1/9: Jordan house
 

http://cellar.org/2002/jordanhouse.jpg

It's a non-news event, the Michael Jordan divorce, but sometimes you get a glimpse of how the other side lives and get to gawk at it. So here's what's at stake: the Jordan's Chicago-area house. A pretty nice dwelling, wouldn't you say?

My gawd, that place looks bigger than the university I graduated from!

:)

It's the school of hard knocks. The cost of such an education ain't worth it.

Why is there an inverse corralation between taste and money? What a butt-ugly house.

Well, Puff Jaggy, let's see if your corollary is true.

Your member autobiography describes Jaguar as "poor" and, by implication, full of taste.

How 'bout postin' a pic 'o yo crib, my man? :)

Dude......


not that I'm Mr. Richie Pants.... but...


mostly likely, a LOT of houses look "ugly" from the air. When I buy my first 50k sq.ft. home (and stfu, whoever that annoying dude was that told me to curb my capitalism), I'm sure it won't be nearly as pretty from the air as it is up close.. ;)


I just like the fact that it has a basketball court, and a pitching green (or at least, thats what they looked like to me..!).. At least the guy built the house the way HE liked it...

the dude likes basketball. He built a basketball court. Hell.. I like basketball.. If I was a gazillionaire, I'd buy it. ;)



(edit: even if I were a billionaire, I would consider buying it. Chicago is a fun town to party in)


(furter edit: If michael jordan is reading this, I would accept the house for free. Don't give it to your wife, dude!!! give it to me!! she doesn't even like you!!)

Yo! Is that you Stackhouse?
 

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/images...stackhouse.jpg

Detroit Pistons #42 :)

The point is the house has no style, no symmetry. Argh, form follows function, this clearly haven’t been applied ;)

No example? Look at the monstronisity above! There is no sense of self to it, it looks likw someone cobbeled it together over time with not a thought the the form they were creating!
Nic - instead of showing a pic of my house, which is not what I like at all (don’t really have a choice ;) Look up the works of Architects like Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright . Both modern architects. Falling water is fantastic, I like allot of his later, rounder stuff too though. Buildings like Unité d'Habitation I think are the way of the future. That is: aesthetically pleasing mass housing. My own tastes tend to run ultra minimalist. My room? Light charcoal walls, white/black furniture highlighted stainless steel (bed legs, desk legs, chair frame etc) and polished floorboards. Done over a couple of years, first painted/boards, furniture over time. Surprisingly cheap too.

I LOVE FLWs work, but it has some MAJOR problems

Ever talk to anyone who spent some time in Falling Water? Read what the family had to say about LIVING there - you can't! It's always DAMP and moldy, the furniture (designed by FLW as in most of his houses) is horridly uncomfortable (try sitting on one of his chairs sometime). On to of that, Falling Water is falling down! There was some serious miscalucations in the cantilever design of the main floor - it really needed to be about 2x thick as it is - they are doing some serious work right now to prevent the house from falling

That said, the Jordan house looks like an institutional complex. A GOOD architect can make an ordinary house extrordinary, and not for a lot of extra money - just by playing with things like reveals, shadow lines and lighting. Most houses have almost no thought given to shadow lines or lighting

Not much of a lot either. ;)

I was thinking about the divorce, she couldn't handle seeing Mike maybe twice a day? I guess that was the problem, she didn't want to pretend anymore.

I really can't handle a big house, it promotes isolation among the inhabitants. I'll edit this when my girls hit their teens.

Architecture done Wright
 

http://www.writedesignonline.com/his...re/modello.jpg
The Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, at its opening in New York City.

If Frank Lloyd Wright hadn't died in 1959, I'd bet Mike would have engaged him to design the Jordan
mansion.

Maybe Jordan told his architect, hey, I love the work of FLW, y' know like the Guggenheim in NYC.
Whatever, I want it to have all the toys. It definitely has to have a regulation basketball court
and a golf course. Oh yeah, and the doors all hafta be over 8' feet 'cause some of my friends are
bigger than me. And I love that black and white and shades of gray look.

Oh, btw, guggenheim.com is well-designed, too.

I've been to Fallingwater twice. It's incredible. But I can see where such genius probably had to come with a huge ego as well. It's like Wright believed he had to re-invent everything for the house. Some things make sense to re-invent, like the special windows developed just for the house. And some things don't need to be re-invented, like chairs and beds. It would be a different type of genius to know what should be re-invented and what shouldn't - and yet another type of genius to understand how to work with people to reach the right compromises.

I get the idea that Wright wanted his clients to live up to his houses. That's kinda ludicrous.

Heh. The typical bachelor pad: Mostly monochromatic, lots of metallics and/or wood. Probably angular, very clean, sharp lines. All your friends think it's cool.

Then you meet a woman who sets you straight. :)

If you're lucky you'll get a room to be a "guy" in. If you're really lucky, it'll be in the house. :)

I like a pretty simple bedroom. I'm all down with the techno kinda thing and whatnot, but basically, I just want to sleep there.

My computer room, however, I have more ideas for :) It's something I want to reflect me. Fortunately, that's pretty easy - I like making things. So I just make lots of things, put them in the room, and voila! Instant dhamsaic-like room. :)

Lets open up a can of Frank Gehry on 'em! sure, he uses titanium now, but he started with plywood and chain-link.

hmmm...
 

Ooohh!
http://www.guggenheim-bilbao.es/ingles/home.htm

http://www.guggenheim-bilbao.es/ingl...exposicion.htm

All well and good
 

A lot of the architects here have done GREAT public buildings - which is all well and good - let's face it, that's where the money is

What I'd like to see is some inspired, practical architecture done for the "City" and Suburban house. I'm not talking some of the houses sitting on 2-3 acre lots - How about some NICE houses meant to sit on a 40x100, or a 60x100. 60 years ago, there was some reasonable stuff being done, but it seems that since the mid 50s, and more particularly the late 60s, every house is a square block, maximizing interior space, and with NO details at all. They seem to call details the fact that the put a false mansard roof on the face building (because otherwise the flat roof would be TOO ugly) a detail.

Then you go inside - Lighting? That's ONE fixture in the middle of the ceiling, and other than that, the rooms are plain unadorned boxes

Before I bought my new house, I was looking to put an addition onto my old house. I spent a bunch of time looking at the zoning laws, and drew up some ideas to show an architect. He was impressed with my ideas, and they would have cost no more, and in fact less than what he showed me from his "stock" ideas

Then I found my new house and the extension didn't get done

Here's a question, what ever happened to "Pattern Books" - there used to be LOTS of them. You could come up with some real ideas

Sometimes I think I'd love to go back to school to study architecture, and in particular interior design. Yes, paint and fabric would be included, but I'm talking more "heavy" design - where do you put the doors, windows, stairs and the like. Where do you put the lighting? How are the kitchen cabinets laid out?

Silly things - the house I'm in now has great lighting in the Living Room and den (Both were redone in the 70s when an architect put the den on the house), but why is the lighting in the kitchen so BAD. Yeah, they did some things right - light over the sink, a down light over the table, and a general area light, but why is there no task lighting over the main counter?

I think that lighting and inexpensive details are the most overlooked low cost improvements that can be done to the design of a house (and are hard/ expensive to retrofit) $500 in materials and maybe 2 days onto the building of a house can make all the difference

Fine Homebuilding did a series on small houses a while back. I've gotta run but I may be able to dig up some interesting stuff, since it is a passion of mine.

I've seen it, and that's where I got some of the ideas that made the architect do a double take

Sigh

At that point in time, I was spending a LOT of time in FloorPlan3d - a bunch of bugs, limitations, but not bad. Much easier than AutoCAD

Detail? Detail? What is the rubbish, form follows function, all else is unnessecary crap! Argh we have forgotten Bauhaus!! (joke)

Although i do like the concept.

Whileyou all seem to know LFW pretty well, noones commented on Corubier, interesting ;)

FLW did have a HUGE ego, and considered himself a good engineer as well as an architect, sadly, he was not. All the problems you pointed out with falling water were engineering ones, not design really. If you look at some of the stuff he did just before he died its fantstic! I definately prefer it to his early stuff, although i've never been one for deco interiors.



Bit bitter there ardax? ;) Well my currant gf of just over a year's tastes run in a very close vien so that should be fine ;) We're both moving in together mid this year, all going to plan.

Form and Function can be friends! Thats the best design of all. It delights you and it works, it works and delights you.

wow...isn't this splendid...materialism at it's finest

Humans are nautrally materialistic creatures, don't do the whole holier than thou please, we merely wish to have a visual enviroment that pleases our asthetics.

Mies van der Rohe was a total sellout, bah.

The problem is we haven't really evolved - we've had modern, which is what we have been discussing, post modern, ultra modern...hmm......Nothing new in 50 odd years, merely sidelines of previous ideas, no real new movement.

You crack me the fuck up. Can we have sex?

Modern architecture has marched and evolved till done- the purity of a square, an empty, unadorned box. International style. Soviet style. Pre-packaged containers. Something messier and not necessarily new is going on- not linear. There are more diverse and personal influences and motivations impacting the built environment well beyond the modernist evolutionary track of western architectural history. Materials, new and old and technologies have opened engineering possibilities. its a cool time to build, or restore-rethink...And some motivated individuals are creating some fantastic homes, not to advance architectural history, but to live in.

Ultraminimalism is not new.



MOdern, 60s



Le Corbusier


Rehashing older stuff.


That is the key thing, i think we need a new track, a new philosophy, the same way art deco and Bauhaus totally revamped our thinking.

i like that....haha....as soon as a say a belief that differs from the ones posted here, i'm instantly trying to prove that i'm better than you. Hey...wait a second...does that resemble what Jordan is trying to do with his house. Do you not honestly believe that it is excessive at all?

haha...that's good too....yep......because hey we all need a fucking mansion when others in our country live in poverty.

Dham.....i wouldn't fuck you..besides the fact that your a guy

I guess you didn't notice that I kept asking "Whos doing architecture for the small house"

A LOT of what a GOOD architect can do would be equally applicable to the person living in a small rundown apartment as in a McMansion, and often costs NO extra money (or VERY little), but makes the house more COST efficient to live in, and more HUMAN to live in

GOOD does NOT have to equal high cost OR large, and Large and/or High cost does not always equal good

Little things make a difference. Where do you put the lights in the kitchen? Where do you place the door in the room? Do we enclose the area under the steps, or leave it open?

All choices that cost little or no money when you build housing, but that can make a large difference in the way you live, and that can cost a fortune to change

For instance, if I'm building a room, it costs NO extra money to put the SAME door 6" to the left or right, but to CHANGE it require the whole wall to be rebuilt

So, do you think that ALL architecture is about BIG MONEY? Or can it be about good HUMAN design - In fact, I'd say that many of the big name architects are "artists" who care more about art than GOOD human design

Not all architecture is crap ... but it's good to know where to put the toilet. And that's where Fine Homebuilding Magazine is very helpful.

What I thought when I saw this IotD of Jordan's house was ... shit ... how many toilets does it have? :)

I wouldn't fuck you either. Mainly because you're incapable of proper grammar, and as we all know, I don't like <b>fucking idiots</b>.

Wow. Check it out. I have like, hmmm... probably in the viscinity of 20 computers now. While other people are in poverty! But I work for a living. Anyone can get a job, no matter how limited their skill set. It doesn't take much to bag groceries at a store or mop the floors at a McDonalds. I have a mother that needs to be cared for, thank you very much. I need to pay lawyers to represent her, as well as get her basic amenities ($40 each month isn't very much - the nursing home takes the rest of her money, even though they do a shitty job - bed sores are fun!). Hey, I bet half of those people on the streets don't have massive bed sores like my mom does. Wanna start posting for her too? We all need a fucking mansion when there are people with bed sores out there, eh?

Anyway, not all of us live in a fucking mansion. Most of us don't, actually. I think it's less than one percent that do. So if you have a problem with the fact that most of this country (and the world, too) uses their hard-earned money to make life a little easier or a little more enjoyable (playing with an iPod is more enjoyable than mowing the lawn, trust me), why don't you cut all that out of your imperfect life and do something? Sell the fucking computer you post this from and buy some clothes and food for some homeless people. Sell your car and do the same. If you don't have one, steal it from some rich asshole that doesn't really need it anyway. Quit being a fucking hypocrite. I'd bet you the few thousand dollars in my checking account that you don't practice what you preach. So, in the words of Doug the Head, <b>fuck off</b>.

First of all muse, you are being holier than thou, you're, by proxy at least saying, look at you materialistic lot, disgusting, whether or not you yourself are any better. And another point is very clear, if you had a through knowledge of Architecture instead of looking down on it you'd realise there was an entire period of architecture (and much of Le Corbusier's work) dedicated to high-capacity, low cost housing, while still being aesthetically pleasing. A more recent example would be a project that turned a shipping container into a fantastic self-contained house inexpensively, believe it or not, aesthetics need to come at a large price.

So either sell everything you own apart from the bare necessities and donate the cash to red cross, or shut the fuck up and stop being hypocritical.

Anyway, personally i don't want a fucking mansion, i want a 1-2 bedroom apartment, you probably live in a bigger house.

Now, back to our regular programming.
Look at late FLW stuff, look in a few of the better architecture mags, and interior deisgn mags(i'm lucky to have a very good architecutre book shop i know in the city) , there is some fantastic stuff out there, the whole block thing is like some kind of crappy neogeorgian SHIT that personally causes my eyes to burn whenever i look at it.

fun fun bitching
 

....well since i'm now in the role of the holier than thou person, I may as well continue my bitching :)

So you accept the fact that less than one percent of the world's population controls the majority of its wealth. I see

Righttt. I live in Canada so that's where my following stats are going to be comming from. We have a social program known as welfare to provide those without a job with money. Over 70 percent of those on this program are single mothers. So do you propose that they neglect their children so they can have the money and be a great person like you? Also, I'm wondering, how many homeless people do you actually sit down and talk to. Sure you may throw them change once in awhile, but have you ever talked to them and found out about their issues?

No, I bet they don't. However I bet their issues are a lot more fucking serious than that.

Am I say architecture is evil? No. Am I saying I know all about everything? No. What I'm simply trying to get across is the fact that there's no way someone like Jordan needs a house like that.

Yes, I do think some architecture is beautiful. However does this justify spending millions of dollars on it? In times past this was seen as acceptable but times change, at least I hope they do. I'm sure some artist could paint a beautiful picture with the blood of a baby but does this justify the means?

haha and I love how people always get worked up about grammar.

Since you want to be a bitch about it would you rather I spell check everything?

vicinity

The problem is that a lot of the FLW stuff is pretty as heck, but not very functional - look at his kitchens. To much of what is out there (and yes, NYC has some descent architechure bookshops) just isn't functional

Your right about of a LOT of that neogeorgian stuff - it IS crap. However, the WORST stuff I see right now are either the Townhouse stuff, or the typical semi attached or attached house - they build them as "Lot Max" cubes, and don't even break up the block longhouse with any details (Like a femish lay to the brick) - It's designed and build as cheaply as possible.

The GOOD news is that there is a builder around here building what COULD be the same cookie cutter semi attached who is now doing some little things - a pattern in the bricks, a small spot for a shrub or two, some better lighting. His stuff sells faster and actually looks a lot better. Maybe the other builders will learn

Re: fun fun bitching
 

No, I really don't think you do. Because if you did, you'd realize that I didn't say anything like that, you fucking moron. What I said is that, to the best of my knowledge, less than 1% of the population live in mansions. Man you're a fucking tool. For the record, I know several <b>millionaires</b> at work that live in regular houses. Having money doesn't mean that you live in a mansion. It means that you have money. Those that live in mansions are probably well off. But the inverse statement is not true. In other words, don't bother putting words in my fucking mouth.

Here you go again, making shit up to try and convince the less-than-intelligent here of your superior argument. I say less-than-intelligent because the intelligent ones already see through it. Firstly, I never said anything about being a "great person" - I'll let history judge me, thanks. Far be it from myself or anyone else here to judge me - I don't give you enough information to do so. So you can cut that shit out too - like I said before, don't put words in my fucking mouth. It makes you look like, well, <b>a fucking idiot</b>.

Secondly - I've <b>stood</b> and talked to a number of homeless people. I can't count how many, and it doesn't really matter either. They don't bother me, just being there. So I don't really care if they get jobs. As long as they're happy, I'm happy. So when I talk to them, I try to make their day shine just a little bit brighter. Only a few times have I actually asked about why they were there - most of them don't seem to really want to go back to that. So I talk to them for a few minutes, let them talk. Tell a joke. Offer to buy them some food. Tell them that I'll catch them later. I treat them like a normal person. Nothing is more degrading than groveling. I try to make them feel like a perfectly normal person, like we're two dudes there by the bank in Toronto just chattin' it up. They seem to like that.

Well then, I bet you have <b>no fucking clue</b> how serious a bed sore is. How's this - one of them meant that my mom's leg <b>had to be amputated</b>. The other two are tunneling and <b>could kill her</b> if they're not properly treated. They look like holes, in her back, the size of baseballs. The flesh inside is nice and dark red with some wonderful yellow parts as well. It should, of course, be pink. Twice have they become gangrenous. Do you, in your infinite knowledge, know what gangrene is? Would you say that being alive but homeless is a worse condition than having gangrene on 3 different parts of your body? I'd say that the bed sore issue is a lot more fucking serious than homelessness, but maybe that's because I'm well educated on both, whereas you're obviously ignorant of at least one. Fuck off until you know what you're talking about.

Who are you to judge? How can you say what is and what is not worth that money to them? Maybe the architecture of the house is most beautiful to Mr. Jordan. Maybe it means a lot to him. How do you know? <b>Who are you to judge?</b>

As for the rest, since Mozilla makes this a pain in the ass for me to copy and paste, I'll just respond without quoting. Typos happen. Look over my posts and find me one (1) place where I have misused a contraction. That's what grammar is. Not spelling. But since we're on that too - find me a spelling error that couldn't be a typo. Thanks.

Charlie, keep looking, look at a range of mags, many of them *are* very pretentious/useless ill be the first to admit that but there is some good stuff being built, i've seen it. It does obviously depend where your tastes run. My first question would be: where do your tates run/ IF they tend to be more minimalist, you're more in luck these days i will admit, but i've seen some fantatic use fo foliage in very moden houses as well as medling of materials, particaurly wood/steel combinations ofthen whit bloc colour. Whatever you do, never read architecture Australia, it is the worst mag i've ever been unlucky to read, and to make it worse a fiend and i literally had to sue a dictioary on every 10th word, more elitelist, pretentious and arrogant pile of drivel i've ever read.

NOw.
Muse. Firstly when you butted in with your rediculious commet - we were discussing the hsitory of architecture more than anything else, which made your comment seem even mroe silly. Secondly, yes, it is obscene thatpeople have so much money etcetc, my question would be, what the fuck do you think we should do about it? We are in the midst fo a glboal class war, or the start of one, i think it will take 20 odd years to come to fruitation but its coming. Secondly, i never remember endorsing his house, yet your comment was directed at all of us, was it or was it purely at jordan?

The way I see it Jordans house, which would be for my purposes simply awful, provided a lot of work for a lot of people. So instead of a indoor court, I see a few hoops for kids nailed to the garages of the carpenters, plumbers, and electricians. Maybe the architect can use his piece to by a clue, but it doesn't matter. Jordan apparently got the place he wanted and instead of sitting on his pile Mike spent some it. It kind of reminds me of that feel good legislation Congress passed a few years ago. You remember our critters played the class card and put a luxury tax on yachts. The part they apparently misunderstood was that a lot of very talented woodworkers needed those jobs if their work was going to be fullfilling and lucrative.

Here's a place to go for those folks who have a building itch. They teach basic housebuilding, design and post and beam building to folks of all different backgrounds.

http://www.shelterinstitute.com/

You know, all this talk about houses has got the gerbil running on his wheel in my mind...

Parts of north Chicago have these large houses that are home to 3 or 4 families. My ex used to live in one in the Ukrainian Village (near Western and Chicago Aves.)--there was one 2 br apt. on each floor (3 floors total). I would love to take one of those houses and convert it into one house for Rho and I. So far, I'm thinking like this:

--The first floor would be the "art" area: computers, a recording studio, a photography studio, an art studio.

--The second floor would be the main area of the house, for entertaining guests.

--The top floor would be our personal living space.

It's only a rough sketch, but it would be pretty sweet. :)

sycamore - Hells yeah!

This is always the kind of thing I wanted to do, but a little bit different. Bottom floor is the entertaining area/living area/kitchen/TV room. Middle floor would be the "art" area - computers, all of Jenni's art stuff, etc. Top floor would, of course, be living space. The problem, however, is having the money to do it. So that's why I'm making do with the 2 bedrooms and the living room here - it's kinda our 3 areas - 1 room for computers and pets and Jenni's art stuff, 1 room for our personal space and 1 room (living room) for, well, living. It's not quite ideal, but it'll work :)

I"d put entertain on the bottm, liv on the middle and art at the top.
Firstly, having living hte middle gives you easier access to both, the only catch is the distance from kitchen to art. THe second factor is light, having teh art on the top floow gives you access to more light, often useful thing, and easier to install skylights. Plumbing would be cheaper on a bottom floor too.

Colour would be a big issue, you'd need something light, probably preferably cold on the top floor to be neutral enough while enouaging space. The ceiling in the bottom should definately be light, or preferably white to give an illusion of space/height, but warmer walls would probably work better.

Flooring, you'd probably want carpet in the lower two and something more....accident proof like epoxied floorbaords in the top. Of course since i have buggar all idea what these things look like......

I'm bored, everyone has gone overseas and left me alone =(. SO if you've got floorplans/pictures/whatever pass em over, i'd love ot have a look. The other reason is i'm looking for a topic/concpet for my first main graphics folio next year, which is supposed to be something architectural.....

Ok, here's something personal.

I'm feeling comfortable with the community now. :)

I've been there, done that with the maniac mansion deal.

In fact, my monster home was featured in the movie based on the Mary Higgins Clark mystery, Remember Me.

That's the house (half of it) in the pic on the link above. If you ever see the flick on late night TV, remember me. :)

I won't go into the whole thing about the house, the reno, the separation, the movie, the litigation. That's a book, itself. Or at least a separate thread.

Oh, it was no Jordan house ... only 6,000 s.f. for the three of us and the dog, nicely situated on 4 acres with 400 feet of waterfront. But it was nice.

Those were the days. :cool:

People seem to like it. (hey, including me, I just bought a townhouse. Sure it's not distinctive, but the plumbing works great, the roof doesn't leak, there's lots of room, and it's fairly cheap.). Who is this builder that does otherwise?

building a barn
 

I'm starting to gather info and do sketches for my next construction project so I thought I'd lay it in here in case anyones seen anything interesting. I'm going to build a small barn, maybe 20'x32' two story with woodworking shop and hay storage upstairs and room for maybe a dozen sheep, a couple horses, and maybe an attached shed for the chickens. I happen to (by design actually) live in a township with essentially no zoning for out buildings.
I want to do this by myself and on the cheap so that means heavy on local materials and nothing that requires more than one back etc.. I've done timber framing but I'm looking for something different this time around. I find cordwood constuction appealing and can build on a slope so some kind of underground construction might be interesting. Anyway I'm just starting the process so speak up if you've got any brilliant, whimsical, or foolish ideas.

Elevate Something Ordinary to Something Extraordinary.
 

from the in depth Fast Company profile.

The latest Mother Earth News has some nice photos of cabins but its really just an advertisement for their latest coffee table book for yuppies interested in building vacation homes in remote areas.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/

As a long time subscirber, I'm pretty disappointed with their evolution over the years, along with their parent company Taunton Press, they are moving from self sufficiency and organic agriculture to a lame suburban organic "style"where the individuals actions mean nothing as long as we support the right leftist legislator who will force others to act as "we" wish. :(

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/bas...dans_ap-01.jpg

They've decided the house is big enough for the two of them, after all.

Apparently, the lawyers and the real estate agents are really pissed.