Library builder

Embracing less in a culture founded on the precept of more is counter-cul­tural, but it need not be self-consciously so. To do what we know to be right takes effort enough. There is no need to waste our much-needed energy on actively trying to change this spendthrift society. The tangible happiness of a life well […]

Myths about high-density housing abound. It is widely believed, for example, that higher population densities necessarily increase congestion and strain infrastructures. This just simply is not the case. The congestion myth and the fear it inspires stem largely from some very real conditions that exist in our everyday world. Wherever a design does not accommodate […]

Zoning as we know it basically began in nineteenth-century Europe. Indus­trialized cities were shrouded in coal smoke, so urban planners rightly sug­gested that factories be separated from residential areas. Life expectancies soared, the planners gloated, and segregation quickly became the new solu­tion to every problem. So, while in the beginning only the incompatible func­tions of […]

One of the most readily-apparent products of zoning is the wide, suburban street. Roadways built before zoning emerged typically have 9-foot wide travel lanes. Now, most are required to have lanes no less than 12 feet wide. This allows for what traffic engineers call "unimpeded flow,” a term some crit­ics have aptly interpreted as "speeding”. […]

Over-consumption is reflected not only in the scale of our houses, but in the sizes of our yards and streets as well. Oversized lots on vast roads, miles from any worthwhile destination, have made the American suburb as inhos­pitable as it is vapid. Like the design of our houses, the form of our neighborhoods is […]

I should be clear that, despite the absurdities in their codebooks, our local housing officials are not necessarily absurd people. This is important to re­member if you are about to seek their approval for a project. Building codes are made at the national level, but they are adopted, tailored and enforced at the local level. […]

In his book, How Buildings Learn, Stuart Brand speaks of the difference be­tween "use value” and "market value”: Economists dating back to Aristotle make a distinction between "use value” and "market value.” If you maximize use value, your home will steadily be­come more idiosyncratic and highly adapted over the years. Maximizing market value means becoming […]

A good dwelling offers more than shelter and security. A truly good house evokes a sense of home. Our sense of home comes from within us. It emer­ges when we enter an environment with which we can identify. This sense is not exclusive to one’s own house. It can surface whenever we feel safe enough […]