tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65953073366609824922024-03-13T11:05:50.672-04:00Dwelling on WasteM. Arch Thesis - University at Buffalo - Matthieu Bain + Andrew PerkinsAndrew Perkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258345258349057134noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6595307336660982492.post-35079909881570636832012-09-11T22:00:00.001-04:002012-09-11T22:00:13.496-04:00Vote now!<br />
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The next Dwelling on Waste project - <a href="http://dwellingonwasteflint.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Spencer's Art House</a> - in Flint, MI needs your help.</div>
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Spencer's Art House and Carriage Town Historic Neighborhood Association are in the running for $5 million in grants. Awards are determined by public vote, so take 30 seconds to cast your votes and share with friends:</div>
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<b><span style="color: #cc0000;">Vote via Facebook</span></b>: <a href="https://fb.chasegiving.com/charity/view/ein/38-2587577" style="color: #444444; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: blue;">https://fb.chasegiving.com/charity/view/ein/38-2587577</span></a></div>
<br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Chase Bank users can cast an additional vote here: </span><a href="http://chase.com/chasegiving" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: blue;">chase.com/chasegiving</span></a><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><b style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">The pitch:</b><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">What was known in the late 1800’s as the carriage capitol of the country and in the 1950’s as a bustling automotive city, Flint is now transformed again. The collapse of the automotive industry has led to a severe economic decline, with sprawl, depopulation, and abandonment quickly following. The number one most desirable city to live in has become one of the most violent in the country in a matter of just 50 years.</span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="line-height: 14px;"><br /></span>Decentralization of city centers is becoming a more pervasive issue throughout the world. Abandonment. Depreciated property values. Arson. Drug trade. Loss of morale and of community. With economic decline almost across the board, people are finding themselves ill-equipped to upkeep their homes and their communities.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />The Carriage Town Historic Neighborhood Association is collaborating with the Flint Public Art Project to renovate an abandoned home in the city’s oldest neighborhood as a community space – using an imaginative rebuilding process. Led by architect Andrew Perkins, we are working with prominent artists, local businesses and non-profits, and city officials to reimagine the historic Spencer’s Mortuary as a community center and art space. Steps from a Native American burial ground, blocks from the birthplace of the American auto industry, and halfway between two universities, Spencer’s Art House will become a beacon of this re-emerging city.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />We want this process to be as environmentally friendly as it is socially responsible, so every effort is being made to use as many recycled and reclaimed materials as possible. Working together with local demolition companies we can keep material costs low and more debris out of the landfills. Funds from Chase Community Giving will go toward some of these major renovation tasks, as well as installing renewable energy systems and sponsoring some of the many public workshops expected in the coming months.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />With your help, Spencer’s will become a model for revitalization which is accessible to cities globally. The goal is not just to rebuild the community, but to progressively reinvent it as one which is socially, environmentally, and financially sustainable while hanging on to all of its historic significance, charm and beauty.</span>
Andrew Perkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258345258349057134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6595307336660982492.post-88931453791063798402012-08-17T14:26:00.003-04:002012-08-17T14:26:53.403-04:00A beautiful film:<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g-stMrEr9E">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g-stMrEr9E</a>
Andrew Perkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258345258349057134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6595307336660982492.post-90822912610796771722012-07-08T14:10:00.000-04:002012-07-08T14:10:59.080-04:00Flint Public Art ProjectStephen Zacks, journalist in NYC turned producer/curator of the Flint Public Art Project, has offered to commission us for another house in Flint, MI.<br />
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FPAP just received a $250,000 grant from ArtPlace to re-envision the urbanism of Flint via a series of art and design projects focusing on social engagement. Collaboration between artists, designers, architects, urbanists, local businesses, and the community will seek to "<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">contribute new sources of inspiration to the local culture, attract revenue to small businesses, draw activity to disused sites, support community organizations, and reinforce connections to the metropolitan, regional, and global economy" (Zacks).</span></span></div>
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The house in question is 520 University Ave, formerly known as Spencer's Funeral Home, which faces (among other things) catastrophic roof damage. I'll be heading to Flint next week to begin a 5-6 month live-work renovation (and Matt shortly thereafter, on a part-time basis). <span style="background-color: white;">The aim is to convert this long-abandoned structure into something of an artists' collaborative, eventually obtaining a Certificate of Occupancy.</span></div>
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Posts here will be farther and fewer as attention is shifted elsewhere, but will still occur as projects happen at Southampton. Follow the blogs below for development of Dwelling on Waste: Flint.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flintpublicartproject.com/">http://www.flintpublicartproject.com/</a>
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<a href="http://dwellingonwasteflint.blogspot.com/">http://dwellingonwasteflint.blogspot.com/</a>Andrew Perkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258345258349057134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6595307336660982492.post-15907644797887689732012-07-07T20:07:00.003-04:002012-07-07T20:08:15.202-04:00Will trash for food<a href="http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/mexico-city-shoppers-swap-trash-fresh-food.html">http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/mexico-city-shoppers-swap-trash-fresh-food.html</a>Andrew Perkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258345258349057134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6595307336660982492.post-64286548660612325082012-07-06T17:47:00.003-04:002012-07-06T17:47:36.360-04:00The West Wing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
After some downtime taking care of other end-of-the-semester tasks and a number of other ventures we've been able to get back to work on the house.</div>
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In uncanny timing, three letters from the city arrived the day after our 'final' presentation of the work. After eight months of dodging city officials, we've now been cited for lead paint, damaged roofing, cracked windows, and most ironically "trash/debris in the yard." We think he means our building materials, benches, and landscaping work.</div>
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In compliance we've begun to keep atop weeding and trimming more heavily, and hide some of the less typical sights from street view. We've also been made to remove the wood-burning stove which sustained us through the winter. Disconnecting the chimney pipe and moving the stove to the other side of the room is simple enough. And leaving the top part of the chimney exposed at the ceiling actually creates a point of ventilation for the now warm summer temperatures. In the meantime we'll be keeping our eye out for a stove more convincing of UL certification.</div>
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As we start to branch to other projects, we need to wrap up a few things at Southampton before our temporary leave. The tire foundation is not yet waterproof, which for now is not a major issue. But if the earth within them takes in a lot of moisture now, they're liable to freeze and expand in the winter, which can undo a lot of the rebuilding we've done. The original wall <span style="background-color: white;">above it </span><span style="background-color: white;">(on the weathered west side of the house) is also one of the most damaged in the house.</span></div>
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Shingles, faux brick, furring strips, wood siding, thick vertical boards and a window are removed...by hand in about an hour. After creating some temporary support set away from the wall we're able to get to the very top of the tire wall for the first time to run plastic and a more stable floor-wall construction.</div>
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With new a new top plate and base plate laid, the replacement wall is set up using old 2x4's stripped from another renovation on the West side. Thin 1/4" plywood is the only material we have to sheath the studs, which is far thinner than usual. We double layer and offset it for added strength. And instead of trimming the length of the second layer, we take advantage of its flexibility. The wall is skirted out to keep water from building up at the conjunction of the tires and wood.</div>
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Lastly, it's covered with spare roofing felt until we can add a more resistant siding material.</div>
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<br />Andrew Perkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258345258349057134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6595307336660982492.post-46445135400964008712012-07-03T13:28:00.000-04:002012-07-03T13:28:26.110-04:00Ecological v. Ego-logicalWe overheard some criticism the other day: "I don't get it. There isn't really anything new about this."<br />
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And generally they're right. After fighting off the natural urge to argue that it is indeed new, I think it best to respond more nimbly. So a few counter-questions:</div>
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What does being "new" have to do with creating productive, meaningful, and responsible architecture? This urgency among us to constantly be creating anew what often is not broken; What good does it bring? A deviation from need, humility, and civic duty. The <i>Moai</i> of Easter Island are a perfect example. Labor- and material-intensive statues everywhere one looks, each one larger than the previous. They suggest a cultural battle for dominance which quickly leads to a collapsing civilization unable to organize or feed itself.<br />
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This isn't to say that innovation should be halted, but rather that 'new' shouldn't exist only for new's sake. And having the knowledge of all those who have done these things before us - these things which are highly resourceful, effective, attainable, and sustainable - we might inquire why they aren't a more prevalent entity. This thesis directly seeks to call attention to that which is old, plain, and obvious: waste. It's the overlooking of all of this material that we find incredible. There is much to learn from primitive ways of working and living which is regularly overlooked in our so-called developed society. So what's new here?<br />
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A recognition of the flexibility in materials so regularly overlooked. A movement past professional and social taboos. Spaces which not only address cultural circumstances on a very intimate level but which establish a new aesthetic which at once modest and stimulating.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Buffalo isn't a part of a third world country. The house and our own lives are embedded within a modern culture of readily available water and energy and iPhones and a culture which practices a life very different from our own. How our mediated way of living begins to insert itself into this pervasive culture becomes part of the challenge and part of the intrigue.</span><br />
<br /><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Our
work may be seen as a sort of exaggeration – a critique of consumerism and the
indifference to waste which has become the norm, of the sterility and
preciousness of “high design.” If the responsibility of the architect is to
situate material among context, the challenge is not to achieve a trashless
space, but more flexible aesthetic and functional criteria to embed it in.
Waste isn’t something to be shunned, but an underutilized resource capable of
far more than we generally like to admit – not only a driver of ecological
systems and financial accessibility, but an instigator of new breeds of
architecture.</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And that's not to say that "high design" is bad or shouldn't exist or is entirely selfish. Rather, that with a billion squatters currently in the world and billions of others who haven't reached the bliss all-marble furniture and LED facades, the amount of time, energy, and investment (and education) that goes into such projects is disproportional to our current needs.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYGg_3AZ0bB8WUOQRHnMvMqzIqpV0JOXt4afpn5aPUkmRulkcOMbXZNUhWnr5Kmgo09YJ08-VAQZjKy6r2A3YV2PeW8-dp_QzIzDAzOSvF4Jh0FJ0LhAF0WBzc6W3kZZjai5hqlE533zsq/s1600/innovative-architectural-building-ideas1-500x321.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYGg_3AZ0bB8WUOQRHnMvMqzIqpV0JOXt4afpn5aPUkmRulkcOMbXZNUhWnr5Kmgo09YJ08-VAQZjKy6r2A3YV2PeW8-dp_QzIzDAzOSvF4Jh0FJ0LhAF0WBzc6W3kZZjai5hqlE533zsq/s320/innovative-architectural-building-ideas1-500x321.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>"Innovative architecture," Googled</i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirijE2ueuqDmyjw9VsGo8JnmrwVswQp3em1HRRL3ujeYvKDWamWkknU5dIcD9pgxZiQJPlDIaqSnvdBrGlq9SpYVZlOWhNvzCPqokCB1l5ZqYFGsPzJTOHu-ZWknwDCzbdVxN-IOcbx4Kx/s1600/Kowloon-Walled-City-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirijE2ueuqDmyjw9VsGo8JnmrwVswQp3em1HRRL3ujeYvKDWamWkknU5dIcD9pgxZiQJPlDIaqSnvdBrGlq9SpYVZlOWhNvzCPqokCB1l5ZqYFGsPzJTOHu-ZWknwDCzbdVxN-IOcbx4Kx/s320/Kowloon-Walled-City-12.jpg" width="243" /></a>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><i>Kowloon Walled City</i></span></span></div>
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We don’t seek to redefine the profession of architecture –
but to realign it with some of the more fundamental human necessities and
desires which spawned the profession – and do to so in a way that is not only
retrospective, but sensitive to the current cultural and economic climate. We
seek to provoke a way of practicing, way of thinking, way of life – that we hope
can become a more prominent figure in architectural practice.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>Andrew Perkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258345258349057134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6595307336660982492.post-52572278434309683592012-06-08T21:21:00.005-04:002012-06-08T21:21:48.089-04:00"Rubbish Architects"Similar minds at work in the field:<br />
<a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/earthrise/2012/04/2012413134031504661.html">http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/earthrise/2012/04/2012413134031504661.html</a>Andrew Perkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258345258349057134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6595307336660982492.post-80324189425760949462012-05-23T19:05:00.002-04:002012-05-23T20:24:22.799-04:00OnwardMatt and I have been accepted into Rice University's next publication of PLAT journal, Scapegoat Journal, and are discussing publication via Metropolis and The New York Times. We've also been invited to work on another house in Flint, Michigan, as part of the Flint Public Art Project: <a href="http://www.flintpublicartproject.com/">http://www.flintpublicartproject.com/</a><br />
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We're also working on our own publication which will cover the past 8 months in more depth. To ground our own work we'd like to get a stronger understanding of the broader context. The proposal is a 2 month research trip, hitting up places such as Fresh Kills landfill, to the artistic rehabilitations of declining neighborhoods in Detroit, to self-sufficient vigilantes in California, to the culturally rich but dire city of New Orleans. While I do this Matt will be holding down the fort in Buffalo, where we'll join up again afterward to compile a more comprehensive statement about our work and potential implications for the future.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4KfKLgb-nxMqUtHv1wdoAkaeC6A8YUlDfSLRtANuKN7r9VXHzfOs3KiPf11qlSc74a1I-RMxPtBLA-3Wjeag8HYUis3hCTYwL-tRcYXUHFZZY-azsGYwR5hlwHzg64_C7w7XgfcNtgUqX/s1600/sauna-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4KfKLgb-nxMqUtHv1wdoAkaeC6A8YUlDfSLRtANuKN7r9VXHzfOs3KiPf11qlSc74a1I-RMxPtBLA-3Wjeag8HYUis3hCTYwL-tRcYXUHFZZY-azsGYwR5hlwHzg64_C7w7XgfcNtgUqX/s320/sauna-5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<li style="border: 0px; font: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Lagunitas, CA - David Hoffman</b></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">San Diego, CA - Estudio Teddy Cruz </b></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Colorado Desert, CA - Slab City</b> (decommissioned and uncontrolled site-turned squatting and camping grounds)</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Taos, New Mexico - Earthship Biotecture/Mike Reynolds</b> (passive solar houses made of natural and recycled materials)</li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0a3uFWtAA0NfZBloSX1xnletOz4-9IoRookICq6_c9gRpWQHObJf-VZH5-CPspJFfx6OZY1h23NdQDj-sRDf9acWT8XdeNVyCPzKt8mx7vLeuCIlIzIEttXNWawWkQO_h2S4USD1zHfdF/s1600/p3221514.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0a3uFWtAA0NfZBloSX1xnletOz4-9IoRookICq6_c9gRpWQHObJf-VZH5-CPspJFfx6OZY1h23NdQDj-sRDf9acWT8XdeNVyCPzKt8mx7vLeuCIlIzIEttXNWawWkQO_h2S4USD1zHfdF/s320/p3221514.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<li style="border: 0px; font: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Huntsville, TX - Phoenix Commotion/Dan Phillips</b> (Eco-friendly homes for low-income families)</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Houston, TX - John Milkovisch</b></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">New Orleans, LA - Eric Kugler</b></li>
<li style="border: 0px; font: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">New York, NY - Fresh Kills landfill</b> (one of the largest landfills [and man-made structures] in the world, now under development as "Freshkills Park")</li>
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<li style="border: 0px; font: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">New York, NY - ABC No Rio</b> (community center/activist collaborative)</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">New York, NY - The Hole (ghost town between Brooklyn and Queens)</li>
<li style="border: 0px; font: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px 30px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Boston, MA - Ze-gen, Inc</b>. (renewable energy company - gasification)</li>
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But this can't happen without help. Check out the Kickstarter campaign and its sweet rewards:</div>
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<a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1385416174/survivalist-architecture-dwelling-on-waste">http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1385416174/survivalist-architecture-dwelling-on-waste</a>
</div>Andrew Perkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258345258349057134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6595307336660982492.post-82107653023788999932012-05-15T22:17:00.002-04:002012-05-15T23:45:51.780-04:00He Who Lives in a Glass House<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
...keeps his stones for the french drain behind the tire foundation.</div>
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The southern facade is replaced with a collage of found wood-frame windows, and the gallery-like pathways around the "basement" are finished off with railings (topped with waterbed bumpers, for comfort). The wall opens up the space visually, and physically with a glass door - a more private entrance, and continuity with the ever developing backyard.</div>
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Bricks are layed dry over the rough concrete floor of the lower space - partly for aesthetic and not having anything better do with them for now, and partly because this back room still isn't 100% watertight. The bricks create a kind of raised platform where small amounts of water can drain to the ground pipe in the corner without puddling up.</div>
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In preparation for the big crowd of people that would be the post-thesis review celebration, we've had to clean up and organize the other materials we've amassed. With the woodwall gone, this living space has to be readdressed. Some pallets form a partition, and arms are attached on one side to act as a lumber rack. This not only gets our materials out of the weather, but organizes them and acts as a promenade to constantly remind us of our stock.</div>
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The other space this creates is something more of a leisure space, with books organized in the gaps of the pallets and light pouring through the double window.</div>
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So that our window wall doesn't look out to a mound of disorganized "junk," everything is organized and purposed. The bits of vegetable gardening we've begun guide the development of this material garden - piles of heavy timber to frame pathways, propane tanks as bench supports, TV's and tubs as table legs, tires as display for plywood and plywood as display for tires...</div>
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...and a #1 outhouse made from an old autoshop sign, plastic light diffusers, pallets, and shutters:</div>
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Very little of this would have been possible without tremendous support from a number of people. Thanks to everyone on this list, probably a handful of others, and to everyone who came down for last week's open house (and special thanks to Sharon Li and Colleen Perkins for setting an amazing spread of food).</div>
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Next? Dealing with inspectors, with the responsibilities of home ownership when getting a job means leaving Buffalo, and putting together these past 8 months into a book.</div>
<br />Andrew Perkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258345258349057134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6595307336660982492.post-78149181817866651902012-05-08T16:51:00.001-04:002012-05-08T16:51:55.175-04:00"Can any of Buffalo's dilapidated houses be saved?"<a href="http://www.buffalonews.com/city/special-reports/the-wrecking-crew/article846258.ece">http://www.buffalonews.com/city/special-reports/the-wrecking-crew/article846258.ece</a>Andrew Perkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258345258349057134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6595307336660982492.post-82213485070539767602012-04-23T11:51:00.000-04:002012-04-23T11:51:33.003-04:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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"Just in time for the snowstorm," says our friend Mark.</div>
<br />Andrew Perkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258345258349057134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6595307336660982492.post-18737237062792639502012-04-22T23:31:00.001-04:002012-04-22T23:31:05.196-04:00Morality vs. legality?<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/23/us/in-lagunitas-calif-a-fight-over-worms-and-moats.html?_r=2&hp">http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/23/us/in-lagunitas-calif-a-fight-over-worms-and-moats.html?_r=2&hp</a>Andrew Perkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258345258349057134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6595307336660982492.post-18192032748254373322012-04-19T15:00:00.001-04:002012-04-19T15:00:04.876-04:00Trashscaping<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The hoards of stuff that has accrued needs to be dealt with. As a first reaction, the piles are separated according to material - smaller piles. Many of these objects have no direct immediate use. But their storage might suggest some spatial arrangement in itself.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpJoSN2l9rD-zgdztt93ki_mpvuKH_Dthb7pFbokv1PV4zNHh_nMqs-NOYw5DBql_mJBByRR6T6ihQau43uYbK5M3AbQfyZ3t7gEalFHeUVI6KjX3ClnBNjqhOhBwxyw4e_r7Ckte4oncV/s1600/DSC_6446.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpJoSN2l9rD-zgdztt93ki_mpvuKH_Dthb7pFbokv1PV4zNHh_nMqs-NOYw5DBql_mJBByRR6T6ihQau43uYbK5M3AbQfyZ3t7gEalFHeUVI6KjX3ClnBNjqhOhBwxyw4e_r7Ckte4oncV/s320/DSC_6446.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw-1N7ZY5AJDkTDZerwiYQuV_I2qfqnBXvet16g1T2CDongAzdHZbs1DlqPn1eKIZlJTtMWcDIbNxiJNzo28GhHEXY5D0RIDzjnzWf4L2rAyl0tOZGxVEoDaLkffnnIZMK67zhy88GcdZf/s1600/DSC_6450.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw-1N7ZY5AJDkTDZerwiYQuV_I2qfqnBXvet16g1T2CDongAzdHZbs1DlqPn1eKIZlJTtMWcDIbNxiJNzo28GhHEXY5D0RIDzjnzWf4L2rAyl0tOZGxVEoDaLkffnnIZMK67zhy88GcdZf/s320/DSC_6450.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Pathways, fences, garden boundaries, seating, and tables - the materials are sorted and given some temporal substance - a kind of functional display while they await a more specific re-purposing.</div>Andrew Perkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258345258349057134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6595307336660982492.post-55761807281980085732012-04-18T14:21:00.001-04:002012-04-18T16:47:14.640-04:00Rubber Foundation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The tire foundation - a technique adopted from Earthship designs - requires about 300 pounds of dirt to be packed into each tire. The tires are a kind of permanent formwork for the dirt and act as giant masonry units, staggered by course. Labor is intensive, but materials are available and the process primitive.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX43VJ28HhgMctLV6dD79xZWNHDdXDSs2YYmxfX8uSfOWeBtNYxywj1hxcCZtFhibqF1WHso0e_i78tzQaOIpYRlXhygpIhlRRJ1NpplVmZ9kXDXdr4WzJEhFkcbvJ33VWq1fJtefOKX-h/s1600/DSC_6237.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX43VJ28HhgMctLV6dD79xZWNHDdXDSs2YYmxfX8uSfOWeBtNYxywj1hxcCZtFhibqF1WHso0e_i78tzQaOIpYRlXhygpIhlRRJ1NpplVmZ9kXDXdr4WzJEhFkcbvJ33VWq1fJtefOKX-h/s320/DSC_6237.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Shoveling, pushing, punching, more shoveling, sledgehammering.The tires plump up to extraordinary sizes and feel like rock upon completion.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUyj0QpLdunoUN8_Ibm3-Ffc1Y4QYppfsAo-c7WZUDc5EX9wMAcTs-wnOcifAsEHZlqcNozvuLUpcvgFJbUbt6DU_IvU9Flp5k6i9BCinjbKJIDJSVExV5Ty-sVqI36qND_rrre6Bs1sCr/s1600/DSC_6246.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUyj0QpLdunoUN8_Ibm3-Ffc1Y4QYppfsAo-c7WZUDc5EX9wMAcTs-wnOcifAsEHZlqcNozvuLUpcvgFJbUbt6DU_IvU9Flp5k6i9BCinjbKJIDJSVExV5Ty-sVqI36qND_rrre6Bs1sCr/s320/DSC_6246.JPG" width="320" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">To prevent the water issues that the previous wall had we install a french drain from some scavenged pipe and bits of crushed rubble. Ideally we should have at least 6 inches of this above the pipe for good drainage, but are short on rubble. Breaking up more blocks is tiresome and what we feel is a poor use of a solid building material.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbuE-2kRsZiGxvmFEAfq0WzpHBZJ8PzWRjB2-mq5RDeKkgO-BOUbAZAPQYNYhVPcDMyUG_fXd92BOv-NO-8agIPL9SqB7G2LNvfjWyI8qJ6rvMiqveyxEDfCxVRveXYCiApJ4YiTodJ52W/s1600/DSC_6277.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbuE-2kRsZiGxvmFEAfq0WzpHBZJ8PzWRjB2-mq5RDeKkgO-BOUbAZAPQYNYhVPcDMyUG_fXd92BOv-NO-8agIPL9SqB7G2LNvfjWyI8qJ6rvMiqveyxEDfCxVRveXYCiApJ4YiTodJ52W/s320/DSC_6277.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Down the street, on a lot where a building once stood many years ago, is a small mound of asphalt. It's hard to guess how many years it's been sitting there, situated very visibly on the corner of the block. In smaller pieces it is perfect for drainage material. So we proceed to clean up the lot while waterproofing our new foundation - another win-win scenario.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSz6hwKWKxzj04UngIQPTgHs1Chyphenhyphen0nab2_peeem3kq2qhi9nTOw8CzdRA_F0C9t3BjHiW-92gBzsrfFSrdGx1_YH1d2IZF87YBhyy64dHGkiSMYSJO-nCVUB4sX8lFepc-hn8w0F_WqR_3/s1600/DSC_6278.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSz6hwKWKxzj04UngIQPTgHs1Chyphenhyphen0nab2_peeem3kq2qhi9nTOw8CzdRA_F0C9t3BjHiW-92gBzsrfFSrdGx1_YH1d2IZF87YBhyy64dHGkiSMYSJO-nCVUB4sX8lFepc-hn8w0F_WqR_3/s320/DSC_6278.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXhdLYASXfapF7LwJLXIjukD2PxB0tgS0Uu_zjDQvMaEX2B1G-4jxp4DDV4qBi-8ofLZJxovLkHGQcZOPS1csTQAEhxphsgYKBY-YcYX9TFK7hDVvtbTfr8KXQV7jUy7zC0ZiPDb7H2cv0/s1600/DSC_6290.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXhdLYASXfapF7LwJLXIjukD2PxB0tgS0Uu_zjDQvMaEX2B1G-4jxp4DDV4qBi-8ofLZJxovLkHGQcZOPS1csTQAEhxphsgYKBY-YcYX9TFK7hDVvtbTfr8KXQV7jUy7zC0ZiPDb7H2cv0/s320/DSC_6290.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXcCbyIbTUgww3NDGwwckF4AI8PM2rndLF0QdzKPrcuF0HQgZidwMjiDT9AP92kkvWhk35DZUyvJHCQfD77r_od9BOsNCG7kUJv-h3K5PquxfLIV2fs1SBjnAEY1aisfFIH8TJRDbJoXyy/s1600/DSC_6378.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXcCbyIbTUgww3NDGwwckF4AI8PM2rndLF0QdzKPrcuF0HQgZidwMjiDT9AP92kkvWhk35DZUyvJHCQfD77r_od9BOsNCG7kUJv-h3K5PquxfLIV2fs1SBjnAEY1aisfFIH8TJRDbJoXyy/s320/DSC_6378.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Seventy-four tires. Twenty-two thousand pounds of dirt. Thanks to more of our helpers: Lu, Anthony, Connor, Jared, Joe, and Chris.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPtlY1YuxlJRQOJkxnjSAAfA7HshjuLriZ6XQ0K-_9iSFYvELO580XntQVxuVWYba6mbgOcPbX3HEf26zFQ4MqWNwftfhreQFfJPudNGsgArTiT-abvP_FQsw1Sqw7bdgLQC3G6mhzQjfF/s1600/DSC_6389.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPtlY1YuxlJRQOJkxnjSAAfA7HshjuLriZ6XQ0K-_9iSFYvELO580XntQVxuVWYba6mbgOcPbX3HEf26zFQ4MqWNwftfhreQFfJPudNGsgArTiT-abvP_FQsw1Sqw7bdgLQC3G6mhzQjfF/s320/DSC_6389.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The room now largely stabilized, we can begin more generous alterations to it. A new walkway forms atop the tire wall, eventually leading to new access to the backyard.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF1ZWO_BAUEYmLakANxZ_eA1PJW113uYJ9642q32PB3hlALDrSokzrv5bWaTXu7IXD_KtgNBZoHE0hO8d8pvZEbYCIdr0dXOqBqwvrdgs4T6-wrlnqWuF92yIESb501iLUiI7oAllP-lIa/s1600/DSC_6419.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF1ZWO_BAUEYmLakANxZ_eA1PJW113uYJ9642q32PB3hlALDrSokzrv5bWaTXu7IXD_KtgNBZoHE0hO8d8pvZEbYCIdr0dXOqBqwvrdgs4T6-wrlnqWuF92yIESb501iLUiI7oAllP-lIa/s320/DSC_6419.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpNKzR-2_BT2rHlSNdimPuNRUaqMGRYGkWNF_v_WN_3Y9wrVMZF_fH6sKU6WR9asYc78LdvDYLD4UcsW65zeNtJ48lIpx_uP_MlZalv3jPhG6f_x6dtU_80WVVbVSTH826vqjMdYGVwP8_/s1600/Untitled_Panorama4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpNKzR-2_BT2rHlSNdimPuNRUaqMGRYGkWNF_v_WN_3Y9wrVMZF_fH6sKU6WR9asYc78LdvDYLD4UcsW65zeNtJ48lIpx_uP_MlZalv3jPhG6f_x6dtU_80WVVbVSTH826vqjMdYGVwP8_/s400/Untitled_Panorama4.jpg" width="267" /></a></div>Andrew Perkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258345258349057134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6595307336660982492.post-81758299728194796192012-04-18T12:14:00.002-04:002012-04-18T14:19:58.530-04:00ARC 699 - Advanced Sledgehammering<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The west retaining wall in the backroom continues to slowly sag inward. It's unlikely that it would collapse in the next months, but is perhaps the single most problematic thing from keeping the house from getting off the demolition list.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrMk2yQwcmjlOX__roXgnenOD-4GL9n7tiGFambKyoOXAsqupk8vWvTEpmTTucTB9XOVhdKPzW90jZvH73vgH_5Jho8hBs42Ilc3boxSBlDw5Tuw52malacqgewx-_5YOzuSJ4t5xXJq7d/s1600/DSC_5778.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrMk2yQwcmjlOX__roXgnenOD-4GL9n7tiGFambKyoOXAsqupk8vWvTEpmTTucTB9XOVhdKPzW90jZvH73vgH_5Jho8hBs42Ilc3boxSBlDw5Tuw52malacqgewx-_5YOzuSJ4t5xXJq7d/s320/DSC_5778.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Many of the blocks come out by hand or a few light swings of a hammer - testament to its frailty. What sits behind is a very poorly placed concrete strip footing, about 12" thick and 24" deep. The mass, luckily, is broken in half which puts it into very manageable (.....) 2-ton sections.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ_4zuoJKMngJbiKlTk752Mmo-npFqXaoqVmo6oPd897txH88GEA9sT6lHuRYujr52xnSze6djyqMAQibE-eXeAK2EBm9f3jHMj1-eaQyVSJik0wc7FRDjI2BskPe36NA3OTCi3Wo2J6sG/s1600/DSC_6144.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ_4zuoJKMngJbiKlTk752Mmo-npFqXaoqVmo6oPd897txH88GEA9sT6lHuRYujr52xnSze6djyqMAQibE-eXeAK2EBm9f3jHMj1-eaQyVSJik0wc7FRDjI2BskPe36NA3OTCi3Wo2J6sG/s320/DSC_6144.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">After lifting and bracing the ends of the beam that used to sit on the footing, it can be removed. It has an intimidating head start - its mass hanging, leaning toward us held back only by the friction of the soil. It's already been heaved from the expanding and contracting ground - not having been placed below the frost line. After deciding which of us would cut off his limbs to escape for help should it fall, we pick up our sledgehammers and start to get it out.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXjp5hKnN8pf8r0Xw9iQxLBnli2bXb29m0frSpx0KDT-HiOYIP_TM-pI2qakQjPkRnl-12wXAzG574iUiuU29JBC7Jw6orrMOSTvXeduAVnajqZifnkWwR8stY81XTPC3eZ-Y4-ndiXDOC/s1600/sketch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXjp5hKnN8pf8r0Xw9iQxLBnli2bXb29m0frSpx0KDT-HiOYIP_TM-pI2qakQjPkRnl-12wXAzG574iUiuU29JBC7Jw6orrMOSTvXeduAVnajqZifnkWwR8stY81XTPC3eZ-Y4-ndiXDOC/s320/sketch.jpg" width="244" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A day and one bottle of ibuprofen later, the mass is out of the dirt wall and on the basement floor, still in considerably massive pieces. Special thanks to Wade, Tim, Dylan, Greg, and Will for their help in breaking them up and hurling them out.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjbEbFhzO1dKYECwfpOku0zi4_TqVleFPWmYkxohZmSqEH8LVmaSNEOis9om6w4OAPvzsmVQNHLCIxNLarsvzlnrt4GrqINER2zczZ_Boa1ipMpUopytrFe-cAzWW1Pz32JTN1kXpaFilx/s1600/DSC_6159.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjbEbFhzO1dKYECwfpOku0zi4_TqVleFPWmYkxohZmSqEH8LVmaSNEOis9om6w4OAPvzsmVQNHLCIxNLarsvzlnrt4GrqINER2zczZ_Boa1ipMpUopytrFe-cAzWW1Pz32JTN1kXpaFilx/s320/DSC_6159.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiehQsuZI-hNUfK9x_P1jW-Tuy7jC2DUgJcJMq20aoaRZ_dSAs47PI0RYFB_BojYXpD0XJspwHTRFC7Dl0OuAbfocfqsKMKgQ5e8v2m0RuUWyxEwocOWHnPuAWO9WZqqf4OS5uKKNyJJ8Bf/s1600/DSC_6187.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiehQsuZI-hNUfK9x_P1jW-Tuy7jC2DUgJcJMq20aoaRZ_dSAs47PI0RYFB_BojYXpD0XJspwHTRFC7Dl0OuAbfocfqsKMKgQ5e8v2m0RuUWyxEwocOWHnPuAWO9WZqqf4OS5uKKNyJJ8Bf/s320/DSC_6187.JPG" width="213" /></a> <br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">Each subtraction we make from the structure comes with some uncertainty. We are dumbstruck as to how the house continues to hold itself up as we remove what are supposed to be the main supports. Old, neglected, decrepit; It's far tougher than it seems.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Still, its resilience is only temporary. We need to rebuild the retaining wall and resupport the wooden wall above it. There are few materials that we can use to recreate this; Concrete is unavailable and environmentally damaging. Blocks are possible, but fairly sparse, and would require a number of other materials not readily available: mortar, reinforcement bar, reinforcement grout. </div><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTuhejkck_0c-V3xsY2wnZyWN-U-lpmidgoUAL3r-ju0GvWofMwZlKrzQ2mIThpPf3XsuQbSQQkjM9SggCD-HFTsIPymMnf6V41fwScYLxHhb7bDuj-SlsWdkCXHffxZNzb_0cVubQPkYE/s1600/DSC_6285.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTuhejkck_0c-V3xsY2wnZyWN-U-lpmidgoUAL3r-ju0GvWofMwZlKrzQ2mIThpPf3XsuQbSQQkjM9SggCD-HFTsIPymMnf6V41fwScYLxHhb7bDuj-SlsWdkCXHffxZNzb_0cVubQPkYE/s320/DSC_6285.JPG" width="213" /></a> <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">What are available in great abundance are tires. Nearly every abandoned lot carries several and some with mounds of fifty or more. Not only are they available, but they're environmental and visual blight. This is where we're able to act symbiotically, giving new life to otherwise detrimental matter.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvFsqX7CuJIuQ2KyVBr1PPF7MJ3VughyW2K7Q_rs4z7Ng4OYUijpYQjnwJ_1CCyn4LXykFuhzIbHgSCaBUGZiXlU9cLYD8FEUXLSOdZaCfwL3YFIWnFZ4etYce9XbjXXpPnXQj7djrFcqO/s1600/DSC_6179.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvFsqX7CuJIuQ2KyVBr1PPF7MJ3VughyW2K7Q_rs4z7Ng4OYUijpYQjnwJ_1CCyn4LXykFuhzIbHgSCaBUGZiXlU9cLYD8FEUXLSOdZaCfwL3YFIWnFZ4etYce9XbjXXpPnXQj7djrFcqO/s320/DSC_6179.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">So begins the restructuring of our house on waste.</div></div>Andrew Perkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258345258349057134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6595307336660982492.post-41025132021785738772012-03-21T22:13:00.000-04:002012-03-21T22:13:56.936-04:00Science, for Bums!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The newly drywall'ed attic is coming along quickly and soon will just need to have its seams finished. Having used the spines from pallets as the nailing plates on the attic ceiling, we're left with a lot of thin hardwood pallet boards with which we can cover the seams - but these go up like tinder and would undo everything we've accomplished in drywalling. A bit of research into alternative fire proofing methods reveals silica beads as a possible solution.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzWMc3W8pN1BqyTSx8e17PbQO0eSonpoWPFWptlggxBiuB5fmV6Kzu4_mrcxZxyjGDhPQ0epCCXLEjrDDogw8eZDe7Uy5ZwgtaES1HD92m0iN5ACwKWEL8pXRfJINMr2i289RR2q6p28Ih/s1600/DSC_5785.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzWMc3W8pN1BqyTSx8e17PbQO0eSonpoWPFWptlggxBiuB5fmV6Kzu4_mrcxZxyjGDhPQ0epCCXLEjrDDogw8eZDe7Uy5ZwgtaES1HD92m0iN5ACwKWEL8pXRfJINMr2i289RR2q6p28Ih/s320/DSC_5785.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">First they need to be crushed, but the pellets aren't as cooperative as we hope. Using a hammer or any very primitive crushing method results in pellets scattered across the room, largely intact. We instead acquire a used pepper grinder; It works perfectly.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3ehUgjRJK1Jy646QxGEnxQaj5wx8WdLERPD98GrKgnfx4GeeXwOk1tiik5kbEMqjBd7M_Iiv8wQ58keSrDFTjSKPNUAycT0NX_gheyD69qR2XGjg5nZ3XIRrhZXCGH8GPAolKMXS-_EyN/s1600/DSC_6024.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3ehUgjRJK1Jy646QxGEnxQaj5wx8WdLERPD98GrKgnfx4GeeXwOk1tiik5kbEMqjBd7M_Iiv8wQ58keSrDFTjSKPNUAycT0NX_gheyD69qR2XGjg5nZ3XIRrhZXCGH8GPAolKMXS-_EyN/s320/DSC_6024.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8AakK5291drqT2qQAlutVDmbNvInXh0QCLtP5Voe7wMhmdn7XtZgOTLZMGLFgg2fIG622R_ymnng-LPOGHf-9u4Sn9wEiaqNge76kje4dlmAor2DGjpGpVPqY8GsyQSpquum2nnWDz_sE/s1600/DSC_6044.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8AakK5291drqT2qQAlutVDmbNvInXh0QCLtP5Voe7wMhmdn7XtZgOTLZMGLFgg2fIG622R_ymnng-LPOGHf-9u4Sn9wEiaqNge76kje4dlmAor2DGjpGpVPqY8GsyQSpquum2nnWDz_sE/s320/DSC_6044.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The compound - <i>sodium silicate,</i> also known as water glass - can be crafted using these silica beads ground into a powder and dissolved in heated water and sodium hydroxide (which can often be found labeled as typical household drain cleaner). The product when applied to wood should petrify it - encrusting its organic faces into stony ones.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQsEKOde5Ji50Ibp3LqE6hoqDREdQg3yXU8I-BoXLHAWvJAPVQ0SIylWsGlaTaJXKQHDmNlxmGiWkHXM8vLambmvxpkOuAEtxcmJ_IjspVjtBScwEo6HnSFclJTAgjvdxFAFc_ypjkcm1r/s1600/DSC_6047.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQsEKOde5Ji50Ibp3LqE6hoqDREdQg3yXU8I-BoXLHAWvJAPVQ0SIylWsGlaTaJXKQHDmNlxmGiWkHXM8vLambmvxpkOuAEtxcmJ_IjspVjtBScwEo6HnSFclJTAgjvdxFAFc_ypjkcm1r/s320/DSC_6047.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Two batches of the chemical are mixed up to test different ratios for the compound - the second using much less water than the first.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju5RQr_-saYuETzHV1hHgq_fIPZeglIzZybQsxCr0ZVs3yxtgqHg0DupNxgEr_xQ0bXboSm0I2-wX6KroChfOOyRKeM-AEGsWSWeB5XEa3GaZZFPk_gJWPPiFsY6fOJNO99MgotnnfmwGC/s1600/DSC_6094.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju5RQr_-saYuETzHV1hHgq_fIPZeglIzZybQsxCr0ZVs3yxtgqHg0DupNxgEr_xQ0bXboSm0I2-wX6KroChfOOyRKeM-AEGsWSWeB5XEa3GaZZFPk_gJWPPiFsY6fOJNO99MgotnnfmwGC/s320/DSC_6094.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>From left to right: untreated poplar (control), sodium-silicate poplar, high concentration sodium-silicate poplar</i></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirrqx4DSql55Fpl1baHGAOZBUive5AoWyzwKs7A4sFRJU7KiSjaE0JYVvfcEqYorhmYdd6Jm8rAnLYtz0wJ3WSSLiDfOUyd6dU5xuFY5nWUECY9Q2xhyFK9tTank0nzwO2i7bbV3mFEwou/s1600/DSC_6096.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirrqx4DSql55Fpl1baHGAOZBUive5AoWyzwKs7A4sFRJU7KiSjaE0JYVvfcEqYorhmYdd6Jm8rAnLYtz0wJ3WSSLiDfOUyd6dU5xuFY5nWUECY9Q2xhyFK9tTank0nzwO2i7bbV3mFEwou/s320/DSC_6096.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm7L4invTN0KcdkZU3H3Fzn6l4Wol6KdDDlVQxyAa-M6VBl_PErhKkUFXKwTTb-fjVdwCFSce2zW_snfVwNhyxH2kBBvxXOcLhWbZnvr7LocbOgxDqivIFLD7iO3ZI2-QWnyFEp6hj-PqT/s1600/DSC_6104.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm7L4invTN0KcdkZU3H3Fzn6l4Wol6KdDDlVQxyAa-M6VBl_PErhKkUFXKwTTb-fjVdwCFSce2zW_snfVwNhyxH2kBBvxXOcLhWbZnvr7LocbOgxDqivIFLD7iO3ZI2-QWnyFEp6hj-PqT/s320/DSC_6104.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> <i>Control</i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBP238yXKvtcPDzO2QXlU-_nsUbcRQ7FjTiVoYd0hTWBCYENTtRSNxm4T5WdixREiURFZqriiRkyc6_bj3-9p-UMLcg1AwIaDe-veiE-J8PqMr8b2FjZYyVvZHXepviO7rrZOR88WVEOKR/s1600/DSC_6105.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBP238yXKvtcPDzO2QXlU-_nsUbcRQ7FjTiVoYd0hTWBCYENTtRSNxm4T5WdixREiURFZqriiRkyc6_bj3-9p-UMLcg1AwIaDe-veiE-J8PqMr8b2FjZYyVvZHXepviO7rrZOR88WVEOKR/s320/DSC_6105.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> <i>Sodium silicate poplar</i><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiisQmgzVv8-CpZJKoxx6BD6cm0ipmayPGfH4acqQFjsRkxoEUiysL17yghYyV1o870Zr1eLknJtp_KzqTPoWBXddRqqiaiZSd-h3Ht2xcFrzGwy4Z0ooSWCIjBUxjezLucNLG8t_9HlIPf/s1600/DSC_6106.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiisQmgzVv8-CpZJKoxx6BD6cm0ipmayPGfH4acqQFjsRkxoEUiysL17yghYyV1o870Zr1eLknJtp_KzqTPoWBXddRqqiaiZSd-h3Ht2xcFrzGwy4Z0ooSWCIjBUxjezLucNLG8t_9HlIPf/s320/DSC_6106.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><i>High concentration sodium silicate</i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">The above samples were left in the fire for about 3 minutes. Eventually even the most fire"proof" of things will catch fire. The untreated took roughly 90 seconds to catch flames while the other two produced a thick char but did not retain flame. The higher concentration of additives seems to have been slightly sturdier - and now that we know this is a plausible operation, the proportions can be tested more thoroughly.</div></div>Andrew Perkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258345258349057134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6595307336660982492.post-45287009905840162142012-03-20T16:33:00.001-04:002012-03-20T16:33:00.036-04:00Spring Broke<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">"Spring Break" has been spent busying ourselves in the back end of the house - the focus of our efforts over the next couple of months.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQc5DFB5F0koyIABgC9-xk7H5-1KhONRXh6XbHLWXSBAGJJ0ezwvMwypmAbTSnIYCCGW81cqJWUL2SzgcfLr9C0WRsP4OeQkj1Pn7_1Vjy8NVdgy66EE9nhbPeMNmERtyiqOxcvfO_gYIL/s1600/DSC_5249.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQc5DFB5F0koyIABgC9-xk7H5-1KhONRXh6XbHLWXSBAGJJ0ezwvMwypmAbTSnIYCCGW81cqJWUL2SzgcfLr9C0WRsP4OeQkj1Pn7_1Vjy8NVdgy66EE9nhbPeMNmERtyiqOxcvfO_gYIL/s320/DSC_5249.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The CMU retaining wall is pushing in substantially. The cores of these blocks don't appear to be infilled or reinforced - one of several reasons for their failure. Even more problematic - the walls above them rest on a small concrete strip which is resting atop the dirt adjacent to the wall, far above the frost line. The movement of this footing has been substantial enough to crack it in half and release a sizable amount of soil and water pressure onto the wall - as well as the gravity loads coming down from the house.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-EXGQGG_cq7MzhKWapaZGM6DGOJZ2sQfO6N-h5T0QL7PJWWir48e_pu1c6_BmY3tTiL8hvYOU4kDIO9KOUp2eVF2kyFIVy7qeZ46KbCOg7oSMwow_dK3QaYRjzgdmj9oSOZDvc0fhW3bu/s1600/sketch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-EXGQGG_cq7MzhKWapaZGM6DGOJZ2sQfO6N-h5T0QL7PJWWir48e_pu1c6_BmY3tTiL8hvYOU4kDIO9KOUp2eVF2kyFIVy7qeZ46KbCOg7oSMwow_dK3QaYRjzgdmj9oSOZDvc0fhW3bu/s320/sketch.jpg" width="244" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The last of the dirt that has washed its way in and pieces of rotting wood that hang off the west wall are cleared from the space. Despite these being structural members soundly nailed at numerous points (at one point), they come down by hand without a fight. With a push of a finger, the saturated wall moves inches, as if made of fabric.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihgLK951TrYGH6Nkn3r88cPWHL0cFewJzTO2AeEtNO0P3k8hcp0AEzvLZI6AcU9Qc8thzehIZ76qjcwZK5VmcYDqUZMqTgE8iYgBY41McTAiuKc4QLI-ZcH8vv7sgFCRlcxIVKQfmr509R/s1600/DSC_5277.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihgLK951TrYGH6Nkn3r88cPWHL0cFewJzTO2AeEtNO0P3k8hcp0AEzvLZI6AcU9Qc8thzehIZ76qjcwZK5VmcYDqUZMqTgE8iYgBY41McTAiuKc4QLI-ZcH8vv7sgFCRlcxIVKQfmr509R/s320/DSC_5277.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9VYblq5hjvnDo9xgsMo9eZf7mV0DHRzuwCnCKhPIXCL9myk4f0LLqmIqsgkPN3fRUpzu9uG3Y0aMt4xv_zx2t6ohXr_KptlZv0a26efnZFw9nFx7tbYK2GPJD2Yhyi07mCGUYs9JkuMLC/s1600/DSC_5314b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9VYblq5hjvnDo9xgsMo9eZf7mV0DHRzuwCnCKhPIXCL9myk4f0LLqmIqsgkPN3fRUpzu9uG3Y0aMt4xv_zx2t6ohXr_KptlZv0a26efnZFw9nFx7tbYK2GPJD2Yhyi07mCGUYs9JkuMLC/s320/DSC_5314b.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">To keep the concrete footing and the soil beneath it from caving in as we remove the blocks - the weight of the wall has to be removed from it. We fashion together several large beams by lapping scrap 2x6's and other materials together and span above and beyond the extents of the wall to be removed. Oversized and turned studs are put in between a lower and upper beam and nailed wherever possible into the existing wall in hopes of relieving the foundation of its weight.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDvKpv9dCnbNTMuz8hiY8ZAQzghV5txA5L9Q9eV0f1NHcVNTwKtnQd_FafPaxOUt3Wxxatt9YwVKsUFJRdgrYq9YQONwYa1d8v4BCSGC6pxyQ5DNAAC8Nvs5pmMIjVyeAcEwob6rRCvB4d/s1600/DSC_5255b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDvKpv9dCnbNTMuz8hiY8ZAQzghV5txA5L9Q9eV0f1NHcVNTwKtnQd_FafPaxOUt3Wxxatt9YwVKsUFJRdgrYq9YQONwYa1d8v4BCSGC6pxyQ5DNAAC8Nvs5pmMIjVyeAcEwob6rRCvB4d/s320/DSC_5255b.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyB3owFZF3lAAaKkYwiNFCERfcKjhp829eVVN0HAiF10wBa56CYTbDL9VfD2U8wGpqJ0Rdl1RuTswG80JP0biGKlcg1Urq0mcraBpQU6dHsG-QBxz0jG17sfJhDqEG2XwgpwFshBgW_5K6/s1600/DSC_5776.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyB3owFZF3lAAaKkYwiNFCERfcKjhp829eVVN0HAiF10wBa56CYTbDL9VfD2U8wGpqJ0Rdl1RuTswG80JP0biGKlcg1Urq0mcraBpQU6dHsG-QBxz0jG17sfJhDqEG2XwgpwFshBgW_5K6/s320/DSC_5776.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The reinforcement in place, a strategy for rebuilding the wall needs to be prepared and fine-tuned. We weigh our options: concrete blocks, a new site cast pour (expensive), and finally - an earth tire foundation. Tires have a daunting presence in these types of neighborhoods. That inability to decompose or deteriorate which makes them such a nuisance to get rid of makes them invaluable for our purposed. We've long considered a tire roof, but the tire foundation is a more pressing matter and involves much less processing of the tire (cutting them is <i>very </i>difficult). What's more - these already have a fairly well established building method only using dirt as a filler material. And their large footprint make a poured concrete footer unnecessary.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlgMDEru2eiOJaxmBExVXM5Q0BN9Xoryt9xCLPNf8NrEzCrCjW7_iebLxFLQ8Sh7epbL5cyma4fby2zevcN7J0onGHd8WJKH-kkeLhJBkaPBuQ-ilRwfPu1cFJGshGohjQ4Hur4gumXhwH/s1600/DSC_5832.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlgMDEru2eiOJaxmBExVXM5Q0BN9Xoryt9xCLPNf8NrEzCrCjW7_iebLxFLQ8Sh7epbL5cyma4fby2zevcN7J0onGHd8WJKH-kkeLhJBkaPBuQ-ilRwfPu1cFJGshGohjQ4Hur4gumXhwH/s320/DSC_5832.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFh0qfT_-ZpoojJU61OPIvifLw4F_rMcQ4r_h3TEgZPueLTi6Htji_qz67Hw4WWlN5f0Lt0tYE24LhWQ4DYfcvoWcCsVD7KSOENsgHDAnVlXAn9CguEmqdjCFHuuOudqz0WbIisoly9ojE/s1600/DSC_5858.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFh0qfT_-ZpoojJU61OPIvifLw4F_rMcQ4r_h3TEgZPueLTi6Htji_qz67Hw4WWlN5f0Lt0tYE24LhWQ4DYfcvoWcCsVD7KSOENsgHDAnVlXAn9CguEmqdjCFHuuOudqz0WbIisoly9ojE/s320/DSC_5858.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We grab 50 tires from the first place we find them, roughly 150 feet down the street, and leave about 30 there. A local auto shop farther down the street urges us to take as many as we'd like and many more. Material sourcing is not an issue.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq2_u4avdJBqifPF0xLY9EMRPypODddUhS4MOk0TIDH038FwisNpPeDqCxBSYhJPbzIgYEO4LVsiDBvJeA-EQCAR_5wM0_CSaT0QvtCeUQCbRYBh_ZQ2vAMCxDl4LG-OpweVAykuzIgIbO/s1600/DSC_5868.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq2_u4avdJBqifPF0xLY9EMRPypODddUhS4MOk0TIDH038FwisNpPeDqCxBSYhJPbzIgYEO4LVsiDBvJeA-EQCAR_5wM0_CSaT0QvtCeUQCbRYBh_ZQ2vAMCxDl4LG-OpweVAykuzIgIbO/s320/DSC_5868.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The tires are sorted by (course) height and diameter in preparation for the build - hopefully to begin soon.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Andrew Perkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258345258349057134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6595307336660982492.post-26228526542745634852012-03-19T22:50:00.001-04:002012-03-19T22:51:34.451-04:00Matt and Andrew's House of Misfit Materials<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The East side being especially littered with houses that haven't been touched in decades, abandoned houses have become one of our main sources of building materials. Many of these houses are in perfectly good order, and so our actions have thus far been timid - in fear that the removal of any more organs might end them for good. Our recent encounter with the demolition list however keys us into what is doomed for landfills. Released from those pressures, we're able to harvest a little more liberally.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgccnqzOThOSbCawpQeSMJ8G3fWX-yQO-hWwaW5Hn-CmmReGAH_kQmwTCkbRSu_Hvhs8wlPdflkqo1QxpRNC64gP_HyHjOTH1yp8mPFwdKhJAq6uqlADJ-6hyPsNrSZklTkmhaj803JVJD4/s1600/DSC_5237.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgccnqzOThOSbCawpQeSMJ8G3fWX-yQO-hWwaW5Hn-CmmReGAH_kQmwTCkbRSu_Hvhs8wlPdflkqo1QxpRNC64gP_HyHjOTH1yp8mPFwdKhJAq6uqlADJ-6hyPsNrSZklTkmhaj803JVJD4/s400/DSC_5237.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Tub, couch, pair of lounge chairs, planter, or something else?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Dodging can collectors, late-night saunterers, motion-activated lights, and the occasional cat - we make our way into a vacant house down the street, which has just been tagged for demolition in the past week.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmnevt9wC0rlce3dQIUgbCAsWvENrqPMDDlAIGsagQmsmWi6BprMCJxS85QllYGQoV09qgHyINa-KogHW5Gf8adRXJ9KHwm0CTvn0oph7tXnYdGcZXUSjaKDArYUrBtNBTfbMk2mA5N5_a/s1600/DSC_5332.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmnevt9wC0rlce3dQIUgbCAsWvENrqPMDDlAIGsagQmsmWi6BprMCJxS85QllYGQoV09qgHyINa-KogHW5Gf8adRXJ9KHwm0CTvn0oph7tXnYdGcZXUSjaKDArYUrBtNBTfbMk2mA5N5_a/s320/DSC_5332.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaFRSfzlZwf3LWpRgI_qjkyO74xj1mHSncpHylbFjGXUihk1etr_JFyv9J0-dTjXmNbqgd4-3nuA3KVzH44_pN_XTl9Ca5u-qMaWhwVmtY3yKsTzZliYknr72Gvj8M4XriUu65OSvhzHx1/s1600/DSC_5331.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaFRSfzlZwf3LWpRgI_qjkyO74xj1mHSncpHylbFjGXUihk1etr_JFyv9J0-dTjXmNbqgd4-3nuA3KVzH44_pN_XTl9Ca5u-qMaWhwVmtY3yKsTzZliYknr72Gvj8M4XriUu65OSvhzHx1/s320/DSC_5331.JPG" width="213" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6QWNAhqif3rmKhb-AdBY9GxSrNK3tt62o8d0aQ2C-DseHgajdHZwfPFLTySjRzmP6fyqwYfaToWyzpMQs1WANJuyxjthlWb9TcZI4nn_mFy8GBCFnkRmpEdYVEG9T8Ewv1_ljA2fgXefE/s1600/Untitled_Panorama1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6QWNAhqif3rmKhb-AdBY9GxSrNK3tt62o8d0aQ2C-DseHgajdHZwfPFLTySjRzmP6fyqwYfaToWyzpMQs1WANJuyxjthlWb9TcZI4nn_mFy8GBCFnkRmpEdYVEG9T8Ewv1_ljA2fgXefE/s320/Untitled_Panorama1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7mBwEJqRpNTKiankNWkrXvs5VtWn_dhYyrf7DWiFx5JbJgmhtKYe4oivn-pyMkq_2Qyf6TsPpJvyoZD0DeYuVgVlvIFcAdImiIKHeu4HUBn0uOYDqSof3ZVAcnYaOT4lkFWmrMPVXBh-d/s1600/Untitled_Panorama2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7mBwEJqRpNTKiankNWkrXvs5VtWn_dhYyrf7DWiFx5JbJgmhtKYe4oivn-pyMkq_2Qyf6TsPpJvyoZD0DeYuVgVlvIFcAdImiIKHeu4HUBn0uOYDqSof3ZVAcnYaOT4lkFWmrMPVXBh-d/s320/Untitled_Panorama2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The house is in far better shape than our own; Without knowing it was doomed anyway, we wouldn't morally be able to rip into as we do. Here, we largely seek the house's bits of drywall. The mudded and painted over screws generally don't let the pieces come off cleanly - but memories of plaster and lath sedate any frustrations.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8HexCfMoclNYAfd1T3YWLQmjX3iTKw3J3YaeCffklCKyXhEI8u6qO54FKpyvqfKzXvFphAkTLjdC0OVVLoqTmG652D3vRrf7IGJV8kLC_X3Ua7hFow7ejD1jjZPbeIMnoNbCUKgJXh7Jq/s1600/DSC_5872.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8HexCfMoclNYAfd1T3YWLQmjX3iTKw3J3YaeCffklCKyXhEI8u6qO54FKpyvqfKzXvFphAkTLjdC0OVVLoqTmG652D3vRrf7IGJV8kLC_X3Ua7hFow7ejD1jjZPbeIMnoNbCUKgJXh7Jq/s320/DSC_5872.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Fireproofing in the attic which has been opened up and converted to a living space is long overdue - especially considering our implemented heating system. Despite much effort in finding alternative fireproofing materials and systems, there are few between masonry, drywall, and plaster. Masonry, though plentiful, is difficult to attach to the sloped ceilings, and plaster is unavailable without making purchases. But we see opportunity in these scraps of drywall. Trimming their edges we begin to collage, setting in the larger pieces first and gradually infilling the gaps.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-FQM5szhu41cJXAARcyPDidJVvM5Vd8kt4Btdlc6nse5lgyeUu8R3Bo7JanM0SbugcE3YEw1D1bMzzu4K7CO3y8XDsStYKcfMJsYGMg-9c8O9A3leBgEiThZEivjIznYLxUBSR57hHoxI/s1600/DSC_5881.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-FQM5szhu41cJXAARcyPDidJVvM5Vd8kt4Btdlc6nse5lgyeUu8R3Bo7JanM0SbugcE3YEw1D1bMzzu4K7CO3y8XDsStYKcfMJsYGMg-9c8O9A3leBgEiThZEivjIznYLxUBSR57hHoxI/s320/DSC_5881.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The seams (as with standard application of drywall) are still problematic; Fire can pass through these to ignite structural members, which is why such care is usually given with several coats of spackle.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjps1F7nzfvh51xCUgAcDzdYH6bfRI-oouM4foG2EuV6s38S6xBi5VoUskJOTZOuT8FXjgJ2a43IuHzDQzYkVFV90GLzTwmduArPuesIHzdvdtek8TSxexkCc_uJDelSOH7d7nON9NAlMaN/s1600/DSC_5785.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjps1F7nzfvh51xCUgAcDzdYH6bfRI-oouM4foG2EuV6s38S6xBi5VoUskJOTZOuT8FXjgJ2a43IuHzDQzYkVFV90GLzTwmduArPuesIHzdvdtek8TSxexkCc_uJDelSOH7d7nON9NAlMaN/s320/DSC_5785.JPG" width="320" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Our solution? Silica packets. Stay tuned.</div>Andrew Perkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258345258349057134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6595307336660982492.post-55218670201974673992012-03-16T13:15:00.000-04:002012-03-16T13:15:58.791-04:00Stretching Out<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Above average temperatures encourage us to start thinking ahead to spring an summer months. In many ways, the hardest part is over; we survived winter. Finally we can start to accommodate less dire needs, and even have a little fun.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh20BQRSafL0bUBLoCnBWsLNRiE9gp5v8q4NKFQaP-jGAhkf1irwskC85uhPxq5HJVjfZ_oURPxPOJc2Etj0aDqMhgFRFzMT5yOrRYE5KUXbSuMF3pY-6IB-ghCaxv9jGYQtsuNBk5Fopbw/s1600/DSC_5356.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh20BQRSafL0bUBLoCnBWsLNRiE9gp5v8q4NKFQaP-jGAhkf1irwskC85uhPxq5HJVjfZ_oURPxPOJc2Etj0aDqMhgFRFzMT5yOrRYE5KUXbSuMF3pY-6IB-ghCaxv9jGYQtsuNBk5Fopbw/s320/DSC_5356.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Growing season nearly upon us (and the warmth of the sun being too hard to resist) the first phases of landscaping begin. A broken up and half-buried concrete pad (presumably where a shed used to exist) starts to suggest some organization for a future recreational space. And the half-decayed wood that we've been pulling out of the back of the house is used to build up diving walls between it and growing areas - a kind of self-mulching garden in a sense.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj18WW1KH5uvpK-W1rlTenKjqUfU4mKT8tSqBJfh8gcWHFzaIGI99dWz8B-h2qOb9icInOSEe12t8iQyK8MNQc98e_Ljy4M6HQuZJ-4wTfdkhoUA5kv4lwRPKJFkXCZR2eBIMdPrjuaK6w3/s1600/DSC_5152.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj18WW1KH5uvpK-W1rlTenKjqUfU4mKT8tSqBJfh8gcWHFzaIGI99dWz8B-h2qOb9icInOSEe12t8iQyK8MNQc98e_Ljy4M6HQuZJ-4wTfdkhoUA5kv4lwRPKJFkXCZR2eBIMdPrjuaK6w3/s320/DSC_5152.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwFY2cpJ8EXxEs_RMwFoJUMOgHJvecKGk4xnFYAK10X9M-sYNRDEXjSpsgOLBZQ5ahdUOl76Q7acMcUDwH8INaZKUnpUlV_uuVmG6NBkJAugtXeWHIooZ3BgBV1xbh1DvKEX_bJb8WHTIO/s1600/DSC_5198.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwFY2cpJ8EXxEs_RMwFoJUMOgHJvecKGk4xnFYAK10X9M-sYNRDEXjSpsgOLBZQ5ahdUOl76Q7acMcUDwH8INaZKUnpUlV_uuVmG6NBkJAugtXeWHIooZ3BgBV1xbh1DvKEX_bJb8WHTIO/s320/DSC_5198.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The hole where the chimney runs through is doubled in size, which furthers the connection between the first and second floors. Creating a new circulation path here means not having to wind around through the cold parts of the house to stoke the fire in the middle of the night.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A stair through the expanded opening is expected eventually, but consumes far more time than we can afford at the moment. We opt for a ladder and find several wooden ones in a nearby vacant lot - clearly left behind to rot. And it would have worked so well if we hadn't fallen through one of the rungs on the first try.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW0PeiRdsFzoOPqpw9lC2K9CHtSbpY2q-Y-K9cZwfaYKarMIVbruwnf5yeqAYL9Y9RBbPq1HaMgJMSv7OXXy5i0n4YspLRB-yJhtZ6mZGllVnERyjgLsj9wpUEU7VSVThXIS8pcAlnOGIp/s1600/DSC_5801.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW0PeiRdsFzoOPqpw9lC2K9CHtSbpY2q-Y-K9cZwfaYKarMIVbruwnf5yeqAYL9Y9RBbPq1HaMgJMSv7OXXy5i0n4YspLRB-yJhtZ6mZGllVnERyjgLsj9wpUEU7VSVThXIS8pcAlnOGIp/s320/DSC_5801.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The decrepit ladder is quickly given a new use as shelving in the kitchen space - far less straining on its structural integrity, as we piece together a new and improved ladder. Baseball bats, wooden Nordic ski components, the handle of a pick ax, and bits of moulding come together to form the reinforced ladder.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And finally, wood oven baked pizza.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/7XxEw0ddtNE?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe> </div>Andrew Perkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258345258349057134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6595307336660982492.post-23255530193709391892012-03-08T15:00:00.000-05:002012-03-08T15:00:54.254-05:00Entropy, Consumerism, Value:<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 32px;"><b>The Problem (and potential) of Waste</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 32px;">(A paper written for Prof. Joyce Hwang's 'Questions of Sustainability' seminar - Fall 2011)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 32px;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Abstract<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;">This paper focuses primarily on material waste: not how to avoid it, but how to format it in a way that can be fed back into other natural or technical processes. Under the right conditions, we’ll see how drawing from waste is not only practical but often culturally enriching. Although material waste will be focused on (the sort which we all deal with on a regular basis), other forms of waste will be briefly drawn upon and discussed, as they can only be separated so much. Moving through these types, their sources, and the current practices of capitalist countries like the U.S. which maintain the problem, a greater question of “value” will be raised; What role do societal shifts have in potential solutions to the problems of waste? Typical and atypical responses to waste will then be referenced and evaluated, from recycling to the culturally and politically charged work of Teddy Cruz and Antoni Eckmair. Finally, postulation will be made for how to continue and evolve these various techniques, as well as what role the architect is to play amongst it all.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><b>A Perpetual Process<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; text-align: justify;">The time of industrialization is over. Mass production and urban expansion – children of the factories – are now fading, leaving a consumerist society helpless. Within this post-industrial era, society is beginning to choke on the very residues that commercialism creates. The production of waste, whether a result of manufacturing practices, neglect, or basic biological processes, is a unifying element that pervades even the most rigid social, political, and geographical structures. It is a part of a natural process of deterioration, and necessary for life. Architecture then, as a major contributor to material (and spatial) waste, needs to begin to address this condition. Rather than trying to figure out how to consume less – that is, go directly against instinctual behavior – perhaps it is best that architects dive into the belly of the beast; how can we consume <i>more</i>? Everything, including ourselves, is on its way to becoming something else. By accepting this and moving past our self-created inhibitions, we might better guide those transformations to achieve a healthier existence for ourselves and our surroundings.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; text-align: justify;">Every biological system we’re aware of depends on waste. The natural cyclical processes which environmentalists so vigorously aspire to are driven by the production and re-consumption of waste organic matter and energy. And whereas most living systems are “regulated by such limiting factors as seasons, weather, sun, soil, and temperature, all of which are governed by feedback loops,”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> humans may be the only species that takes from the soil and Earth such high quantities of nutrients without returning them in a useful form.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Consumption is okay; When done in a way that can feed back into these loops it’s infinitely productive even through deeper ecologies. But when most of the materials we now produce cannot be easily integrated back into the environment or even back into modern production – when only 1% of household material is still in use after six months<a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> – when humans far exceeded their ecological niche – we may need to consider alternative forms of production and consumption.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><b>Efficiency vs. Effectiveness<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; text-align: justify;">Much of the detriment can be linked to the Industrial Revolution, in all its rapidity and recklessness. As the technosphere finally emerges as a separate entity (from that of the biosphere), we see billions of pounds of toxic material put into the air, gigantic amounts of waste, an erosion of diversity in species and cultural practices, a measure of productivity by how few people are working, and the condemnation of valuable materials into holes all over the planet – never to be recovered.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Henry Ford’s innovative linear assembly line makes tremendous leaps in efficiency by “bringing the materials to the man,”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> but ultimately disconnects man from product. Overspecialization is the first step in people’s inability to reuse their things, and is quickly complicated further by hybridous products: fusions of metal, plastic, toxic chemicals, and more plastic. In the consumerist economy, ability to reintegrate takes a back seat to ease of production. The denaturalization of so many of our products completely undermines the cyclical processes that we should be aspiring to.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;">Efficiency, indeed, is at an all-time high. Never before have we been able to produce motorized ice cream cones so quickly and cheaply (yes, these exist). But somewhere in this relentless strive for material goods we’ve lost sight of effectiveness; that is, a more qualitative analysis of what we’re producing. That disconnection between production and consumption only brings more thoughtlessness. Automation numbs sensibility; the only hope is to cognicize the act.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><b>A Throw-away Culture<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; text-align: justify;">Italo Calvino’s fictitious city of Leonia poses a similar conundrum: Meticulously cleaned every night to provide its residents the cleanest and most dignified of urban living conditions, mountains of waste emerge at the city’s boundaries. Marco Polo remarks “one can have permanent newness…but it is an illusion. It comes at a price, and that price is the making permanent of rubbish.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> The seduction of false progress is only temporary, and we are beginning to approach the threshold of forced reality. Current acceleration in the construction and demolition of neighborhoods, infrastructures, and objects signifies a flux between past and future, altogether avoiding the present.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;">Our (American) identity of the consumer feeds into an economic and political system structured upon built-in obsolescence, where the definition of “economic growth includes all expenditures, regardless of whether society benefits or loses,” including crime, divorce, cancer treatment, environmental cleanup, dump fees, and liquor sold to the homeless.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title="">[7]</a></span></span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title=""><!--[endif]--></a></span> <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 24pt; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in; margin-top: 0in;"><i>Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumptions…we need things consumed, burned up, replaced, and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;">Fifty years ago, the average American used half what they do today; thrift and resourcefulness were highly valued. The U.S., which holds 5% of the world’s population uses 30% of its resources and produces 30% of its waste. And in the past 30 years, 1/3 of our available natural resources have been consumed.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Beyond technology advances and new modes of production, a cultural shift in value has occurred.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><b>Notions of Value<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;">To suggest the reuse of wasted material is to associate with that which we yearn to deny the existence of. Trash is, after all, worthless – otherwise it wouldn’t have been discarded. But the psychology behind society’s view of trash is perplexing. If a pair of jeans becomes worn or torn without the owner’s consent, they may very likely be thrown away. Meanwhile, intentionally flawed (ripped, frayed, patched) jeans are manufactured and sold at stores for three times the price of comparable “unflawed” jeans. To study society’s constantly oscillating definition of value, we have to study its waste. In this scenario, architecture “is not defined by its stability but by its potential obsolescence, subject to a process of physical decline and social change.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Waste is only comprehensible in relation to the notion of value: “The value we perceive in things on this account, is not a feature or quality of them, but a residue deposited in them by our activity of valuing them.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftn11" name="_ftnref11" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Culture, pride, and competitiveness, human nature and conflict create a rift between social responsibility and social acceptance. The <i>Moai</i> of Easter Island are a perfect example. The presence of so many statues, that is – the evidence of so much energy-intensive and impractical constructs – suggests a sort of cultural battle for dominance: Who carries the biggest stick? Lost in that frenzy of pride, it’s no wonder how that society collapsed. We enjoy thinking of ourselves as powerful and important, and so we desire to buy things that are brand-new, pure, virgin. It’s a “kind of metaphorical defloration: ‘This virgin product is mine, for the very first time. When I am finished with it (special, unique person that I am), everyone is. It is history.’”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftn12" name="_ftnref12" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> And within our current socioeconomic place, we’re able to keep to this mindset.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><b>Solutions/Delusions<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; text-align: justify;">Those things we deem unfit for continued use, which sums up to about 4.5 pounds per person per day most commonly end up in a landfill or incinerator, each object releasing one of the 10,000 synthetic chemicals we now commonly employ in products. These toxins end up in the air, the soil from which we grow our crops, the water from which we drink and fish, and even in mothers’ breast milk.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftn13" name="_ftnref13" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> We cast these materials away, and cease to acknowledge their existence. Architect John May comments on the lack of architectural involvement in the largest landfill in the U.S. Fresh Kills: “No matter how sexy and natural it may appear in the various digital rendering, or how compelling its supposed rebirth may sound in the official statements, it is an absolutely horrible place, and it reveals horrible realities about our Modern American Lifestyles – realities that are only growing more pronounced.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftn14" name="_ftnref14" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Fueling this rampant waste stream are those “monstrous hybrids” – materials which simply cannot be integrated back into the biosphere OR the technosphere: juice boxes which are a layering of paper, plastic, and metal film all in one as an example.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;">Less than 2% of the total waste stream is actually recycled (primarily paper, glass, plastic, aluminum, and steel).<a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftn15" name="_ftnref15" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> And even of those, many recycling efforts may more accurately be described as downcycling, using materials that were never meant to become fulfill something other than their original purpose. Resultantly, a lengthy and high energy process is sometimes needed to accommodate them.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftn16" name="_ftnref16" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> And all said and done, this typically only postpones that material’s ultimate fate in the landfill. Congressman John Tierney states,<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 24.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;"><i> [recycling procedures] offer mainly short-term benefits to a few groups – politicians, public relations consultants, environmental organizations, waste-handling corporations…Recycling may be the most wasteful activity in modern America: a waste of time and money, a waste of human and natural resources….The costs of administering household collection programs outweigh the profits to be gained from the reuse of waste and the benefits to nature.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftn17" name="_ftnref17" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[17]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;">Tierney offers little factual evidence to back this up, but we’re left to consider, what is the “real” cost of recycling? The two approaches of utilitarianism and anti-utilitarian humanism carry similar evaluating methodologies, simply defended and justified by varied interests. But even if net energy or finances after recycling are roughly zero, it does result in the production of less material and therefore less pollution in manufacturing and disposal. We cannot be so naïve to think that we shouldn’t be held responsible for expending energy to clean up the messes we create – even if those costs far exceeded that of production. Since waste is an inevitable byproduct of everything we do, we must overcome it socially and rid it of the taboo it has come to possess…a reevaluation of “value.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"><b>A New Social Order<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;">Since the value of objects and architecture are not so much dependent on physical properties as much as they are fluctuating social standards, architects ironically have little direct control over architectural discourse. New ideas of aesthetic and modes of living may be proposed, but without the consent of the public they are ineffective. Conservatism within the architectural realm is a direct result of capitalism. Ever aware of things like resale value, there is a tendency to treat possessions (cars, houses) very cautiously. Matta-Clark observes; “Buildings are fixed entities in the minds of most people. The notion of mutable space is taboo, especially in one’s own house. People live in their space with a temerity that is frightening. Home owners generally do little more than maintain their property.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftn18" name="_ftnref18" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[18]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Thus, when painting a room, off-white trumps lime green. And your new Audi – supposedly a device of material and personal transportation – resists being touched, having anything put in it, or getting wet. There is a level of preciousness that has manifest itself in both product and architecture. Moving from his home, one author recounts:<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 24.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;"><i>The old house…seems relieved to be rid of our furniture. The rooms where we lived, where we staged our meals and ceremonies and self-dramatizations and where some of us went from infancy to adolescence, rooms and stairways so imbued with our daily motions that their irregularities were bred into our bones and could be traversed in the dark, do not seem to mourn, as I had thought they would. The house exults in its sudden size, in the reach of its empty corners. Floorboards long muffled by carpets shine as if freshly varnished. Sun pours unobstructed through the curtainless windows. The house is young again. It, too, had a self, a life, which for a time was eclipsed by our lives; now, before its new owners come to burden it, it is free. Now only moonlight makes the floor creak. When, some mornings, I return, to retrieve a few final oddments – andirons, pictures frames – the space of the house greets me with a virginal impudence. Opening the front door is like opening the door to the cat who comes in with the morning milk, who mews in passing on his way to the beds still warm with our night’s sleep, his routine so tenuously attached to ours, by a single mew and a shared roof. Nature is tougher than ecologists admit. Our house forgot us in a day.</i> <i>I feel guilty that we occupied it so thinly…that a trio of movers and a day’s breezes could so completely clean us out.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftn19" name="_ftnref19" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[19]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">This fear to act upon one’s space stems from the same desire for that same prefabricated virginity mentioned before. How sterile our spaces are, as architects, or simply as domestic persons. This is a world of abundance and diversity, not of limits and pollution.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">In order for architecture to address the concerns of accumulating waste, value needs to be reexamined on a personal level. Without the worries of “what someone else thinks,” new efficiencies and a much richer and more diverse cultural palette arise; the fact that the most inexpensive pressboards are made from the waste scraps of the rarest woods can be embraced.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftn20" name="_ftnref20" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[20]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Moving past taboo – sustaining the mindset of “survival of the fitting-est,”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftn21" name="_ftnref21" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[21]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> where there is an energetic and material engagement with place – will create a richer and more contextual series of spaces which operate which are far more in touch with nature than most.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">Activities such as deconstruction/green demolition – or even on a more personal scale, dumpster diving – would quickly lead to manufacturers making minor, quickly realizable changes to their products. It would continue to evolve to higher and higher design intelligence of stuff. These are practices that used to be commonplace only decades ago. Square glass bottles can be used as a sort of masonry unit, and were engineered to do just that during World War II. Even today “some rural households expect dinner guests to “return” nutrients [by using the latrine] before they leave, and it is a common practice for farmers to pay households to fill boxes with their bodily wastes.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftn22" name="_ftnref22" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[22]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> In India –particularly Mumbai – human waste is celebrated via toilet festivals. The lack of personal toilet facilities brings about a communal togetherness and openness about it, and so we observe a mode of living far more sustainable and arguably, more pleasant, than our own technologically advanced and privatized one.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><b>Architect as Alchemist<o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 24.0pt;">If the responsibility of the architect is then to situate material among context, the challenge is “not to achieve drossless urbanization but to integrate inevitable dross into more flexible aesthetic and design strategies,”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftn23" name="_ftnref23" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[23]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> even if it means going against societal norms. Artist and designer Antoni Eckmair subsists off such design philosophies, using almost exclusively repurposed objects for his work. Sculptures made from the frames of papasan chairs, rollerblades, glass bottles; structures made from iron bedframes and shower doors; whole toilets used as masonry units and their porcelain caps as paving; these constructs, briefly, manage to look past original intentions. But there is that deep cultural history embedded within – the old resonating with the new, which produces something far more beautiful than any singularly designed object can grasp. Waste is shown under a new light, revealing bits of culture and redefining our understanding of value.<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">Architect Teddy Cruz challenges more dire problems with his use of waste. Across the most highly trafficked border in North America, in Tijuana, exists a temporal and nomadic urbanism. Improvisational methods of construction arising from the strict but wavering material palette of San Diego’s urban debris make up a large part of the city. Garage doors are used as walls. Rubber tires are cut, folded, and interlocked as retaining walls. Refrigerator doors become table tops. Cruz’ work seeks not to control this, but facilitate that collage which has already been established. Michael Sorkin comments on Cruz:<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;"><i>The work is not about foisting some arcane and incomprehensible aesthetic on unsuspecting subjects but about finding the measure of beauty in the actual circumstances of their lives and situations and in responding with authentic sensitivity to the particulars of site and need. The work is not “popular” in the sense of some phony channeling of the ineffable wisdom of the people but in the sense of offering a genuinely artistic collaboration with no compromise on either side.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftn24" name="_ftnref24" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[24]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 24.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">The use of reclaimed materials follows spontaneity and functional necessity first and foremost. By releasing objects from those qualities that society has made inherent to them, we are able to realize a new, and perhaps more appropriate or more contextual, understanding of design. For Cruz, the ideal architectural language is one that can be at once deterministic and ambiguous.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">We cannot in this country legislate temperance, nor creativity. And unfortunately, the existing social structure does not support the open-mindedness of which I speak. As guilty as the individual in fear of new order and of rejection, architects conform and compromise their designs according to the established social and political order.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;"><i>Most architects in this highly commercial era, who accept commissions and clients that affect public life, are in fact committed to supporting the existing structure of authority as embodied in institutions of commerce and of its support political systems…[Architects] believe themselves to be creators, or innovators, when in actuality they are nothing more nor less than the executors of a physical and social order designed by those institutions presently holding political authority and power</i>.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftn25" name="_ftnref25" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[25]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 32px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is the responsibility of the architect to address those concerns and push reformulated social structures via the designed environment. The use of waste, while deforming standard applications of material, may be the perfect medium to negotiate social norms and architectural ideals. There is a familiarity inherent in reuse that creates affection. If demolition became more of a surgical operation - if architects were to move beyond the negativity attached with wreckage and put in as much thought into it as they did construction - a succinct and comfortable relationship might established between society and history. This is not a redefinition of the role of the architect, but an acceptance of place within society and time. Today's vernacular is one of trash.</span></span></div></span><div><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" /> <hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /> <!--[endif]--> <div id="ftn1"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <w:sdt citation="t" id="597145097"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-begin'></span><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>CITATION Hawken \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]-->(Hawken, Lovins and Lovins 2010)<!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt><o:p></o:p></div></div><div id="ftn2"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <w:sdt citation="t" id="774829171"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-begin'></span><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>CITATION McDonough \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]-->(McDonough and Braungart 2002)<!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt><o:p></o:p></div></div><div id="ftn3"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <w:sdt citation="t" id="1114409497"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-begin'></span><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>CITATION Leonard \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]-->(Leonard 2010)<!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt><o:p></o:p></div></div><div id="ftn4"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <w:sdt citation="t" id="-444308949"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-begin'></span><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>CITATION McDonough \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]-->(McDonough and Braungart 2002)<!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt><o:p></o:p></div></div><div id="ftn5"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <w:sdt citation="t" id="-245580555"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-begin'></span><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>CITATION Hawken \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]-->(Hawken, Lovins and Lovins 2010)<!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt><o:p></o:p></div></div><div id="ftn6"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <w:sdt citation="t" id="-99482909"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-begin'></span>CITATION Til09 \p 74 \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:
field-separator'></span><![endif]-->(Till, Architecture Depends 2009, 74)<!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt><o:p></o:p></div></div><div id="ftn7"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <w:sdt citation="t" id="-1134105540"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-begin'></span><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>CITATION Hawken \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]-->(Hawken, Lovins and Lovins 2010)<!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt><o:p></o:p></div></div><div id="ftn8"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <w:sdt citation="t" id="-692610507"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-begin'></span><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>CITATION Lebow \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]-->(Lebow 1955)<!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt><o:p></o:p></div></div><div id="ftn9"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <w:sdt citation="t" id="1390377614"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-begin'></span><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>CITATION Leonard \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]-->(Leonard 2010)<!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt><o:p></o:p></div></div><div id="ftn10"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <w:sdt citation="t" id="-276792813"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-begin'></span>CITATION Til09 \p 71 \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:
field-separator'></span><![endif]-->(Till, Architecture Depends 2009, 71)<!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt><o:p></o:p></div></div><div id="ftn11"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftnref11" name="_ftn11" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <w:sdt citation="t" id="893090355"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-begin'></span>CITATION Hawkins \t<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>\l 1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]-->(Hawkins 2003)<!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt><o:p></o:p></div></div><div id="ftn12"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftnref12" name="_ftn12" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <w:sdt citation="t" id="2017415797"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-begin'></span><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>CITATION McDonough \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]-->(McDonough and Braungart 2002)<!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt><o:p></o:p></div></div><div id="ftn13"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftnref13" name="_ftn13" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <w:sdt citation="t" id="-477841632"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-begin'></span><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>CITATION Leonard \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]-->(Leonard 2010)<!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt><o:p></o:p></div></div><div id="ftn14"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftnref14" name="_ftn14" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <w:sdt citation="t" id="-2053373599"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-begin'></span><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>CITATION May \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]-->(May 2008)<!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt><o:p></o:p></div></div><div id="ftn15"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftnref15" name="_ftn15" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <w:sdt citation="t" id="1340428796"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-begin'></span><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>CITATION Hawken \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]-->(Hawken, Lovins and Lovins 2010)<!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt><o:p></o:p></div></div><div id="ftn16"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftnref16" name="_ftn16" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <w:sdt citation="t" id="810449401"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-begin'></span><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>CITATION McDonough \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]-->(McDonough and Braungart 2002)<!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt><o:p></o:p></div></div><div id="ftn17"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftnref17" name="_ftn17" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <w:sdt citation="t" id="341518654"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-begin'></span><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>CITATION Hawkins06 \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]-->(Hawkins, The Ethics of Waste: How We Relate to Rubbish 2006)<!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt><o:p></o:p></div></div><div id="ftn18"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftnref18" name="_ftn18" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[18]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <w:sdt citation="t" id="246851435"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-begin'></span><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>CITATION Lee00 \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]-->(Lee, Object to be Destroyed 2000)<!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt><o:p></o:p></div></div><div id="ftn19"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftnref19" name="_ftn19" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[19]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <w:sdt citation="t" id="-182514988"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-begin'></span>CITATION Hawkins \t<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>\l 1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]-->(Hawkins 2003)<!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt><o:p></o:p></div></div><div id="ftn20"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftnref20" name="_ftn20" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[20]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <w:sdt citation="t" id="820784279"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-begin'></span><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>CITATION Gru04 \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]-->(Grunenberg 2004)<!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt><o:p></o:p></div></div><div id="ftn21"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftnref21" name="_ftn21" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[21]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <w:sdt citation="t" id="1103307476"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-begin'></span><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>CITATION McDonough \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]-->(McDonough and Braungart 2002)<!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt><o:p></o:p></div></div><div id="ftn22"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftnref22" name="_ftn22" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[22]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <w:sdt citation="t" id="-302232181"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-begin'></span><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>CITATION McDonough \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]-->(McDonough and Braungart 2002)<!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt><o:p></o:p></div></div><div id="ftn23"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftnref23" name="_ftn23" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[23]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <w:sdt citation="t" id="-1646423866"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-begin'></span><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>CITATION Kallipoliti \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]-->(Kallipoliti 2010)<!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt><o:p></o:p></div></div><div id="ftn24"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftnref24" name="_ftn24" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[24]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <w:sdt citation="t" id="697904328"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-begin'></span><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>CITATION Solnit \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:field-separator'></span><![endif]-->(Solnit 2006)<!--[if supportFields]><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt><o:p></o:p></div></div><div id="ftn25"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Andrew/Documents/UB/6/sustainability/final%20paper.docx#_ftnref25" name="_ftn25" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[25]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <w:sdt citation="t" id="946745948"><!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:
field-begin'></span>CITATION Woo92 \p 8-9 \l 1033 <span style='mso-element:
field-separator'></span><![endif]-->(Woods 1992, 8-9)<!--[if supportFields]><span style='mso-element:field-end'></span><![endif]--></w:sdt><o:p></o:p></div></div></div>Andrew Perkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258345258349057134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6595307336660982492.post-64173585152748171292012-03-05T15:51:00.000-05:002012-03-05T15:51:14.058-05:00Resourcefulness. Irony. Beauty.<a href="http://repairedthings.wordpress.com/">http://repairedthings.wordpress.com/</a>Andrew Perkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258345258349057134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6595307336660982492.post-53186145211628112162012-02-19T16:31:00.000-05:002012-02-19T16:31:02.209-05:00Tour - 2/16/2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Forgotten keys and secret entrances:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/h3Jm31SYrlY?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Andrew Perkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258345258349057134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6595307336660982492.post-89952435293206450602012-02-11T17:15:00.000-05:002012-02-11T17:15:30.872-05:00Squatters move into foreclosed home<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/d--TA8Jb9UM?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Andrew Perkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258345258349057134noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6595307336660982492.post-19851608121154093002012-02-10T16:50:00.002-05:002012-02-10T17:15:20.705-05:00Demolition Woes<div style="text-align: center;"><i>The snare of spiders the size of golf balls,</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>An outfit of vagrant cats with a penchant to make things crash in the night,</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Floors and ceilings which scowl at our every movement, ever threatening collapse,</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Piercing winds and frigid temperatures; We have triumphed.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The men in suits now send steel colossi to destroy what we have built.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>They say you can't fight city hall -</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Watch us.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="text-align: left;">We've just found that our property is on the newest bulldozer map. What's more - the city recognizes someone other than us as the property owner. Why this is and what it means is still unclear. Hopefully it can be chalked up to a simple filing error. We go to city hall today.</div>Andrew Perkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258345258349057134noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6595307336660982492.post-10863847107401185112012-02-10T16:50:00.000-05:002012-02-10T16:50:11.154-05:00Our (Very) Humble Abode<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Humans really like stuff. Lots of stuff. Though we're undeniably living criticism of consumerism, we've come to realize our lives are inextricably tied to the organizations of our materials: where the dishes go, what to do with recyclables, where to keep our bicycles. We cannot detach ourselves from the human nature to organize.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDnfZ1mI_a7Z67GpZnh-aC6DFAjuQCcuQ5EqsX4egR1Pwcvf6LrjIMcc3cHBDzlz51MRGY7EqHObHaNy21sJa0I17KqNrJ25GKT-EsLMsRpt6FE7q6rGnGgJEZzlFrCISCHZP1qO483AAW/s1600/kitchen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDnfZ1mI_a7Z67GpZnh-aC6DFAjuQCcuQ5EqsX4egR1Pwcvf6LrjIMcc3cHBDzlz51MRGY7EqHObHaNy21sJa0I17KqNrJ25GKT-EsLMsRpt6FE7q6rGnGgJEZzlFrCISCHZP1qO483AAW/s400/kitchen.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Cooking</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The cooking and food preparation area is rearranged to accommodate the sink installation in progress and two large slabs of stone which serve as counter space. A television and storage chest turned on their ends serve as legs, the latter operating as a small pantry.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEf40JvvmMMsfUqcZrBX8eQ62jFlIr4VHLqQM3GF6HouQ2ENNDsMsAtOCGR9owkbuZypT5lpvX1Jjnf9igobHV5BYZiqXCTgNQKmxCHm69NeU78WGuHWgnhncb42ScEFQvX72Ji79BLmvw/s1600/living2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEf40JvvmMMsfUqcZrBX8eQ62jFlIr4VHLqQM3GF6HouQ2ENNDsMsAtOCGR9owkbuZypT5lpvX1Jjnf9igobHV5BYZiqXCTgNQKmxCHm69NeU78WGuHWgnhncb42ScEFQvX72Ji79BLmvw/s400/living2.jpg" width="305" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiojvUOxJ6wZQLC3bpcBG0qYli83SI-_iTC-pshwGYnzpYBAG-5feZBh3UwpJyFvfjdkgn5pmGF8W9kfBJZcvRVvLQzaaxCbctCqQXC101NILnWlT9dm7svvs6Riisok4pwZtX6NuvaBqOD/s1600/living3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiojvUOxJ6wZQLC3bpcBG0qYli83SI-_iTC-pshwGYnzpYBAG-5feZBh3UwpJyFvfjdkgn5pmGF8W9kfBJZcvRVvLQzaaxCbctCqQXC101NILnWlT9dm7svvs6Riisok4pwZtX6NuvaBqOD/s400/living3.jpg" width="396" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Living</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><br />
</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The living space has acquired furniture for eating, reading, typing, etc. Aside from the sleeping quarters, it's the warmest space in the house, though requires a substantial fire on the colder days. Insulation of these walls still remains a strong consideration.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHYVnaI_0cDKXRBbBYGP7ppAXA-CG0hdaHSA7xfChWIvkhvS5Ag1YzSk6R-SWrBfviMDv4kovPWfCF0sRF3ACFHua7LQgKoYJPkOZN0ofD6A9Ja20Tham0ffk6q88cFmyiPflTcMpfAGT-/s1600/backroom1b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHYVnaI_0cDKXRBbBYGP7ppAXA-CG0hdaHSA7xfChWIvkhvS5Ag1YzSk6R-SWrBfviMDv4kovPWfCF0sRF3ACFHua7LQgKoYJPkOZN0ofD6A9Ja20Tham0ffk6q88cFmyiPflTcMpfAGT-/s640/backroom1b.jpg" width="340" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoQqjg2EpAhmfhnqqUZvf-hQVs2-DzRXY9_Rqombgk3aHDlvmlxWw5566P3lMzbGw3XcC6cq2rLrqRSy3jmcGcbYJ2_tCbZx-qwMyR47ltPaPu-xXCF8xwBp6HLsSHBJ0IYG7eJ-WMnnzZ/s1600/backroom3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoQqjg2EpAhmfhnqqUZvf-hQVs2-DzRXY9_Rqombgk3aHDlvmlxWw5566P3lMzbGw3XcC6cq2rLrqRSy3jmcGcbYJ2_tCbZx-qwMyR47ltPaPu-xXCF8xwBp6HLsSHBJ0IYG7eJ-WMnnzZ/s400/backroom3.jpg" width="272" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Opened basement</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The floor which has been tormenting us from the beginning has finally been stripped, revealing a 22' tall space. We see this as great opportunity to expand the house again for the warmer months, but is largely necessitated by severe structural issues.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihb4eaQivi9hfTZReUQxzrujneQIQvKG2WO4rxju-IxIn_jg9AOGfB_kIHf1btOOAU1jSN_gTLZzCTDETOsMnRZ7uND23IQ3gIpHRWghGbTCW-_OookRZVhkUNOwkz1NmfGU106jgVuxXL/s1600/backroom2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihb4eaQivi9hfTZReUQxzrujneQIQvKG2WO4rxju-IxIn_jg9AOGfB_kIHf1btOOAU1jSN_gTLZzCTDETOsMnRZ7uND23IQ3gIpHRWghGbTCW-_OookRZVhkUNOwkz1NmfGU106jgVuxXL/s400/backroom2.jpg" width="400" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Restructuring</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Before taking the joists down we set up a reinforcing structure - the two columns and beam above - out of scavenged 8"x8"s to receive the load from the bathroom and roof above. Whether or not we'll keep this space as a bathroom down the road we're not sure, but the shoring up of the structure will at least let us begin to consider the potentials.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpFzahCD3-QfwsbPrGZKbYIXEqNJ78lEICevyulaINnIDwvdfmiCwZYNLZefXbkm1FmboQhLn5L0idd8Dw-LVo3up4wjn0YIx6_SLBxsEwOg-h8gNy_EU2Yb9iO5y7iTkzWM5nffKwZkRI/s1600/sleeping3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpFzahCD3-QfwsbPrGZKbYIXEqNJ78lEICevyulaINnIDwvdfmiCwZYNLZefXbkm1FmboQhLn5L0idd8Dw-LVo3up4wjn0YIx6_SLBxsEwOg-h8gNy_EU2Yb9iO5y7iTkzWM5nffKwZkRI/s400/sleeping3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Sleeping</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The upstairs where we spend our nights is by far the most comfortable in terms of heat. Awkward dimensions and angles don't make it the easiest room to navigate, which further reinforces its existence as a static place. We now seek a way to clad the ceiling (and hopefully provide some level of fire resistance), without having to go to Home Depot to buy drywall.</div>Andrew Perkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02258345258349057134noreply@blogger.com0