Subject: Re: habitat for humanity needs fresh ideas

From: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 5 Sep 96 20:28:10 -0600

CH>On Mon, 02 Sep 1996 18:04:21 -0800, hank miller
CH><[email-masked]> wrote:

CH>>since the cost of affordable housing is skyrocketing in the U.S. we 
CH>>need to gather a collective of the best and brightest to formulate new 
CH>>and cost effective alternatives to current housing design and 
CH>>construction.

CH>>let's hear your ideas.

CH>I'm very impressed that HFH is starting to look into this. David South
CH>of Monolithic Constructors (thin-shell concrete domes) once told me
CH>that HFH wasn't interested in their designs because they were
CH>unconventional... 

CH>Monolithic has a design that allows reuse of the inflation envelope,
CH>dramatically lowering the cost of individual structures. There's a guy
CH>in Oregon who does concrete domes with straw bale insulation - combine
CH>these two ideas and you have a system that is inexpensive,
CH>indestructible, energy-efficient, fast and easy to build, relatively
CH>maintenance-free and suitable for work parties. With proper design
CH>they can look reasonably attractive. What more could HFH ask for?

CH>Contact Monolithic through:
CH>http://www.monolithicdome.com/

CH>Darryl Parker maintains an excellent page of concrete-dome related
CH>links at:
CH>http://www.texhoma.net/~goldnoil/domepage.html

CH>Here's a similar concept; I'm not advocating this at this point, but I
CH>think it's worth discussing:
CH>http://mailhub.icx.net/~richarda/ulc.html

CH>If Habitat groups start building structures like these here and abroad
CH>instead of the stick monstrosities they build now, I'll seriously
CH>consider joining.

CH>Good luck,
CH>Christopher Kirk
CH>Olympia, WA

OK, you have a basic paying job in an average low income urban
neighborhood.  You are new to the neighborhood.  Everyone knows you are
trying to make it, starting off in a HFH-built home. Would you really
want to put your very hard earned sweat equity and personal income into
a really weird looking house that has very low appraisal value due to
the complete lack of marketability?  Sorry, but conventional
construction is less expensive, easily modified, and comfortably
conforming for families trying to get a foothold in a difficult
capitalist society which is the everyday reality of their and most
people's lives.  A concrete dome covered with straw bales ain't gonna
make it on south 2nd street, USA.  Sure it's ok in backwoods county
(I've lived there too...), but there aren't as many economic
opportunities for the HFH clientele there.  HFH emphasizes REAL and
POSSIBLE goals within the timeframe of average working families.
Sorry, I don't see that squatter architecture is appropriate for the
American urban reality.  I admire the resourcefulness and community
orientation of "people-built" alternatives, but it's not going to work
in the US as a significant source of homes.

---

From: [email-masked] (Nick Pine)
Date: 6 Sep 1996 09:41:29 -0400

But does it want them? 

Nick

---

From: [email-masked] (Christopher Kirk)
Date: Fri, 06 Sep 1996 19:54:55 GMT

>in the US as a significant source of homes.

I agree - at this time, concrete domes wouldn't be particularly
acceptable on 2nd street, USA. Realistically, I had in mind more
overseas applications, where perhaps people are less fashion-conscious
and more interested in having a decent home than what the Jones' next
door are going to think.

What I believe is important is that HFH, along with the rest of us,
prepare for a possible future where wood is more expensive and the
weather more severe. We should be investigating and developing these
alternatives now, before we really need to.

Besides, architecture is fashion. I wouldn't pay a dollar for your
average American suburban split-level; to me, they're hideously ugly,
wasteful, toxic, confining, shoddy wastes of resources. Remember when
the redesigned Ford Taurus came out in the mid-80s? I grew up outside
of Flint, Michigan, the heartland of automotive country, and I
remember that most people were appalled by that Taurus at first. They
hated it. They thought it was hideous. Now all new cars look like
it... let's face it, Americans will accept what they're told to
accept. If the "Friends" moved into a nice concrete dome, everybody
would want one. So will the dome play in Peoria? Not now, but it
easily could.

If I was trying to get a foothold in a difficult capitalist society,
and somebody told me that I could have a home that will not burn, will
not blow over, will not fall down in an earthquake, will only cost
half as much to heat and cool, and it costs less than a conventional
house, I'd be thrilled - and I wouldn't much care if other people
thought it was weird.

But that's me... I guess I'm just some kind of oddball, anyway.

Christopher Kirk
Olympia, WA