from the top of the Tower demonstrating that two falling bodies of different mass reach the ground at the same time. TILT was published in 2003 by Simon & Schuster. It has 161 pages and includes some useful drawings and historical photographs.

Ed Buch, CSI, CCS, AIA

By 1817 the Tower’s 7th cornice projected nearly Los Angeles, CA 12’-7” beyond its base. By 1838 the projection had increased to nearly 14’ following the first of several disastrous “fixes”. Numerous commissions were established to study the problem and recommend solutions. Most of these proposed work beneath the south side of the tower, the side that was sinking. Meanwhile, the inclination continued to increase with the projection reaching nearly 15’ at its maximum. In 1934 Construction of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, as a commission sponsored by Mussolini proposed it’s better know, began in 1173. It was the third injecting grout into 361 holes drilled beneath the structure on the Campo dei Miracoli site folTower, again without success. Finally, in 1997 lowing construction of the Pisan duomo and commission #17 lead by an English geologist, baptistery. At the time of its construction, Pisa John Burland of London’s Imperial College of was a commercially successful city-state with a sea trading network extending from its location Science & Technology, implemented a solution on the River Arno throughout the Mediterranean based on removing soil from beneath the north

In the last article, “Absolute nonsense”, I wrote about the great number of words available to express fine distinctions of meaning, and how, properly used, they can be quite precise. In daily use, however, words often are used incorrectly, and most would agree that many disagreements are based on different interpretations of what we say. In contrast, we usually think of numbers as being exact. After all, it’s easy to look at a set of drawings and determine the exact number of doors, or windows, or any other object. Dimensions, however, cannot be precise, even though they are stated as if they were. Anyone who has done construction of any type, from building a house down to replacing a deck board, knows that dimensions are not absolute. A tape measure may have marks denoting thirty-seconds of an inch, but it seems the length you’re measuring never falls exactly on one of the marks. If you look closely, you’ll see the marks themselves have width, so where does the exact measurement occur? In the center of the mark, or on one side? You’ll also notice that tape measures that do show thirty-seconds of an inch show them only in the first few inches. After that, the old expression “close enough” seems to rule. It is possible to specify an exact dimension, but in practice, it’s impossible to meet that specification. All things are manufactured to nominal dimensions, and all measurements are nominal. In most cases, today’s tolerances are good enough that we don’t need to worry about them. One problem arises when the individual tolerances of several things are added together. For example, if two panels are required to align within a sixteenth of an inch, the difference between adjacent panels won’t be noticeable. Using only that tolerance, however, could result in the first and last of sixteen panels being an inch out of line. That’s why we often see a series of tolerances, e.g., 1/4 inch in 10 feet, 3/8 inch in 20 feet, and 1/2 inch in 40 feet. It’s frustrating when manufacturers’ specifications don’t indicate tolerances. If an aluminum extrusion is shown as 1/8 inch thick, what does that mean? Is it 1/8 inch minimum, or 1/8 inch plus or minus? If the latter, how much is the plus or minus? If the manufacturer refers to a dimension as nominal, does that mean it’s within the limits established by a standard, or does it mean the dimension will be whatever it

happens to be? Many times, tolerances are established by industry standards. That’s great, but you have to know that what the standards are, and you have to know that the manufacturer complies with them.

It looks like metrication won’t happen soon in the US, if ever. Until then, we sometimes are required to state two dimensions, one in United States customary units, the other in metric. Conversion factors make it relatively easy to change from one system to the other, but stating both if only one will be used introduces another opportunity for error. Stating numbers in both systems makes no sense at all when talking about rounded numbers. Does the statement, “The 10,000 square meter (107,639.1 square feet) building…” really mean the building was exactly 10,000 square meters? It’s possible, but I doubt it. When using rounded numbers, units of both systems should be rounded. In this example, the area in square feet should be rounded to 107,000, or even 100,000. One of the problems with customary units is their origin. The foot was based on - surprise! - the length of a human foot; the inch on the width of a thumb; a yard on the distance from nose to end of a thumb; the mile on 1,000 (mille) paces of two steps. Even if everyone had identical body measurements, those units of measure didn’t work as a system, so the numbers were fudged over time until a foot had twelve inches, a yard had three feet, a mile had 5,280 feet, and so on. There was no reference standard until about 1845, when the British government created a bronze yardstick, marked in feet and inches. Of course, even then it was known that the master yardstick would vary in length with the temperature, but it was, as we say, close enough. Meanwhile, about 1795, the French created the metric system. Instead of being based on body parts, it originally was defined as 1/10,000,000 of the distance from the North Pole to the equator along a specific meridian. Although more rational than other systems of measurement, it had its own problems, not the least of which was that it was just a bit difficult to measure. In addition, the earth is not a perfect sphere. Regardless, a physical standard meter stick was, for most purposes, close enough (sound familiar?). As scientists began measuring ever larger and ever smaller objects, the metric system was found wanting. The current definition of a meter was stated in 1983 as “the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299,792,458 of a second.” Which leads to the question, “How long is a second?” The answer, defined in 1967, is “the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium 133 atom.” The two points of this little side trip are that what passes as absolute measurement is, for all practical purposes, impractical, and that for building construction, “close enough” is a useful term. In defense of measurements based on fractions rather than decimals, it is easier to find a quarter, an eighth, or a sixteenth of a given length than it is to find a tenth; simply keep dividing in half until you get where you’re going! Measuring a tenth or hundredth of that same length

requires an estimation that by nature is imprecise.

Drawing dimensions always have been an expression of an ideal, stated as if they were exact, ignoring the reality of measurement, fabrication, and tolerances; they remain so today, despite the continuing improvements in theoretical precision. Software modeling now makes it possible to produce very accurate measurements that are at once impressive and meaningless. Fortunately, software has the ability to round off numbers, so drawing dimensions appear in practical terms, such as 30-1/4, rather than 30.24837906 inches. No matter how precise the model or calculation, printing often introduces distortion, sometimes greater in one direction than another. Further distortions can be introduced by expansion or contraction of the paper due to humidity and, to a lesser extent, temperature. Together, these problems necessitate the “do not scale” warning found on most drawings. In practice, scaling is accurate enough for most measurements, because waste factors, often ten percent, are more significant than errors resulting from scaling. Much of construction does not require extreme precision. Partition framing and thickness, opening locations, curves, and other elements can be off quite a bit before an error becomes significant. Smart design incorporates tolerances to minimize the problem; anyone who has had to tear out a wall because the width of a corridor was a quarter of an inch less than required by ADA won’t dimension exactly to ADA requirements again! Isn’t it odd that words have precise meanings, while numbers are approximations?

Specifications Quality Assurance

Consulting Recognition

Mitch taylor, cSi

Steve taylor, cSi, cDt

Director of Architectural Services

Director of Specification Services

310 833 0571

310 986 9741

mitch@woodinst.com

steve@woodinst.com

Music City Center

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Orange County CSI Construction Products & Services Expo—September 10, 2013 2:00 PM Session one: The top ten lessions they don’t teach you in Architecture School Trevor O. Resurreccion, Esq., CDT, will present on the top ten lessons learned from construction projects which have resulted in claims and lawsuits against architects and engineers. You will not learn these lessons in architecture school. 3:15 PM Session two: Who’s responsible for ADA and FHA compliance? Jean A. Weil, Esq., Construction Litigator and founding partner of Weil & Drage, APC, will walk you through the legal aspects of the Americans with Disabilities Act(ADA) and the Fair Housing Act (FHA), including how and by whom architects and other design professionals are likely to be sued for violations. Click here to register.

President Vice President I Vice President II Secretary Treasurer Past Pres/Advisor Director Director Director Director

Kathryn Marek, CSI , CCCA, AIA Stuart L. Fricke, PE, CSI , CCS Buzz Harwood, CSI , CDT Allison C. Asher, CSI Jan Piccola, FCSI Jay Nordsten, CSI, CCCA, AIA, LEED AP Monique M. Birault, CSI, CDT Bruce Konschuh, CSI, CDT Christina Alfaro, CSI , CDT Tan Diep, CSI , CCPR, LEED AP

kathryn.a.marek@disney.com sfricke@portla.org buzz@imc-ca.com allisonasher@burkeindustries.com jpiccola@thecomexgroup.com jay.nordsten@zgf.com birault@usc.edu bruce.konschuh@acmartin.com calfaro@accuride.com diep@ppg.com

Committee Chairs Affiliate Organizations Kathy Greenway, CSI , CDT kgreenway@draperinc.com Budget and Finance Jan Piccola, FCSI jpiccola@thecomexgroup.com Governance Mitch Lawrence, CSI , CCS, CCCA, AIA mitch.lawrence@disney.com Membership Chair Teena Santiago, CSI , CDT teena.santi@gmail.com Education Chair Dean Vlahos dvlahos55@gmail.com Awards Chair Kathy Greenway, CSI , CDT kgreenway@draperinc.com Certification Chair Kathryn Marek, CSI , CCCA, AIA kathryn.a.marek@disney.com Program Committee Jay, Ed, Buzz, Monique jay.nordsten@zgf.com, ebuch@ccd.usc.edu, buzz@imc-ca.com, birault@usc.edu Product Show Chair Bruce Konschuh, CSI, CDT bruce.konschuh@acmartin.com Golf Chair Craig Mount, AIA, CCI, CCS, NCARB craig.mount@aecom.com Planning Chair Mark Brower, CSI , CDT mbrower@vistapaint.com West Region Affairs Mitch Lawrence, CSI , CCS, CCCA, AIA mitch.lawrence@disney.com West Region Secretary Ed Buch, CSI , CCS, AIA ebuch@ccd.usc.edu Chapter Communications Team eCommunications Chair Tan Diep, CSI , CCPR, LEED AP

diep@ppg.com

Newsletter Production Team Co-Editor News Coordination Advertising Print/Coordination

calfaro@accuride.com diep@ppg.com valarieh@pacbell.net paul@productioncityprinting.com

Christina Alfaro, CSI , CDT Tan Diep, CSI , CCPR, LEED AP Valarie Harris, FCSI , CCPR Paul McKenzie

If you are interested in making your product or service known to LACSI members, designers, specifiers, contractors and product suppliers we invite you to consider placing an ad in our Newsletter and on our website. It is a great way to introduce a new product or new rep and build awareness for you with key building products decision makers. Ads run on an annual calendar starting in January of each year. The LACSI newsletter is published every other month six times a year. You must be a Newsletter advertiser in order to advertise on LACSI’s

Business Card Dbl Business Card 1/4 Page 1/3 Page

website. Website banner ads appear on a random basis based on the selected print ad program. For example, half page advertisers who also have a website banner ad appear 4 times more often on the website than Business Card print advertisers. Similarly Double Business Card advertiser’s banner ads appear twice as often on the LACSI web page as Business Card advertisers.

You can pay for your ad online by selecting your advertisement program at lacsi.org click on the “Advertise with LACSI” on the menu at the left of the screen. You will need to follow links to an online registration and credit card payment screen.If you would like more information or have questions feel free to contact Valarie Harris at: valarieh@pacbell.net or 714-993-2532 or call 213-243LACSI Adverstisement without a Website Banner Ad 6658 and Jan-Feb Mar-Apr May-Jun Jul-Aug Sep-Oct Nov-Dec leave a 12 months 10 months 8 months 6 months 4 months 2 months messge. $250 $215 $175 $135 $85 $45 You can $350 $295 $235 $185 $125 $85 email your $450 $385 $305 $235 $155 $85 Valarie $550 $460 $370 $280 $190 $100 Harris at valarieh@ LACSI Adverstisement without a Website Banner Ad pacbell.net Jan-Feb Mar-Apr May-Jun Jul-Aug Sep-Oct Nov-Dec for details 12 months 10 months 8 months 6 months 4 months 2 months about artwork re$300 $255 $205 $155 $105 $55 quirements. $425 $355 $285 $215 $145 $75

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