The Gifts,
All housing or commercial projects consist of three major
elements. The elements are always present, no matter a
single family home, a center of commerce, or a city.
The first element is the land, or the natural environment,
the second element is the built environment or the structure that interacts with
the land. The third element is the inhabitants of the
structure or the occupants.
All three of the elements have incredible gifts to
provide, if we are wise enough to interpret them and to accept them.
Unfortunately in the vast majority of our projects, both residential and
commercial we choose to ignore the gifts or even worse, to overpower them.
We live in an identity thieving mass of sprawl replication
continually chasing to the next off ramp, to the next design fad, to the
perimeter. It is my personal belief, and my work professionally and privately to
change this development pattern paradigm.
If we imagine and do not create, we are simply daydreaming.
If we create without imagination, we create sameness and an uninspiring
existence.
Let us build with imagination and creativity.
Let us build by interpreting and utilizing the gifts present in every
project.
1.
The Natural Environment.
From nature, we receive food, drink, heating, cooling, energy,
breezes, views, lighting, colors, water, flora and fauna,
tranquility, among other gifts, all honed to perfection over thousands and
millions of years. Nature stands alone as a person, place or thing, as
nature is 100% efficient with zero waste. Nature is sustainability. Nature
will never fail you.
Modern building ignores these natural gifts at best, and at worst
overpower or dominate imposing mans will. Sure we can overpower
nature, but at great cost and peril. We cut and fill the land by mass
grading and scraping, we take the creek and put it in a 60 inch pipe
below the housing, we are ignorant of sun or shade, we dominate with
heavy machines and expensive mechanical systems imposing our intellect on
the land. We landscape as an afterthought with an English or tropical flair
requiring 50inches of water a year, this in an environment that receives
8-10 inches of water a year.
We do this because we are intelligent, have good taste and because we
are efficient?
Interpreting our personal home site, a rather mundane everyday lot in an existing
residential neighborhood, we are able to extract the gifts that are present
provided by nature. We are able to provide food and drink with our garden
and vineyard. We cool our wine cellar built in the earth using the stable
64% temperature of the earth, We heat our home with passive solar capturing
the warmth of the sun with thick thermal mass, we power the home by
harvesting the suns rays and convert them to electricity, We power our
cars by harvesting the suns rays and creating solar fuel instead of
fossil fuel., we harvest
rain water from the roof for the vineyards, we mirror the average rainfall
of 8 to 10 inches with native plants that thrive and are beautiful, we
capture the coastal breezes to cool the home in the summer, we used the
colors of nature to color our home, we positioned the home for awe
inspiring views. We worked with the existing grade which is two levels
and undulating instead of scraping and leveling. All of
these are gifts of nature that we choose to receive.
2.
The Built Environment
We build to a building code. As a consultant, I recently spoke
to a few dozen new planners at U.C. Irvine and asked them the
question, “What is the building code and what does it do?” Their
answers paraphrased, are that the building code is the standard for
building that ensures a quality product. That the building code is a
threshold to be met that protects our society.
My response to them? The building code is just one step better
than going to jail. Do less than that and you commit a crime., you are
in violation. I don’t know about you, but I want to lead a life a whole lot
better than one small step away from jail.
Our homes today are built without regard to the land and to the
cheapest standard available. We acknowledge this cheapness as
unattractive in the market place, so we gussee up the façade of the home in
lipstick and botox. Foam botox resembling columns or wooden beams.
Fake eye lashes or shutters that have no purpose other than to be maintained
lest you receive a nasty note from the HOA. Balcony railings with no
balcony, with no operating doors, Plant-On’s we stick on the façade like a
child playing with a Mr. Potato Head.
We then proclaim it a “Tuscan Treasure” or some other style that is the flavor of the day. It is a façade, it is a cheap imitation. It is not real. Let us build our buildings with authenticity out of honest material where all the building is treated as important, not just some façade that serves no purpose other than to boost to those driving by.
3. The Occupants
We build our houses, without the knowledge of the family or person
that will be the occupants. Think about that.
We buy our houses not as a family home, but as a possession to be
flipped or collected.
We decide on our real estate purchases as an economic equation, not as
a social decision or what is best for a family. We gate our homes or our
streets, separating and ripping us from our neighbors. We move every five
years. Our buildings only last 30 years, We drive $800 a month
high performance cars and live in $750 apartments. We take what we can, even with
the knowledge that we can not afford it, we bitch about it, when we can’t
pay for it, and we expect a bailout We need to change.
As occupants we have gifts to give, there is a much better way.
Let us build a home around a family, their passions, size, pursuits,
values, traditions, all reflected in the assemblage of materials into a
family home that nurtures and strengthens the soul.
Let us live in a home for decades, centuries, not months, years, and
pass that home onto future generations. We tally how many homes we have
lived in during our lives, instead of measuring how many generations of the
family have lived in the same family home.
Let us build our buildings to last hundreds of years and not to last just as long as the term of the loan.
Let us strengthen our community with deep roots and rich history
provided by decades and generations of involvement in our community, little
league, churches, schools and civic institutions. Let us give to
others out of abundance and be grateful as we help our neighbor.
Let us preserve older building and not tear down newer buildings.
Let us express ourselves with original works of art and not mass trinkets produced from cheap labor abroad.
Let us socialize with our neighbors and friends, and warmly share
common ground, and a meal at a table.
Let us live......
Each of the three elements have gifts to give and when all three are
interpreted and the gifts are present to a high degree, the result is a
project that people can feel and sense is wonderful, even if they can’t
explain why.
If you have got this far! Thanks for reading! We can do better San Diego.
Cheers Peder
Recycle, reuse, restore, and most importantly, preserve. Preserve our resources, our independence, our individuality, our passion for life, our families, our faith, and our country.
Walk lightly, walk honestly.