Committee on Design

The title of a recent email from the mother ship:  "Home Design Trends Survey: Declines in Home Sizes Easing".
You tell me what this says about our ability to become leaders in the 21st century.

Mike Mense FAIA

My wife  is  currently engaged in a month long labor negotiation for a public entity sitting on the management side.  With no end in sight and nothing but rude,  brow beating insults coming from the union side of the table (who are admittedly facing a very unpleasant prospect ahead of them),   to maintain our sanity, we've re-adopted an old aphorism from revolutionary history..... Let them eat cake!.... that can apply here as well.
Seriously, we're all going to hell in a hand basket and all we can thing about is ourselves and how we can squeeeze the last piece of life out of someone else's flesh to try and make our own life better?

God knows life in a 4000+ SF house is so much more than twice as much better than a 2000 SF home.


-------------------------------------------
Eugene Ely AIA
HMC Architects
San Jose CA
-------------------------------------------

Replying to a very old post from Eugene Ely.
I don't have any idea what God knows.  I know there are innumerable 2000 sf houses that I would prefer over an equally large number of 4000 sf houses.  Quality of life is composed of many things and its likely there is  an accidental correlation between comfortable incomes and larger houses.  That said,
NO WAY IS LARGER HOUSE SF RELATED TO BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE!!!
-------------------------------------------
Mike Mense FAIA
mmenseArchitects
Anchorage AK
-------------------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 06-17-2011 11:01
From: Eugene Ely
Subject: unbearable emptiness of measuring

My wife  is  currently engaged in a month long labor negotiation . . . . . . . . . .

God knows life in a 4000+ SF house is so much more than twice as much better than a 2000 SF home.
-------------------------------------------
Eugene Ely AIA
HMC Architects
San Jose CA
-------------------------------------------

Mr. Mense,
The difficulty  of communicating via this forum (or any other like  it for that matter) is the inability to capture nuamce and subtlety.  In my case I didn't think my sarcasm was being very subtle at all, but it appears it was. I am actually in agreement with you that  a larger house has no correlation to a better quality of life.  My statement  below  which you took issue with was intended to mean exactly 180 degrees opposite to its literal appearance on the  page.
This difficulty  in communicating intent is why I responded to you directly rather  than share with the larger world out there.  Let's go out  there and build a few more nice small houses, not the 4-5K behemoths that plague  the  burbs today  (seriously).
Happy New Year.

Gene Ely

As to my whine about conferences, I've said too much already! I did have some nice cheese with it though.

-------------------------------------------
Eugene Ely AIA, LEED AP
Sr Project Architect
HMC Architects
San Jose, CA
-------------------------------------------







Original Message:
Sent: 12-29-2011 22:16
From: Mike Mense
Subject: unbearable emptiness of measuring

Replying to a very old post from Eugene Ely.
I don't have any idea what God knows.  I know there are innumerable 2000 sf houses that I would prefer over an equally large number of 4000 sf houses.  Quality of life is composed of many things and its likely there is  an accidental correlation between comfortable incomes and larger houses.  That said,
NO WAY IS LARGER HOUSE SF RELATED TO BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE!!!
-------------------------------------------
Mike Mense FAIA
mmenseArchitects
Anchorage AK
-------------------------------------------

Gene Sorry I misunderstood, but maybe it helped to spread the message. Happy New Year to all. ------------------------------------------- Mike Mense FAIA mmenseArchitects Anchorage AK -------------------------------------------
Original Message: Sent: 01-03-2012 12:11 From: Eugene Ely Subject: unbearable emptiness of measuring Mr. Mense, The difficulty of communicating via this forum (or any other like it for that matter) is the inability to capture nuamce and subtlety. In my case I didn't think my sarcasm was being very subtle at all, but it appears it was. I am actually in agreement with you that a larger house has no correlation to a better quality of life. My statement below which you took issue with was intended to mean exactly 180 degrees opposite to its literal appearance on the page. This difficulty in communicating intent is why I responded to you directly rather than share with the larger world out there. Let's go out there and build a few more nice small houses, not the 4-5K behemoths that plague the burbs today (seriously). Happy New Year. Gene Ely As to my whine about conferences, I've said too much already! I did have some nice cheese with it though. ------------------------------------------- Eugene Ely AIA, LEED AP Sr Project Architect HMC Architects San Jose, CA -------------------------------------------
Original Message: Sent: 12-29-2011 22:16 From: Mike Mense Subject: unbearable emptiness of measuring Replying to a very old post from Eugene Ely. I don't have any idea what God knows. I know there are innumerable 2000 sf houses that I would prefer over an equally large number of 4000 sf houses. Quality of life is composed of many things and its likely there is an accidental correlation between comfortable incomes and larger houses. That said, NO WAY IS LARGER HOUSE SF RELATED TO BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE!!! ------------------------------------------- Mike Mense FAIA mmenseArchitects Anchorage AK -------------------------------------------
Original Message: Sent: 06-17-2011 11:01 From: Eugene Ely Subject: unbearable emptiness of measuring My wife is currently engaged in a month long labor negotiation . . . . . . . . . . God knows life in a 4000+ SF house is so much more than twice as much better than a 2000 SF home. ------------------------------------------- Eugene Ely AIA HMC Architects San Jose CA -------------------------------------------