[Greenbuilding] Fwd: Re: The five hundred year house

[David Bergman]

At 02:57 PM 8/19/2007, Alan Abrams wrote:

>      Of course this Jungian approach is static, in that it does not easily
>      anticipate changing concepts of the house, new ultra efficient materials
>      and designs, etc. Where am I going with this? I think with a compromise,
>      at least for the present, using smart design and the best practices of
>      fairly conventional methods and materials, and building for at least an
>      eighty year time frame--quite doable, I think, with careful envelope
>      design/moisture control.
>
>      Alan Abrams

I thought you were about to go off in a different direction here -- 
that a "compromise" solution might be a durable shell/structure that 
could last longer, with interiors made of materials and systems 
designed to be recycled or biodegraded so that they could change with 
"fashion" or living styles or new technology.

As an example, though without the recycling or use of biodegradable 
materials, that's what's happened with much of the industrial 
building stock here in NYC: it's been repeatedly renovated, often 
going from manufacturing to storage to makeshift residential (artist 
spaces) to high end residential. If only the design and construction 
had better anticipated the renovations so the deconstruction and 
reconstruction were less wasteful, it would have been closer to an 
ecologically viable process (putting aside the issues of 
gentrification and loss of urban manufacturing).


David
DAVID BERGMAN ARCHITECT / FIRE & WATER LIGHTING + FURNITURE
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