kitchen table

you may not see the connection between title and photo

but let me explain . . .

i drive by this building everyday on my way to work and it recently has gone up for sale/lease and of course i started daydreaming

it's going to be a 24 hour cafe with multiple vendors selling their market niche cuisine for "grab n go" or sit and stay. there will be a random mix of kitchen tables and chairs. and, the best part, a collection of local produce, dairy and meat products. it would be a market for all the local, seasonal farms year round. the families that feel overwhelmed by the CSA bounty, could instead stop by and pick up some fresh rutabagas or grass-finished beef. basically it would be something like an all year, indoor farmer's market.

i've shared my idea with my coworker/mentor who has connections. she thought it sounded great and put me in touch with her friend looking for a music venue. i've emailed back and forth with him and we thought we could easily combine the two dreams but somewhere along the lines he found out I'm just a young dreamer . . .

. . . oh well

maybe he'll do on his own and i can shop and eat there

option 2.
i could use this site as a basis for the 2009 Cascadia Emerging Green Builders Natural Talent Design Competition:

The Program

All entries must adhere to the following guidelines:

• Transportation: The project must confront the issues posed by transportation, seeking a solution alternative to the use of single occupancy fossil-fuel vehicles.


• Public Space or Public Space Adjacency: The project must include an area of public space, or be adjacent to easily accessible public space, forming a core element of the project’s site design.


• Mixed-use: The project must incorporate both private and public space, and consider the interplay between public space and private development.


• Solar Envelope: All projects must consider the solar envelope of the site and the site’s development on adjoining properties.

I'm just going to run with this

Rooftop apartments . . .

it's been hot

and i've been thinking . . .

how have civilizations stayed cool before the air conditioner or fans for that matter?
(all i have are fans - you leave all the windows open all night to let the cool breeze in and before 10 am you close all the windows and shades to keep cool and then when the cool evening breeze starts, you open all the windows and get the fans blowing the cool air in)

well, i remember hearing about ancient arab cooling chimneys, keeping interiors cool in 120 degree F summers. and this is what i found out:
these tall chimney like structures are called wind catchers or wind towers and the basic principle is that they capture the prevailing breeze above the house and since cool air is denser than warm, it subsequently falls in the chimney which is then ventilated to the house. this kept interiors cool, paired with thick walls enhancing the trombe wall effect.

there are many variations of the design, one being a solar chimney, that fit a specific microclimate's needs
i got really excited about incorporating wind towers

and then i found this project - man oh man, someone beat me to it, not just with the wind tower but the whole layout and concept - oh well . . . but the 99k house is really cool and hopefully it's being built

and then i was thinking well, how come you don't harness the convective energy with localized windmills? i surely will

hey! someone's thought of that already too and i thought this ancient technology had fallen off the grid, almost

solar updraft tower

it's just nice to know that there is a movement out there, no matter how small it is now, i know it will be obvious in the near future

noystoise

dedicated to his craft and extremely resourceful,
noystoise finally presents his creative process
from child's toy to electronic instrument

well designed colorful toys that are fun to play
and sophisticated miniature synths

it's about time

ok, i'm back and committed. is there a way to copyright ideas? probably not, you just have to be better than everyone else - so that means when i've got an idea and i actually follow through with the prototype and post it on here, i am committing myself to continue and improve - hopefully. i seem to get bored in the creation process because it doesn't turn out like i plan . . . but i've got too many ideas to just give up before i start.

so this weekend, at the eleventh hour i decided to use mother's day as a good reason to start one of my many ideas - painting maps, either realistic or whimsical. i've decided to stick with a square format.

i'm not quite done but what do you think?