Home 2.0 Blog Archive

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

CONTEXT MATTERS


Connecting With Actual Humans

A few weeks ago I came across a great opinion piece in the New York Times by a New Orleans based architect titled, 'How to Rebuild Architecture' which laments the current state of the architectural profession and its inability relate to the general public. The article asks some poignant questions of architects like, "At what point does architecture's potential to improve human life become lost because of its inability to connect with actual humans?" This immediately brought to mind some architect designed infill houses, which I believe to be the biggest repeat offenders and something that the Starter Home 2.0 project makes a point to avoid, recognizing context matters and that homes should enhance the architectural cadence of the neighborhoods and communities in which they are located, not destroy them.

(Above) Starter Home 2.0 in its context



Playing Well With Others

Unfortunately, too many 'modern' homes turn their back on that logic and while they may be celebrated within 'design communities' they can often ruin real ones. Below are some 'modern' homes with links to their Google maps / street view location, which give a much better idea of a home's context than any images you will find posted in magazines or on a firm's website.

(Above) Architect designed in-fill house in Oakley/Cincinnati, OH


(Above) Architect designed in-fill house in New Orleans, LA

(Above) Architect designed in-fill house in Kansas City, KS