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!
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.
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).
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.
Two bathrooms and a warehouse 5 April 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Affluenza, Architecture, Disposable culture, Entitlement, Interior design, Modern culture, Restoration.2 comments
Yesterday we drove home from western Oklahoma, visiting the inlaws and looking at some disappointing real estate. Round about Tulsa two things occurred to me.
No less than two bathrooms
As my wife and I look at houses and buildings to buy, the subject of bathrooms retains a cursory spot in my brain. Further, I know a few young couples looking for their first house in this buyer’s market. As I chatted with the masculine half of one such couple a few weeks ago, he shared that his wife wants two bathrooms. I’m wondering if the other couples possess similar criteria; I’m assuming so. Our former realtor friend also constantly harps on how we should add another bathroom to our bungalow.
Really, though, what’s wrong with just one bathroom? It’s certainly less to clean, and functions just as well as two — especially for a couple with no kids. I have to wonder if the desire on the part of people searching for homes, and the suggestions on the part of HGTV experts, aren’t largely indicative of our culture of affluence.
That is, we’re spoiled. Rotten.
I don’t deny the luxury of multiple toilets in a house. Were I to design a home for myself I’d likely — although not necessarily — incorporate one full bathroom along with a powder room for guests. And if I really wanted to be decadent, I’d flesh out a master suite with its very own commode and shower. Of course at this point I’ll need a maid, or, if you’ll allow me to be so politically incorrect, a stereotypical 1950s housewife. Apparently I’m a sucker like all the rest of you.
All of this, however, is unnecessary, especially for couples without children, or even couples with two children. It is what we want though, and in America we’re used to getting what we want when we want it, even if the same luxuries might have taken our parents decades to work up to. Gimmee gimee.
The new old warehouse districts
As we cruised Highway 169 down towards a Chipotle yesterday I took note of an exit littered with warehouses. Enormous tin sheds sprawled westward, with sundry truck trailers backed up to them waiting to receive and regurgitate every kind of consumer good.
Then I thought of so-called warehouse districts, parts of cities formerly used as fish markets or garment factories, now retooled into retail and living space. While it’s possible to retrofit almost any space, that kind of useful transformation doesn’t seem as likely or desirable in modern industrial locations where the structures have little or no endearing character.
What will become of these acres of bland metal warehouses? Will they simply be torn down and recycled after sitting vacant for so many years — assuming they will become vacant as the economy shifts, as it is wont to. Or will future generations ignore the lack of aesthetic (and structural) appeal and rush in? Will artists fill up the spaces when they are cheap, turning them into homes and studios like the much more stately brick packing plants of old?
Image from Wikipedia.
The mathematics of beauty 23 February 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Aesthetics, Art, Basis for designing well, Beauty, Design, Furniture.3 comments
Sebastian Smee of the Boston Globe penned a very interesting profile this weekend on one Horace Brock, an imposing man with five degrees under his belt including classical music, mathematics and economics.
Brock claims to have discovered a formula for beauty. From the article:
What about this theory, then?
In truth, it’s satisfyingly simple. Designed objects, Brock writes, can be broken down into “themes” and “transformations.” A theme is a motif, such as an S-curve; a transformation might see that curve appear elsewhere in the design, but stretched, rotated 90 degrees, mirrored, or otherwise reworked . . .
Brock wants to be clear that his theory applies only to beauty in design – in other words, architecture, furniture, and other kinds of decorative art: “That’s very important – I wouldn’t want to claim too much.” But in his catalog essay he claims his account “makes it possible to clarify, and indeed to quantify, one of the deepest principles of aesthetics: People . . . tend to be bored if there is too much simplicity (the kitchen chair, certain Gregorian chants) and overwhelmed if there is too much complexity (pastiche Victorian furniture, much 20th-century classical music).”
In his estimation, the theory also subsumes most previous theories of beauty in design – from Pythagoras’s golden rectangle to Hogarth’s “line of beauty,” from the celebrated golden section to the Fibonacci series – into a neat mathematical equation.
Smee probes a little and questions whether beauty can be reduced so simplistically to an equation. Brock is absolute in his response to the idea that beauty is merely in the eye of the beholder, “It’s absolute crap.”
A man after my own heart. Read the article in its entirety here.
Art gallery grand opening in Siloam Springs 6 February 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Art, Business of art, Community planning, Furniture, New Urbanism, Northwest Arkansas, Siloam Springs.4 comments
It’s been a week of short posts, and here’s another.
Tonight is the grand opening of the Local Flair Art Gallery in downtown Siloam Springs from 6-9pm. The downtown gallery features two and three-dimensional works by 10 or 12 local artists including Joel Armstrong, Charles Peer, Neil Ward, John Lein and myself.
This is a significant step in the revival of downtown Siloam Springs. Another such step is getting a restaurant down there, which seems to be happening in the next six months as well. Emelia’s Mediterranean Kitchen is supposed to going into the dilapidated building on the corner of Mount Olive and University.
Other recently new retail downtown includes a Books on Broadway, Broadway Flowers and The Baby Habit. And, in conjunction with Local Flair, a furniture boutique is opening next door called Amandromeda. Amandromeda’s growing collection includes seating designed by both a Bertoia and Le Corbusier. The interior of the store below.
Another downtown building is also receiving a makeover now, although I’m not sure what’s going in it. It was formerly Felt’s Shoes before recently being used as storage by now mayor David Allen. Apartments continue to go in the second floors of two or three buildings as well.
Now we just have to hope these new businesses find some staying power.
LinkLuv: Laid off architect takes Lucy approach, & some color theory 6 February 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Advertising, Architecture, Business of art, Interior design.2 comments
A Seattle architect, laid off twice in the last year, set up a booth giving advice for a nickel at the local farmer’s market. Click on the video to watch (will open in a new window).
NPR cites new research suggesting reds are better for detail oriented tasks such as proofreading while blues are better for creative tasks. Color theory always fascinates me.
A modern home’s lack of foresight 2 February 2009
Posted by pcNielsen in Affluenza, Architecture, Basis for designing well, Community planning, Design, Disposable culture, Interior design, Modern culture, New Urbanism, Northwest Arkansas, Siloam Springs, Sustainable living.7 comments
Last week — during and following the great ice storm of 2009 — my wife and I were without power for four days, almost 100 hours by her count. We learned very quickly how inept so many modern American homes are when it comes to, well, self-sufficiency.
We toughed it out for two nights, but after seeing our own breath upon waking the second morning we decided that was enough. The house registered 43 degrees (the lowest it would get, from what we could tell).
Our little bungalow, like so many other American dwellings, lacks a fireplace (or wood-burning stove). Such a simple implement, a staple in buildings for millenia, and quite basic to everyday activities such as lighting, heating, cooking and romance and our little Hygge and Fika (as we’ve so named our cottage) falls short in this category.
Our American homes aren’t built to function without electricity. Sure we have candles and battery operated lanterns, and perhaps even portable heaters. But kerosene and gas heaters are supposed to be used in “well-ventilated” areas (which makes me wonder why I have one built into the third bedroom in my house), lest you die from carbon monoxide. A friend suggested that these function just to cut the chill. That is how I’ve used ours, but it wasn’t enough to cut the chill back from 43 degrees.
Why, pray tell, aren’t houses built in a self-sufficient manner? How difficult would it be to design for south-facing windows to capture the winter sun and westward eaves to eschew the summer heat? How difficult would it be to plan a home around a hearth? Even before my first significant brush with an ice storm, last week, I built these things into the homes in my head (if ever I get the chance to design and build my own).
The simple answer is that spec homes, which constitute the great majority of humble Stateside abodes, are built as money makers more than as places people live. It seems to come back, again, to the short-sighted culture we live in. The developers want to make money now. The buyers, first-time and otherwise, want the amenities their parents patiently waited for years to earn in their first home, even if it means the home is a cheap piece of poo.
How can we change this aspect of our culture? Please, let us change this aspect of American culture!
Image from Wikipedia.
Abstract art in a church, meditative? 1 October 2008
Posted by pcNielsen in Abstract art, Architecture, Art, Art and faith, Christianity, Color, Interior design, Non-representational art, Painting.4 comments
I’m back from a bit of a whirlwind trip to California. The first three days were a bit on the crazy side especially. Lucky me I’m sick too, which isn’t all that unusual after I come back from busy travel. Unfortunately.
Makoto Fujimura posted some photos to his blog (he posts very rarely) yesterdayish of a new installation of his own in a New Haven church.
The church looks pretty plain other than Mako’s glorious installation. I’m curious to know if readers find this very abstract painting meditative or not. One of my first thoughts in looking at the above photo was how much more spiritually engaging the space is with that large gold and blue nihonga work than without, and even how much more engaging it is than most other common altar items.
Thoughts?
