Heath Moser #4 - EDS Birmingham 3-23-2021

 Hey all!

It's been a bit quiet around the office this week. 3 of the 5 people in the office have been out of the office for various reasons. First thing Monday morning, I had to quickly update a grading plan to reflect some architectural changes to a house that is currently under construction in Mountain Brook so the driveway will not be quite so steep. I am always so amazed by how one little component of a site (i.e. adding an extra step at the front stoop) can have such large implications on a site design and cause impacts all across the site. In this case, we added an extra step at the front door to push the motor court/driveway down, which solves several issues with the site.

Duane checking my grading before I sent the drawings to the architect. Including myself, 4 of the 5 people at the firm are left handed. We think in our right mind! 

I've also taken a smaller landscape design in another area of Mountain Brook from site inventory/measure-up to schematic design this week. It's just a simple front yard rehab and adding some wing walls/gates to the house. The cross-slope of this site at the street is approximately 20% (about 12' of elevation change across the site) and as you can see, this site is not large at all. Makes for some interesting solutions. The existing landscape is very piecemeal and has too much going on, so our idea was to simplify with a smaller plant palette and cleaner lines. The renderings don't seem to want to upload for some reason. 

20% cross-slope is ADA accessible right?

Study elevation showing the wing walls that we are proposing...Not sure I'm a big fan of the medieval looking doors. I tend to prefer fences that are a little more see-through. Any thoughts?

Also spent some time on a commercial project today, just a simple drive-through restaurant. Nothing special, but it did provide me with some good insight on the local municipalities' landscape ordinances, % of tree cover required, etc. 

Redlines from Duane as the project was handed from one coworker to me to finish out the day.

Best time to visit a site is in the rain! This is a narrow courtyard but it has many possibilities for improvement!

How do y'all like this concrete finishing? Pour it out on the top of the hill and let it run down...such a steep driveway you spin your tires if you don't have 4 wheel drive. Thank goodness the garbage trucks go up people's driveways here.

See y'all soon,

Heath