A human’s first “non-need” 4 July 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Interior design, Northwest Arkansas, Personal reflection, Siloam Springs.1 comment so far
In my first college design class, as an architecture student, one of our projects involved researching of and writing about chairs. We read about designs by Eames, Bertoia, Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and so forth. Our professor pointed out that a chair, or somewhere to sit our sorry plebian butts after a long day in the field, is the first thing we will think of to buy or build assuming all of our other needs are met.
And I think she was right.
As we pack up the house we’re selling some things we won’t need in the foreseeable future, or won’t have room for in our upcoming living space. I used Craigslist, which I’m pretty new to, and easily sold our guest bed and couch.
We really miss the couch.
We own other comfortable chairs, but apparently they aren’t comfortable in the same way. The plan was to replace it with a svelte black leather couch that wouldn’t aggravate my allergies like the whimsical, eight year old model we just sold. However, I was looking forward to one less large piece of furniture to move.
So the past few days I’ve been on a hunt to find a cheap and temporary replacement, most likely a comfy chair for the wife to read in. There are a couple places in town that sell used, and I’ve been to a few garage sales as well. So far everything I’ve seen has been dirty or overpriced — or entirely hideous. The one exception was a blue recliner at a friend’s yard sale; unfortunately it formerly lived with cats, which I’m quite allergic too. Another vintage store in town, Amandromeda, purveys a number of well designed seats, though none are suitable for extended periods of time with a book in your lap. I’ve also inquired via Craigslist and the Facebook Marketplace to no avail.
Next up I plan to hit a vintage spot in Fayetteville called the Flying Dog. Moving is stressful enough without a decent place to rest your rump, so I hope I can come up with a chair on this holiday weekend!
Shoeboxes, spec homes creating ignorant Americans??? 11 June 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Aesthetics, Affluenza, Architecture, Entitlement, Living incarnationally, Modern culture.6 comments
The wife and I talked last night about real estate, newer homes versus older homes, realtors and so forth. And it got me wondering:
Has the glut of poorly designed spec homes thrown up in the U.S. from, roughly, 1960 on created a cultural deficit in that Americans look for the wrong things when choosing a place to live?
Since we’ve started looking for houses, actually since our friends began buying [mortgages for] houses five-plus years back, it’s been interesting to observe their choices and listen to their reasoning for said choices. There are some who, like my wife and I, crave the character (details), craftsmanship and environs found in many older homes in established parts of a city, but many people seem to be exclusively interested in newer homes.
From what I’ve been able to deduce, this usually stems from a desire for a maintenance free home (which, by the way, does not exist). Buyers want newer appliances and utilities and roofs. What they often fail to realize is that you’ll end up in the same boat as if you’d bought an older place that’s been cared for after just a few years. Appliances and utilities aren’t built as well as they used to be and, unless you plan on living in a house for only five years (give or take) you will probably end up needing to repair and/or replace the heating element in an oven, install a new water heater or buy a new air conditioner. I finally replaced the shiny stainless steel fan/light/heater in our bathroom last year which was likely original to our 1955 bungalow; the new one will probably die in less than ten years and is hideous in comparison to its predecessor.
Some men don’t want anything to do with painting the outside of a house as the sun and snow take their tole on soffits and siding . . . which reminds me that I need to post this picture,
a stunning example of why vinyl siding is not really better than wood. This was on the garage of one of the houses we looked at in Nebraska. It was shaded, as I recall, and on the East side of a house — not exposed to hot afternoon sun. I’ve also seen the stuff pop, warp, fade and crack and it’s just beyond me why it gets used so much. Painting every ten or fifteen years (assuming you use good paint, not the Walmart brand) is a lot easier than replacing siding every twenty-five years in my opinion. Further, slapping vinyl over existing finishes seems likely to encourage mold.
Does cultural wealth factor into this equation, where newer homes in the suburbs are representative of a certain affluence that some older neighborhoods don’t allow an owner to brag about? Perhaps young mothers are under the impression that the ‘burbs are safer for the kiddos. Maybe the entitlement some of us feel after growing up surrounded by such an affluent culture leads us to believe we deserve shiny new houses.
Regardless, I have to wonder if the suburban architecture perpetuated over the past five plus decades has resulted in a more ignorant culture. Is it possible that we don’t know what good design looks like anymore? We don’t realize what wasted space or good traffic flow is? And that we’re (somewhat intentionally) losing the ability to care for our own property under the guise of the “maintenance free?”
Older homes, by contrast, often excel in design and craftsmanship over new ones. Lumber used to build them was straighter and drier, and sometimes above and beyond what was required for the job. The 830 square foot house I was drawn to on our recent house-hunting trip employed 2 x 10s for floor joists. No wonder the place was so marvelously square after 75 years! Less space is wasted in homes of that age, generally, and built-in storage was more abundant. Sure, closets might be smaller, but are walk-in closets really all that great? Luxurious, yes, but they also encourage clutter in our consumerist culture.
Seasoned homes are normally, subjective as this may seem, more pleasing to the eye. It doesn’t take an inordinate number of complexities to make a house or community pleasing to the eye. Apparently a book titled A Pattern Language talks about how a house can be successful yet appear to be a fairly simple design (from the outside). I’ve been told many times by different people I need to read this book. It is on my Amazon wish list!
None of this is meant to imply that we should cease new home construction. Obviously, as populations increase and older homes that were not cared for (or weren’t built so well, or that highways or big-box stores are paving over etc etc) are torn down new dwellings will need to replace them. Why, though, should new homes perpetuate a bland, cheap, and unenduring suburban aesthetic? They shouldn’t, and they don’t have to. A friend of mine here in Siloam Springs hopes to found a residential construction company that will bring back the details and craftsmanship of the early 20th century. He started with his own home which includes such details as a breakfast nook and drawers built into the risers of the staircase.
Will my friend find enough of us who appreciate the details in a craftsman home to float his business? Americans seem to be dangerously content with lousy dwelling design. We’ve become afflicted as a culture with the Texas Syndrome, where as long as something is big or impressive it’s credible (Yes, I know that link isn’t precisely backing up my assertion, but it’s related and a good article.). We’d rather have a poorly designed 2,500 square foot house than a thought-through 1,200 square foot bungalow that functions just as well as it’s bigger brother. Shoeboxes with holes cut out for doors and windows litter new subdivisions and we eat them up. McMansions (and their smaller cousins in more modest subdivisions) flaunt ludicrously steep and wasteful rooflines, which wouldn’t be all that wasteful if the attic was actually used as living space. But it’s generally not.
My concern is that suburban design of the past fifty years has infiltrated our psyche, and that our aesthetic expectations have subsequently been wounded without our being aware of it. Some of this sentiment, thankfully, might be changing as Downtown, U.S.A., is revivified and younger generations move back into the heart of cities. But from where I sit, we have a long ways to go in many parts of the country, and a lot of people in the younger generations still aspire to a questionable suburban aesthetic.
Thoughts?
(As always, there are exceptions to the generalizations I’ve made in this post. Keep that in mind when commenting.)
Artist colony at McCool Junction? 8 June 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Architecture, Art and faith, Christian art retreat, Sustainable living.add a comment
On the drive home from Nebraska this weekend we passed McCool Junction, Nebraska. Our travels up to the Cornhusker state usually take us by this very small town (population ~ 385) which is for some reason very memorable to both me and my wife. She finds it a very, um, cool name for a community, as do I. The place is also burned in my memory after driving through a dust storm at night just south of town.
I’m impressed that a town of this size has its own website (as it should, just that so many still don’t) and that the site is actually clean and functional.
I started daydreaming after passing McCool Junction, daydreaming that a retiring farmer was going to donate a few acres to me for a Christian artist retreat. Apparently none of his children wanted to farm corn, and he liked my idea and wanted to help get it off the ground. There were two barns, a modest farmhouse and another small outbuilding on the property. A windmill still pumped water out of the Ogallala Aquifer. The rest of his land was going to be sold or auctioned off, but 12 acres (or 8, or 23) would be donated to the nonprofit . . .
. . . wait, what nonprofit? This started me thinking about more of the administrative details caught up in the idea (brainstormed in GoogleDocs). If I set up a nonprofit beforehand, would it encourage this kind of donation? I suppose you could create an agreement with a landowner stating that the land would not be transferred until the nonprofit was established if you had to, but getting your 501(c)3 status earlier seemed the better idea.
The daydream continued in earnest until we neared Salina, Kansas. I wanted to recruit my friends from Germany to help out. She wants to move back to the States and he wants to work the land. I figured she could commute to Lincoln and teach at the university while he farms our small plot and, perhaps, keeps some chickens and goats (and alpacas and sheep if my wife had any say in the matter). The vegetables, eggs and cheese would help feed artists eager to learn how to live creative lives of service informed by their faith. The retiring farmer left an old pickup and small tractor toward this end, and the aforementioned outbuilding would be used as a barn for these agricultural endeavors.
I would task my architect friends with designing compact, sustainable and beautiful residences for the incoming artists. The barns would become studio and gallery space. The exteriors of the existing structures would be modified to match the new architecture (or vice versa). Power would ideally be solar, maybe wind. An abandoned church or schoolhouse on the edge of the acreage would serve as a chapel, and a walking trail would encircle the property.
My daydreams can be fairly elaborate, if you couldn’t tell by now, and are also fruitful in the scheme of things. While I may not be excited about administrative details such as applying for nonprofit status, they have to be done. And, just to curb any misinterpretation of this post, I am not planning to apply for 501(c)3 status this month. Or next. Probably not even this year.
But before I actually go out soliciting retiring farmers for a few acres on the corner of their spread, perhaps (assuming God leads me into ever actually establishing said retreat).
A jaunt across the Great Plains 1 June 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Architecture, Personal reflection.2 comments
Tomorrow we traverse the plains on our way to Nebraska, seeking out “a place with lower housing costs and more part-time work” as my previous post talked about. Internet access will be sketchy and limited over the next week.
Our projected budget, generally from $50-60k, is limiting, even in these less expensive markets. There are a few decent prospects though. Property tax is much higher up there too, which will be something we factor in while looking at potential properties.
The one I like best at this point has only one drawback, as far as a person can tell via the internet.
It’s on a busy street, which is probably why the remodeled house hasn’t sold after being on the market six months. The classic bungalow boasts oak floors, trim and built in bookcases. It’s on the high end of our budget, although the realtor suggested the owner was pondering a lower price.
We plan to look in both Lincoln and Grand Island. There are pros and cons to both places and we can’t make up our mind where we’d rather settle for the next few years.
Oh, and our house is now listed with a realtor and in the MLS database! Kudos to our real estate agents for uploading a lot of pictures. It drives me batty when 1) there are no pictures of a house you see online and 2) there isn’t even a realtor’s name associated with that listing. Basic stuff here folks. Also don’t forget about the website I set up featuring our bungalow for sale as well: http://HouseForSaleSiloamSpringsArkansas.wordpress.com.
On suburbia and sustainability 27 May 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Community planning, Disposable culture, Environmental stewardship, Furniture, Modern culture, Sustainable living.2 comments
The Passionately Alive entry I already cited this morning also contains two very interesting bits of media talking about suburbia and sustainability that are worth resposting. First, a trailer for The End of Suburbia:
And secondly, an excerpt from The Suburban Nation (pages 117-118):
The plight of the suburban housewife was powerfully conveyed in a letter we received in 1990 from a woman living outside of Tulsa:
Dear Architects:
I am a mother of four children who are not able to leave the yard because of our city’s design. Ever since we have moved here I have felt like a caged animal only let out for a ride in the car. It is impossible to walk even to the grocery store two blocks away. If our family wants to go for a ride we need to load two cars with four bikes and a baby cart and drive four miles to the only bike path in this city of over a quarter million people. I cannot exercise unless I drive to a health club that I had to pay $300 to, and that is four and a half miles away. There is no sense of community here on my street, either, because we all have to drive around in our own little worlds that take us fifty miles a day to every corner of the surrounding five miles.
I want to walk somewhere so badly that I could cry. I miss walking! I want the kids to walk to school. I want to walk to the store for a pound of butter. I want to take the kids on a neighborhood stroll or bike. My husband wants to walk to work because it is so close, but none of these things is possible…And if you saw my neighborhood, you would think that I had it all according to the great American dream.
Building a green city from the ground up 6 May 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Architecture, Community planning, Environmental stewardship, Sustainable living.2 comments
Greensburg, Kansas, a small plains community of 1,000 people, was leveled by a tornado in 2007.
The town is making the most of the rebuilding opportunity. New structures replacing the tornadic debris are being built in the style of green. “Greensburg GreenTown is a Kansas-based nonprofit organization, providing inspiration and leadership to Kiowa County in order to be a model of sustainable living for the world.”
I’ve hoped for a similar initiative here in Siloam Springs, although I haven’t yet taken the time to propose it to the city. Still, it wouldn’t be the same kind of opportunity that Greensburg has, building from the ground up. Props to Greensburg for making lemonade of the lemon it was dealt two years ago.
Among the new green buildings is the 5.4.7 Arts Center, which is the 1st LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum building in Kansas according to its website.
Image from GreensburgKS.org
Airplane hotel in Costa Rica, hostel in Stockholm 1 May 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Architecture, Interior design, Restoration, Salvage.add a comment
File this under just for fun on Friday: Costa Rican Airplane Hotel Takes Flight. Fits right into my [lagging] commercial flight fetish too.
The two-room Boeing 727 suite is part of the Costa Verde Resort in Manuel Antonia, Costa Rica. Rates range from $300-$350 a night.
In February, The inhabitat blog reported on a Boeing 747 turned into a hostel for visitors to Stockholm. As if I needed another reason to visit the land of my (and my wife’s) ancestors,m a land full of good design, generally speaking.
The retired jumbo jet rests at the Stockholm-Arlanda airport. Tthe Jumbo Hostel’s offers a variety of rooms ranging from 350-3300 SEK (~ $40-$400). A conference room is available for rent as well. I think the next Mission Data International board retreat should be held there (in case my boss is reading this).
First time home buyer credit bad for the economy? 24 April 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Community planning, Modern culture, Sustainable living.3 comments
Real estate isn’t really what this blog is about, but it comes up somewhat regularly in relationship to my keen interest in both residential building design and community planning. And, as regular readers will note, my wife and I have recently been thinking of selling our home and buying another.
NPR’s Morning Edition made note today of the $8,000 tax credit Uncle Sam is offering to first-time home buyers. I’m not a first time buyer and, thus, haven’t given much thought to the offer. Quite a few people have though. According to the NPR spot, lower housing costs combined with the tax break have resulted in an upward trend among first-time buyers.
My office acquaintance who just bought a home — from the utterly inane and incompetent bureaucracy that remains of Countrywide — has brought it up in our conversations. For him it was an incentive; from what I can tell it wasn’t the deciding factor. He and his wife have been looking at houses for a while. On Monday, a friend noted over breakfast that he knows of two people planning to buy a house solely because of the tax credit, people who in his opinion have no business buying a home. I trust this friend’s judgment; he’s a financial counselor, in essence, for Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace program.
Could this be an unintended consequence of the stimulus, something the Obama administration failed to foresee? Will we end up with an entirely new set of individuals chained to mortgages they can’t afford, starting the vicious cycle over again — thanks to the federal government? The danger is real, although I hope it isn’t the case.
The Morning Edition spot pointed out that first time buyers’ ideas of what constitutes a starter home are less opulent than a few years ago. Wine cellars and the like have given way to practicality. “Peace of mind is the new must-have,” according to NPR.
The notable floor plan 13 April 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Architecture, Basis for designing well, Design, Interior design.3 comments
Friday we drove over to Enid, Oklahoma again to look at an almost perfect house — or so it seemed based on our understanding of the house in comparison to our needs.
On paper, the property is indeed just right for us. However, when we walked through it yesterday we both realized this 1,900 square foot building had less space than our current 1,500 square foot bungalow.
Allow me to explain. We knew the second floor of this Enid house would be somewhat cut up simply by observing the dormers from outside. What we didn’t expect was a first floor that was almost as bad, functionally. The largest (i.e. “master”) master bedroom was off of the dining room, which isn’t too unusual in older homes but is particularly strange in this one. The only main floor bathroom is off of the kitchen. A smaller bedroom boasted a bumped out closet and doors on two walls, leaving about six feet of wall space for furniture, and the kitchen was hashed together indiscriminately.
Some of these problems could have been easily dealt with during the home’s recent remodel. Instead, the remodel apparently focused on utilities (with some obligatory new paint, carpet and kitchen cabinets). Most of the money the owners spent went into new HVAC and electrical. From what I could tell, the electrical was done very well, but this doesn’t make up for a poorly laid out interior space.
My wife and I don’t need 1,900 square feet. We don’t even need 1,500 square feet. In fact, to a degree the amount of square footage in a home is irrelevant,
The realtor said there had been a lot of interest in this house, from as far away as California, although we were the first to see it. I know that the house, with it’s chopped up 1,900 square feet, newer utilities and two car garage will be great for some family out there. However, I’m not convinced it’s for us.
