building in public is different than public building
|
 |
By ro / lu in design Published: Tuesday, 29 May 07 - 11:51 AM (GMT -06:00) Last Updated: Wednesday, 30 May 07 - 07:56 AM (GMT -06:00) |
| ||
rendering of the proposed hammond home on the "from the ground up" blog
my theory (and hope) about the general public and green, modern, cool design is that, eventually, it will all be pretty mainstream. or maybe it already is and the public just doesn't know yet. i mean modern design is everywhere lately. have you noticed how almost every car commercial involves a modern home lately?
but still, most people are shy about it going much further than a few pieces from ikea and an ipod.. maybe it's because there is so much to learn and it takes a lot of time and energy. it's intimidating. that said though, even my Mom, (who does have great taste) is looking at chairs by paul mccobb and jens risom and attending sustainibility classes in northfield mn.
what excites me so much about "from the ground up", a blog on the minneapolis star tribune web site that's following the hammond family through the process of designing and building a green, modern home, is that it might make it a little easier for non-design types to approach some of these "larger than an ipod" possibilities.
about two months ago my brother in law, who grew up here and still follows things via the star tribune web site, called and said he'd posted a comment about us on some guy's blog at the strib, as the paper's called here in minneapolis, and frankly, i was a little nervous. i checked out as much as i had time to and thought it looked like a really cool project.
after a few emails, mike and i ended up having lunch with jason hammond, the guy who's keeping the blog, and a friendship was started.
of course, it's not hard to find people doing this same exercise on live modern or something, but what makes this so powerful to me are two things.
first, the star tribune reaches a lot of people. my brother in-law isn't really a modern design guy and he's found the site is inspiring him as he's followed the progress.
secondly, jason hammond is the perfect person to do this. he's a friendly, smart guy and he's not a modernist snob, so, he's not intimidating and we've all read malcolm gladwell's book the tipping point, right?
he's been really thorough about his thought's and choice's, and he's also been really honest about where he could go green and where he couldn't. i'm definitely guilty of forgetting about reality sometimes when i'm wandering around all my favorite online haunts.
we're hoping that we get the opportunity to lend a hand when things go outside and i'll keep you posted if we do.
in the meantime, check it out for yourself.
posted by matt
<-- Back
