We have gone on about how we need a green new deal. FDR biographer Conrad Black writes from his Florida retreat about the scale of the FDR new deal; imagine if this much energy and effort was directed at insulating our buildings and rebuilding our transportation and energy systems.
I am constantly agog at the shenanigans that go on in Hamilton, Ontario with respect to its historic buildings. Hamilton has everything it needs to be a great small city except leadership and vision. It also has "one of the few intact examples of International Style Civic architecture in Canada", which they compare to the United Nations building. Right now, the UN is being renovated at great expense to bring it back to its former glory; in Hamilton, they are renovating the City Hall but want to it on the cheap and clad it in precast instead of the original marble. ...
Edward Durell Stone's later works were mostly embarrassments, including the lollipop building for the Huntington Hartford Museum on Columbus Circle in New York City. Controversially, it was recycled into the new Museum of Arts and Design by Brad Cloepfil. It is appropriate that the opening show should also be about Second Lives. ...
"lend them money and you get a rabble instead of a thrifty working class"
The Federal National Mortgage Association, previously known affectionately as Fannie Mae, was founded in 1938 by Franklin Roosevelt as part of the New Deal, to provide liquidity to the mortgage market so that working Americans could buy houses. The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) was founded in 1968 to do much the same thing after Fannie Mae was privatized.
Not just because of safety; Fire Marshals have been demanding that for years. It is probably necessary if we want to build healthy as well as safe houses. Perhaps if houses had sprinklers, then manufacturers would not have to use flame retardants that are showing up in our blood.
Skip the nasty chemicals and refinish your concrete floors the non-toxic way, using the Retro Plate System. Can be used on new and existing floors.
Via Re-Nest
I live in Phoenix, and I’m very familiar with the neighborhood where this house is located. Take it from me: this is a fabulous deal. Photos and details after the jump.
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Read the rest of for sale: richard britt restoration in paradise gardens (161 words)
630sf in Lille, France
Apartment Therapy’s Small Cool 2008 contest
Oeken, The Netherlands
A 150 year old farmhouse located in the rural area between the nature areas of the Veluwe and the IJssel has been renovated and expanded. The pavilion represents modern rural architecture: it’s simple, practical and eloquent.
Faro Architecten (#65)
Via CoolBoom
Photo: Luuk Kramer
Building Rehabilitation in El Pópulo, Cádiz, Spain
Gorgeous.
Via archidose
Lister Block in Hamilton, owned by the Laborers International Union of North America
Donald Rypkema is a powerful and passionate speaker who had the crowd at the 2008 Heritage Conservation conference on their feet. The President of PlaceEconomics, a Washington D.C. based consulting firm specializing in the economic revitalization of city centers and the development of historic properties, is also deliberately provocative, challenging a wide range of sacred cows in the green design world.
three minutes of not the most interesting part of Sean's presentation
From the 2008 Heritage Conservation conference: Sean Fraser of the Ontario Heritage Trust says "Conservation is a survival issue"- that the energy and resources wasted in filling dumps with old buildings while putting up crappy buildings with thirty year lifespans is something that nobody can afford any more. He set out a set of guidelines for building sustainably:
-use local materials and local trades;
-repair and maintain w...
I am at the 2008 Heritage Conservation conference in Collingwood, Ontario, where the theme is Landmarks Not Landfill: Heritage Preservation and Environmental Sustainability.
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