we want to be clotheslined

We kinda want a spot in the yard to have a clothesline. Clotheslines save energy, of course, but they are also somewhat romantic: sheets warmed by the sun, bluejeans that smell like the sky, skivvies billowing (!) in the wind... And this is not idealistic blubbering here: We had a clothesline at our previous house, stretched between the garage and house, and used it quite a bit. Not only would a clothesline save energy from a dryer drying (heating stuff up electrically is not very efficient), but dryers suck air from around it (expensively cooled air here in Texas), warms it up, and ejects it outside (lowering pressure inside the house which causes air to leak in from who knows where).

We think a good place for a clothesline will be in the back yard, along the driveway next to the lot line: A nice long linear area that's somewhat out of the way and awkward as to what we'd use it for. The challenge will be to design a line du clothes that looks good even without my socks hanging on it. Something that keeps coming to mind are Schindler's garden stakes at his Schindler-Chace House:

Simple and blocky. We could do something inspired by this that's more appropriate for a clothesline, perhaps something that looks like this:

They would have to be taller than a car yet short enough to hang skivvies (and whatnot). And during shindigs, they could serve as lantern holders!

There are some cool ready-made options and concepts out there...

The Alberto Clothesline:

Not exactly Modern, but clever and cute as heck:

This would be cool (if it worked...):

If you live in Arizona:

A retractable one that is easily found on the interwebs:

There's this retractable one that looks fishy:

And, of course, the classic T-post:

Here's an architect designed clothesline with an automated tensioner:

A clothesline designed by none other than Frank Lloyd Wright:

And finally, speaking of clotheslines, here's photo we took of one in Reykjavik, Iceland, a few years ago. We had been commenting all trip about how much black Icelandic females wear. That black burns through and through...

my shoes (literally) featured in Austin Monthly

Well, featured may be a strong word...

I was catching up on my magazine reading when suddenly (BAM!!!): There's my shoes (my actual shoes) in Austin Home!!! (see bottom photo taken mere minutes ago for comparison purposes). It was a photo from the Modern Homes Tour we attended earlier this year. The bride, an engineer, points out that it's possible that someone else in town has those shoes and that those shoes could be someone else's shoes (engineers have a way of sucking the fun out of everything...). I'm quite sure those are my little piggy holders, but next year, to be sure, I'm leaving my socks in them as well. Then there won't be any question...

the ground breakith...

To celebrate the acquisition of permits and financing, the bride and I stopped in at the lot for a ceremonial breaking of the ground with a golden shovel. Work should start this week, beginning with removing selected trees and brush and an old sidewalk and fence. The architect requested a pre-construction meeting, something we hope to have early this week. I reckon we'll discuss how we'll work together (commutation and checking on stuff).

Can't wait to see some progress!

dancing with architecture: Corpus Christi

haiku for the book "R.M. Schindler Architect 1887-1953" by August Sarnitz

tiny little text

but original writings

and little photos

I have a troll set up in Ebay to find Schindler items and recently scored a couple of older books focused on Schindler. Being out of print and not big sellers when they were originally published, these books can be rather expensive; but I got a couple at "half price"!

Didn't read much online about this book, perhaps because it's really only of value to hardcore fans and scholars of Schindler. And the text is tiny, somewhere between 8 and 9 point! About 30 of the 224 pages are written by the Austrian author with the rest of the book a compilation of various items. Although it's interesting to read yet another analysis of Schindler's work, I didn't get much of of this one. The real gem in this book is that it compiles all of Schindler's published (and unpublished) writings as well as a number of letters.

It's been remarked that Schindler took unusual care to maintain and organize his papers through his career. Although it's sad he only received limited recognition during his lifetime, he was convinced that history would look kindly upon him. In that, he was correct. In a letter to the Architectural Forum in 1947 in response to an article about contemporary home architecture, he noted that two of his houses (Lovell Beach House and the Schindler-Chace House) predated the earliest work of Corbusier and Neutra highlighted by the article:

I built my own house in 1922, and it has become the prototype for most of the now fashionable California houses. It introduced the following characteristic features:

A cellarless, rambling, one-story building low on the ground, the floor extending without steps into the garden.

A full-height glass wall with large sliding doors on the patio side, under ample overhangs.

A flat shed roof with clerestory windows.

A solid back wall for privacy, and movable partitions for flexibility.

Schindler's earliest published writings (barring an editorial in 1922 about architecture and Hollywood) were done as a guest columnist for Philip Lovell in the L.A. times in 1926. In this series of columns, Schindler wrote about the various design elements of a house and how these elements should and could be directed toward healthy living. We got a particular chuckle of amazement on Schindler's thoughts about ventilation:

The house of the future will abandon the present window [as the sole source of ventilation] and provide separate systems of openings for air and light.

The dude was ahead of his time.

R.M. Schindler's rear end

There's something about architects and lack of clothing. Now you've seen it all...

the closer...

After a lullish past 30 days or so, it's been an exciting past week. The appraisal came in, the permits came in, and this afternoon we closed on our single-close construction loan. The only glitch during the closing, and it was a small one, is that the builder was supposed to be there (as it turns out, the builder has to sign about half the documents). No one told us that the builder was supposed to be there, so we hadn't made arrangements. He'll sign the paperwork tomorrow morning, so no worries.

Part of the reason we like this bank is that they're down-home personal, laid-back, and a little goofy. One of the checks we wrote to the architect a number of months back was going to bounce, and the bank called me up to see if I wanted to move money from the money market fund into the checking account so we wouldn't bounce the check and incur the associated fees. You read that right: They. Called. Us. Up. Still can't believe that. We were hoping that down-home small-town service would carry over to the construction loan, and it has.

I've had the LEGOhaus at the office for the past week and was planning to hand it off to the bride after the closing so she could take it to her office. A co-worker saw me with it, knew I was going to the closing, and yelped "Do you take that darn LEGOhaus to every house-related meeting!??!?!?!" And I yipped back "No! But that's brilliant!!!" So I took the LEGOhaus into the closing. The closer and the banker were both quite impressed (or perhaps politely respectful...). The closer took a photo, and the banker said he needed to build his house out of LEGO (he's building over in Crestview).

The banker mentioned that they've been funding a lot of construction loans lately and that some of the appraisals have been a struggle. Because the market is on the front part of a (hopefully sustainable) upswing, the appraisals aren't reflecting the increased prices. In other words, appraisals, since they are backward looking, tend to lag the market, which makes it difficult for the daring folks entering the market on the initial upswing. He also noted that it can be difficult for an above-average green home to money out in an appraisal unless the other houses are also above-average green homes. The only way out of that is cold hard cash. Something to keep in mind in yer thinking of building...

So by tomorrow morning all the paperwork will be signed. Hopefully the ground will be breaking soon...