San Simeon/Hearst Castle

On the right side of the blog is a new slide show featuring a few images from my tour of San Simeon. Apparently Hearst hated this being referred to as a 'castle' as he had a 'real' castle in Wales. This was his small ranch at 250,000 acres while his larger ranch was over a million acres. This is the inspiration for Citizen Kane and one of the greatest examples of excess I have seen. Still, there is something about a nice library...

Tanzania Update

Click on the image to enlarge. Father Setonga, on the left, is seen here at Cal Poly reviewing the Tanzania project with the D/B Team. On the right is a presentation on the wastewater management system. With some luck and hard work ground may be broken in 12-18 months.

Architecture for Humanity Event

Click on the invite below and mark your calendars!

A Map

This is a map I made a while ago. I triangulated points between home, my office and locations for most of my projects. I was thinking of using this as a personal kind of transportation audit. The idea is to identify the range/area in which one has to travel frequently and then find appropriate services, shops, etc. within the triangle in order to minimize travel and, hence, CO2 emissions. Just a thought.

Ed Ricketts & Pacific Biological Laboratories

While in Cali last week I was lucky enough to complete a bit of a literary pilgrimage in Salinas and Monterey by touring the Steinbeck Museum and paying homage to Ed Ricketts by stopping by his old lab site at 800 Cannery Row. The neighborhood is a tourist trap now but some really great stuff took place there back in the day. Some of Ricketts' philosophy is folded into Steinbeck's The Log of the Sea of Cortez in the Easter section and there is another book called The Renaissance Man of Cannery Row edited by K. Rodger worth reading that is a biographical sketch and a collection of letters. The character of 'Doc' in Cannery Row is based on Ricketts and the following is a favorite quote:

"It has always seemed strange to me, said Doc. The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second." — John Steinbeck Cannery Row

Images from Cal Poly

I had a great exchange with 4th year students at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. The school is very 'hands-on' in CM, architecture and engineering and aside from a beautiful campus a few miles from the ocean, the students and faculty are all very dedicated to teaching, learning and building. Remember: those of us in this industry, in some sense, make the world we live in. Let's do it as a smart, hardworking team.

Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo

I am flying out in the morning for a few days work on the Tanzania Project and as a guest lecturer on low cost, sustainable housing. I will report back while on the road if I get a chance.

2009 Habitat Build In Progress!

Art Stauder, the architect of these remarkable homes is seen here along with volunteers and homebuyers as this year's blitz gets under way.