Author: Andrea Cordonier
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All in the Family
The Bay Citizen reported in today’s The New York Times that multigenerational housing is a real estate growth niche around the San Francisco area, aimed at the needs of a growing immigrant population http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/22/us/22cncmultigenerational.html?pagewanted=2. However, it is a form of housing that is more likely to be adopted by North Americans in general as the challenges… Read more
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If You Go Down to the Woods Today
Going tramping through the fields and woods in Ontario is no walk in the park. There can be extreme weather, mud, black flies, mosquitoes, hunting seasons and snowmobile routes to consider. While we live rurally and have several forested areas and walking trails to choose from, the reality is there are a few optimal months… Read more
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Road Trip!
Drove. Photographed. Gawked. Book shopped. Looked at architecture. Ate. Sat next to Bruce. Talked about God, income tax and Libertarianism. Ate chocolate. Met Robin. Amazing tile samples migrated to the trunk of my car. Met Tedd Benson. Met some of Tedd’s fantastic team. Talked. Toured. Talked some more. Exchanged books. This one too. Left buzzing… Read more
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101 Things I Learned in Architecture School
I stumbled upon the intriguing little book 101 Things I Learned in Architecture School by Matthew Frederick (MIT Press) in the New Museum in New York. Read more
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Finding the Best Use For Our Time and Talents (In Light of the World Going to Hell in a Handbasket)
I just can’t seem to visualize my role in the big picture while I’m blinded by the pursuit of The American (sic) Dream. Or exhausted from cleaning up after it. Read more
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Dipping a Toe in Urban Waters
New York has a trip-hammer vitality which drives you insane with restlessness if you have no inner stabilizer. – Henry Miller Husband and I spent an extended weekend in NYC, compliments of our friends Dan and Shaleen at Magellan Vacations. They flew us down and put us up in a gorgeous corner suite at the… Read more
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A Man’s Home is His Castle
The mission of the Fortune Society, founded in 1967 in New York City, “is to support successful reentry from prison and promote alternatives to incarcerations, thus strengthening the fabric of our communities.” Their slogan is “Building people not prisons.” Read more
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Black is the New Rural
I am a faithful follower of the website ArchDaily which offers up an array of architectural projects ranging from forward-looking conceptual pieces to culture-influencing past projects from around the world. It is truly a potluck; you never know what will be placed before you. I can say that form certainly does NOT follow function in… Read more
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Me As the Centre of the Universe
I suspect that egocentricity is an evolutionary tool for survival. We are bombarded daily by media reports on environmental and man-made disasters and we’d have an awfully difficult time with day-to-day functioning if we couldn’t filter the overwhelming and turn inward to our happy place. When disastrous world events happen we pull out our chequebooks… Read more