One of our favorite people in the world of architecture writing and thinking is a man named Christopher Alexander. I did not know much about him but I did find this info about his being a professor and an architect of a whole BUNCH of buildings LINK

He has written a few brilliant books about what makes a place wonderful – not just a pretty facade or fancy windows, or even something that is environmentally correct. Rather his “A Pattern Language” book is like a bible for people to figure out how to make a place livable and lovely and full of good-feeling. He does not say it has to be specifically this or that, but rather that you need to do some work before you build to FIGURE IT OUT. YES, it takes WORK, but it is interesting and exciting work. He now has a website about how to create a livable neighborhood and there are some cool things YOU can do, or think about your OWN neighborhood. LINK

One of the great books that Christopher Alexander co-wrote is is called A Pattern Language, and it describes patterns that exist in our lives that help us to make sense of things, to feel good and to be comfortable.LINK LINK to A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (Center for Environmental Structure Series)

Once we visited England and we went to the sweet and great Roald Dahl Museum. He wrote classic books, like “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “Fantastic Mr. Fox” as well as many other great ones. Anyway, the museum is in the town where Mr. Dahl lived and his house is still there. In the garden, there is a little structure, known as his “writing hut” where Roald Dahl would site each day – yes, he had a ritual of writing each day – yes, that is why he wrote a lot  and a lot of great stuff.

Well, this writing hut is just a teeny little room with a great big chair in it and a few other items. Roald Dahl liked to sit in this chair, with a board on his lap and write. He did not sit at a desk. (We prefer to sit at the kitchen table to work, how about you?)

If you visit the museum, you can sit on a chair just like his and see what it feels like to write in a chair with a board over the arms and all.

ANYWAY, back to architecture, right? This little hut has been a sort of dreamy place for us. Thinking about building a small structure in a yard that allows you to go and sit and think and write, or draw, or design.

SO, when we came upon the photos of this incredible writing hut, we thought we had to show it, It was designed a number of years ago by a Dutch designer named Peit Hein Eek. Take a peek at this work by Eek.

On a visit to New York City we were able to visit the relatively new and incredibly great High Line. You may have heard about this great urban project – where some dedicated citizens who were tired of looking at some old, unused raised railroad tracks in Manhattan pushed a project to make these old tracks into a sweet, interesting and – I have to say it – AWESOME park.

Yes, it is a park that walks through Manhattan on old metal legs, right through the edge of Chelsea.

Sometimes this kind of project, where you take an older structure and use it for a different purpose, “urban renewal” or “reuse”. under any name, it is a great idea.

This area is having a huge renaissance in great part due to this architectural project. It is so great how the built environment can influence life in so many ways. From a cruddy, rusty old bunch of iron, the park is now filled with wooden benches, native flowers, trees and lovely fencing – as well as so many people enjoying the space. There is even a spot where you can be standing over the busy street below. It is very mcuh worth a visit.
here is their website – take a look and then get there!

We know that most people have heard about the ghastly effects of the earthquake in Haiti. Our sympathy and hope goes out to all Haitians.

Architects and other people who build structures all over the world are discussing what can happen next when it comes to the idea of rebuilding this devastated country. The buildings that are destroyed were not built very well, and they cannot be rebuilt.

What kind of ideas do people have for rebuilding?
ONE interesting idea is to ship the food and supplies that Haitians need in containers – those huge metal boxes that travel on ships with all of the stuff that fills the shelves of our grocery and department stores. Then, instead of filling the containers again and shipping them out, keep the shipping containers in Haiti. Supply a kind of kit to transform these containers into livable shelters and start to rebuild right away.

ON a visit to Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, we saw a great use of these shipping containers used for student houses. Painted and stacked up, with windows and even bathrooms – they were really incredible. They are inexpensive and ready-to-go.

There are many people around the world thinking about shipping containers as shelter. Here is a link to one of them:
ecobox

So I guess if you want to be an architect, this man, Doug, who is an architect, is ready to have you join him in the fun of design and the built environment.
He has videos about how architects work, why someone would choose to be an architect and even how to make neato architectural drawings. And you can learn all of these things in less than an hour! Who needs to go to college when you have youtube! YOU DO!
Here is the link to one of his videos, called “SO you want to be an architect”

Sometimes we make up a word. Like "Kapow" when Batman hits the Riddler in the stomach, or "mukkity muck" that material that we step into – you know – the "glooppy glop" that is at the edge of the curb after a sudden huge rainstorm.

Back in 1968, a very famous American architecture historian and architecture critic (yeah, there is a job doing that!) whose name is Ada Louise Huxtable wrote an article for the New York Times titled "Lessons in Urbicide" and it was about the demolition of older american buildings that were not considered valuable anymore to some people. Now the word URBICIDE is not a word that you will find in the dictionary. But we can all understand what she means when she uses it.

An herbicide is a chemical that kills or destroys plants – it is generally used on weeds so that they do not overtake the plants that we do want to grow. The problem with herbicides is that they often leave horrible chemicals on the good plants, plants that we eat and use, and that is not so good for us or for other animals – or the air or planet.

So if an herbicide is the killing off of plants, in the same way, URBICIDE is the killing off of buildings. And what a waste. There have been beautiful buildings in the past that people have torn down, in fact entire towns, without discrimination. This means, buildings have been taken down without careful thought and consideration about what they mean to a community, to the people who built them and live around them, to history and to the definition of what is American. Ada Louise Huxtable wrote a great article about it in 1968 for the New York Times and it is in one of her books with a funny title "Goodbye History, Hello Hamburger" and you can read it here. I hope I can meet her someday because I think she is so very right and so smart.