Unless I've lost it and am in another reality, it looks like Google's stretching itself pretty thin, like China: My yesterday's post via Google Groups used an old nickname.
Anyway, ugly, cookie-cutter highrise ghettos as far as my eye could see all too often. You can't have too many fall down (without people in them of course). The China I saw was like... like a wretched Communist-Capitalist Eraserhead-type child. Notice the abundant greenery and trees. What concerns me also is that the Chinese expats here agree with my contentions about the country. You see a lot of (former?) "third-world" rich immigrants that seem to be embracing a lifestyle-dream that we're trying to change out of.
...So when does Google buy into the brick-and-mortar, or are they way ahead of me? Shall I look forward to a lifetime of floppy rabbit-hutch rentals?
Ken: Could you steer me to a pic of your 20x20 please? TIA.
There was a foundation?
It is written that they are pilings, but they look hollow to me. Are pilings supposed to be hollow, or are those for something else?
Depends on the piling.
Note that the hollow piling in the article tested out better than the solid concrete pile. I do not think the hollow pile would prove superior in earthquake and "building falling over" modes.
R
Yeah, I like the way it was such an orderly catastrophe.
The campanile in Venice "sat down" in 1902.
- seems there were some cracks...
R
Think anybody'll move into the other buildings?
Thanks Ken. My interest is in part with the idea that just about anyone could, and maybe should, build their own house, or at least have a general knowledge of how. We've become much of a society that can't do anything "real" or "old world" for ourselves, and that's potentially dangerous.
Pussy chores make me feel like the man I am.
There was an interesting discussion and maybe some enlightening "hair- splitting" on here not too long ago about the concept of over- engineering.
Speaking of which, those piles (or piers) look more hair-like than conical.
Here's another lovely 20x20 I caught lately the dimension of which made me think of yours:
One word: Marketing. ;) (How well do the Chinese know about it though?)
In any case, it doesn't work for everyone.
Agreed, go for it. Don't let the *general knowedge* part slow you down.
Nah, no more so than say, riding rollerblades down an escalator. An idea, a little bit of logic, a decent array of tools and enough materials and anyone can construct a shelter. I'm living proof of it.
Your feminine side?
I'm an expert on pilings and those in the pik were now where near long enough or big enough in diameter. Hell, I used bigger stuff on my 40' deck I just built. LOL
e:
Thats 20'x 20' x 3 =3D 1200 sf.
I've looked at hundreds of *tiny houses* on the web and all of them suffer from the same catastrophic ailment. None of the so called designers seem able to put themselves in the picture, in other words, *live the design*, in their collective heads. They simply scale down a big home and think they have accomplished something. They haven't.
It starts with a lifestyle choice/change and radiates out from that perspective. Example: In a tiny house there is no need for a full size range/oven but there they are right there in the designated kitchen anyway. I've designed a series of *tiny homes* that I have *lived* in, and I've consulted Ken via email many times to bounce ideas off of and get his feedback as he is living the lifestyle change I mentioned.
Frankly, when it comes right down to it, while many trendy people are attracted to the *tiny home* concept, in the end hardly no one is willing to change their life in the ways necessary to handle that sort of thing. Sure, they might deal with it for a weekend getaway/retreat sort of thing, but in the long haul none of them could deal with it.
How much you wanna bet, the tenants will never hear about the building problems? The oppressive government on whatever media they have and the habitual lying built into the culture will ensure that they won't know what happened until another building falls.
Where are you that people don't gossip? Of course they'll know. The question is whether they will have any say in whether they are selected to live in the still-standing buildings or not. I'm guessing or not.
R
They call it 1000 SF on that web page, and it looks like 2 (20x20)+(10x20), so that would agree. Lacking a floor plan (I didn't delve very deep), and seeing what appears to be a somewhat open plan with a two story space with stair, I would tend to think that the 1000 SF was on the high side. Maybe they're including the decks?
I like it though.
R
You know it man, gotta keep movin'. Its rainy today so that means I'm sorta confined. So I drove 40 miles to pick up a nice piece of 1 x 6 x 4' clear maple. Now, I'm gonna chop it into 6" lengths on the mitersaw, glue/stack and clamp em together and get em ready for the lathe. This'n will be bowl number 9, I'm still experimenting. Then I'm going to build a cantilever shelf on the sanding center I built yesterday to support my bench grinder. After that I'm going to disassemble a 100+ year old floor lamp my mother in law gave me last week and refinish/restore it. I have a nifty Frank Lloyd Wright square stained glass shade I'm going to put on it and I'll install (3) 13watt compact flourescents in it. Outta be pretty cool when its done. Then I'll disassemble the whole thing and ship it to Saratoa, FL to my son for his 30th birthday. It started with his great grandfather in the 19th century and now my son will have it in the 21st century. Just passin it on.....and stayin busy. Hey, I'm voluntering at a local dairy farm starting next week, gonna be working with baby kowz......can't wait....maybe I can get a direct line of some of that raw moo joos.
e:
Yes, if our women-- our other halves-- are our feminine sides. ;)
ote:
So that's what you'd charge me for ay? ;)
I might agree with some of your points in principle but I've never knowingly been in what I might consider a good architect/designer- designed small house before. Mind you, I don't recall ever being in a well-designed big house either. Sad really. While some of them do look like large homes merely scaled down (and those are the ones I may be less interested in anyway), it is difficult for me to imagine living in a space just from pix on the web.
Just for fun, I happen to have a small list of online pix of small/ (maybe some medium) homes, so what I can do is create a new thread and post them and maybe we could discuss what we might like, dislike, would change, etc..
I'm not even an architect or architectural technician, but even I figured that out: In my own older design-sketch I posted, I just have a 2-burner deal:
I've easily/happily baked pizzas and choc chip cookies, etc., in a toaster oven, even when I've had the larger ovens to do so, but that's just me.
Good stuff. The bouncing of ideas is what it's all about. If Ken (Wifey too?) is going over I wish you a good time. Send us a post.
In the big picture, at the end of the day, they might have to, but sure, some changes require necessity.
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My second sentence subtly supported in principle your teardrop piles.
Long soapy mop and squeegee, like how they do it with the commercial buildings. Pussywork Inc..
Dumbwaiter and/or handicap lift or exercise if you can hack it.
Open the "fucken" windows! ;)
The ground floor could become a periodic boathouse too... if it's deep enough, you could dive in from 2nd or 3rd floors... Ah, tradeoffs, and the importance of building for the location...
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