Lo and Behold! A Hidden Message in Erik Hagen's Architecture! / October 27, 2020 by Erik Hagen

Do you know where the internet was started? Or when the first internet connection was made?

Well, neither did I until I started doing research for a new Student Creativity Center in a palm court breezeway underneath the Henry Samueli School of Engineering & Applied Sciences Boelter Hall in 2011. And what I found out inspired me to sneak a hidden message into the project.

When the campus architect at the time, Jeffrey Averill FAIA rejected my idea for an undulating facade with a strange mixture of punched openings, I pushed the idea to the bottom of a drawer and almost forgot about it. But I held on to if for some reason. And when the opportunity came last minute to try and tie in new floor tile within a decades old existing pattern (hint, it can’t be done, they’ll never match!), I dug down and pulled out my idea and was able to implement it into the floor tile pattern. And then I got busy on the next project and promptly forgot about it. Until several years later, the phone rang and there was a reporter from the UCLA Newsroom.

http://magazine.ucla.edu/exclusives/boelters-buried-secret/

https://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/a-coded-message-hidden-in-floor-247232

Video of the discovery by a curious computer science major: https://youtu.be/fiVOr-SqeN8

Pandemic at the Office! / October 6, 2020 by Erik Hagen

How is COVID changing the practice of business.

Toxic black mold, something that we have been trying to address in our buildings for years. Trying to accommodate an aerosolized virus is not unlike trying to accommodate toxic mold. A lot of the same measures, air control, containment, etc. come into play.

In a reversal of environmental concerns, we’re seeing reusables being denied and single-serving utensils, flatware and disposal items are now sadly overflowing our garbage cans and gutters. This as an opportunity for that sector to fully embrace biodegradables. And maybe, once and for all, the US and Idaho in particular will learn how to recycle ALL the recyclables.

This is all leading to a downsizing of office space or readjusting offices into a more of a shared, traveling desk scenarios allowing for more hiring and expansion without expanding office space.