Re: [GBlist] monster houses : dunderings. rants.

[David Seth Melchert <dmelchert@earthlink.net>]

Simon Hon wrote:..

> I BLAME SOME ARCHITECTS:  For not truely understanding
> green/natural/alternative/wholistic design systems. .....
> I BLAME SOME ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATORS AND SOME ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATIONS,for
> educatiing are future designers to emphasize artistic, egocentric,
> granduoso...
> Consumers are too many to blame while architects are some...
>
> " We're all in it together!" - Brazil.

I like this thread.

If we are all in this together, then there is no point in singling out one group
or another. We are all doing this. Here's why.

I recall a story from a friend who was traveling through Egypt. He spent a night
in a small boarding house. His room was small but ample. He found that across
the hall there were 10 Nubians set up in an equally small room. He groaned. He
knew for sure that they would notice his "extra" space and would come asking if
he would share it with them. Sure enough, there was a knock on the door.
"Hello", the man said, "we noticed that you have this room all to yourself and
there are so many of us next door. We were wondering, would you prefer to come
and spend the night with us so you won't be lonely?"

Have you ever been on the streets of India? Cars weave and dart about in near
chaos (not to mention the cows, dogs, rickshaws, trucks, carts, bicycles,
pedestrians, busses, and overwhelming filth). Lane markings and traffic lights
exist as if they were some odd decorations that nobody notices. Here in America
people honk if you cut too close in their lane. It is impossible for us to
conceive how people can exist under such radically different systems of thought.

We in the west THINK differently. We want space We have desires that defy
scientific logic and ecological balance. We cannot just wish it away. I applaud
efforts such as co-housing, but I have known a several cohousing advocates who
have ended up seeking a single family residence because they "just needed their
space".

I cannot say I have the answers, because we have never faced this kind of
predicament recently. (I wonder if the inhabitants of Easter Island came up with
any last minute solutions before they died off). I fully agree we are in this
together. I picture a small boat moving swiftly down the St. Lawrence River.
Some one hears the roar of Niagara Falls ahead. Do you rock the boat (then a few
might drown before the rest take the big plunge) or do you foment revolution and
steer upstream? The fights on board might just hasten the arrival at the edge.)
Or do you try to devise some parachutes? Or do you sing songs and throw a party?

The idea of "Green Monster Houses" is a bit like a wife beater providing
Band-Aids to his spouse. Until he learns to stop, this is a decent first step
but the situation is no less ugly. It takes profound counseling to heal that
sort of pattern, and if we in the green building community all shout "Just Say
No to Monster Houses" we will be no more effective or wise than Nancy Reagan was
with drug abuse.

I do believe that answers will come from unlikely places, that they will be
wildly outside the Nine Dots and they will require some of the deepest qualities
of the human soul to envision and enact. I like this thread because out of it,
some one might just find the first step outside, and I am listening.

Seth


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