Welcome to V&RB
Please check out the About V&RB page for a brief overview of what you can expect over the next few weeks, months & years. For a more in-depth overview, please keep reading.
My name is Rick Aspin, and I welcome you to the first couple of post for V&RB. Let me first tell you a little about myself and the places I have lived and worked while accumulating over three decades of experience in the Architecture, Engineering & Construction (AEC) Industry.
I will close with the reasoning for the name of Vellum & Razor Blades (V&RB), provide a brief account of my career to date and describe my vision for V&RB. I hope you enjoy my musings and find yourself intrigued to learn more; please hit the subscribe button to keep up with our continued progress.
Darwen, Lancashire, England
I am originally from Darwen, an old cotton mill town located in England's northwest. The northwest is full of similar hard-working areas with villages, hamlets, and farmland surrounded by countryside of glorious beauty; each place offers the warmest of welcomes.
Even Mahatma Gandhi received such a welcome while visiting the cotton mills of Darwen during the 1930s. India had chosen to boycott British goods during the fight for India's independence from Great Britain. An article by BBC News states that the Davies family, prominent Socialists and Quakers in the area, owned a mill and had invited Mahatma, thinking he may understand the suffering being experienced if he saw it for himself. This now seems laughable and likely speaks to the times' mentality. On his visit to Darwen, an old weaver had tried to tell Mahatma how bad things were, and he simply replied: "My dear, you have no idea what poverty is." Before his trip, trouble had been expected, but Gandhi later said, "They treated me as one of their own. I shall never forget that."
I am proud of my upbringing in the north and feel privileged to have grown up in this corner of England. Leaving the country in 2001 had a few watery eyes at the airport as I said goodbye to my family & good friends when relocating to Bermuda. Whenever I return, the warmth of the people leaves me with fond memories and a wish to return as soon as possible.
Bermuda
I lived on the island of Bermuda for five enjoyable work hard, play hard years from 2001. Bermuda was booming then, and I had the opportunity to work and play with some exceptional people. I was 28 years old and arrived with a blank canvas to paint on; I painted it well; this was one of the most inspiring and fun periods of my life.
Bermuda will always have a warm place in my heart. Such a beautiful archipelago that consists of 181 individual islands. Its buildings are painted in a mosaic of colour. Coastal roads overlook the pink sand beaches and aqua-blue bays with waves crashing over the reefs. The beautiful town of St Georges lies on its northern tip. It was first settled in 1612 and is the oldest continuously-inhabited British town in the New World. At Christmas, locals would open their doors for the Christmas walk allowing people to take a peak into the past, sharing their homes, and serving a glass of warm mulled wine with some treats. I loved doing this each year; it's such a memorable experience of my time there.
Bermuda was where I first learned to play golf. On average, it is only about 1 mile wide and 21 square miles in total but was home to nine golf courses of excellent quality. Mountain bike racing was a fantastic weekend pursuit to keep fit with a good group of enthusiastic people. Bermuda is elevated to its highest point of 259 ft; we constructed some of our own courses, even creating a downhill course to rip it out on. My most memorable race was at Ferry Reach Park, with an extraordinary side-by-side battle that continued throughout the race.
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
An opportunity to relocate to the city of Vancouver, Canada, in 2006 had me enjoying beautiful British Columbia for the next ten years. What an amazingly gorgeous location it is, with mountains & ocean as its backdrop; seaplanes taking off from the harbour will forever be in my memory. Most don't realize that Vancouver has a warm climate year-round, which is not the norm for Canadian cities. You can both ski and golf on the same day, and 60 minutes after finishing a day at work, I could be in a clearing surrounded by trees and beautiful mountains, worried only about coming across a black bear while ending the day with a trail run.
I lived and worked in the city for most of my time there. I loved my regular trail run to the Prospect Point lookout in Stanley Park. This location had a view of Lions Gate Bridge that spans the Burrard Inlet, where you could see hundreds of salmon jumping when the salmon run was on.
On my 40th birthday, I was fortunate enough to be awarded Canadian Citizenship. I remember that day very well, especially the speech by the judge. The discourse about what it means to become a Canadian was an emotional and heartwarming walk through history. The city's history dates back to the late 1800s when it was founded as a port city and quickly grew due to the gold rush in the nearby Fraser Canyon. Over the years, Vancouver has transformed into a significant trade, commerce, and tourism center.
The city is quite multicultural, and one factor contributing to this atmosphere is its location on the west coast of Canada, making it a natural gateway for immigration and trade with Asia. This, combined with a supportive government immigration policy, has attracted people from all over the world to settle in Vancouver and bring their unique cultures. Today, Vancouver is known for its diverse and vibrant communities, with over 50% of its residents having a mother tongue other than English.
I met my wife in Vancouver, but soon after, we took an opportunity to relocate.
Cayman Islands
We have resided in the Cayman Islands since leaving Vancouver in 2016. Interestingly, the Cayman Islands are not islands at all; they are part of a mountain called the Cayman Ridge which rises more than 7,500m (24,600 ft) above the ocean floor. This is the size of a massive mountain in the Himalayas. Still, the highest point above sea level in all islands is only about 150 ft.
The three individual islands all have their own unique personality. Little Cayman is the slow-paced Caribbean island you might expect to find. Within an hour of arriving, you find yourself in a zone of relaxation that is challenging to find anywhere else. The only concern is flip-flops or barefoot, beer, cocktail or mocktail, and where are the hundreds of hermit crabs going today?
Cayman Brac lies next door to Little Cayman; it is a little more developed but still most certainly an escape. Brac is the most elevated of the three islands, with the highest point being on the bluff, a limestone cliff that runs the island's length. Brac is the location for the outdoors enthusiast. The face of the bluff provides some excellent sport climbing; Brac, in general, is the location for the outdoorsy types to spend some time connecting with nature on bikes and hikes and stopping to experience the many caves.
Grand Cayman is the largest and most populated island of the three. This is our home. When arriving back from either Little or Brac, it feels like you just landed in New York City........Hey....I'm walkin' ova ere! Grand Cayman is the business hub of the islands, but when the weekend comes, it still feels like a mini vacation.
I have been very fortunate to have lived, worked, travelled, and learned alongside people of diverse cultures and personalities. The industry of Architecture, Engineering & Construction (AEC) has fortified my life experience, allowing me to live and work in various places and realize some of my greatest passions in design, technology, and project management.
For many years I have anticipated sharing my industry experience. The time is now as I come close to a half-century on this planet. This blog takes the first steps toward sharing the expertise I have gathered throughout my career. I want to collaborate with our industry's future to help the transition to what lies ahead. I urge our current industry experts to join the conversation and help hand over the reigns to what will prove to be the most significant leap we have ever seen as Artificial Intelligence becomes the norm. Still, our current industry expertise must be disseminated appropriately to aid the future in achieving its absolute best.
It was back in 1989 when I began studying to practice in the AEC industry; I have never stopped learning throughout my career. I have consistently reached to understand the needs of the design process with incredible intricacy. I am constantly hungry to improve and ensure that I look at both my successes and shortcomings equally. At the successful end of every project, I seek the next biggest priority to study, understand and resolve. In accepting imperfections and seeking to eliminate them, we find gold. That gold drives us to ever-increasing levels of effectiveness in our team's collaborations.
Back in 1989, as I studied my first course in Design Technology, I remember the list of items we had to buy for the classes. It included a scale ruler, pencils of various degrees of hardness, an eraser, a set of Rotring pens with 0.5mm, 0.35mm, and 0.25mm nibs, vellum, and razor blades. Most of the items made sense, but I had never heard of vellum?.....and, well, razor blades; why on earth would we need razor blades?
As it turned out, vellum is a translucent material produced from the skin of a young animal. Historically it has been used for hundreds of years to write medieval manuscripts and even the oldest discovered Buddhist texts dating back to the first century. British Acts of Parliament are still printed on vellum for archival purposes due to the ability to last over a thousand years while maintaining excellent quality. But of course, I was not being asked to buy animal skins in 1989, although sometimes my wife thinks I grew up in the 1800s from the stories I tell her about my youth in the north.
And now, as I publish this post after living through the transformation of drawing boards, Computer-Aided Design & Building Information Modeling, we find ourselves on the edge of a new frontier. Artificial Intelligence, with the likes of ChatGPT & Midjourney, just became very real indeed. As with any significant disruption, there will be fear, but my stance is to lean into the discomfort and make the most of everything that comes our way.
Artificial Intelligence is a fantastic opportunity to push the extent of our expertise, remove the grunt work and allow us to do the things we love the most. Obviously, some concerns need to be managed, and I look forward to our conversations with our growing community.
With this, I will close. I have no idea where we will be in a year. Still, my goal is to develop design processes alongside the new potential of artificial intelligence. My intentions are to help bring the best possible outcome for all involved and to find fun and enjoyment simultaneously.
Let's see where we end up before entering the year 2024.
Thank you for reading; I appreciate your time.
Cheers
Rick Aspin
