the slow home 10-step process

1. GO INDEPENDENT
Avoid homes by big developers and large production builders. They are designed for profit not people. Work with independent designers and building contractors instead.

2. GO LOCAL
Avoid home finishing products from big box retailers. The standardized solutions they provide cannot fit the unique conditions of your home. Use local retailers, craftspeople, and manufacturers to get a locally appropriate response and support your community.

3. GO GREEN
Stop the conversion of nature into sprawl. Don’t buy in a new suburb. The environmental cost can no longer be justified. Re-invest in existing communities and use sustainable materials and technologies to reduce your environmental footprint.

4. GO NEAR
Reduce your commute. Driving is a waste of time and the new roads and services required to support low density development is a big contributor to climate change. Live close to where you work and play.

5. GO SMALL
Avoid the real estate game of bigger is always better. A properly designed smaller home can feel larger AND work better than a poorly designed big one. Spend your money on quality instead of quantity.

6. GO OPEN
Stop living in houses filled with little rooms. They are dark, inefficient, and don’t fit the complexity of our daily lives. Live in a flexible and adaptive open plan living space with great light and a connection to outdoors.

7. GO SIMPLE
Don’t buy a home that has space you won’t use and things you don’t need. Good design can reduce the clutter and confusion in your life. Create a home that fits the way you really want to live.

8. GO MODERN
Avoid fake materials and the re-creation of false historical styles. They are like advertising images and have little real depth. Create a home in which character comes from the quality of space, natural light and the careful use of good, sustainable materials.

9. GO HEALTHY
Avoid living in a public health concern. Houses built with cheap materials off gas noxious chemicals. Suburbs promote obesity because driving is the only option. Use natural, healthy home materials and building techniques. Live where you can walk to shop, school and work.

10. GO FOR IT
Stop procrastinating. The most important, and difficult, step in the slow home process is the first one that you take. Get informed and then get involved with your home. Every change, no matter how small, is important

[as seen here]

slow home

the slow home is going to be a new favorite site, i can tell...

lots of outrage over sprawl/developer schlock/bad design and lots of examples of better alternatives (click 'folio' at the top of the page).

architect john brown's firm, housebrand, does it all for their clients, from real estate, to design/build, to furniture.

you can find out about and sign the project outrage petition here as well.

there is a spirited discussion about the topic/site/architect/theory here on archinect.

rhodia

I love finding things like this...something as ordinary as a notebook, that has a history, a classic sense of style, is very functional, yet visually interesting...plus it has hoards of crazed fans--devotees who fetishize the stuff. There are groups of people on flickr who take pictures of their notebooks too.

There is also a blog devoted exclusively to the Rhodia products.

Here is one place where they can be purchased online, and here is the official Rhodia site.

There is a similar fanaticism for moleskine notebooks/sketchbooks as well.

Haven't listened to it yet, but found this on npr today--Thom Yorke of Radiohead acting as a guest DJ.

The Elegant Universe

We watched Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe in Physics class last week. Interestingly done as science meets documentary meets infomercial meets...

You can watch it in small incriments online at PBS (click the link above).

Saarinen in Washington DC

Thanks to marnaw for telling me about an upcoming exhibit at the National Building Museum in Washington DC that will feature Eero Saarinen's work. It looks like the exhibit will coincide with when the Architecture Club is in DC at the end of the semester, in early May, so that will be on the list of things to go see.

I know Fallingwater is on the list, but any other destinations in the DC area are welcome and appreciated.

boston vs. washington dc

I wanted to get the Architecture Club at school, for which I am the Vice President, to go to Boston for the annual trip--to see MIT (Steven Holl, Alvar Aalto, Eero Saarinen, Frank Gehry), Diller, Scofidio & Renfro's new ICA museum, Corbusier's Carpenter Center..., but was out of school the day of the voting with my daughter who was home sick from school. Some of the second year students (who technically are the ones making the destination decision) opted for Washington DC! Not at all what I had in mind, but I'm sure we'll make it interesting and see some neat stuff anyway. I know we'll plan a one day side-trip to visit Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright. Everyone at school, especially the staff seems to be obsessed with FLW. I know, I know--he's one of the touchstones and great giants of the field...

Oh well, Boston; oh well, Saarinen, Aalto, Corbusier, Holl, Gehry, BigDig, Fenway...maybe next year.

[image from flickr]

The Parthenon

Watched a great episode of Nova on PBS about the Parthenon at the Acropolis in Athens. We, of course, studied this as part of our section on Ancient Greece in the Survey of Architecture class last semester.

It truly is amazing--the precision, detail, and beauty with which this and other buildings were designed, engineered, and constructed so long ago with such seemingly simple means.

Beginning tomorrow, you can view this episode here on the PBS site.

chicken stew

We had our chicken stew fundraiser at school today. We are raising money to put toward our trip at the end of the semester. The short list of destinations includes Boston and New York among others.

We had some leftovers--didn't quite have the turnout we would've liked, but had fun anyway.













[had to spice it up a bit with hometown Texas Pete--made in Winston-Salem--go figure]

european architecture

found a great flickr site containing lots of great modern european architecture: rotterdam, amsterdam, barcelona, berlin, utrecht...