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

[Sarah Holland/David Foley <hollandfoley@acadia.net>]

on 01/03/2002 8:58 PM, David Seth Melchert at dmelchert@earthlink.net wrote:

> 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
> 

Dear Seth,

Thank you for some excellent insights (and metaphors!).

I've been haunted by the questions you raise for most of my adult life,
mainly because I had the good fortune to have a great teacher, the late
Donella ("Dana") Meadows.  She and her then-husband, Dennis Meadows, taught
me to see the world differently, and helped me realize that humanity must
learn to live within limits if we're to survive.  Well, it was a real
epiphany.  (Come to think of it, isn't today Epiphany?)

I think most everyone who participates in this list would get a lot from
reading "Beyond The Limits," by Donella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows and
Jorgen Randers, if they haven't already done so.  I'd also recommend the
article "Dancing With Systems," published in the current issue of "Whole
Earth Review."  It's a posthumous piece from Dana, who died unexpectedly
last February.

In architecture, my epiphany came from reading the works of, and working
with, Christopher Alexander and his colleagues at UC Berkeley.  Chris is not
a "Green" architect, but he is aiming at a view of architecture, and the
universe, that I think will be needed if we're to survive.

Chris would disagree with you, Seth, on one point:  he believes that the
differences you cite between different peoples and cultures represents about
10% of our feelings - but it's this 10% that gets all our attention.  The
other 90%, the great ocean of feeling that is basically the same for all of
us, we neglect.

Currently, our media and government are stressing the differences between us
Westerners and our Muslim brothers and sisters.  It's as convenient for us
to demonize these other human beings as it has been for the Al Quaeda
terrorists to demonize folks in New York and Washington.  That's 10% stuff -
but of course, all of us bleed when wounded, grieve when our loved ones die,
love our homelands, would generally prefer to do our work in peace, etc.

I think that when all we emphasize are differences, we create alienation.
And I think that all this mad consumption going on - the Ford Compensator
SUV's, the Bronto-Homes and all, is an attempt to relieve despair welling up
from a crushing sense of loneliness and alienation that we can't readily
admit.

I also think that emphasizing the 10% stuff makes Architects believe that
everything they do must be a Unique, Personal "Statement" - something
separate from that great ocean of feeling.  So what we design produces
nothing but despair in the vast majority of people who have to endure it.

That emphasis on separation - on alienation - underlies, I believe, a lot of
our view of the world, and of the world we build for ourselves.  Neither
will serve us for much longer.

I agree with you Seth, that it's very hard to change the attitudes that lead
to too-big houses.  Surely the trend is in the wrong direction.  We're
trying to make our own trend in the right direction.  The largest house I've
ever worked on was about 6000 square feet (557 sq. M), and it was one of the
reasons I left paid employment for self employment.  Since then, the largest
home we've done has been 3200 square feet  (297 sq. M).  As time goes on,
we're doing everything we can to make houses smaller - currently, our range
seems to lie between 1200 to 2400 square feet (112 to 223 sq. M).  We
consider it tragic when we can't design a good home in under 2000 square
feet (186 sq. M).  We're pushing trend in the opposite direction from the
current madness, and we're not starving yet - in fact, we have gobs of work
these days.  It seems that we've become more successful as we've learned
more about how to speak to the 90% portion of people's feelings - or at
least learned to find clients who are in touch with that 90% themselves.
I'll bet all the professionals on this list could do likewise - probably
much more successfully than we have.

Sorry for the long post - I didn't have time to write a short one.

- David Foley
-- 
Holland & Foley Building Design L.L.C.
232 Beech Hill Rd.
Northport, Maine 04849 USA
p: (207) 338-9869 f: (207) 338-9859 e: hollandfoley@acadia.net


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