There's a reality TV show for everything, right? We've got chefs, fashion designers, personal trainers, hair stylists, and even "normal" people. But what about architects? Why aren't there any shows about them?
I guess the first problem is most things that architects design can't be designed, much less built in a day. Buildings are large, complex things. The second problem is architects are really teams of people. I know there are plenty that work alone, but it always takes more than one person to get something built (unless you are Dick Proenneke apparently).
I have held the job title of Information Architect in the past. I mostly work with physically intangible things (e.g. websites and applications), but it still takes a small army to build what I design (with the exception of the very small things I do for myself).
But here's something interesting I came across yesterday: A Duane Reade drugstore in Williamsburg Brooklyn is selling beer. And not just boring beer that you can get anywhere, but hard-to-find beers that even I'm willing to drink, like Chimay. This didn't happen because the residents of Williamsburg asked for it. It happened because Duane Reade looked at who lived there, what they were interested in, what they had available to them and where there was a gap.
This is important, because this is the foundation of good user experience design (the general uber name for information architecture, interaction design, etc). And I believe that before anyone, including myself, runs around saying the city of Lynn needs this and the city of Lynn needs that, we need to stop and ask "who lives here?"
I should note that I lived in Williamsburg for a few months almost 20 years ago, long before the hipsters arrived. There were Polish, Puerto Rican, Hasidic Jews and a handful of artists living there. There were few places to eat out. If you wanted a Sunday Times, you had to get up early to grab 1 of 3 issues that the newsstand had. No one would come out and visit. But the rent was cheap and it was a quick train ride into Manhattan. By the time I left, the secret was out and now it's a haven. The artists were priced out long ago. The Poles have been moving to Queens. You can't find a home that is not "luxury" and now Duane Reade sells beer.
Maybe there should be a reality tv show about gentrification...
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Friday, January 7, 2011
Shhhh
Winding down for the evening. About to jump in bed with a book. I crave an evening where I come home and I don't hear my neighbors. I dream of a parallel universe where I only know of my neighbors as people who live in the building and not the woman from upstairs whose bed bangs on the floor and who was waiting in the lobby for her drugs to be delivered very early one morning (I had an early flight) or the guy from downstairs who hasn't improved his bass playing skills despite the hours and hours and hours he sort of practices and makes my walls and furniture vibrate.
If I were more of a writer, perhaps this would be good source material for a novel. The thing that amazes me about all this is for all the years I've lived in apartments, this is the first time that I've had such a horrible noise problem. The exception is the last apartment I had in Brooklyn where the super of the building felt it was okay to have his band perform, complete with cowbell, all night Saturday nights. I called 311 several times. I don't know if they did anything with the information. I remember coming home one night and hearing loud music from 2 blocks away thinking I'd hate to live in the noisy building on the block, only to discover I did live in the noisy building on the block.
Of course part of the source of the noise is the poor construction practices of whoever hung the drywall and the total lack of insulation between the floors. Yes, loft living means the apartments are in a somewhat raw state, but at these prices... I wonder what the situation would have been if these had been sold as condos after all? Certainly such lame workmanship would be grounds for some sort of lawsuit.
Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of comparable options for rent in Lynn. If I move, I'd have to live in another town and most likely pay more money. And the idea of doing that, I find completely offensive.
If I were more of a writer, perhaps this would be good source material for a novel. The thing that amazes me about all this is for all the years I've lived in apartments, this is the first time that I've had such a horrible noise problem. The exception is the last apartment I had in Brooklyn where the super of the building felt it was okay to have his band perform, complete with cowbell, all night Saturday nights. I called 311 several times. I don't know if they did anything with the information. I remember coming home one night and hearing loud music from 2 blocks away thinking I'd hate to live in the noisy building on the block, only to discover I did live in the noisy building on the block.
Of course part of the source of the noise is the poor construction practices of whoever hung the drywall and the total lack of insulation between the floors. Yes, loft living means the apartments are in a somewhat raw state, but at these prices... I wonder what the situation would have been if these had been sold as condos after all? Certainly such lame workmanship would be grounds for some sort of lawsuit.
Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of comparable options for rent in Lynn. If I move, I'd have to live in another town and most likely pay more money. And the idea of doing that, I find completely offensive.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Why Not
I have these periods of real estate obsession. I think it's leftover from my nyc days when i was continuously afflicted with envy of other people's apartments. It doesn't matter how nice or how good a deal your apartment is, there's always someone with an even better place. Lately I'm obsessed with the Macallen Building in South Boston and also with the handful of mid-century modern homes in Lexington and Lincoln, MA. Actually, the homes in Lexington and Lincoln were the among the first mid-century modern homes built in the country. Strangely, now there are so few modern homes in and around Boston at all which makes acquiring these homes very, very expensive.
I want to live in a modern home. Most of the homes in this region are definitely not modern. The ones I have found are waaaaaaay out of the realm of possibility for my financial resources. So I'm forced to settle for places maybe I don't like so much and just dream.
As I've started exploring options for my next home and even briefly considered buying, I began to wonder what would happen if I built a modern home in the middle of some neighborhood steeped in Victorian, Cape Cod and Triple-deckers? What if I just decided to buy a house around here, tear it down and build something modern in its place? And then what if a few others decided to do the same knowing that the city of Lynn was friendly to a variety of architectural styles?
There has been much discussion about how can Lynn revitalize itself and in my view this is the way: through modern and improved design of residential housing. I think efforts in new housing have to come first- before street-level businesses will come. Go to the website of any major chain store and look in the franchising information section and you will see that companies are very specific about the population and per-capita income of areas they are willing to do business in. It makes sense. It's easy to get caught up in chicken and eggs discussions about how to revitalize a city, but in the case of Lynn, it has to come from real estate first, and that's a tough place to be in. Let's face it, people aren't exactly beating down the doors to move to Lynn and the real estate market is still a mess. But the right design approach can attract specific kinds of people to the area. For all its flaws, that's how I ended up at MV24. It was mostly the right design for my lifestyle and price range. (Unfortunately, this building has an assortment of problems that may ultimately force me to move which I've detailed in another post).
Before I moved to Lynn, I lived in Austin, TX. Austin has a variety of older bungalow style homes, McMansions, ranch style, split level, cookie cutter gated communities - just about everything you'd expect in the suburbs. There are also mid-rise, high rise and lofts (new construction) and a significant number of modern homes in a variety of price ranges, many of which have been designed by local architects. There's even a subdivision of very colorful modern homes called Agave that with the downturn probably hasn't performed as well as its developers might have hoped, but it got built and people are living there!
View Larger Map
My point is, if you want new people, you have to build something new (and new can be recycled when done smartly). It will take time. It will be painful for some people and if enough risks are taken it will be awesome.
I want to live in a modern home. Most of the homes in this region are definitely not modern. The ones I have found are waaaaaaay out of the realm of possibility for my financial resources. So I'm forced to settle for places maybe I don't like so much and just dream.
As I've started exploring options for my next home and even briefly considered buying, I began to wonder what would happen if I built a modern home in the middle of some neighborhood steeped in Victorian, Cape Cod and Triple-deckers? What if I just decided to buy a house around here, tear it down and build something modern in its place? And then what if a few others decided to do the same knowing that the city of Lynn was friendly to a variety of architectural styles?
There has been much discussion about how can Lynn revitalize itself and in my view this is the way: through modern and improved design of residential housing. I think efforts in new housing have to come first- before street-level businesses will come. Go to the website of any major chain store and look in the franchising information section and you will see that companies are very specific about the population and per-capita income of areas they are willing to do business in. It makes sense. It's easy to get caught up in chicken and eggs discussions about how to revitalize a city, but in the case of Lynn, it has to come from real estate first, and that's a tough place to be in. Let's face it, people aren't exactly beating down the doors to move to Lynn and the real estate market is still a mess. But the right design approach can attract specific kinds of people to the area. For all its flaws, that's how I ended up at MV24. It was mostly the right design for my lifestyle and price range. (Unfortunately, this building has an assortment of problems that may ultimately force me to move which I've detailed in another post).
Before I moved to Lynn, I lived in Austin, TX. Austin has a variety of older bungalow style homes, McMansions, ranch style, split level, cookie cutter gated communities - just about everything you'd expect in the suburbs. There are also mid-rise, high rise and lofts (new construction) and a significant number of modern homes in a variety of price ranges, many of which have been designed by local architects. There's even a subdivision of very colorful modern homes called Agave that with the downturn probably hasn't performed as well as its developers might have hoped, but it got built and people are living there!
View Larger Map
My point is, if you want new people, you have to build something new (and new can be recycled when done smartly). It will take time. It will be painful for some people and if enough risks are taken it will be awesome.
Friday, December 31, 2010
My Grandmother
(it appears that i started writing this post several months ago, but never published. here it is now!)
My grandmother is near the end of her life and every time I have a dream about her, I wake up wondering if today is the day. She has impressively outlived pretty much all of her family members including one of her children.
Last night I got this book in the mail.
And then, of course, I had a dream about her. I was at her house with my mom (something that actually took place back in January) puttering around. At some point I remember taking a bunch of slices of watercolor paper and putting them in my suitcase (no idea). Then we were going to church in a taxi, except I had to sit outside in the back-maybe it was a pickup truck?
On my last visit back in January, I took a walk around the neighborhood and realized how close the church actually was to my grandmother's place and wondered why we almost always took the church van there rather than walked. The van never went directly there even though we were so close so it always felt so far away.
So in this dream as we arrived, there was this Japanese guy in traditional farmer clothes who at first I thought was attending the church, but he was actually there to tend the garden. We went inside and my grandmother went to sit with the other deacons or whatever they're called in the right section. I was still distracted by the gardener, but then went inside to sit next to my grandmother in the middle section. Later I realized she somehow became 2 separate people. Either that or I was actually sitting with my mother. Who knows?
For some reason I got up and went to see the gardener. He was leaving. I can't remember if I talked to him or not. I returned back to the church and a couple of people got up for me to return to my seat. Then I woke up.
So it was my typical huh? dream. One of the amusing things that happened on a trip a few years ago was how people thought I was my mother. I didn't think I looked that much like my mother. I know I do kind of sound like her, much to my annoyance. Who wants to sound like anyone else?
My grandmother is near the end of her life and every time I have a dream about her, I wake up wondering if today is the day. She has impressively outlived pretty much all of her family members including one of her children.
Last night I got this book in the mail.
And then, of course, I had a dream about her. I was at her house with my mom (something that actually took place back in January) puttering around. At some point I remember taking a bunch of slices of watercolor paper and putting them in my suitcase (no idea). Then we were going to church in a taxi, except I had to sit outside in the back-maybe it was a pickup truck?
On my last visit back in January, I took a walk around the neighborhood and realized how close the church actually was to my grandmother's place and wondered why we almost always took the church van there rather than walked. The van never went directly there even though we were so close so it always felt so far away.
So in this dream as we arrived, there was this Japanese guy in traditional farmer clothes who at first I thought was attending the church, but he was actually there to tend the garden. We went inside and my grandmother went to sit with the other deacons or whatever they're called in the right section. I was still distracted by the gardener, but then went inside to sit next to my grandmother in the middle section. Later I realized she somehow became 2 separate people. Either that or I was actually sitting with my mother. Who knows?
For some reason I got up and went to see the gardener. He was leaving. I can't remember if I talked to him or not. I returned back to the church and a couple of people got up for me to return to my seat. Then I woke up.
So it was my typical huh? dream. One of the amusing things that happened on a trip a few years ago was how people thought I was my mother. I didn't think I looked that much like my mother. I know I do kind of sound like her, much to my annoyance. Who wants to sound like anyone else?
food i hated 15 years ago, but now love
(it appears that i started writing this post several months ago, but never published. here it is now!)
beets
asparagus
chopped liver
cauliflower
peas
beets
asparagus
chopped liver
cauliflower
peas
Sunday, December 19, 2010
my apartment conflict
The current state of my neighbor situation is making me want to move. The bed above me gets quite the "workout" at all hours and sometimes makes me wonder if it's going to come crashing through the ceiling. I've asked this neighbor to put something under the bed like maybe a few layers of carpeting, but I guess I can consider myself ignored.
The neighbor below me has gotten an electric bass and apparently the only way to practice is to turn it all the way up so that my furniture vibrates. The neighbor to the left has a pair of bulldogs. When they fight, it feels as if the entire building is shaking. He snores rather loudly and seems content to allow the door to slam. The problem with slamming to door, aside from being extremely loud, is that the walls shake so that every other door on the floor rattles and my pictures hang crooked. The other night he put in a movie and cranked the tv up loud. I had to knock on his door 3 times to get him to turn it down (granted not very much). Somehow he seemed surprised.
The neighbor on the other side also likes to watch movies and play video games rather loudly, but sometimes really early in the morning. That is until one morning I was really fed up and banged on the wall screaming. He hasn't done it that loudly since.
But really? Is that was it takes to get people to behave civilly? I have to bang on the walls and scream? It just doesn't make sense. It should be obvious upon moving in that since the floors are concrete and the ceilings are high, noise will reverberate all over the place. Secondly, there's no escaping the fact that the walls are thin. I don't think I have especially good hearing, but I can hear pretty much anything my neighbors do. I know what part of the apartment they are in and what they are having for dinner if it's particularly smelly. The crazy woman who mistreated her dog who lived to the right of me for a year made a tomato sauce so strong I resorted to hanging plastic over the area that seemed to be exposed to prevent the smell from coming through for fear it would take up residence in my clothing. Plus she smoked.
But to me it's obvious that if you are a person who makes noise, perhaps it's better to live in a house rather than an apartment. If you are in a situation with shared walls, perhaps you should keep the volume down a bit. That if you are down the hallway and can hear noise from your apartment, perhaps you are disturbing your neighbors. That if you like to listen to music loudly, wear a pair of headphones. It's hard to me to understand how other people don't see it that way. That it's just ok to be as loud as you want any time you want regardless what the lease says.
So, I've started looking around for another place. My needs are a little bit particular, but I don't thing they're particularly luxurious:
1) commute to boston less than half an hour, or few stops
2) at least 600 square feet, preferably a loft
3) little to no carpeting, preferably concrete or wood
4) a decent amount of daylight
5) appliances made in the last decade
6) demonstrably quiet. I will even ask the person showing the apartment to go to the floor above and walk around to prove how quiet it is.
7) if on the commuter rail, then must be equal or less to what i'm paying now. If on the T then add $200 to what I'm paying now
8) a grocery store needs to be within walking distance
9) a park or beach or walking trail somewhat nearby
Every apartment that I've come across that seems suitable costs about twice what I'm paying now. I just can't spend that much and still consider myself a responsible person.
I've considered Lowell, but the commute could drive me insane and every time I need to fly really early in the morning (which is most cases), it could potentially be a very expensive ordeal to get to the airport.
One solution I've considered is bribing my neighbors to move out. It doesn't guarantee that the next person who moves in would be any quieter though. But it could be potentially less expensive than moving.
So how do you deal with your unreasonably noisy neighbors?
The neighbor below me has gotten an electric bass and apparently the only way to practice is to turn it all the way up so that my furniture vibrates. The neighbor to the left has a pair of bulldogs. When they fight, it feels as if the entire building is shaking. He snores rather loudly and seems content to allow the door to slam. The problem with slamming to door, aside from being extremely loud, is that the walls shake so that every other door on the floor rattles and my pictures hang crooked. The other night he put in a movie and cranked the tv up loud. I had to knock on his door 3 times to get him to turn it down (granted not very much). Somehow he seemed surprised.
The neighbor on the other side also likes to watch movies and play video games rather loudly, but sometimes really early in the morning. That is until one morning I was really fed up and banged on the wall screaming. He hasn't done it that loudly since.
But really? Is that was it takes to get people to behave civilly? I have to bang on the walls and scream? It just doesn't make sense. It should be obvious upon moving in that since the floors are concrete and the ceilings are high, noise will reverberate all over the place. Secondly, there's no escaping the fact that the walls are thin. I don't think I have especially good hearing, but I can hear pretty much anything my neighbors do. I know what part of the apartment they are in and what they are having for dinner if it's particularly smelly. The crazy woman who mistreated her dog who lived to the right of me for a year made a tomato sauce so strong I resorted to hanging plastic over the area that seemed to be exposed to prevent the smell from coming through for fear it would take up residence in my clothing. Plus she smoked.
But to me it's obvious that if you are a person who makes noise, perhaps it's better to live in a house rather than an apartment. If you are in a situation with shared walls, perhaps you should keep the volume down a bit. That if you are down the hallway and can hear noise from your apartment, perhaps you are disturbing your neighbors. That if you like to listen to music loudly, wear a pair of headphones. It's hard to me to understand how other people don't see it that way. That it's just ok to be as loud as you want any time you want regardless what the lease says.
So, I've started looking around for another place. My needs are a little bit particular, but I don't thing they're particularly luxurious:
1) commute to boston less than half an hour, or few stops
2) at least 600 square feet, preferably a loft
3) little to no carpeting, preferably concrete or wood
4) a decent amount of daylight
5) appliances made in the last decade
6) demonstrably quiet. I will even ask the person showing the apartment to go to the floor above and walk around to prove how quiet it is.
7) if on the commuter rail, then must be equal or less to what i'm paying now. If on the T then add $200 to what I'm paying now
8) a grocery store needs to be within walking distance
9) a park or beach or walking trail somewhat nearby
Every apartment that I've come across that seems suitable costs about twice what I'm paying now. I just can't spend that much and still consider myself a responsible person.
I've considered Lowell, but the commute could drive me insane and every time I need to fly really early in the morning (which is most cases), it could potentially be a very expensive ordeal to get to the airport.
One solution I've considered is bribing my neighbors to move out. It doesn't guarantee that the next person who moves in would be any quieter though. But it could be potentially less expensive than moving.
So how do you deal with your unreasonably noisy neighbors?
Monday, August 16, 2010
should be sleeping
I always feel restless before going to bed. I start to think of the 20 things I could be doing even though I am tired. It is worst on a Sunday and my neighbor's loud television isn't helping. Quiet and calm help my need to steep take over, putting off all the thoughts in my mind on hold 'til another time. It's about slowing down and accommodating the more important needs. We should all sleep more.
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