Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Thoughts #1

In life, there are times when you just drink way too much coffee. Then, while you're sitting in class with 45 minutes to go and your bladder is on the cusp of an explosive schism, you have to dig deep. Hydrostatic pressure is nothing. Winning is everything.

Aio, quantitas magna frumentorum est

Monday, February 26, 2007

Tiny House

Hey everyone! Hope everyone is doing well. Just wanted to let ya'll know about a side project I am working on down here in New Orleans. It is pretty much the highlight of my week. A few of us are building a house for a man that lives in in the neighborhood. He currently lives in the back of his brother-in-law's property in pretty poor conditions. We are building him a small house (10x20) on an already existing slab. We are going to try to make it a self-sustaining structure. This is a little ditty that my friend Tommy wrote about the project:

"so, in planning for this build, we asked ourselves what those who live
off-the-grid do, and have done for eons, without the luxury of urban
ammenities...perhaps they would design a roof that channels water to a
cistern (water catch basin that costs about $30 to build) that will
receive direct exposure to the heat of the sun, and provide, via
gravity, a warm shower, and drinking water. also, a long sloped roof,
over the 20' length of the house, could create space for a small loft
@ the front of the house, and a large southwest-exposed wall that will
heat the house in the winter and provide natural light
inside...anyway, without getting very technical, that's the gist...and
we are trying to build it for under $3000, a challenge in itself.

already, the funky roof is evoking alot of rubber-necking -- it's hard
to find anything but a gable roof (/\) in the very
traditionally-styled french city of new orleans -- should've seen the
initial look on marlon, the land-owner's face when i said, "composting
toilet" -- but he is a smart guy, and was actually really excited by
our ideas, and the thought of a house that cost little to no $ to run
-- it very well may be the last time anyone lets us build something
like this in the u9, but the opportunity to learn and perhaps infuse
modern sustainable building and living practices into the post-katrina
community (which is by the way, a collection of some very kind people
who seem to really need some help getting back on their feet right
now) is too beautiful to pass up..."

Anyways. Here are a few pictures of the house so far. It's a really exciting project and an evolving design.





Thursday, February 08, 2007

What up Lee Familia?
Sooo we're not doing ANYTHING together this summer??

i thought Key West sounded tight.
If we could...