west side, guest room, main living room
office, south side
office and garage, east side
the æsthetics of the here and now Let me try this thought: if it wants to be art, architecture must say something about how we meet our human condition. To me, this means a struggle to forget the past as well as the future. Formal symbols just anchor me more to the collective misery of our past, so everyday I try to forget another chapter of history, particularly the history of arts and architecture. c
...the stranglehold of real estate on innovation In Canada a house is a commodity. People are worried about property values, not about how they would like to live. The business of real estate has created promises of successful sales and a corresponding catalogue of man- datory features. As absurd as this enforced sameness is in a society as heterogeneous as Canada’s, fear of reduced property values has turned this catalogue into a self-fulfill- ing prophecy— a nightmare of cheesiness, boredom and uniformity that is sold to us in ‘home plan’ catalogues and that we see when we cruise through our suburbs. Halfway through construction our house became, and still is, an attraction for the curious and people looking for property. Yes, many politely mentioned that it was different , but equally many seemed sincerely convinced by the quality of spaces, views, comfort and
beauty it affords. I just wonder what Canadi- an houses could look like if we, as a culture, did not always defer fulfillment and joy to the future, because it is ‘not the prudent thing to do right now’? I admit that cutting an 1850 square foot floor area into four fragments is neither prudent nor energy efficient. However, I offer the combined effects of minimum site distur- bance, efficient passive solar balance between summer and winter, high efficiency glazing, abstinence from excessive size, unsustainable or toxic materials and systems (air condition- ing!), to plead for mercy with my critics. We have lived in this house now one winter and one summer, and found it the most inspiring and healthy place we ever had. I am afraid this is not an argument we can quantify. Still I think the quest for sustainability should include the question: will this design make people happy?
Florian Maurer, MAIBC, LEED AP, divides his time between Narama- ta, BC and Lana, Italy.
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