GETTING IT ALL IN . . . AND OUT OF . . . MY HEAD

What Will Be Will Be!

Architecture and design was for me, I thought, a thing of the past. A thing I found hard to resolve myself with as I could never complete the concepts that I thought (and believe) make for good architecture. I got tired of the magazine banality that was going up in countless towns and cities  . . .  and far flung communities  . . . around the country. It seems we just don't get it here. If we are not keeping up with the Jones's we are settling for the next-best-closest thing we can find out there.

So what do I do? I end up building my own projects to show people how it can be done. I remember reading a few years back now about a colleague who was doing very interesting work in the far reaches of Norway. Todd Saunders (originally from NL) was making waves with his designs on the west coast of a country I had worked in on a work-term for a year during my uni days. What I found totally inspiring was that to sell his ideas to the public he actually built his very own project to convince people of his approach to design . . . . and it worked! Actually for those who have been venturing to central NL lately you can see his work on the island of Fogo in Zeta Cobb's latest project of a 29 room hotel - The Fogo Island Inn.

So what does this have to do with me. Well, not much really except for one little thing. I have decided to build my own place. To put my theories in action. A place that exemplifies my ideas of what good . . .  no  . . .  exemplary design can be. And I know that that sounds a bit egotistical but - FUCK IT! - I have paid my dues and I am over 50 so I can say what the hell I feel. I think as architects we have to stand up and stop being pushed around by people people who think they know what good design is because they have watched a few HGTV programmes and to know not to hold a pneumatic drill from back to front.

Right now in life I am doing what I feel is my calling - I left the world of architecture and gave myself to the world of theatre. But that has meant a number of big changes. YES - I did the thing I thought I would never do - move back in with my parents! But now a 10 x 10 room that I retreat on a daily basis to is starting to take its toll. If I am going to place myself in a room that small I had better be plopped in the middle of London. I do need my own space but I don't need much.

That said I am also not a person who wants much. My work in theatre. A place I can shut the door to the world on. And the less responsibilty the better so that I can continue to travel into the future without being weighed down by a large property. I have have started to develop my ideas for people in the same boat as myself. Reduced Living.

The size of homes that we live in now from the time of the 70's have doubled. And let's be frank here. Do we really need it? Do we really need the space we have or that we "think we need" .  .  .  or is it simply the "keeping up with the Jones's" phenomena. It never seems to end. A test! Just take a poll of how much time you spend in each room of your house in the run of a week. Surprise yourself!

So that is why I have decided to move into a garage - that by the way has 'never' been used as a garage - even in the the most northerly reaches of Canada where you would think a room of that sort would indeed be welcome in winter. But no. It was a work shop. It was a storage room - for things that no longer could fit in the other parts of the house and that that were no longer of use anymore, a place for my belongings to be stored upon selling my two storey - 1800 square foot home - and most recently it was a place for my 16 year old Labrador Retriever to spend his final days as it was easier for him to get in and out of the house with his increasing hip problems.

And now it will become MY HOME.

The space is 16 ft x 22 ft. A single storey affair (as most garages are apt to be). One 24 inch by 38 inch window at the back over looking the harbour and a new window I had bought for another project that takes the place of the former garage door on the street side of my parent's 54 year old bungalow. The ceiling height is a little under 8 feet but do able. And within that space I wish to have a bedroom to accommodate a queen size bed, a full bathroom, an office area, entry and open plan living/dining kitchen. All this in 352 square feet.

I AM LIVING MY OWN "TINY HOUSE" MOMENT.

This project has been on the books for a while now but it has taken different and interesting turns along the way. Originally it was to go up a story but I thought why the expense? Then there was the idea that I would extend out the back and add on a 12 x 12 living room/sun room with skylights - but again why! And just last fall I got to do some roaming around a family owned property in behind our town and came to the realization that this is where I want to get away to. But that is another entry and volume all together (that will be alluded to and touch on in the coming months) and governed how much I actually did here on the "home range". And where the plan at now for said design .  .  .  .  ?

So  .  .  .  . what is to be done? What is the objective? Where do I start? It all comes down to what I want out of life .  .  .  . a place warm and dry to lay my head, a job that may not pay much but that I enjoy, allowance to the joy of travel which I will never tire of, inhabit something that inspires me and makes me sile and maybe another in another far flung part of the world a place like this of comparable size - TUSCANY maybe?

I hope you will join me in the coming months in the creation of this tiny space I will call home. A place that will be my sanctuary. There will be photos and videos, drawings and budgets, build ups and tear downs, achievements and disasters,  and the usual trials and tribulations that usually I put my paying clients through.

But for now take a look at the shell that will become my hus!

THE FORMER GARAGE

Former Garage circa 1975

Former Garage (circe 1975) + House (circa 1958)

Rear of Garage facing Harbour


INTERIOR POST CLEAN UP

View to rear future Living area

Entry from Exterior(location of future bedroom)

View to Rear Entry from Basement