Spring Break 2007 Part 6

Thursday started out a little chilly from the mini-storm that went through the night before, so I didn’t get started until around 9 a.m. I decided to just start drilling post holes and get as many done as we could before we had to return the machine. Of course this wasn’t all that easy, since I had to work around the grape vines and other obstacles. Lalie and Mom worked hard at tearing out as much of the existing fence as they could. The digging was surprisingly easy, hitting mostly sand. I was expecting a lot more in the way of rocks. The hardest part was actually getting the post digger into position which for being a one man post hole digger, it wasn’t all that maneuverable. All in all, it went faster than I was expecting. We stopped for lunch around 1:30. I only had to do a couple more holes around the garden, which was my goal to get finished. But since we still had time on the meter, I dug as many I could along the side of the back driveway. Finally at about 3, I was finished. We hitched it back up to the car, and returned it. Of course we were all pretty sore and tired by then. Mom and I picked up some KFC for dinner. After we got back, I worked on assembling the first few sections of fence, and cementing in the first posts.

Spring Break 2007 Part 5

The day started out a little cooler, with a bit of an overcast sky. This was our last morning at the condo. Mid morning, the kids and I went to a bakery downtown for some coffee and breakfast, and I could get some decent internet. Nice relaxing morning. Afterwards, we rode the bike trail again to the park, letting Ben play for a bit. Finally, we returned, and dropped off the bike trailer at the rental shop, before heading back to the condo. We packed up, and left around 1 pm. We came back the same way we went, stopping at the Castle Creek Winery to pick up some pretty good wine. We arrived back in Grand Junction around 3 pm. On the way back, we listened to another tape of our Desperation book. It is getting weirder and weirder.

After we got back to moms, we unloaded the Durango, then mom and I headed out to get supplies. First we went to Lowe’s to pick up some concrete and other misc. stuff. Then we headed to the opposite side of town to pick up the post hole digger. Finally we went back to Lowe’s to pick up the wire mesh for the fence that we forgot the first time around. We finally got back around 4:30, and we set to work. By 7:30, we had torn out the first section of fence, and had drilled the first 4 holes. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the digging was. I figured we would be hitting all kinds of rocks remembering the days I helped landscape this yard in the first place.

I was a little sore in the evening, having used my arm muscles that I haven’t really had to use for awhile. Lalie cooked a wonderful stir fry for us, and then we played Farkel. Finally, we passed out, and I actually slept through the night! The first time in several days.

Spring Break 2007 Part 4

Today started off as another gorgeous day. I didn’t sleep that well during the night, little Ben came in the middle of the night and pretty much snored away…or it could have been the Tequila keeping me up. Lalie, Robert, and his boys went for there hike at the Fiery Fireplace, leaving about 9, and not planning to be back till around 2. The kids and I hung around the condo for awhile, with me finding one of the internet spots and going through all my email. Finally we decided to go into town for some bike riding. Hannah fixed us a picnic lunch. Of course, I decided to tour around, and skipped taking the highway into town, electing for the back roads.

On this back road, we found a small park, and stopped there for a bit so the kids could play. It was pretty cool, and had a music park where there were some drum type things, and lots of bells the kids could bang on. They had a blast! After this we went downtown, and found a place to rent a bike trailer for Ben, then we hopped on the river trail, and followed it till we got back to the park. Ben played again, and then we all had our picnic lunch. Afterwards we found that the park was actually the end of the trail, and then we headed back. We found a little ice cream store that makes there own, and I even broke down and had an ice cream. We met up with Lalie and the gang there, before heading back to the condo. At the condo, I went for another bike ride up the road from the condo till I hit the end. It wasn’t all that long, maybe ½ mile, but the climb, OMG. Went up about 1,000 feet. There was a 4 wheel drive trail/ bike trail at the end, but it was too sandy to go far.

Later, Lalie and I went for a drive. We wound up getting on some road that took us up to the LaSalle Mountains in short order. Very pretty and still snow up there. When we got back, Robert and the kids were repelling down the rocks behind the condo. Hannah had a blast with that.

For dinner we all went to a little Mexican restaurant in town. Of course, I had another marg. The food was good; I ventured out some and had a steak fajita. Not much excitement for the evening, other than I got back into the hot tub after everyone went to bed so I could soothe my muscles.

Spring Break 2007 Part 3

The wireless internet we are supposed to have at this place is really sporadic. There are only 3 good places we can get wireless, in the upstairs front bedroom – by the window, in the upstairs bathroom, or on the front porch – but only if there are no cars in the driveway!

Today we started off kind of slow, not getting out of the house till about 11:30 am. But before that, Hannah and I went for a bike ride around the surrounding neighborhoods. That felt good, but I can tell I have lost some conditioning over the winter. Our first stop (and only one of the day) was the Arches National Park. I have only been there in my early days, and don’t remember it worth squat. First we stopped at the visitor center so we could register for one of the hikes to the Fiery Fireplace area. The only available hikes were for the next morning, and not recommended for kids under 5. I elect to stay with Ben and Hannah, so that we could go on a bike ride.

After this, we went into the park, which is an immediate 1,000, some odd foot vertical climb. This part itself was breathtaking, and then we motored through the park for a bit before our first stop. The scenery was amazing, and I was able to get several good photographs while cruising along, including some arches in the distance, and some in the formation stages. Our first stop was at the balanced rock. This in itself was gorgeous, with the rock formations, and the vegetation. Ben and Hannah were quite the troopers just hiking along and enjoying the scenery. After this, we went on a 4-wheel drive road back to a remote arch that we had to hike and climb to for a bit. This was about a 2 mile round trip hike and little Ben made it the entire way, climbing up rocks and everything. We stopped here for our picnic lunch. After this, we went to the Delicate Arch overlook, with another 1.5 mile hike, that also climbed quite a bit. Some more spectacular scenery, with Ben and Hannah making it the entire way!

Finally, we went to the end of the road, and hiked to the Landscape Arch, which is the world’s longest arch. This was the longest of the hikes at a little over 2 miles, with quite a bit of vertical change. The coolest part was at the beginning where the trail went between two huge vertical slabs of rock, each rising several hundred feet. Ben was getting tired by this point, so we started him out in the stroller, but he still walked over half the distance. Of course, wherever there was sand, he stopped to play in the dirt. The Landscape Arch itself was spectacular, gracefully arching through the sky. At its narrowest point, it is only about 6 feet thick. They used to let people under it, and to climb on it, but about 10 years ago, several tons of rock sheared off the bottom of the arch (which happened to be photographed by someone from Fort Collins). Since then they have had it closed off, in case more falls off, or the entire arch collapses. After this, we were pretty tired, so we came back to the condo and chilled out for a bit. We had Pizza for dinner.

In the later evening, Lalie, Robert, and I hung out in the hot tub, drinking margaritas and tequila shots, and just staring at the starts. Here in the dark night desert sky, the stars are absolutely amazing…billions of them. How I wish you could have been there to see those. The hot tub was so relaxing, at around 100 degrees. Finally, we all went to bed to get ready for the next day.

Spring Break 2007 Part 2

The day started off beautiful! Sun is out, and it is nice and warm. Robert and his boys planned to meet us around noon or so, for the trip to Moab. During the morning, we spent some time outside. Ben played with mom in the garden dirt with his tractor and dump truck. I worked on measuring out the fence, and trying to figure out how to build it. The hardest part will be in the garden area, working around the grapevines, garden steps, irrigation lines etc. That will be phase 1. The second phase will be around the rest of the yard, which will be pretty easy.

The view from mom’s yard is always gorgeous. She looks at the Colorado Monument, which is always gorgeous.

Robert was a little late, calling us at 12:30 to say he had entered the valley. We then left mom’s to meet up with Robert at the McDonalds in Fruita. We also stopped at the car wash so we could both wash our cars and bikes. Everything got a little dirty in all the snow the day before. We finally got on the road around 2 pm. Instead of taking the direct route, we decided to take route 128, which follows the Colorado River, and is the scenic route. Scenic hardly described it! It was absolutely gorgeous! All the red cliffs were amazing. Not unlike the Glenwood Canyon, but the reds in the rocks were out of this world.

We arrived in Moab around 4, and went straight to the condo. The condo itself is very nice, set into red rocks, to create a very private condo. There is a hot tub just off the master bedroom, which is sure to get some good use. From the condo, we can see red rock cliffs that line the valley, with the snow covered LaSalle Peaks in the background.

For dinner we went to the Moab Brewpub. Service was slow, but the beers and food were very good. I had a Chili Verde Pork Burrito. A little spicy, but very good. Puts the Green Chile Burrito to shame. The rest of the evening was uneventful, where we looked forward to touring the next day.

Spring Break 2007 Part 1

We left the house 1t 9:55 am, 5 min ahead of schedule, a minor miracle for us. We had to make a few stops on the way out of town, the bank – with donuts for the kids, and a coffee shop to get Lalie and me a skinny Latte. So it was about 10:30 before we actually got on the highway.

The trip itself was pretty uneventful. The kids either listened to Hannah’s I pod, or watched a movie on the DVD player. After we got into the mountains, and were out of radio range, Lalie and I listened to a book on tape. This particular one was title Desparation by Stephen King. We got through the first two tapes before we hit Grand Junction. So far, it is about several people who are traveling through the middle of Nowhere in Nevada, and get pulled over by a psycho cop. So far, he has killed two people, but jailed the rest. The cop also seems to have control of the Coyotes, and the Buzzards, calling them at will.

The weather was cloudy, but fairly warm when we left Fort Collins, in the upper 40’s. It stayed that way until we were going up Eisenhower pass, where it began to snow but not heavy enough to cause any major issues. Pretty much the same going up the eastern side of Vail pass, but coming down the western side was a different story. It became blizzard like in a few locations, and I was really thankful we decided to not bring the trailer…for the likelihood of hitting snow in the passes. The uphill side was in worse shape with several jackknifed semis. We found out later that they actually closed the highway shortly thereafter, so we made it through in the nick of time.

We stopped for lunch at the Wendy’s in Edwards, which is pretty much the halfway point. From there, we made it through to GJ with few problems, other than some rain. Once we got there, we sat on the back porch with mom drinking Ice Tea. The weather was partly cloudy, and eventually rained. Mom made a delicious Pork Roast for dinner. Afterwards, we took the kids to Cold Stone for Ice Cream.

All in all a pretty good trip. We did the whole thing in about 5 hours, with only 1 stop. Pretty amazing for us.

Spring has Sprung!

It seems like a short time between winter and spring this year. Not much more than a week ago we were still having frigid temperatures. The last of the snow finally melted in our yard this week, with most of it gone a week ago.

Now this week, we have tulip bulbs coming up, and crocuses too! Won't be long before I am at it, cutting everything down and getting the yard ready for another showcase summer. Hopefully we will be on more of a normal moisture cycle this year. The past seven years we have been in this house have certainly been eratic from a weather and moisture standpoint. Not much to build or landscape in the garden this year, which is good, cuase this spring we are painting the exterior of the house. That will be a project.

I am also looking for large 20 inch or so hanging baskets for our porch. If anyone knows were to get some, please let me know!

My Current Thoughts and Musings

It has been awhile since I blogged. I apologize to everyone, but to be honest I havn't really been inspired for awhile, or perhaps I just had a serious case of writers block.

This has been a strange winter around here. The last postings I did were of our pre-Christmas blizzard. Oddly enough, a week after that storm, we had another pretty big one, and it seems a weekly storm of some sort. And it has been VERY COLD this winter! Usually we get an arctic blast for a week or so in the winter, then it is over. And we always have some very warm days during the winter when we can get out and enjoy life, go for a walk, play a round of golf, ride bikes, or even clean up the yard a little bit.

Not this year...we are in week 7 of cold snowy weather. The snow from the blizzard is STILL on the ground! and we have hardly had any days above 40, with most of them in the 20's and 30's, or colder. I am getting cabin fever big time. I have a burning desire to build something, but it is way too cold in the garage to fire up the woodshop. Even though the garage is fully insulated, it would cost a fortune to crank up the space heaters to get the temperature into the mid 40's so I could work without gloves. Fortunately, I did figure out how to completely drain the trailer this year, so hopefully no broken pipes this time! I need a break from this weather...Calgon take me away!

On the bright side, business has picked up dramatically in the last couple of weeks! If this keeps up, it looks like this will be a good year, and my inspiration is starting to make a comeback!

Jan. Fugglies

OK, so I am a couple of days late posting, but I found this one in January! This wonderful project is a perfect example of what not to do for project planning and streetscape design! This particular apartment project is in Castle Rock, Colorado, next door to one of my projects. They both were designed and approved roughly at the same time, but what a difference in concepts and execution!

The apartment home site was originally a beautifully sloping site vegetated with scrub oak and other native plants. The developers of the apartment homes probably had a standard building plan they wanted to use (usually on flat sites), so in order to get that product to work on this site, they had to construct some incredible retaining walls to pull this off. The picture shows the result of what happened along the public street adjacent to the site. Not only are the walls incredibly tall (around 40 feet at one point), they were designed without any anesthetics in mind. There is no variation in color, no pattern, nothing. Just a huge homogeneous wall. Then, they didn't even bother to screen it plant material, trees, or shrubs. Just a few trees scattered here and there. Ugly.

Watch for my other post of our project coming up shortly.

Christmas Blizzard 2006

Ok, so it isn't quite Christmas, but close enough. Once again, we find ourselves under a blizzard, with about 2 feet of snow dumped on us. This doesn't quite get up to the March 2003 blizzard when we had over 3 feet of snow, but with this storm, the snow will be with us for quite a while, as the cooler temperatures won't melt it very fast.

It started snowing on us early Wednesday, and by noon at work, we called it a day. I went to fetch my daughter at school, and went home. by then we had about 4-6 inches. I drive a true 4 wheel drive SUV (and right now I am glad I do!), so I didn't have any problems getting around, except for the other drivers on the road. The next morning, the snow had stopped, but the wind hadn't! There were areas that were bone dry, and other places with 3-4 foot drifts! We had to keep our cars outside in the driveway, so we wound up with some major drifts around the cars. Thank goodness for my neighbor, who has a bobcat tractor. He used it to dig out the driveways of his neighbors! Course, I had to shovel out the drifts around the cars. I am also thankful now that we live on a collector that is a designated snow route...we get plowed! The first plow came through at 10 am following the end of the storm. While it was nice to get the street plowed, it did add an additional 2 feet of snow to the end of the driveway! Once again, thank goodness for my neighbor! He did make some major piles of snow in the street, that the kids have had a good time playing on!

Other than having closed the office for a couple of days, this storm has been nice in that it has rather put me in the Christmas spirit with a few days off, shoveling snow, and the like. It is very pretty out, and we are sure to have a white Christmas this year!

Merry Christmas everyone, and have a Happy New Year!

December Fuglies

The other day I was driving down C-470 in south Denver, when my eye was caught by this housing development. I simply had to get off the interstate and explore this one...and I could not believe my eyes! This has to be one of the worst developments I have seen, particularly for townhomes! The first picture is what you see when you first drive into the development...nothing but a solid row of garage doors! There is no focal point, there is no sense of community, no sense of arrival. Nothing but a series of garage doors. The other side of the buildings isn't much better. This is what visitors see when they come to your home...nothing but lined up porches, with little to break it up, or identify one unit from the next. In the front there isn't even any differentiation in the architecture...talk about boring!

I am blown away by three things...that a developer would build something like this, that a jurisdiction would approve it...and even more surprised that buyers would buy this! Granted, this parcel of land was landlocked between two apartment complexes, and was long and narrow, but I would think that something else could have been done. Something to give this development some sense of arrival, some focal point. Sacrifice a few units to create something special. How about being proud of something that you build?

November Fugly Award!

The November fugly award goes to a particular streetscape in the Greeley area. In this streetscape, somebody decided to plop down some large boulders as landscape elements. Now we use boulders all the time, but to be properly done, they need to be partially buried to look more or less natural. Not these, they were just plopped on top of the ground! And not just in turf areas, but in the concrete areas of the splitter islands for the round-a-bout. These look hideous. Not only are they out of scale, they aren't buried properly, nor are they grouped to look some kind of setting. Nope...plop one here, one there, totally random.

Too bad, this was a nice project overall.

Consumer Sustainability

While helping to prepare some of the meal for Thanksgiving, I got out an electric hand mixer that I use a lot for small jobs. Using this hand mixer got me to thinking about a different aspect of sustainability, and that is how we have become a throw away society. These days, most of the everyday products we use are made of plastics or other similar materials, particularly the gears in the motors. These arn't good plastics either, but cheap plastic designed to keep the end product costs low. But what usually happens? These products, particularly household kitchen appliances work well for a few months, maybe even a few years, then they break. Because they are so cheap, it is easier to buy a new one and throw the old one away...contributing to our landfill waste.

What is it that got me thinking about this? The hand mixer I mentioned above, is an old mixer. I got it from my mother when I settled in my own place 20 years ago. Now having a kitchen appliance for 20 years these days is really something, but this hand mixer is older than that. I remember using it as a kid, in fact I remember this particular mixer being around as long as I can remember....so that is pushing 40 years! And it is still going strong. Now it might not be the prettiest thing, it isn't stainless steel, it isn't shiny white, but a faded yellow...and it is made of metal. But in this case, it isn't a beauty contest. It stays in the drawer and only comes out when needed, usually once a week or so.

Imagine what it would be like if common everyday items, be it kitchen appliances, toys, or whatever, where built to last. We wouldn't have to throw everything away. Sure it might be more expensive initially, but it would sure be cheaper in the long run. Imagine having to shell out $100 or so for a good hand mixer that lasted 40+ years, instead of shelling out $30 every few years? Imagine how much less stuff would be trash, how much less resources we have consumed in making and transporting those products...now that is sustainability.

Award Winner!

On November 15th, I was the proud recepient of the first every Urban Design award given out by the City of Fort Collins. We recieved the award for the Harvest Project that we designed a few years back, and which recently completed construction. The city gave out a total of 12 awards in 6 categories. The Harvest project was the only award given to a single family detached community, that was a greenfield development. It was an honor to recieve such an award.

Harvest was designed based on new urbanism principles. There are over 500 homes in the 105 acre community, with a mix of single family and townhomes. Within that is a broad mix of product types that where interwoven together. There were 4 single family product lines, with a variety of lot size needs. All these lot sizes where woven together within blocks to create a dynamic mix of homes and home prices. Also mixed in, where two townhome products. Again, these where interspersed throughout the community. Also included where 4 small pocket parks, a community recreation center that occupies an entire city block. This site is also surrounded by a public park, and a city natural area. The community was designed to be walkable with detached walks, street trees, and 95% of the garages are accessed by alleys. My client, Writer Homes (subsequently purchased by Standard Pacific Homes) designed an entirely new product line for this community. In addition, they used a variety of color schemes, to really create a vibrant streetscape. This is indeed a neighborhood and community to be proud of.

Back Alley Walkability - Fort Collins Style

Last month, ASLA's blog, The Dirt, posted a ditty on Back Alley Walkability. I posted a comment that I would write about what Fort Collins has done recently to create walkable alleys, so here it is!

Like Architect David Winslow, Fort Collins downtown alleys are also widely used by pedestrians. In 2004 The City of Fort Collins, in conjunction with the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) embarked on a plan to improve two of the alleys that had been widely used by pedestrians for years as mid-block shortcuts. One of the alleys, Trimble Court, (pictured to the left) was a mid-block shortcut between the main drag of College Avenue and Old Town Square, a pedestrian mall. This alley already had a well established artists studio on it. The other alley, Tenney Court, became a widely used pedestrian shortcut after the construction of the Civic Center Parking Structure.

Both alleys had numerous trash dumpsters, utility boxes, poor lighting, and were generally unattractive. The goals of the city and the DDA was to consolidate trash dumpsters, screen and/or relocate utility boxes, vastly improve lighting and other pedestrian amenities such as providing benches, planters, new paving, and the improve the drainage and more.


As can be seen in the photos, all this has been achieved and more. The picture shown to the left, Tenney Alley, was in terrible shape prior to redevelopment. There were numerous trash dumpsters, graffitti, and a severely sloping pavement to accomodate the drainage. This carried through all the way to the public street. Prior to the year 2000, this alley was mostly a service alley. However, in 2000, the civic center parking structure was completed within this block, and therefor this alley became a pedestrian shortcut between the parking garage and the downtown shopping district. This parking garage also has liner stores and offices (of which our office is located), so a lot of employees also used this alley.


The major issue that was solved with this alley reconstruction, was the drainage. They installed a new drain line, leveled off the alley, and installed new modular pavers that really give the alley life. In addition, new light fixtures and planters were added. The light fixtures dramatically improved the nighttime safety of the alley, while the planters add a lot of summer color.However something else happened after this alley was completed that the DDA hoped would happen...a local businees owner reconstructed the alley facade of there building to create an inviting entrance off Tenney Court. Hopefully this will be the first of many revitalizations of Fort Collins Alleys. Another fun aspect of this particular alley, through the art in public places program, the utility boxes were turned into public art! A local artist has been painstakintly painting these boxes with a bubble motif...Note, that she is doing this by hand!

Both of these alleys recently won an urban design award from the City of Fort Collins, issued to the designers, EDAW and BHA designs.

Straw Bale Home - an update

Good News, the straw bale home that I blogged about last month has now broken ground! Course at the moment, it is literally a hole in the ground, I am anxious to see how they will build this home, the structural considerations, etc. Especially since this will be a 3 story home.

More to come!!!

Habitat Update

I know it has been awhile since I blogged about the Habitat project, but they are moving along. Framing is complete, mechanicals are being installed inside, and the siding, doors, and windows are being installed. Now you can really start to see how the units are going to look, and how they fit into the overall community.

Meanwhile, we are busy designing the next eight units to be built across the street.

The 300 Millionth Citizen

The other day, in my wanderings around the mountains, I was listening to the Jay Marvin radio show, and they were talking about how on that day, the 300 millionth citizen of this country was supposedly born. Of course, this feat has both sides talking. One side has the economic pundits talking about how this will help the economy to grow and thrive, as growth is good for the overall economy. Of course, the other side, largely environmental, was saying that growth isn't necessarily good, as how are we going to have the resources to care for these people? Not only in physical infrastructure, such as roads, schools, etc., but also with water, electricity, heat, and so on.

I think both sides are right. I do believe that growth is good for the overall economy, as non-growth brings about stagnation. At least in our current economic model, and the only one that I am familiar with. I am also talking about slower sustainable growth, not booming economies. Booms always bust, every time.

However, I also understand where the environmentalist and other no or slow growthers are coming from. Our resources are not finite, we do need to be careful in what we use. I do believe that we can accommodate future growth in our population with sound choices that are made now, that look at the future.

For the most part, our current way of life, and our economy is built on instant satisfaction, on how we get the biggest bang for our buck today. This isn't always bad, as we all enjoy getting the lowest price we can on goods and services. However, we need to look at the life cycle costs of what we do. Is paying an extra $1,000 for a super efficient furnace good for the long haul?

We need to look at our development patterns. We need to build mixed use and mixed income communities. We need to build at higher densities. We need to get away from being dependent on the automobile. We also need to build our homes and commercial buildings for the long haul. If we truly look at what it costs to do it right, and amortize it over the life of the structure, the extra cost is minuscule. We need to build homes that don't fall apart in a few years. We need to build homes far more energy efficiently. The technology is there, it can be done, and it doesn't cost a great deal more.

Take for example, my biggest pet peeve, all the turf grass we plant. Do we really need it all? How much of that turf really get used? How much of it is played on, versus how much it gets looked at, whizzing by at 40 mph? This is where developers and the design community need to honestly think about weighing the cheap costs of installing all that turf now, versus the long term maintenance issues of all that turf. Is it really cheaper? I don't think so. Planting shrubs, perennials, or native grasses might cost more now, but it is also more aesthetically pleasing, and costs less to maintain!

These are just a few of the issues. We all make choices everyday that impact the future. We all need to weigh those choices, and think about the long term impacts.

Think about it.

Stapleton

I have visited this wonderful community several times this summer, with many different friends. For those of you who have not heard of Stapleton, this is one of the largest infill redevelopment projects in the country, right here in Denver. It is on the site of the former Stapleton International Airport, and is based on New Urbanism planning concepts using the Built Green program as a standard for all the homes, and other sustainable measures as well.

This community has several wonderful things about it, but the one I want to focus on today is water conservation, and the effect that has on sustainability. One of the things they have done, is require build to lines for most of the homes within Stapleton. What this does, is require homes to be built close to the street, rather than set way back from the street. Being close to the street has many advantages, among them social interaction, but the best part of it, is that this discourages people from planting front lawns. Most of the homes are set back 8, 10 up to 15 feet from the sidewalk. This dimension is not sufficient to efficiently irrigate turf, so what most people have done is plant it up! The street scape is vibrant with the colorful array of perennials, ornamental grasses, flower pots, and shrubs! It is absolutely gorgeous! The only grass you find here, is in the parkway strips between the street and the sidewalk.

Of course, there are other wonderful water conservation landscape techniques that Stapleton employs, and I will talk about these in future episodes.

Northern Exposure ala "Estes Park"!

Today I had to visit Estes Park for a business meeting. Today also was the first major snowstorm to hit the front range, but that is beside the point. While in Estes Park this morning, I was just amazed to see Elk wandering down the street! This big one was just staring at me, daring me to move my Durango! After he finally got off the street, I parked my car, and this big guy just looked at me, no more than 10 feet away! Obviously they felt very safe and right at home...reminded me of Northern Exposure.

Built Green Homes - Straw Bale Style!

Here is a new twist in the green building movement, at least as far as I know. A Boulder based builder is planning to build 12 straw bale homes in a new urbanist project in Fort Collins, called Old Town North.

The first home that Merten Homes is planning on building is a 3,035 square foot 3-story home that is pictured to the left. This will be followed by a 2 story home next door. As of this point in time, I don't know what the asking price is, but I am highly curious to see these homes constructed. As far as I know, this will be the first attempt by a builder in this area to build straw-bale homes in a multi-home setting, and particularly in an urban environment. Talk about the ultimate in sustainability!

As with the habitat homes, I will follow the construction of these homes, and post updates and pictures, and most curiously, about the structure of these units! And of course, I will be very interested in how the market will react to these units! Stayed Tuned!

The plague of planners...my response

I recently read a Toronto Globe and Mail article that blasted planners, both private and public. Even though, this article was originally posted back in June, I simply have to respond to it. Among many points made in the article, the ones that really rile me is the blame the author places on comprehensive planning for the resulting high density, gridlock, and high housing prices. The author goes on to point out that planning cannot predict and plan for the complexities of the city.

I quote "Urban planning advocates have failed to learn the chief lesson of the 20th century: that comprehensive, centralized government planning does not work. Planning a city or urban area presumes that planners can gather all the data they need, predict the future, and be immune to political pressures...The truth is, no one can ever collect or understand enough data to understand a complex urban area, much less predict the future."

Now I agree with the author that cities are extremely complex places, and changing one thing has a ripple effect through many other things and systems. I also agree that predicting the future is extremely difficult. All we can do is make an educated guess.

But if we don't do comprehensive planning, then what is the alternative? Should we just have a free for all? Should we let anything be built anywhere? Should we ignore the environment? Should we ignore the strain on the infrastructure? Should we just develop in extremely low densities, and gobble up all the farmland? This was basically allowed to happen in Houston until the late 80's. And guess what? They have extreme traffic congestion too! The author doesn't like comprehensive planning, but doesn't offer up any alternatives.

Is comprehensive planning perfect? Heck no, mistakes have been made through history. The author points out the failures of the super blocks of affordable housing. Many of those projects were poorly conceived and planned, but we have learned from them. We have learned that massive blocks of single use planning isn't good for any socio-economic segment, or use. In my mind, the biggest mistake of the last 50 years of development was the invention of single use zoning laws. These are still prevalent in most communities and preclude a mix of incomes and housing types, much less mixing it with commercial and retail.

This is what has caused the gridlock. Single use planning. This forces people to live far from where they shop, far from where they work, far from where they recreate. This has forced people to drive there cars to go shopping, go to work, they even have to drive to the health club to get exercise! This is what makes mixed use zoning so enticing! It allows people to live, work and shop in one area! Heck, you could even have your office downstairs, and live upstairs! This is called New Urbanism, and is something I am a big proponent of.

What would our cities look like today if we hadn't had 50 years of single use zoning? what would have happened if the development patterns of that time prior to the 50's been continued? Would we have had a need for massive superhighways? Would we have a need for supercenters? Would the corner grocery store have survived? Would we have become socially isolated from each other?

People today are looking for that in new communities. A real sense of place and community is almost more important than the home anymore. A connection to your neighbors, feeling safe. I live in megalopolis of Northern Colorado, and the best selling communities by far are new urbanism communities. Communities such as Stapleton and Lowry in Denver are runaway successes. These two communities have managed to create a wide variety of housing with many price points all the way from affordable to multi-million dollar. They have combined merchant housing with custom homes, traditional with modern. They have included the commercial areas, artist studios, work and office space.

I like them because I could live there, have my office, walk to work, and have my bank and grocery store right there! We could get rid of a car!

Imagine that, what if it were possible for every family to reduce itself down to one car....what would happen to gridlock then?

A little more history

Recently my wife and I passed through Georgetown, Colorado, on our way home from a weekend getaway. Well, I decide to find the house that my mom spent her early years in. This was in the mid-40's to the early-50's. They lived on the edge of the mountain, right next to what was then, the city jail. Next to here, is a picture of the house, and believe it or not, it looks almost identicle to when my mom lived there (or so she says). She also says that she remembers it being much bigger when she lived there! My great grandma also lived in Georgetown, in a smaller house down the street, though I don't remember exactly where is was.

My grandpa owned and operated the local newspaper during his tenure there. I don't know the exact dates, but after a bit, he sold that, and started a printing company in Denver, where he made his fortune. My mom remembers traveling to the big city of Idaho Springs to go to the movies, or a night out on the town. Of course, this was all long before the interestate system, much less a good highway system in the mountains, so a trip to Denver was an all day adventure at best, and wasn't done often. After a few years of my grandpa commuting to Denver, they finally sold both Georgetown houses, and all moved to Denver.

Habitat Update 10-05-06

Well, I have been a bad boy, as I am a little tardy in my updates of the Habitat project. I was out there a couple of times, and had forgot my camera! Anyway, there has been a lot of progress made since the last update. The second floor and walls are now up on all of the units, the carraige units above the garages are now built, and most importantly, the roof is now being installed! You can really see them taking shape now!

Sustainability in the Landscape

Recently, my employees and I took a break and went to the Botanic Gardens for a field trip. I can't speak for the rest of them, but I was certainly inspired! It has been awhile since I have been to the botanic gardens, and I was very impressed with the work they have done to create sustainable landscapes, demonstrate water thrifty plants, and make it attractive to boot! Right at the front, by the parking lot is an excellent garden full of water thrifty plants, many of which were blooming away in September!

Within the gardens they have created several gardens that showcase how to recreate natural grass prairies, in several different zones, such as the lower plains, and the foothills, riparian zones, and such. Most of these gardens havn't recieved any supplemental irrigation in several years. The one shown here is representative of an enhanced plains grassland. Just look at the variety of plant material! Blue Grama and Buffalo Grass are used extensively, both native grasses, as well as several others. Shrubs and perennials include Leadplant, Mexican Hat Coneflower, Rabbitbrush, Sages, Sunflowers, and numerous others. These plantings are very much alive, and far more interesting than just turf grass.

The nice things about more natural landscapes, is that they are allowed to evolve, plants reseed readily, and if a plant isn't tough enough to make it, no specials efforts are taken to keep it alive. Of course, these gardens do have the advantage of having full time staff to take of the weeding, something that is important in getting these gardens established.

Another garden that I found particular thrilling was the water smart garden. Here many of the perennials and shrubs are displayed that show homeowners beautiful plants that survive with a minimum of water and care...and they thrive! Just look at the rich textures! The mix of greens, silvers and blues is spectacular, puncuated by the prolific blooming of hyssop plants! Seen in this image are Sages, Creeping Verbeena, Hyssop, California Poppies, Penstemon, and the wonderfal varieties of Yuccas and Century Plants! I now have a new fondness for Yuccas and Century Plants!

So now that I know it can be done, now we have to challenge ourselves to figure out how to do it on a bigger scale, and do it cost effectively! A big challenge indeed, but I feel up to it! We have too, water supplies are finite, and with the ever increasing population, the green turf grass we see everywhere, will soon be a dinosaur.

Habitat Update Week of 9-05-06

Wow, Habitat got a lot done last weekend! The majority of the first floor walls are now up, and getting ready for the second floor deck. Things are moving along fast now!

A little history...

Last weekend, my family and I went camping up around Aspen. So on one of the days, I took a trip to Aspen to see what was going on, and of course, I had to drive by my Grandma's (on my fathers side) first house she owned with her husband. A few years ago, the current owners did a major remodel and addition to the home. This isn't unusual for Aspen, as the town is famous for tear downs and McMansions.

Anyway, I was very impressed how the owners preserved the original house, and only added onto the rear of the house. From the street, you can hardly tell they added on. I felt that this showed a lot of restraint and respect for the history of architecture. Now my grandparents only owned this house for a few short years, but my family has a long history in Aspen and Snowmass. Can you believe, that my grandparents originally bought this house in 1935 (or so) including 5 city lots, overlooking a lake, for about $2,000? Of course, in those days, lakes were viewed as dumps.

Back in 1985, I took my grandma to Aspen as part of her 50th wedding anniversary. Unfortunately, my grandfather died a couple of years before. Anyway, we had the good fortune of running into the owner of the property at that time who was a retired lawyer from Chicago, who had owned the home for about 30 years. He was very happy to see us and knew who my grandma was! He showed us all around the property, and I was very fortunate to see the house. This is the same house my father was born in. On that trip, I was able to see the house where my grandma was raised, and the one she was born in! That home was vacant at the time and probably does not exist now.

The resort of Snowmass (the base village), was originally our family ranch. My grandfather was born on that ranch. Of course, the family sold it before it ever became the resort. But on that one, they preserved our original homestead and turned it into the Snowmass arts center! I was able to see the house where my grandpa was born, and the old barn. That facility is now known as the Anderson ranch. It obtained that name when my grandpa and his brother walked off the ranch one day, never to return. The ranch then went to there sister Hildur, who married a gent by the name of Bill Anderson, and the rest, they say, is history.

Habitat for Humanity

I have been involved with Habitat for Humanity of Fort Collins for over 10 years now. I have worked with them as a volunteer, on comittees, and several years as a board member. I have also worked with Habitat on designing several of the homes they have built. Recently I worked with them on their most ambitious project to date, a multi-family six plex being built in the Rigden Farm Neighborhood. While working with Habitat, we created a concept of four units facing a major street with two additional units above the detached garages facing the alley. This project was a challenge. We not only had to design these units to be functional with 2-4 bedrooms, but we also had to design them to meet ADA and Fair Housing guidelines. All on a sloping site!

Anyway, I have decided I am going to document the construction of these units on this blog.



Here is a picture of framing, the week of August 28th! The exterior walls are up of the first three units.



Another picture of the framing taken from the alley. You can see the foundation of the detached garages and the carraige units.



This is a picture I took a few weeks ago showing the floor framing in process. We had to drop the floor into the foundation to meet accessibility requirements.




And finally, here is a picture of the foundation walls being framed and poured.

August Fuglies!

Well, I know that I havn't exactly been keeping up with my fugly awards, but this one has been gnawing at me for some time now. This neighborhood is made up mostly of duplexes, all of them brick. Now I am not knocking brick, but more the overall architecture, or lack thereof. These homes have no characater. Most of them, you can't even find the front door! The door is tucked around the side of the home, with the patio door facing the street! Talk about look alike homes! I really don't see how the homeowners can tell one from the other. But, my bigger question is, who buys these homes, and why?

DIA: Why not Green?

Today, my family and myself traveled to Denver to DIA to pick up my mother-in-law. Generally, I like DIA. I think it is a gorgeous and functional airport, at least as far as airports go. Today though, I started thinking about ways that DIA can become more sustainable...especially in light of the recent Greenprint Denver that Mayor Hickenlooper recently outlined. I do have some ideas, and here they are!

First, for the life of me, I can't figure out why they didn't build light rail out to DIA when they built the place. It just seems to me, that would have been a smart thing to do, and would have saved many miles of travel by car. I do know, that the idea was floated originally, but light rail met a political roadblock, which is why it ends in five points today. Don't get me wrong, I think five points is a great neighborhood, but ending the light rail line there, rather than continuing it on to Stapleton and DIA was a fifty year mistake. Now they are looking at building a train line to DIA. While that is better than nothing, I think light rail makes more sense. It is more flexible, and you can take it into neighborhoods where people live and build stations there.

Second, I would think that DIA uses a tremendous amount of electricity. With all those wide open spaces, why not put up some wind turbines? I think those would look very cool on the drive up to the terminal, right before the DIA sign? I also know, there are plenty of other places they can be put that are out of the flight patterns. Make it a part of the landscape, and put them up front where people can see them! The second option would be to install Photoveltic systems!

Third, where the old toll collectors where, there is still an awful lot of pavement where all the lanes used to be. Rip all this up, save some solar heat gain, and also provide less stormwater runoff!

Fourth and final, at least for now, Are the parking lots and general landscaping. I think it is a shame, that when DIA went over budget, landscaping was the first thing to go. Since then, they have installed some, but overall, the landscaping leaves much to be desired. This is supposed to be a world class facility, so it should look like one on the outside, as well as the inside! I do appreciate how they have designed the landscaping to work with the ecosystem, and it is very sustainable and xeric, but there could be more of it. There also needs to be more shade, particulalry in the outlying lots! And more shade where people walk to and from those lots. I have had to make plenty of flights where I was running late, had to park in the hinterlands, and then make a beeline to the terminal. And was it hot! There needs to be some shade, whether it be from trees, or some other kind of structure.

Anyway, those are my ideas for now, any others?

Sustainable Landscapes

One of the ideas to come out of Mayor Hickenloopers "Greenprint Denver" initiative is to plant a million new trees within the metro area over the next 20 years. I find that idea plausible, but I do wonder what the paremeters are. Are these trees to be planted in existing areas, or does that include new developments as well? If it includes new developments, then it will be fairly easy to meet that goal. However, if these are planted in existing areas, then this will make a significant difference in the tree cover. This is good. Trees not only provide shade, they help to reduce the heat sink created from urban development, they help in reducing carbon dioxide by converting that gas back to oxygen, and trees beautify streets, parks, yards, and just about any other area.

One area though that I feel is left out of the picture is water conservation, and creating sustainable landscapes. Watering turf grass in particular is a huge drain on our water resoureces. What can we do though? A big part of it is making a paradigm shift in our collective society about what we consider a nice landscape. Most of us still have the New England mentality that a brilliant green grass is the only acceptable ground cover. But does it have to be? First of all, as a whole, we put way to much water on turfgrass. Part of it is due to outdated and inefficient irrigation systems. Part of it is due to the fact that we don't like to see any brown on our lawns.


I think we are going to have to get used to the idea that our lawns can get a little brown during the heat of summer. Another way to change, is to only plant water thirsty lawns where they actually get used. Do we really need to plants of arterial street edges with grass that only gets looked at as we zoom by at 40 miles per hour? I think not. In those places, we need to start planting drought tolerant grasses that are suitable to our climate. I found such an example in the Ridgegate project in Lone Tree. Another option is actually plant more perennials and shrubs. Sure these cost more in the up front installation, but they certainly use less water than turfgrass, and don't cost any more to maintain than the lawn does. But it does take a new way of thinking. Here at Vignette Studios, we have four projects on the boards where we are taking a hard look at the landscaping and looking for ways to conserve water. Three are new projects, and one is a remodel of an existing condominium complex. More to come on this though.

These are just some of my ideas, I would welcome more comments and thoughts from others!

Sustainability...What does it really mean?

Sustainability. That is the current buzzword of the day in the environmental world, as well as life in general these days. We all hear about creating a sustainable economy, a sustainable tax base, a sustainable energy supply. We even hear about sustainable development. But is anything really sustainable? Wikipedia defines sustainability as seeking "to provide the best outcomes for the human and natural environments both now and into the indefinite future". But is anything that the human race do really sustainable? In my view, the only way that humans can really be sustainable was during the hunting & gathering era which we grew out of eons ago. Lets face it, with our current population levels (which are growing rapidly), we will consume resources on this planet and make an impact.

However, we can make efforts that reduce our impact, minimize waste, and conserve resources as compared to the way we have been living. As a society, we can consiously make efforts to use less energy, drive less, conserve water, live in tighter quarters, etc. This is what I think we mean when we use the term "sustainable". It is simply a new word for conserving.

With this context in mind, I do believe in sustainable development, sustainable landscaping, and other measures as they relate to the built environment. To start with, I think there are things we can do to make our cities more energy efficient. Recently the mayor of Denver, John Hickenlooper, touched on this with his "Greenprint Denver" initiatives outline during his recent "State of the City" address. In this initiative, for example, he calls for replacing some of the worn out city vehicles with hybrids. Another example is to use the methane generated from old landfills to generate electricity. Another idea that has been touted by others is to place Photoveltic systems on city buildings, primarily the Colorado Convention Center.

Another idea that he had was to plant a million new trees within the metro area over the next 20 years. Of course he did also address some of the issues of conserving water to water all those new trees, but he didn't go deep enough.

These are just some of my ideas, I would welcome more comments and thoughts from others!

What Happened?

The other day, I was driving through a neighborhood in the Denver Metro area (I won't name it), and what I saw was very sad. This is a neighborhood that is very much on the verge of ruin. Many of the homes were unkempt, many more vacant with several foreclosures evident in the neighborhood. This is a neighborhood very much in trouble, with many residents down on their luck with probably many on the poverty level. My question is what happened? This neighborhood was largely built in the late 70's through the 80's, so it isn't that old. It was also built by several large builders (some local, and some national) with a large variety of homes styles from entry level to executive level. The impoverishment was spread across the board though, in all home styles.

Now I happen to know that these same builders built the exact same homes in other neighborhoods throughout the metro, and that these communities are very well maintained and desireable places to live. So what happened? What forces cause two very similar neighborhoods to follow very different paths? One neighborhood stays a very desireable place to live, and where home values are maintained. Another seemingly deteriorates literally overnight. I do know that the homes prices in this neighborhood were lower from the get go, due largely to a differnce in land costs, for the same home. But is that the only answer? Or are there other larger socioeconomic factors at play? How do we as community builders try to keep this from happening? Is there anything? I ask, because I dislike it when a community I have worked on goes into decline..for any reason. (No I had nothing to do with this community, well before my time). Any thoughts?