This message has been cross posted to the following Discussion Forums: Committee on Design and Residential Knowledge Community .
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Thanks to everyone on the Forum for the thoughtful and supportive responses to my comments on Record Houses 2011. I love to see the discussion carried forward and evolve into a sense of shared values and ideas in this community. One comment that I read mentioned that we architects tend to prefer a style of home that often does not represent the styles our clients request. In response, I wanted to share the story of my own personal home as an example of and contrast to the homes I design for my clients.
In 2007, after watching "Inconvenient Truth" I decided to re-select my choice of "home" as a statement to my clients and community about my values and those of my environmentally-sensitive colleagues. My practice is in Marin County, just north of San Francisco, and my clients are often struggling with a common 5000 sf limit on home size in several local communities. I moved out of a rented house and into a contemporary, sculptural home - a new solar-powered Airstream trailer that was designed for Airstream by architect Christopher Deam, whose wife is the editor of Dwell Magazine. I also moved my half-time home office into the trailer and converted to a paperless business format at the same time. The full story and pictures are available on my web site at:
http://www.ludwigdesign.com/airstream/index.php.
I have now been living and working this semi-nomadic lifestyle in 212 sf of elegant sculptural contemporary design for 4 years and I am completely satisfied with my decision and the quality of Chris Deam's design work. I make a point of subtly sharing the fact that my Airstream is my home/office with each client, many want to come and see it and I've even had a few over for dinner. I never suggest that their spacial desires are excessive, but I do recommend that many read Sarah Suzanka's "Not So Big House" series.
If the editors at Architectural Record really wanted to combine elegant contemporary design with innovative and livable solutions, the could find abundant examples. My guess is that their choices are not derived from lack of alternative examples, but rather from lack of grounded, sincere intention to represent the architecture community. I would hope that this forum can gain readers and contributors and become an effective tool for steering the AIA toward a more responsive and valuable role in shaping innovative residential design in the future.
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David Ludwig
San Anselmo CA
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