Ten years ago, I had just moved into that room in that building off of West Adams Blvd. Starting over. I was pressed and so stressed out.
Today, still in South L.A. All the lights are green. Smiling and laughing on a constant basis.
I feel that, Snoop. I feel that.
Got bit by a dog and a side of my bed frame broke so, all is well.
India seems to be pivoting into an authoritarian regime.
Europe’s far right is stronger than ever and supporting Israel, a not so chill democratic state.
Russia. Enough said.
America and its right-wing nuts reverting things that should never be reverted ever, like women’s rights to abortion.
I struggle to find a way out of this absurdity because at the same time, we’re more connected than ever. We’re not stranded by a lack of communication, we’re drowning in it.
So, it’s not a matter of knowledge. It’s a matter of framing. Phones and algorithms have supercharged the most unhinged behaviors and takes. It’s wild to witness but mostly, it’s impossible to modify due to the fact that those two things that didn’t exist 15 years ago, are private and/or personal. Everyone is on some self-reinforcing shit, basically.
How do we go back to calm and sanity? I’ll say it again: Universal Income. Sustainable Housing.
Nothing else can improve democracy. Nothing.
I basically never drink in California. But I hop on a plane to France and of course, I start drinking in it. Half celebration, half micro-dosing.
And so the haze starts.
I realized that from that mini bottle of wine in the plane to me being back in L.A., I never stop drinking. Alcohol is everywhere in France, except for breakfast, unless you’re taking it at 11am and that hey fuck it, let’s have a little drink, it’s about to be lunch anyway.
Everyone there is basically constantly on an alcoholic haze, wondering why everything is slow or mean (keywords: constant alcoholic haze). One classic move is someone pouring themselves another glass and going on a even more racist diatribe lmaooo. You know it’s coming the second they grab that bottle, it never fails. And because I’m inebriated as well, I like to pour some oil on the fire sometimes.
That’s what alcohol does and it’s fun until it kills someone, which is how women succumb to their partners at an alarming rate. But France keeps saying how alcohol is culture.
It’s a VPN to one’s worst to me.
Testing Harold’s Halftogon House print in the sun, orientation as close as possible to the real deal (full south here).
I added some herbs in the planters and I can’t stop thinking how amazing it’s going to be. Look at this! Imagine your ass sitting in the tiered-seating area, near the plant, taking the sun and typing on your laptop. Or at the top, watching a movie in a super cozy, sunken couch.
Here I was testing the kitchen skylight (1500mmx500mm), simulating a noon sun. It looks like the light would hit the kitchen island perfectly, then. Natural light when cooking is a must, and coming from above is the best.
I am so building this. It’s 1/100th now and it will be 1:1.
I’ve had so many compliments for those kicks in the past ten days that I have to post them. They feel great, they look cool and I’ll be sad to tear them apart kickflipping them on a bank but, that’s their destination! I have two old pairs of shoes to destroy first though.
I forgot to talk about size in architecture.
Even with 3D and a 3D model, it’s super difficult to get a feel of space. I look at my prototype’s LDK area, thinking it’s fine. And then I doubt it: it feels way too large or far too small, somehow.
So I go back to numbers and they look good: 150cm/5 feet between a couch and a chair, sounds just normal. But in 3D it looks crazy sometimes.
I look at houses for inspiration and so many have outrageous sizes. Anything beyond 150m²/1600 sq. foot for living is wild to me. I look at those villas and I’m like:
The best parties I’ve ever been to in L.A. have been in small bungalow houses. You can have a small house and 30 folks having a great time in it. You just need to open the windows because the heat goes up so fast with that many human bodies crammed in.
Small is amazing in architecture, despite what architects and clients think. Small spaces connect with the human psyche better, I believe.
Now small spaces, sure. Partitioned spaces, no. Wide open spaces are preferable. More enjoyable.
Like this (Paraty House in Brazil), but way smaller (this one is 840m²/9044 sq. foot).
The wall shape is optimized for cooling, looking cool and kind of like a tree. They otherwise optimized sunlight by moving walls accordingly, giving space for pretty skylights:
Using every single source of possibility, from the land to technology. SUEP’s approach is intensely holistic and I’m in love with that.
Yes, I’m conscious that while I’m prototyping my custom house using the latest technology available, people in Gaza lose their family homes for no reason, with no possibility to stop it, while Japan and China have a surplus of houses that goes into dozens of millions, just rotting onsite.
One might say “shit is crazy” but I’m thinking, we ought to do better jfc.
“I ain’t checked the price (I got it)”
Me in 2024:
“my brothers in Christ are you out of your mind if you don’t check the price at the very least twice in 2024, tf ym???”
(that beat was kind of everything during fall 2014, soundtrack to working in Hollywood. Music stars, Calabasas, 101 and Santa Monica, trying to make this bread one 12-hour shift at a time)