Page 14 RAIN November 1980 BUILDING Time Saver Standards for Building Types, 2nd Edition, edited by Joseph De Chiara and John Callender, 1980, 1277 pp., $49.50 from: McGraw-Hill 1221 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020 Architecture students and practicing architects generally have a volume of ,;standards" handy. It hardly needs a review. But if you're an owner-builder, not an architect, details such as average counter heights, closet dimensions, and the proportional sizes of various pieces of furniture will be a lot easier to look up than to figure out, once you realize the "standards" exist. Professionals will be happy to see that the 2nd edition is out with additions such as housing for the aged and handicapped, fire and police stations, and more. It's a fine addition to RAIN's Resource library. -CC Successful How to Build Your Own Home, Second Edition, by Robert C. Reschke, $7.95 from: Structures Publishing Co. Farmington, MI 48024 This is a good book to read if you're thinking of building a code house. The book talks about some of the less obvious potential problems and design choices which an owner-builder may not be aware of. For example: does the land have access to water and sewer lines? If not, where is the water table, and is the soil suitable for a septic system? What are the pros and cons of buying plans from a plan service? Is it worth it to go with gypboard where the butt ends are beveled? What are the pros and cons of different sub floors? The book is weak on construction details (read Dwelling House Construction by Albert G. H. Dietz, MIT Press, 1971), but will help with the design process. -Gail Katz COMMUNITY "A Proposal to Help Revitalize Eastern U.S. Inner Cities," July 1980, 63 pp., $2.00 from: World Game Laboratory: 1980 3500 Market Street Philadelphia, PA 19104 215/387-5400 This report is a result of the efforts of eight people who worked 10 hour days, seven days a week for four weeks in an attemptto "help make the world work. "They travelled an average of one thousand miles each in order to get together in.Philadelphia to do this and they paid five hundred dollars apiece for the opportunity. Why? We have demonstrated that it is feasible to use existing urban housing and proven, readily available technology to significantly reduce the urban impact on the environment, improve the quality of life, and make cities more sustainable. This could be achieved through farsighted designing, planning and greater participation in producing food, collecting and maximizing energy inputs, and working together as communities rather than competitively as individuals. The participants studied a rectangular area of four rows of rowhouses in the Haddington section of Philadelphia, encompassing sixty houses and associated yards and walkways, bounded by sidewalks and streets on four sides. This area, roughly .1 mile x .025 mile, consists of flat-roofed two-story houses and has 170 residents whose median income in 1970 was $11,034. Based on a simple World Game model developed by R. Buckminster Fuller, the participants propose to completely enclose the building roofs and the courtyard area with a weatherproof spaceframe vault to a maximum height of 50 feet. Within this artificial environment would be an integrated network of component systems for water collection and storage, plant and fruit cultivation, energy cogeneration, aquaculture, poultry houses and "rabbitats" (rabbit habitats), waste recycling, food processing and preservation, and home and community level communications. How realistic is this proposal? Total costs per household of designing, engineering, constructing and installing the system would run $49,360. The model "would require an investment of two to three million dollars for the prototype 60-unit system. This system can generate sixty to ninety thousand dollars in savings and income annually.. .. Production models in quantity could mean houses that pay for themselves in 15 years. HUD [Housing and Urban Development] is funding urban redevelopment projects which do not have the capability of producing energy, food and m'onetary income. . . . Our system is affordable and is a viable option to the present state of the inhabitants of Eastern United States inner cities." Certainly this is an interesting, thoughtprovoking report. Yet, one of the participants revealed in a telephone interview that seven of its eight authors acknowledged at its completion that they themselves would not live in this project they had so enthusiastically designed. There were some reservations about living in an enclosed, artificial environment of such high density, but the greater concern was that they had "created a cow." In other words, the numerous component systems in this design require such constant monitoring and attention that even the designers think it would be too much of a hassle to live there! - MR Clothis w~ntt' ... I ~z---D~ • Onul') via.\ve. o..t low tV'ld cf ~~sto-n ii' 'f" .fut- .s1·n1lt.·"111.~lt. .fwc.d5 Mid i" .fD.- dv11..I .f .. v,cts c,..s ~n Stub fut' .fl.ltvt't- -t-•.34• if (Dr1ct~lmi1-1t btl1i~ di~Vlwt-<,ntt'" eom,cction wo.~ ic.. dtsi,td ~ lf't" if A complete water piping system should be as simple as this sketch indicates. ~,w,sibili~ Ollt..,.i,Juhu IC.. nude,d . from Successful How to Build Your Own HoPM
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz