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Happy Holidays! Gifts that Inspired a Career + Presents for AECO Professionals

By CSI HQ posted 12-22-2022 03:34 PM

  

Happy Holidays! We hope you are getting ready to spend some quality time with family and friends. 

Prior to the festivities and observations, this question was posted in the CSI Community Connect Forum, the go-to resource where you can connect with architecture, engineering, construction, and owner (AECO) peers in real-time: “Whether it was Lincoln Logs, Erector Sets, LEGOs, or some other holiday gift that helped show you the potential of an AECO career, and why?” 


Here are some of the replies. You can add your voice to the conversation here.

I enjoyed Lincoln Logs, followed by building blocks (Legos today). Maybe the most inspiring was building plastic model houses and other structures for my HO train set. I still do it today. 
Gene Fosheim MS, MA, FCSI, Member Emeritus, ADDA, CD 


Although I didn’t realize it at the time, one of the best "gifts" I got as a child was a suit box. My dad bought suits for work, and they came in boxes that were about 2-1/2 to 3 feet long, and about 1-1/2 to 2 feet wide. They were the perfect size to allow me to design an apartment for my Ginger dolls (a precursor to Barbie). Walls, windows, doors, and furniture could all be designed - and made - by me. I had full creative license to do what I wanted, and since I was also the owner, there was no one to object.

I’m not sure I'd recommend that as a gift to someone else, though. 
Lynn Javoroski FCSI 

 

My dad used to enjoy telling everyone the story about me and my first Lego set. In the mid-1960’s, when I was in my preschool years, we were visiting some friends of my parents who gave me the set as a gift for reasons I do not recall. Unsure of what to do with it, I asked Dad what I should build. He pointed to an image on the box and said, “Build that.”

I went off by myself (I had no siblings at the time) to complete my task while the adults did adult things. After a while, I came back and told Dad I was finished. He went to see what I had built and was surprised I had constructed half of the bridge shown on the box. Why you ask? Because the photo on the box did not show the entire bridge. I had recreated exactly that portion of the bridge shown on the box.

Thus, I experienced the essence of the Spearin Doctrine thirty-five years before I ever knew what that was. 
 
If you never heard of it, check out the link. It is never too late to learn something new. 
Ronald Geren, FCSI Lifetime Member, CCS, CCCA, AIA, CSC, SCIP 

 

Lego set, Erector set, and I remember after completing 8th grade shop class, my grandpa got me a drafting table and drafting tools which I used all the way through college. 
Mark Ogg CSI, CCCA, CDT, PMP 

 

Froebel Blocks, of course. But I also had a sandbox with a front loader and a dump truck, (and probably even more important, my parents built all their houses, so I had all that stuff to play with). 

Anne Whitacre FCSI, CCS, LEED AP 

 

When I was six or seven, my father got me an Erector Set. Dad was an engineer, and I’ve always suspected he bought it as much so he could fool around with it as for me. 
David Metzger FCSI, Member Emeritus, CDT, FAIA, SCIP 

  

Yes, Lego and Erector toy sets surely nurture design and engineering! You have to watch this video of Mark Sumner explaining how his old Erector Set helped him design the Soarin' Over...ride at Disney. soarin behind the scenes with mark sumner - YouTube 
Ben Herlache CSI 

 

For more Holiday Highlights, log-in to the CSI Community Connect forum for a list of recommended gifts for AECO professionals. 

https://www.csiresources.org/discussion/what-are-your-recommendations-for-an-aeco-holiday-gift-list?ReturnUrl=%2fbrowse%2fallrecentposts 

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