Month: August 2019

Following Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the winner of New York City’s adAPT NYC competition in the Museum of the City of New York in late January, 2013, he toured the Making Room exhibition that opened the next day. The exhibition, organized by the museum together with the Citizens Housing & Planning Council (CHPC), is subtitled New Designs for Housing New Yorkers, ” and it explores this subject through layout strategies that react to CHPC research on the city’s changing demographics in addition to through finalists’ entries in the adAPT NYC competition, some precedents beyond the town and an entire 325-square-foot apartment. This last piece received the most attention and gave the mayor some fantastic photo ops, but as we will see, it is simply a part of the narrative.

The exhibition and competition are linked through the housing council’s findings which nontraditional households (singles and couples without kids) are on the rise, but there is not sufficient housing stock in their opinion. The city states that there are 1.8 million residents who are singles and couples, but only 1 million studio and one-bedroom apartments in all five boroughs. The competition aims to reach a pilot project with microunits averaging about 300 square feet. The exhibition, on the other hand, is a mixture of hypothetical jobs and design alternatives for living flexibly and economically within small spaces. Both are directed at making New York City cheaper to singles and couples.

Here’s a look inside the Making Room exhibition, which runs in the Museum of the City of New York before September 15, 2013.

John Hill

The exhibition is about the museum’s upper floor, at a gallery that is, unsurprisingly, little. Architectural models and drawings occupy about half the distance, with the rest dedicated to a full-scale microapartment designed and supplied by Clei and Resource Furniture and together with design by Amie Gross Architects. The floor plan is a stubby “L,” together with the living area and kitchen on the long side and the bathroom on the brief side; the entry is between the kitchen and bathroom.

Going into the apartment feels similar to entering an Ikea showroom, given the contemporary furnishings, but the emphasis is on versatility — the living room also acts as a bedroom; the kitchen may be utilized as a dining room; wall storage becomes a home office.

Here we see one wall of the dwelling room, with a couch, open shelves and overhead storage behind doors. The white and shelf panel are key into the space’s versatility.

John Hill

The panel hides a Murphy bed (the Atoll 000), which folds down to flip the living room into a bedroom. What’s unique about this layout is how it straddles the couch: simply move the cushions into the side and the bed may be pulled down. Another nice design touch is the way the shelf stays horizontal, so in theory the items on the shelf do not need to be moved every time the bed is moved up or down.

John Hill

Next into the Murphy bed is full-height storage for coats and other garments. A light comes on once the door is opened, and the clothing rack can be pulled out (notice the mechanism on the side) for easier accessibility.

John Hill

Opposite the Murphy bed is a wall with storage, a moving panel with a flat-panel TV attached to it and a bar behind the TV. A vertical support behind the TV hides the wires and allows it to move about 3 feet from side to side.

John Hill

On the same wall as the moving TV is a storage unit with doors which hides a drop-down desk. As with the closet next to the bed, a light has been built to the piece, over a shelf where notes may be hung with magnets.

John Hill

The kitchen is L-shaped and little, both in terms of dimensions and appliances and fittings — the sink is little, and the refrigerator is beneath the counter, for instance. As much as possible is moved off the counter (such as the microwave) to maximize counter space, one area where even larger apartments in Manhattan are inclined to be missing.

Flexibility from the kitchen is sold through a dining table tucked beneath the counter. It rolls out and contains a leaf that doubles its size, therefore it can seat two comfortably. Folding seats are hung on the wall near the front doorway.

John Hill

The majority of the exhibition out of this full-scale microapartment is dedicated to suggestions for many different new home types which are not permitted under present laws. As an instance, small units (less than 400 square feet) are prohibited in most parts of the town, but those might ideally function as unrepresented demographic. This is the focus of this adAPT NYC competition.

A team headed by Deborah Gans proposed extensions to Tudor-style houses in a neighborhood of Astoria, Queens (near where I live, coincidentally). Current laws don’t permit the proposed extensions, which can be envisioned as accessory components for the old or young. The coloured roofs emphasize the now-illegal areas that would add space to single-family houses.

John Hill

A version of one house shows how the attachment extensions would be executed in a similar speech into the first.

John Hill

Architect Peter Gluck’s team proposed microlofts of 232 square feet and 15-foot ceilings. Each unit includes a sleeping loft and a lesser area which may be used for living, working or both in a flexible layout. The kitchen is small (more of a sink with burners than a complete kitchen), but communal areas, like laundry space and worktables, are supplied. Five components are located on each floor inside walk-up buildings that may be situated on normal infill lots. A variance will be required to permit windows overlooking narrow side yards in addition to for such tiny units.

John Hill

Stan Allen and Rafi Segal proposed “Block/Tower” as a flexible reuse of allegedly obsolete office buildings in midtown Manhattan. Their project sits in the opposite spectrum of the suggestions from Gans and Gluck, who targeted small-scale areas outside of the city’s commercial cores.

John Hill

Their version shows the omnipresent curtain-walled glass boxes of the portion of Manhattan, yet with cuts at the base and up the building, to create “vertical neighborhoods.”

John Hill

Another version and accompanying drawing readily illustrate the idea of open, potentially green spaces snaking buildings up, a means of creating shared spaces inside the vertical neighborhood.

John Hill

Next is a scheme proposed by a team headed by Jonathan Kirschenfeld, an architect famous for developing strangely shaped sites deemed unbuildable by programmers to get single-room-occupancy (SRO) homes. Kirschenfeld is an authority in tiny units, and he applies his expertise to a different demographic on three tons along the Grand Concourse in the Bronx. As the model gets clear, the larger scheme comprises a greening of the boulevard to boost the desirability of dwelling on the wide thoroughfare.

John Hill

The proposal comprises a lot of unit forms, like the studios which share a bathroom in the model at right. This sort of plan isn’t brand new (he has used it in SRO layouts, and dormitories use exactly the same design), but Kirschenfeld is a strong critic of innovation in home design, using spoken on events that a large part of the alternatives have already been done.

More:
The Initial microunits are coming to NYC. Take a mini tour
Research the Small Homes segment

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In this second round of ers’ youth homes, you’ll see the exact powerful connections people have with these distinctive places. Several of you are renovating the houses you grew up in, a few are living very near the houses you grew up in, others are re-creating the houses you grew up in or picking houses that remind one of the ones you grew up in. A number of you have popped into the houses you grew up in for a trip (inhabited by relatives living there, fresh owners that became friends or new owners favorable enough to encourage you in) or simply enjoyed driving. One er became a professional due to the admiration she had for the house she grew up in; yet another is writing a book inspired by her youth community.

Please check out each of the stories from the original Call and continue to add your stories and images of your houses.

Time Travel to ers’ Childhood Homes, Part 1

Dorset, England. “I had the joy of growing up in the home in the center of the island (Portland, Dorset, England), whose community I didn’t fully appreciate at the time, that’s now the topic of a novel I am writing,” says user deniseqaqish. The decoration was my mother’s (complete with multicolored plastic stripes as a doorway decoration — very ’60s), the alleyway was my play area, and the shop next door was where I worked!

“The island is linked to the mainland by a narrow causeway and steeped in history,” deniseqaqish adds.

West Hartford, Connecticut. “That is the home I remember the most fondly, from when I was about 5 to 13 years old, back in the mid-1950s,” says er emsbutler. “That is a recent photograph, but it looks the same, except the new owners turned the screened-in porch into a space. My mom planted lots and lots of rhododendrons from the front lawn, which are gone now. The memories of playmates, our puppy, a pet rabbit, playing in the leaves and skating in the tiny pond near are so much a part of that home.”

Baltimore, Maryland. “The home I recall best we lived for eight years. At the time I thought it had been enormous, though it appeared smaller than I recalled once I returned as an adult,” says christina.

“It was built in 1880, and it was a constant project removing layers and layers of wallpaper and paint, refinishing the wood floors, repairing the old slate roof,” she says. “Nevertheless, it was a fantastic home, with pocket doors and rooms tucked here and there.

My brother and I had the whole third floor to ourselves (which had an extremely narrow, winding stair, hence the adults didn’t like coming up) . I recall when both of us found a hidden staircase that went from the kitchen china closet up to the linen closet on the second floor. We loved that home, but I believe our parents were happy when we moved to a more modern home that didn’t have quite so many issues.”

Gates, North Carolina. “My dad was in the Marine Corps for 30 years, so I really didn’t have a ‘household’ house, but I remember my mother being skilled at turning any place we lived right into a cozy home,” says user caci. “This included a World War II Quonset hut in Adak, Alaska! I married a farmer and now reside in an 1889 farmhouse in Gates, North Carolina, that reminds me so much of my grandmother’s home in Harrisonburg, Virginia.”

Bellevue, Washington. “It’s funny how you remember things — I always thought the home I grew up in was huge! It was a fine, comfy size but was not as enormous as I recall it,” says Sammi Thielen. “My bedroom was the one on the left, and I remember when it snowed, which was not too frequently in Bellevue, Washington, I would sit and look out my big window and watch the snow fall under the streetlight. I recall it being so peaceful and quiet. The home was a trilevel and had, in the time, the most beautiful gold shag carpets — we had a little sterile carpet rake to help keep it looking fine! Tons of wonderful memories from that house.”

Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. “I grew up in a Sears & Roebuck kit house,” says user hjracer. “My parents lived in their forever home for 45 years and just sold it to move into a retirement community. It was built in 1929. It was sad to say goodbye to my childhood home, but another young family bought it to continue many happy memories in a tiny bit of Americana history.” Hjracer’s childhood home was known as the Crescent.

ers, you may recognize some of those kit homes seen in these youth home ideabooks; they were built all over the country. I know there’s a Crescent somewhere around my neighborhood; I am eager to go find it now.

Laguna Beach, California. user joymaker and her husband like to drive by her husband’s childhood home. “It’s on Top Drive in Laguna Beach … we drive by when attending annual high school reunions. It was built using many different bricks and is filled with charm,” she says.

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Occasionally, you can go home again. “I made Ottawa 15 years back. I was lucky in my last trip back (only the second in 15 years) to be able to walk throughout my childhood house (sooo grateful to the new owners),” says Cathy. “This three-story home was magnificent — there was a living area on the first floor, bedrooms on the moment and my father’s office library on the next floor,” she describes. “My dad built that front porch, and he also built the coated indoor pool. The new owners have promised it superbly. It will always feel like home to me”

Medford, Oregon. A well-known local architect built this Pacific Northwest house. “Bob Bosworth designed our home in Medford, Oregon, and it was built in 1959,” says user chrdan.

Birmingham, Alabama. “My family lived in at least five homes in three nations when I was growing up,” says beverly_crawford. “The very first house I remember living in was in Birmingham, Alabama, along with Shades Mountain in an area called Bluff Park, from 1966 to 1974. Our home was a brick ranch with three bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. I wish I’d found an image of the silver aluminum tree with the color wheel spotlight that was exhibited in our living room window. As children we played out from sunup to sundown. There were no fences in anyone’s yards. There was a creek that ran through our neighborhood and a mountain so steep in the end of the road that we were prohibited to ride our bicycles onto it.”

She adds, “The first home my husband and I purchased was in Houston, Texas — a three-bedroom, two-bathroom ranch. It took me a few years to realize that the 2 homes wore each other on the exterior.”

Highland Park, Illinois. “The very first home we had was a fabulous 1930s Tudor with nooks and crannies, sloping rooflines and window seats,” says lilybeach. “The next was a dreadful ranch home my parents loved, built in 1968. They loved using a new house. I hated sleeping on the first floor, and overlooked all of the architectural surprises of this very first place. As a result, I’ve loved and lived in old homes ever since. My oldest home was built in 1787; my hottest, 1930.”

Additionally in Highland Park, Illinois. “The home I grew up in was a midcentury contemporary in Highland Park, Illinois, built in 1957,” says Carol Moses. “My dad is an architect and designed the home. They have lived in this home for 55 years and love it.”

“I had been so affected by the home I grew up in that I became an architect,” Carol Moses continues. “I like clean lines, lots of light and believe less is more. The little girl on the rocking horse is me.”

Yukon, Canada. “I grew up in a 1960s home in a fantastic neighbourhood from the Yukon,” says user tourere. “The house didn’t look big in the road, since the lawn came up to cover the bottom level, however it had four bedrooms, a large second living area (my dad’s study) and a large room that housed the freezer, camping equipment and all sorts of canned goods. There were two bathrooms, one with bathroom and shower/tub and another with only a bathroom. This was problematic when there were three teenaged girls (plus their friends) needing to shower in the afternoon.”

“But as a result I’ve never been that keen on the en suite thought, as I enjoyed that it had been an area that we all had to talk about,” tourere persists. “It’s where I watched my dad brush and learned how to whiten my teeth. Both things I love as I return would be the fantastic food storage/pantry and the big picture window. As I child and when I go home to visit my mom, I love looking out the window and seeing exactly what the neighbors are up to — that has a new baby or puppy and who’s learning how to ride a bike. I now reside on a farm in New Zealand, however from our deck we can see down the road, and my son enjoys looking at the tractors and trucks drive beyond. If I were to reside in a city again, I would need to be on the road with a view.”

Austin, Texas. “I recently remodeled and moved into my childhood home in Austin, Texas,” says katrina50. “My parents built the home from the early 1960s. I recently remodeled the master bedrooms, bathrooms and added hardwood floors; however, I did maintain the pine living space.”

“It did have a Nutone intercom system that has now been replaced with newer technology,” katrina50 says.

Cincinnati. Michael Long of Ridge Carpentry is also pleased to be renovating a youth home. “I am fortunate enough to have bought my childhood home in the Pleasant Ridge area of Cincinnati and’m in the process of restoring it,” he says.

It sounds like Ridge Carpentry’s remodel can result in a fantastic future Tour. I’ll be keeping my eye on it.

Detroit. “I grew up in a home in Detroit which is very similar to the one I reside in now in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan,” says user ruthie11. “They call them Cox and Baker bungalows, and it’s not that I love them, however my spouse and I do a fantastic job renovating it piece by piece to make it fit contemporary needs! We got it for a fantastic price in fantastic condition during the bank-owned phenomenon.” Ruthie11’s latest home is only about 5 kilometers from the one she grew up in.

Thanks so much to all of you for sharing your own stories. Please keep them coming!

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Fragrant and textured, this crazy eucalyptus and juniper wreath may be a pleasant addition to your front door or a wall above a fireplace mantel. Tracy Goldman of Sabellico’s Florist breaks down the measures.

Rikki Snyder

Set against a bright doorway, your handmade arrangement would be sure to be noticed. Or bring it indoors to enjoy its fragrance indoors.

Rikki Snyder

To create this wreath, you’ll need the following greens:
4 distinct types of chamomile: spiral, gunni (baby), flat and seededJuniper sprigs (optional)You may need 1 bunch (approximately 5 to 10 stems) of each chamomile type, available at your local florist.

Added tools and materials:
14-inch metal wire wreath, clamp-style form (available at a crafts store or florist)2 feet of 2-inch-wide burlap ribbonScissorsPruning shearsHammer

Rikki Snyder

1. Lay the metal wreath type apartment. Starting with the spiral eucalyptus, use two pieces at a time to get the foundation coating, trimming to slightly uniform lengths as you go. Place them between the clamps, making sure they are even.

Notice: You can adjust the amounts of each kind of eucalyptus to suit your tastes.

Rikki Snyder

Continue layering all of the way around the wreath base. Keep everything visually even and uniform.

Rikki Snyder

2. Rip little pieces of this gunni (baby eucalyptus) off each pack.

Rikki Snyder

Follow the same procedure as for the spiral eucalyptus, layering each gunni stem in a uniform way.

Rikki Snyder

3. Twist the gunni in addition to the spiral skillet between the clamps, going around the entire wreath, staggering each one and making sure the pieces are even.

Rikki Snyder

4. Layer in the apartment eucalyptus. Considering these leaves are larger, move them more toward the center of the wreath so they do not overpower the foundation coating. Continue layering around the wreath as you did in the previous steps.

Rikki Snyder

5. Now it’s time to add the seeded eucalyptus. As you did with all the gunni, break small pieces off the stems and layer them on top. The seeded eucalyptus adds a unique texture that stands out from the remainder of the wreath, dividing the other silvery textures. Add as much or as little as you like.

Rikki Snyder

6. Snip off small sprigs of juniper from the stems with garden shears. Place each piece carefully on top of all of the other greens.

Notice: At this point, the clamps might be getting harder to see underneath each one of the greens. This is completely normal. As you place the juniper sprigs in the wreath, look for each one of the clamps and be sure each has a sprig of juniper within it.

Rikki Snyder

7. Feel through the greens to Discover the clamps. Push down on each to shut it, so they will hold each one of the greens in place.

Rikki Snyder

Hint: When the clamps are too hard to shut with your hands, use a hammer to gently push them down. Take care not to bruise the greens in this procedure.

Rikki Snyder

8. When the clamps are down, fluff up the wreath. Don’t be afraid to pick it up and give it a fantastic shake to observe how nicely everything remains in place. Be sure that the clamps are coated by the greens. Here, the wreath is propped upon a gentleman’s easel to make it easier to use.

Rikki Snyder

9. To create a hanger to your wreath, cut about 2 feet of 2-inch-wide burlap ribbon.

Rikki Snyder

Turn the wreath upside down and then fold the ribbon through the metallic framework.

Rikki Snyder

Pull it all of the way through and tie a bow where the 2 ends meet at the top.

Rikki Snyder

To add to the rustic appearance of the wreath, you can use scissors to fray the ends of the bow.

Rikki Snyder

This pretty wreath will last for many weeks through the holiday season. Enjoy!

More wreath DIYs:
How to Produce a wonderfully twiggy All-natural wreath

How to Produce a lush and leafy holiday wreath

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