Humanizing the Homeless

Pacific Garden Mission, in Chicago has a new green mission, designed by noted architect Stanley Tigerman. Mr. Tigerman has taken on social architecture projects in needy inner city preschools and the Humane Society. The Mission humanizes the homeless men, women and children it serves. No one is turned away and the occupants are respectfully called "overnight guests." Some take the opportunity join the program and become "staff" working in the kitchen, greenhouse, laundry and taking care of the mission. Later on they transition to finding employment. See the mission at Pacific Garden Missions.

Homelessness and inadequet housing needs an answer. Pacific Garden Mission is the first in a line of humanitarian efforts that have to be addressed. More churches and para-church organizations need to follow Pacific Gardens example. For 24 million dollars PGM has a fantastic facility serving a major metropolitian city. What can be done in your city. Are you an activist, architect, builder, social worker, preacher or business owner then you have a opportunity. Government at the federal, state and local need to eliminate the road blocks to the funds that stand in the way of caring for the homeless men, women and children.

The next priority is to make pathways to home ownership. Cottages in a planned unit develoment is one path to explore. The PUD's keeps the land costs down. Separate cottages allow owners to expand into attic spaces and do maintenance on the owners own schedule. Ownership is the key to giving a leg up and long lasting stablity.

The leap frog over the apartments is intentional. This is one area that the government section 8 housing has focused on. Home ownership will also challenge landlords to compete by making upgrades and keeping rents low.

Home ownership is my passion. I offer several plans on my web site geared to to first time owners. See Erik Ost, Building Designer

Color Theory Scheming

Working color in to an exterior or interior space requires a systematic approach.

Monochromatic- Shades of the same color.
Achromatic- White, greys and black.
Complementary- Contrasting colors on the opposite side of the color wheel.
Analogic- Base and neighboring colors.
Analogic+- Base, neighboring and complementary colors.
Split Complementary- Two neighboring colors across from the compelementary.
Triadic- Three colors evenly spaced apart forming a triangle on the color wheel.
Double Contrast- Neighboring pairs of contrasting colors.

To experiment with color schemes go to Color Schemes

Passive Solar and Conservation First

If you want a carbon neutral or zero energy home, follow these rules of thumb. Going from the simple to the complex. Plant a garden and compost. If you think about it plants are the most efficient solar energy collectors and saves you money and trips to the store.

Passive Solar Design-solar gain, thermal mass and shading are the very first things to address in designing a home.

Do the two step of conservation- Step One, Design a "Not So Big House." Putting in flexiablity and custom design and taking out space you don't use. Step Two, insulate and seal the envelope.

Your heating and cooling system should be the most efficient as possible. Here in the NW a good woodstove can heat the entire home with wood. Use your electric wall heater only for back up. Remember the more efficient the woodstove the cleaner burn it is. Swamp coolers provide execellent proformance in dry regions.

Use Energy Star appliances-front load washers are great. Consider a tankless water heater or a solar hot water heater.

PV solar panels this is what most people think being green is. But if you have and efficient home to start of with the less you will demand from your array.

Some of this seems backwards to conventional thinking. So go ahead be un-conventional.

Have a sunny day.

Wood is good.

The lumber industry has received a black eye. People are afraid that we are running out of forests and habit. People fear clear cutting of forests and having to wait for the forest to grow back if it ever will. Between cement fiber and vinyl siding and trim wood has been portrayed as dimensionaly unstable, prone to rot and mold, expensive to install and maintain... Much of this is lack of understanding and fear. I think more wood should be used on houses not less. It should be certified so we are not using more than we are producing in our forests. Old grow forest should be protected and we need to set aside new areas for the next generation of old growth forests. See the Forest Stewardship Council's web site for more information at Forest Stewardship Council.

Trees are the largest solar collectors. Trees are renewable sources that provide shelter and energy. Using high-quality wood stove that put off less CO2 than the decaying tree is the way to go.

Mainting a strong demand for wood will provide incentives for the lumber industry to actually plant more forests. This greens America without the tax payer paying for it. Cement Fiber although more stable than wood is mined. Mining has created many of the Super Fund sites. I think most cement is mined in a much different method but still can be disruptive and an eye sore. I still think cement is an irreplacable building material. My Dad produced a very-high early strength cement used in USG's durarock and designed concrete mixes with 20,000 psi + compresive strength for Portland Cement and CTL. So I do value cement and concrete. Each material has its place.

Wood is good, use more wood siding, dimensional and engineered lumber, wood floor, wood paneling, wood millwork and celulose insulation...all the while promoting best forestry practices. Lumber is a crop and we should use it and enjoy it while it is growing.

Subdivisions without a soul

New Traditional Neighborhoods and New Urbanism where you can walk to work and the store are responses to what is wrong with the suburbs. The premise for the suburb is the reliance on the car for almost ever basic need. Frank Lloyd Wright promoted this vision with the Broadacre City. I don't think he would have endoresed the souless production in todays subdivisions. Wright connected to the land and inignited the imagination.

The "as much house as I get" mentality needs to be dealt with. Homes that are "right-sized" instead of "super-sized." The biggest is not always the best. Blindly looking at the square footage on the appraisal sheet to determine value is just wrong headed. Artistic merit and harmony with the environment don't show up in the cash column. Art is a good analogy. Do we want a big barn for our money? OR a New Regionalism-sublime interpetation of an agricultural shed. Modernism-you can have your barn as long as it has a flat roof is white and large pieces of glass to blur the sense of the outside with the inside, the cow likes that. Which brings us to Post-modern-a witty application of exaggerated classical orders. In other words a house with a point of view has soul it gets from being created. It becomes alive when every part of the house is lived in.