Metal transformer flat hides WC inside vault-room in Montreal by Kirsten Dirksen on May 10, 2020 After stripping back an apartment inside a former razor factory to its original industrial concrete walls, floors, and ceilings, Jean-Maxime …
Valldaura Labs culls restored forest for buildings & biomass by Kirsten Dirksen on May 3, 2020 When a computer-based, self-reliant city-lab high in the hills above Barcelona designed and built a tiny home, they used parametric …
50 years off-grid: architect-maker paradise amid NorCal redwoods by Kirsten Dirksen on April 26, 2020 In 1968, Charles Bello and his wife Vanna Rae moved onto 240 acres of redwood forest looking to live a …
How will we live? urban prepping & rural resilience’s momentum by Kirsten Dirksen on April 18, 2020 “Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. …
Nautilus houseboat: German functionalism, golden ratio shape by Kirsten Dirksen on April 12, 2020 The Nautilus houseboats are modeled on their namesake, the spiraled-shell mollusc, to fit seamlessly with the natural world. Nautilus Hauseboot …
How we live now: tips from offgridders, tinyhousers, homesteaders by Kirsten Dirksen on April 9, 2020 Resilience: “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.” For some, preparing for the unexpected has been a way of …
The world from our window: seclusion as introspection opportunity? by Kirsten Dirksen on April 5, 2020 A virus, smaller than a micron, has made it clear that we are now a world without borders. Confined to …
A remote lake cabin with water-only access in wild Ontario by Kirsten Dirksen on March 29, 2020 Last summer, we visited friends on a small lake north of Toronto where the underlying Canadian Shield (mostly granite with …
Detroit indoor farming could boost local food, jobs & community by Kirsten Dirksen on March 22, 2020 In 2015 Jeff Adams bought an abandoned warehouse in his Detroit neighborhood and installed hydroponic racks 5-levels high to grow …
Found a derelict Portuguese hamlet. Settled in to revive it by Kirsten Dirksen on March 15, 2020 “Now, the rural is the revolutionary” – José Luis Peixoto Pedro Pedrosa and his wife Sofia left city life over …