h. Play

I was invited to visit this… It’s hard to explain. It’s a house. Not really? It’s a cluster of dedicated spaces for living. And those spaces are… I don’t even know, man. But I was The Dude for a minute:

For those of you who are uncultured swine, this is where The Big Lebowski sits when he’s getting drugged in that movie called The Big Lebowski. I can’t remember our host’s name but she was lovely. It’s hard to describe what I felt entering this:

I imagined what it felt like to stroll there a billion times. For years. I’ve read everything I could about Lautner and this house. I know everything that can possibly be known about it via books and internet. And then it happened. It immediately made me sad that I don’t live there. No shame. It’s ultra-bold, low-key eccentric, strong and solid, pure as FUCK. I love the feel of polished or rough concrete everywhere. The beautiful, comfortable and look-alike Belgium carpet (the floors are heated in winter). The wood lines, the polygons all around… Everything is cantilevered if possible. It’s jaw-dropping. And all you hear when you go around the pool are birds. Birds, jungle and shelter. It’s absolutely, insanely fantastic. I can’t.

Dining table, kitchen and straight ahead, bedrooms to the right with sliding glass doors. It’s not a huge house. It’s perfect. Now, James is extending, adding expansions. But wait, look at the master bedroom from the corner of it:

Yes those sliding glass doors close the couch corner. Look. No doubt, when closed, it is hot at noon. When open, it is perfect. there is no AC in the entire house. Fuck AC, go outside under a tree you idiot. Save the planet etc.

Shout out to the landscaping. It’s lavishly gorgeous. You can see the steps on the left leading to the chairs in front of the wall to the right. Everything is hiding behind a ton of vegetation. You can’t see the house from the street, you can’t see it from where this picture was taken, you can’t see it from maps, street view and what not. Privacy through nature is life goal, son. Oh yeah, expansions.

There’s a club now (underneath the tennis court). Left to the TV is the DJ booth. It is of course cantilevered concrete and cantilevered metal, you peasants with supporting beams. Be gone.

It’s mesmerizing. I’m a bit concerned with the sound, though. That’s a lot of reflecting surfaces, this might sound like you are inside a spray paint can; metallic as hell. Maybe not. I haven’t been invited to play there. Yet.

Final Boss Chair and The Office View. I imagine looking at the horizon, pondering, rotating on that chair… “am I happy?” lmao just kidding. It’s the table where checks are being signed. Or maybe where James, the owner, draws vulvas on post-its.

Speaking of him, he was there, playing tennis and reading papers. It’s absurd that I now live 20 minutes away from that man and that I see him later on TV, courtside of the Lakers game. “Hey James, I was hanging out in your bedroom this morning and now you’re like me, shaking your head at those Lakers getting whooped by Serge Ibaka”.

It’s just… I can’t. Now, real talk.

This entire human creation of a shelter was mostly possible because of James’ bottomless finances. They say he invested well in real estate many decades ago and doesn’t need to work. Real estate is a ruthless business that kicks people out of their homes everyday. People, ants like you and I, fight to keep rights against real estate folks everyday. There’s prop 10 right now on the ballot this week (it’s YES on 10, don’t be rude). So, knowing that people somewhere in this country are paying a steep price for ONE dude to enjoy all year long a completely unique home, is hard to swallow. It conflicts me.

On the other hand, I respect James. He worked directly with John Lautner and his firm for over 40 years to maintain and extend the vision. The result is supreme. He also isn’t one of those billionaires who are all over themselves: he only owns this house and his 1961 Rolls-Royce, “that’s it”. He could have a villa in Ibiza, 4 Ferraris, a condo in NYC and an apartment in Aspen. Nope. He also opens his house from time to time to freaking nobodies like me and doesn’t sweat it. He already gave the house to LACMA so it will be preserved and open to visit for certain. He also loves basketball and isn’t the biggest fan of the Lakers. A man of taste (I won’t comment on his fashion; fashion is fashion).

Also shout out to the Sheats family who was able to see something in this parcel of land that was basically a giant wall of dry ass mud. There was almost no vegetation. A nice view over LA, right, but damn. At the same time, in the late 50s they probably bought that lot for like, $49.99. Not hard to try things out.

NOW CRITICS

I don’t really have any besides the decreasing use of wood in the newest sections. Listen: wood + concrete + glass = ecstasy. You take wood out of the equation and it’s not quite the same. Wood brings warmth, naturally. But I understand the reason why James is cutting lumber use down: maintenance. Wood gets hit, needs care, paint etc. You don’t need that with concrete and super-thick glass. That shit is immortal, basically.

If you want to have panic attacks, having kids and pets on that property would do it: there are almost no railing anywhere and it’s the jungle on a hill so say goodbye to your dog the first time he jumps down there chasing a squirrel.

Besides those minor inconveniences, dear Mr. Goldstein I would like to have my name on the deed, sir. I would probably switch the tennis court to a basketball court/skatepark combo but other than that, I would take care of that jewel for even longer than you will. Thank you for opening your door. And thank you John Lautner for being a genius. I’ll be back. Like, tomorrow if you want. Or tonight.

Photo album (60 pictures, no cropping, no filter).

I live a weird life. And sometimes it’s pretty dope.

I don’t want to hear about no king. Also I’m rooting for everyone black and left-handed.

It’s been a very rough off season for the Spurs. Watching Kawhi and Danny go for almost ten steals in a pre-season game and basically low-key destroying the East is giving me diarrhea and simultaneously makes me mad happy. They’re so good and cold as icey gentlemen that they are. Toronto is now up 4-0 which doesn’t mean anything in a season but Kawhi is the most efficient player out there. Damn I miss him.

KD can discuss that for sure. Over Utah, KD showed that he’s the best player in the NBA. Can score at will over anyone, plays great defense. And that got them to win against a Jazz team that was clicking like a Swiss clock. The Warriors are fighting right now. The west is ruthless.

The Spurs the other night. Man, that first half. That fucking ball movement and quasi-perfect shooting performance, gahd. And they’re missing Dejounte lost to injury a couple weeks ago so they struggled to close the game. Other than that, they looked great. Rudy is a beast. DeMar is hesitating a bit too much on his drives but he passed the ball a lot and nicely. Lamarcus didn’t have the greatest night but I do love him, his hustle, his offensive rebounding and overall focus. The Spurs units are stable as hell. I like what I see with Bryn Forbes. He’s going so hard and the rest of the team is ramping up, trying to get in the zone.

Great game.

The rise of JSON.

2005 He pointed to Gmail and Flickr as examples of websites already relying on AJAX techniques.

It’s interesting to me to point out that because big names, big websites, were doing big things so should we all. That is so strange. It’s like saying Walmart sells stuff and has a big parking lot so you should probably build one next to where you live. Because sometimes you sell things too. Programmers are weird. It gets weirder.

XML is the most fully-developed means of getting data in and out of an AJAX client, but there’s no reason you couldn’t accomplish the same effects using a technology like JavaScript Object Notation or any similar means of structuring data.

So the dude says that some extensive work has been done so that one format (XML) allows developers to share data and also, fuck that. Let’s re-invent again. That’s very efficient, inclusive and not selfish at all.

XML has never been widely loved. Even Winer has said that he does not love XML. But XML was designed to be a system that could be used by everyone for almost anything imaginable.

What the fuck does it even mean to “love” a data format? No one “loves” HTML. A system designed for everyone for almost anything imaginable, is a fucking great idea. But you’d rather screw that for your daily comfort? That is not selfish at all.

Imagine a world in which HTML documents and API responses had the exact same structure.

That was the whole goal! Empowering folks for generations with technical foundations that stand the test of time. Conventions and guidelines that we can lean on. But no, early 2000 programmers had to fuck it up and make themselves look smarter because they found a way to do something that seemed simpler but deter 99% of the population from doing it. An entirely different paradigm would have happened.

Instead programmers circumvented browsers’ security with JSON just so that they can run Javascript code off any website. Websites should have stayed about displaying stuff. They should have been made to have awesome fonts and an easy way to play with them. Websites should have stayed about reading more than watching videos or scroll algorithmically-curated timelines. Having the possibility to play games in the browser without Flash is great I guess but also kind of super useless.

The web was supposed to be for people, not a programmer’s playground.

I made it. I successfully landed on my feet after getting evicted.

Last weekend was kind of crazy: moving an entire 500m² (5,000 square feet), a whole 19-year presence from my friend and property manager, Jason. People showed up to help, it was great, hard, emotional. The weather was impeccable, warm and soft. I still went to play basketball in the morning despite hauling ass for 12 hours afterwards. My body feels like granite right now. On Sunday morning, 7am, I woke up with 3 gunshots across the boulevard. 10 minutes later, the cops. 2 hours later, yellow tape all over the block. I saw yesterday that someone died there. Drive-by.

It’s a weird feeling to be so close physically to random death by weapon, you know? Especially while you’re trying to survive sudden displacement and find yourself a nice place to live in. Fortunately, my good friend Arthur has a place and allowed me to move in his house. A wonderful, wonderful home. And I still can bike to work. Meanwhile, I will interview soon for a sound design position in Palo Alto. The week before that I was getting a baby mattress for our homeless woman from FedEx. Yup, she ordered it I don’t know how. But she just lost her delivery address. Ain’t nobody doing this for her anymore. Fuck gentrification so hard.

Shit is super-wild and exciting and scary and I feel like sleeping and stretching for 96 hours.

Workwerkwerkwerkwrek, though. I have all those projects, like buying South Los Angeles and rent it out to whoever I want. Like the white dude who’s buying my ex-block, displacing people who lived there for a substantial time of their lifetime. So dear friends and neighbors around: don’t sell shit. Ask me first, ok?

We’ll get through it child. We’ll get through it.

What’s up motherfuckers,

This move/eviction is real now. I hear the sound of tape going over boxes here and there. Roommates packing. I’ll be fine. But damn it’s sad and weird and impossible to change. I’m taking a million pictures. I loved that place.

It all comes down to maintenance costs. Having a home is one thing, but making sure that it doesn’t cost you much if at all for years and decades is the goal. I have many examples of friends and family building or renovating houses only to realize that heating that place costs an arm or cooling it down is an issue or that material was great for the first five years but is now deteriorating fast etc.

I designed my home with all that in mind.

So, the best shape in terms of insulation is the circle.

You want to minimize external surface area and consequently heat loss and gain. It also keeps building costs to the minimum. Circles are the best for that. Obviously, circles are not practical to build with. 3D printing solves the issue I guess, but it’s still weird to have interiors that are rounded (and with angled furniture, that’s even weirder). Human evolution pushed my brain to feel suspicious of rounded interiors. So we build squares:

Square is the simplest and easiest shape to build with. One big problem is that it’s boring as hell. Kind of brutal. We see that with modern McMansions and those arrangements of cubes. Not that pretty, even with nice landscape. Bigger problem, when you add surface with a cube or two, it adds thermal bridges and surfaces really quickly. Let’s say you want a L-shape house (two rectangles), that’s six external surface areas with some sort of connection between them (thermal bridges).

It’s not bad per se, but it will have a non-negligible long term cost. What about octagons?

That’s the closest shape to a circle, right? You might be surprised to learn that the octagon is really great for houses: 20% more space than a square shape with the same perimeter. The space inside the house is real space and not hallways and corridors: less space waste.

There’s no big problem with that shape. It’s actually pretty awesome in many ways. But! You kind of need to build big to enjoy decent-sized rooms otherwise they’re small and it feels like you’re an ant moving from a small room to another all the time. I’d rather not build big and probably wouldn’t be able to anyway. Big houses are terrible for the environment and just plain bad financial investment: if you have kids, they’ll live around you, not in the room you specifically designed for them. Bet.

So I got the idea of cutting it in half (when in doubt designing something, just cut).

 

And then rotate it.

Ta-da! The bottom is full North (street side). The top, the longest line, is South with large windows all along. East on the left, West on the right. If you center around the bottom left corner, the shape is reminiscent of two hands joining at the wrists.

The shape is sheltering, protecting yet stays open on one side. The green roof will accentuate this idea. The 3D printed concrete technique means the house is uni-body. Zero thermal bridges, bitches. Open floor plan, obviously. Cross ventilation East/West with cool North, North/East facing the walls, cooling down the house passively. Sun on the South side for passive heating.

Concrete and glass on the outside pretty much guarantees that nothing will rot or need special attention, ever.

This way I think maintenance and costs would be kept at a minimum all year long while enjoying a serene place to live that regulates its temperature efficiently and naturally. LETS GO

*drops mic*

(next time I’ll show you the floor plan I designed; it’s dope af)