organic architecture .

Occasionally while I check my now-ancient AOL email, I see some neat news stories that interest me, and thus, since I cannot curb my curiosity, I check them out. One of today's articles happened to be on a some really neat homes that were just some 'surreal real estate.' For example, that was a home that resembled the Flinstones home, as well as a home that was an exact replica of the colorful house in the movie "Up." The one that stuck out to me was the one that resembled a hobbit home.


The man's name is Simon Dale, just a simple man in Wales who decided to build his family a home. That's right. He's no architect, he's not a builder, and he's not a designer. Well, not professionally at least. He even claims to have built his home with minimal materials, and it all just looks so simple. It makes me wonder... is this sort of thing possible? Especially in the US.

In all honesty, I'd love to try. I even emailed my studio professor with the information and the multiple articles about it. Maybe it could even end up being a creative inquiry or something like that. How sweet would it be to create a fully sustainable home? And not only that, a cozy home, one that is warm during the cold months, and one that can hold up to the rain (as water is the most dangerous thing to a home...) and one that will stay cool when it's hot?

His fridge is cooled by the cold air underground. He has a compost toilet. The walls are literally made of straw. The frame is notched wood. In some ways, it's like a modern log cabin! But it's fully functional, and what a cool idea.

I've always danced around what sort of things I'd like to focus on architecturally. I've considered minimalism and modernism, and perhaps a combination of these. I should probably get a book or something on architectural styles and I would be able to explore some things and try some designs and see what happens. Of course, Barcelona may very well be my opportunity to do this. Though I would certainly need to find a way to complete models in a very fluid manner -- it certainly is not easy to do; I know because I have tried. But this idea of organic architecture, and in combination of sustainable architecture, could really be something. I'm almost considering trying to fabricate something like this in my backyard.... Imagine having that as a sort of tree house?

Obviously, I get excited about these sort of things, while others may not find them so thrilling. I guess that's just proof that I picked the right major, eh?