Posts

is it right?

in , ,
all photos/video courtesy openbuildinginstitute.org. donate to their kickstarter here.

all photos/video courtesy openbuildinginstitute.org. Donate to their kickstarter here.

Do we, each of us, have a right to shelter and food?

A friend of mine uses a Martin Luther King quote as part of his email signature. It seems especially poignant right now as we weather a social climate that is exceedingly animus.

Cowardice asks the question – is it safe?
Expediency asks the question – is it politic?
Vanity asks the question – is it popular?
But conscience asks the question – is it right?
And there comes a time when one must take a position
that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular;
but one must take it because it is right.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In addition to social ills that include race relations, economic challenges and religious non-understanding, there are those among us that need help with the basic human needs of shelter and food. As a society are we obligated to provide these basic human needs?

Marcin Jakubowski thinks that making home and hearth more affordable, and less resource intense, is not only do-able but right. He is working on an open source initiative to make affordable eco-housing widely accessible. Along with a host of consultants on everything from energy to compliance to architecture, he calls his endeavor the Open Building Institute. He knows it can work because he has done it. And he believes that you can do it too.

kickstarter link
The idea is that each one of us, either with friends or hired help, can build a home. The Open Building Institute will provide the knowledge: a library of modules and instructions, building materials production facility, training, even a certified builder if you so desire. You begin with what you can afford…could be a tiny starter module with a kitchen, bathroom and loft. As you can afford you add an aquaponic greenhouse for growing food and fish, maybe a separate bedroom, perhaps another bathroom and a library or office. The home is made from CEB (compressed earth blocks) from on site soil, uses solar panels for energy, hydronic in-floor heating. The home operates off the grid and grows as finances and needs change. No mortgage (unless you mortgage the land), no power bills, lower grocery bills.

Infographic by Jean-Baptiste Vervaeck courtesy openbuildinginstitute.org
In the Fall of 2015 we added an 832 sq ft aquaponic greenhouse for passive solar heating and small-scale food production. It features two in-ground fish ponds, a chicken coop connected to an outside run, a rabbit pen, 44 6-ft tall aquaponic towers, 216-ft of aquaponic troughs, 2 compost beds, and a potting and seedling area. The greenhouse is designed to produce all the vegetables, mushrooms, and fish that a family can eat. Our goal is to integrate worm towers, spirulina algae as a superfood, duckweed/azolla, rainwater purification, sprouts, and black soldier fly production into a practical, easy to manage system. Courtesy openbuildinginstitute.org
Designed by: Catarina Mota A 300 sf tiny-home with kitchen, bathroom and bed lofts. A seed home is an expandable starter house—for those who dream of a big home but don’t have the resources to undertake the project all at once. As expansions are added to the building—bedrooms, living room, additional bathrooms, etc.—the original seed home can be converted into a larger kitchen. Courtesy openingbuildinginstitute.org
Tiny CEB house with tiny greenhouse and solar roof – Factor e Farm (Missouri, US) – Built in 2014. Courtesy openbuildinginstitute.org
How it works. Courtesy openbuildinginstitute.org

I’m 100% in favor. Yes, I do believe that we all have a right to shelter and food. And we also have a responsibility to work toward that end. If you want to support the Open Building Institutes Kickstarter you can be part of this solution. Donate $20 and get a book laying out the OBI method. Donate $500 and you can participate in a 5 day build and learn all the nuts and bolts of this system.

In case you were wondering, I have no connection to Marcin Jakubowski or Open Building Institute. This project was forwarded to me by a mutual friend, Nat Turner, who you may remember hearing about in Parti* Notes.

Keep in touch,
Leslie

food tv

in , ,

 

Julia Child and Jacques Pepin, the Galloping Gourmet and Martin Yan, those are the chefs I grew up with, the chefs who taught me what I enjoy in a cooking show. Current food television offers a much wider variety than days past, much of which makes me want to run screaming from the room. Kind of the way you’d run from the kitchen of a crazy chef. I’ve worked with chefs who rip phones off walls and throw pots. I don’t want to hang out with them in person or through the TV screen. So if you do enjoy that style of food drama, you should probably click away right now.

If you do enjoy a good cooking show, or entertaining romps through neighborhood restaurants, or info about where food comes from, then stick around. Now that it’s raining in California, and I’ve binge-watched all my current dramas through, it’s time to catch up on food. Check out my list…and send me yours too. Hopefully it will rain for a very long time and I’ll binge-watch my entire list while the drops are still falling, then move on to yours!

restaurant shows

I’ll Have What Phil’s Having: Phil Rosenthal is funny. He’s a writer, an actor (well, he was), a producer and the creator of the TV show Everybody Loves Raymond. And he apparently loves food. So he travels the world with his friends (some of whom you’ll know) and he eats food. He’s done shows in Tokyo, Italy, Paris, Hong Kong, Barcelona and Los Angeles. He will take you to amazing places to eat good food. And you’ll even learn a bit about cooking.

Check, Please! Bay Area: 3 regular joes and a host anonymously visit 3 of their favorite restaurants then discuss their experiences. Very homey and a great way to stay in touch with the Bay Area food scene.

cooking shows

The Mind of a Chef: How do great chefs think? And what do they cook? Crawl right into their creative brains and learn what real chef-ing is about (and no one in this series will refer to themselves as a ‘celebrity chef’, but they are all the best of the best). David Chang, Sean Brock, April Bloomfield, Magnus Nilsson, Ed Lee, Gabrielle Hamilton and David Kinch. Brilliance in the kitchen.

Julia Child: PBS release has released a selection of episodes from various Julia Child’s series. It’s a potpourri of Julia and a lovely way to spend an afternoon! Learn, cook, then see if you can do the voice. ‘Chello….Ihhhhh’m Jhooolia Chaaaiild….’

Good Eats: cooking with Alton Brown, well kind of. Alton Brown isn’t a chef. He’s kind of a geekyscientist who applies his mad science to food. And teaches us how to cook things in a really nerdy but effective way.

more food

Food Forward: Food rebels in the 21st century and beyond. I can’t possibly say it better than they do…‘Food Forward goes way beyond celebrity chefs, cooking competitions, and recipes to reveal the compelling stories and inspired solutions envisioned by food rebels across America who are striving to create a more just, sustainable and delicious alternative to what we eat and how we produce it. Created by a veteran documentary film making team led by Greg Roden, Food Forward explores new ideas of food in America as told by the people who are living them. Each episode will focus on a different theme–school lunch reform, urban agriculture, sustainable fishing, grass-fed beef, soil science–and spotlight the real people who are creating viable alternatives to how we grow food and feed ourselves.’

Enjoy our rainy weather and happy watching…

Keep in touch,
Leslie

 

riding bikes for farms

in
IMG_5842

that’s me and my trainer….don’t worry, I’m better at riding than I am at selfies

I’m riding my bike to save farms in Marin. Well kinda. I’m actually riding my bike to see if I can ride 40 miles in a go. My trainer (and hubby) thinks I can do it. And whether I’m successful or not (I will be), my ride fee goes to an amazing cause…it goes to save and protect family farms in Marin. You know, the farms where we get our local eggs, cheese, fruits, veggies and meat. Those farms.

Donate to MALT, support my ride. Let’s keep it local!

Marin is home to many family owned farms, a tradition that dates back 150 years. In the middle of the last century, developers came a callin’, looking at the beautiful land of west Marin and dreaming of big towns and huge profits….for them. That’s when MALT, Marin Agricultural Land Trust, was born. MALT supports family farms by purchasing agricultural conservation easements that disallow the use of farmland for anything but agriculture.

A MALT agricultural conservation easement is a voluntary legal agreement between MALT and a landowner. MALT easements prohibit non-agricultural residential and commercial development, subdivision, and other uses or practices that are detrimental to sustainable agriculture. MALT easements are perpetual: they remain in effect on the land regardless of change in ownership.

By restricting certain uses, the easement lowers the value of the land. MALT purchases easements from landowners to compensate for the loss of value. Once the sale of an easement is final, MALT extinguishes the development rights on the protected farmland. We do not sell or transfer development rights to another area of the county. The land remains in private ownership and on the tax rolls.

I’m riding nearly every day, getting ready for 40 miles and 1400 feet. So far so good….today’s ride was 35 miles and 1900 feet. I think I’ve got this! I’ll ride, now you write.

Donate to MALT, support my ride.

Keep in touch….keep it real….keep it local,
Leslie

small is the new big

in , ,

small is big

Small living has been getting bigger and bigger the last few years. Between slim wallets and the growing interest…and let’s be honest, dire need…to build more sustainably, the mcmansions of the last century seem to be falling out of favor. Can we all say hallelujah? (Any excuse for a little Leonard). When designers and architects are faced with constraints, it allows opportunity for some pretty impressive creativity. Four of this year’s AIA award winners for small projects are featured in FineHomebuilding and include the Fall House, designed by Fougeron Architects, along my very favorite stretch of California coastline. The three bedroom vacation home sits on the land quietly, following the natural curves of the site, and is wrapped in glass to honor the beauty outside. And to add my own bit of love to the story, it is near enough to Esalen to run on over for a quick tub in their natural spring fed hot tubs (that is if you tire of that awesome built-in glass tub).

And for the rest of us, small is growing as well. There are ‘tiny house’ blogs and websites, and it seems that every couple of months there’s another news story about a family downsizing and simplifying. Karen Baumann and her two large dogs live in 460 square feet in Marin County, one of the country’s most expensive areas. She says that living small allows her to spend less time cleaning and organizing and affords her more time and money for the things she loves like entertaining and traveling. Micro-apartments are also becoming quite the rage, especially in the most expensive cities around the globe. Curbed has a column dedicated to micro-dwellings which seem to get smaller and smaller. The smallest they’ve listed so far in San Francisco is a mere 200 square feet (that rents for a whopping $1275 per month). And in Paris these micro-apartments get even smaller. Architect Julie Nabucet’s 129 square foot apartment includes an elevated kitchen above a bed/couch in a drawer, linens that tuck away and a tiny bathroom.

This is a bit too small for anyone with, say, clothes, but somewhere between the 129 square foot apartment and the 2600 square foot average home size, is the right house for most of us who are trying to simplify and live within the means of our limited ecosystem.

I’m off to the Contemporary Jewish Museum for their quarterly night out….have a great night and keep in touch,
Leslie
icon

if I wanted to work in London

in , ,

all photos courtesy dRMM.co.uk

This is where I’d start my search. dRMM. Their buzzwords are innovation, collaboration, environment, uniqueness. And, among many other remarkable and award winning projects, their talented team created a house that slides. Tell me you don’t want to work with this amazing group as well. I wonder, would they let me bring my dog to work?

The house is a close collaboration between client/builder and dRMM. Due to it’s rural location and stringent planning requirements, the team created a building that fits the ‘farm’ vernacular in both color and shape,but has a surprising modern twist: the main building is a glass house with a wooden exo-skeleton that slides over it to provide privacy and weather protection. The house is all electric, and the owner has installed a wind turbine to provide needed electricity.

Have an inspired week….keep in touch,
Leslie
icon

restaurant sustainability….let’s be real

in

unsplash_527bf4b4ae00d_1

Sustainable, local, organic. SLO food. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Green. We’re all talking the talk, but when it comes to restaurants, do we really walk the walk? Many jurisdictions require some sustainability measures, especially during the start up phase, but what about through the life of the restaurant? Not so much.

photos courtesy sandwichmeinchicago.com

Chicago restaurateur Justin Vrany does walk the walk. His restaurant, Sandwich Me In, in the Lakeview District, was built using all recycled materials and furnishings. His purveyors are all within a 200 mile radius. In the last two years the restaurant has produced only 8 gallons of garbage. Total. And even that was picked up by an artist to reuse. He makes much of his food from scratch rather than purchasing pre-made items that include additional packaging, and he practices beak to bottom usage (from the chicken’s skin to its bones). And yes, there is plenty of meat on his menu….and bacon! According to his customers, they may come for the message but they stay for the food.

Mr. Vrany is proving daily that this can be done and his hope is that others will follow suit. While this may seem like a great deal of work to implement, logic says it will certainly affect your bottom line positively…and isn’t that why we are in business?

We can all do better (well maybe not at Sandwich Me In), and there are plenty of resources to help. Beginning with the design of your restaurant, choose a designer/architect team that understands sustainability (yes, my hand is raised high!). But you can’t stop there. Find a sustainability expert that knows restaurant operations in your area and get help. They can direct you to local purveyors that grow sustainably, high efficiency equipment that uses less power, processes that make the most of energy efficiency like running your ice maker at night rather than during the day, companies that will pick up your used cooking oil to recycle it as automobile fuel, cleaning products and processes that don’t harm the environment and more. And all of this can save you money.

Remembering that the main reason restaurants exist is to feed people, eliminating food waste, which is estimated to be 40% of food production, should be our highest priority once the operation is up and running. Organizations like Food Tank address issues around food, food security and food systems and people like journalist and food waste consultant Jonathan Bloom spread the talk. Check out his book, American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of Its Food (and What We Can Do About It), below. If we all get involved in the conversation then restaurants can lead the way, rather than being the latecomers to the party.

Okay….putting my soapbox away now. Keep in touch,
Leslie
icon

good houses

in

I don’t read the online magazines that feature opulent houses with overdone window treatments and too many pillows on the sofa. I read the online magazines that talk about the future of design and architecture. That includes building small, building sustainably, and building smart. Check out these three homes.

Origami House

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

TSC Architects designed this home in what looks like a Japanese suburb. The website is in Japanese, which unfortunately I don’t speak, so I have no background on the house. But what strikes me is the opportunity that a design like this provides for using passive solar techniques to minimize power needs. Siting the home so that the main exposure is to the south, (if you live in California…check your location for best practice ;)) and protecting the windows with extended eaves accomplishes several things:

  • it minimizes summer cooling needs because the hot summer sun is high in the sky and does not reach the protected windows,
  • it increases winter heating when the sun is low in the sky and shines through the wide expanses of glass, therefore decreasing the need for artificial heating,
  • it allows light to penetrate into the house through the many protected windows reducing the need for artificial light.

All images courtesy TSC Architects.

A Recipe to Live

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Another project in Japan, Materia found this one which is built at Waseda University. The home is self heating as a  result of walls that continually compost, keeping the home at an even temperature year round. And the house is continually making black gold for the garden!

All images courtesy materia.nl

Tower House

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Built on a small, steep, tree covered lot in Portland, Benjamin Waechter designed this home to go up rather than out to minimize environmental impact. The home is also wrapped in corrugated steel with rounded corners to minimize the additional need for trim at square corners. A beautiful light filled home on a difficult lot…proof that constraints can encourage greater creativity.

All images courtesy Architectural Record/Benjamin Waechter/Lara Swimmer

Happy May Day!
Leslie

biomimicry…the beginning of the story

in ,

picjumbo.com_IMG_6921

bi·o·mim·ic·ry

bīōˈmiməkrē/

noun: the design and production of materials, structures, and systems that are modeled on biological entities and processes.

Our planet and its organisms have been growing, creating and evolving efficient life systems for over 3.8 billion years. The science of biomimicry studies and models man-made processes after these biological systems. The term biomimicry seems to have been coined sometime in the 1970s (perhaps around the time of the first oil shortages when I remember sitting in long lines of cars with my dad on our designated day waiting for our turn to get gasoline) and has rapidly grown in usage since 1997 when Janine Benyus published her book Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. In the last decade the study and use of biomimicry principles has grown exponentially and architects and designers are learning to look first to nature for solutions.

In the desert of Lima, Peru an engineering company, Utec, developed a billboard that pulls water from the atmosphere and purifies it for consumption by the locals. Kind of sounds like a beetle in the Sahara (you have to watch the video above to get the connection). Click on the photo for the story.

billboard

photo courtesy gizmag.com

Nature knows….we just need to pay attention. I’ll keep you posted on projects that I find inspired by nature. In the meantime, check out asknature. It’s an awesome creative resource and a lot of fun too.

Best,
Leslie

Edison lamp redux!

in ,
photo courtesy venus opto

photo courtesy venus opto

The water is off on my street today, so I called my friend Jane to see if I could pop over occasionally to use the loo and maybe grab a drink. She’s English….that’s why I’m popping and loo-ing. So I was over this morning and noticed she had a lamp in her bathroom light fixture that I hadn’t seen on the shelves. Here I am back home in my own dry house researching this very interesting lamp and lo and behold it is an LED version of the much hated Edison lamp!

I found a few styles, most made in China so far, but very interesting indeed! Color temps as low as 2700k, CRI over 80, no heat sink, 50k hours…am I dreaming? Oh happy day!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I even found a decorative fixture that is really modern and rivals the coolest of the simple, hanging Edison lamp. Can I take 3?

led3

 

It’s a good day indeed!
Leslie