Housing and Community Development

  • 1.  Record Houses 2011

    Posted 04-13-2011 02:16 AM
    This message has been cross posted to the following Discussion Forums: Residential Knowledge Community and Committee on Design .
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    I just received my "last" copy of Architectural Record - Record Houses 2011.  I was not surprised to see the usual collection of beautifully crafted sculptural forms intended to inspire us as artists to consider new and alternate forms for living.  Then I looked again and thought again about the houses presented here.  None are actually livable, affordable, meet the UBC, support environmental concerns, or could ever get approved by a local US city's Planning Commission.  Then I thought, "What message is Architectural Record sending architects and the public about the meaning and value of architecture and architects?

    If we seriously want to begin the process of explaining to the public, the lenders, the appraisers and future home owners that architects make a difference, I suggest that we begin by asking, no demanding, that our media get real.  This is the biggest housing depression in the history of the profession, and we receive a slick magazine that is supposed to tout the best that architecture has offered for 2011.  There is not a single example that I could show a client (if I had any clients) and suggest that they consider a form, material or detail for their own project.

    I see holes in the ground (actually in a green roof) without safety railings, windowless rooms, glass-enclosed spaces that could never meet energy requirements, non-euclidian spaces that cost a fortune, questionable floor plans with no furnishings, excessive wasted circulation spaces, impractical finishes (what would a white, trimless roof look like after the first rain?), and unlimited budget items.  Anyone consider the LEED ratings for these "winners"?  Anyone consider the social impact of the businesses that earned the money that built these housing "sculptures"? 

    I suggest that each member of this forum take the time to look at Record Houses 2011, look past the usual presentation of beautiful photographs (always with no people in them? - strange) look at the message behind the presentation and write the editors of Architectural Record.  Tell them your reaction to their latest showpiece, and just exactly how it fits into the status of your own personal practice during hard times.  Then, if you'd like more, repeat this process for Architectural Digest and other over-hyped shelter magazines.  It's time that the editors rethink their visions and begin to reflect the reality of the times.    



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    David Ludwig
    San Anselmo CA
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  • 2.  RE:Record Houses 2011

    Posted 04-14-2011 07:22 AM
    Mr. Ludwig,
    I have to say, I agree that Record and other Architectural Media seem to be fascinated with housing that defies what most would consider a livable dwelling or the Arch Digests go to the other extreme of not recognizing our own time period, our place in history, as something that's important. After designing hundreds of homes, one recognizes that the "modern" homes the media is selling are wonderful sculptures, but rarely a functional space people would feel comfortable in. Yes, we Architects love to live in such dynamic, cold spaces, but the vast majority of people are more interested in function than a look, regardless of style taste. "Modern" design has often suffered because we forget about function while reinventing the home. Glass houses are cute and they made people like Johnson famous, but would you really live in one? How much land do you have to own to feel comfortable living in a fish bowl? These are wonderful theories, but practical nightmares. 

    Here's an example of bucking traditionalist brain dead ideas we all just accept for the look and replacing them with new, practical, dare I say modern moves. I do much of my work in the inner city areas of Atlanta and the lots tend to be narrow and the homes are old. No one uses a single hung window on the side of their house when less than 10ft away from their neighbor. This thermal hole always stays covered with curtains, the ventilator is at the bottom, and they sit in the middle of the wall making it useless. When I started using clerestory or transom windows on the sides as much as possible, the owners never covered them with curtains which provides more natural light for less window, the ventilator is up high where the heat rises, and you have a full wall for art, furnishings, etc. It's a modern look that still works with traditional styles too, yet improves several functional aspects of the building and it saves money.

    Many seem to be far more concerned with inventing the new design look everyone copies for the next 100 years than we are about how the client really lives in the space. The general public will not embrace modernism as long as it continues to carry the stereotypes of coldness and dysfunction. What we want and what regular people like is getting further apart. It's like we don't care about what the people want, so we innovate solutions for ourselves and a small handful of very wealthy, like minded individuals. We can restore our relevance as home designers and push the design bar if we start designing for the people and not ourselves. This isn't to say we submit to regurgitating the past, this is to say we start listening to and designing for the people. I always try to give them something they never realized they couldn't live without, but it's always about them, not me. Architecture is downgraded to sculpture when it doesn't serve it's function. A dysfunctional building will be renovated or destroyed, so timelessness must include function and not just beauty. It's the total package that matters if your Architecture stands the test of time.

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    Eric Rawlings AIA
    Owner
    Rawlings Design, Inc.
    Decatur GA
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  • 3.  RE:Record Houses 2011

    Posted 04-14-2011 08:07 AM

    I did write years ago when they published a house staircase that had no railings and a pile of glass shards under the open stair as "art". Questioned how this project passed code. The response was "they will look into it".
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    Craig Isaac AIA
    Architect
    Craig W. Isaac Architecture
    Charlotte NC
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  • 4.  RE:Record Houses 2011

    Posted 04-14-2011 11:15 AM
    Thank you David.  That was my last issue of Architectural Record as well.  I will not renew.  In fact I sent the issue to my client because one of the "Record Homes" is located in our town.  We agreed that structure, in the magazine, is the physical, emotional, and intellectual opposite of the house we are planning.  We are designing a home to fit the living and working needs of the family, the fiscal and efficiency standards that we are committed to, while recognizing the benefits and restrictions of the site and region.  These are what I, as an architect, aspire to and the reasons my client asked me to work with him.

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    Lawrence Dumoff, Architect LLC
    Kent CT
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  • 5.  RE:Record Houses 2011

    Posted 04-14-2011 11:36 AM
    Twice I have written letters to the editor in response to annual Record House issues, but they just don't get it!  while the avante-guarde hoouses are innovative, they do a very poor job of representing what AIA members doing residential architecture.  I guess by now it is moot as Arch Record is not the AIA's publication.

    I agree whole heartedly with your observations, David.  This maazine could have showcased a few avante-guarde designs, some traditional, but well crafted designs and even innovative spec houses (that don't look like Euro-boxes) A missed opportunity indeed.

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    Edward Shannon
    Edward J. Shannon, AIA, Architect
    Winnetka IL
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