About the Author

Greetings from South Carolina. I would like to tell you a few things about myself and how Archi-toons came to be...

First of all, I am an architect. I don’t remember why I chose this profession on career day in high school and I certainly had no idea what a wonderful adventure it would become. Maybe at the time it was an art job that seemed safe and dignified. Maybe it was that my dad had aspired to be the same but money and college didn’t work out for him as he had planned. Maybe it was Mike Brady. Maybe it was my fort built above girl level in the cedar tree in my backyard. Or maybe it was because I thought I could make the world a better place by giving people better public and private environments in which to dwell, work and function. Maybe I don’t remember…but one thing of which I am certain: I love what I do.

I love being an architect. I love all things architecture and architectural. I even love the study of the history of architecture but this long term infatuation is not to be confused with obsession. The simple fact is that the architect is academically instructed and professionally trained to be an observer of life. It is an attribute that can’t be turned off once it is turned on; it can only be temporarily suppressed by sheer will power or medication.

I have chosen to channel my continuous live input of raw environmental data into a graphic exercise called Archi-toons. Cartooning, I have found, is not only therapeutic but can function as an effective method of communicating social commentary, cultural observation or just plain old funny stuff. Twenty years in the path and practice of the architectural profession, in large offices and small, have provided me with ample fodder of the plight, struggles, idiosyncrasies, and daily experiences of the architectural profession as well as the design and the construction industry.

Archi-toons was never conceived to be a running comic strip. Although the entertainers throughout the pages of Archi-toons are varied and at times eccentric, there are a few characters that are intertwined throughout these pages. The stereotypical professional, the academic role model, the public’s perception of our craft and many icons of our industry are all “celebrated” in the broadest sense of the word.

I know that Archi-toons will bring a smile to your face and a thought to your mind. I love what I do but I also need to get some billable time in for this month so I need to go. There will be more Archi-toons to come because I can’t stop them if I tried. Please feel free to drop me an email and tell me what you think.

Thanks for visiting.

Rick

Richard T. Bynum, Jr., AIA is the founder and principal of Bynum Architecture in Greenville, SC. Prior to forming Bynum Architecture in 1996, the author worked with several of the Southeast’s most prestigious architectural firms. These included Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback and Associates in Atlanta, GA; Walter Robbs Callahan and Pierce in Winston- Salem, NC; LS3P in Charleston, SC and Lamar T. Webb in St. Simons Island, GA. Mr. Bynum has a Master of Architecture Degree from Clemson University in Clemson, SC and a Bachelor of Environmental Design in Architecture from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC. He is an active member of the American Institute of Architects and has authored over 20 articles on various topics for AIA publications. His first book, The HANDBOOK OF ALTERNATIVE MATERIALS IN RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION, was written with Daniel L. Rubino and published by McGraw Hill Professional Book Group in 1998. His second book, The ARCHITECT’S PLANNER 2000, was published by McGraw Hill Professional Book Group in 1999. His third book, The HANDBOOK OF RESIDENTIAL INSULATION was published by McGraw Hill Professional Book Group in 2000.

ARCHI-TOONS™