Architect. Writer. Girl on a mission to help new owners of old ranch houses revitalize America’s Midcentury Dream Home.
GUEST POST BY DELLA HANSMANN. Read more of her thoughts on green building and design at Dwelling Places. Does anyone else in their late twenties (or with kids that age) remember the old Sesame Street song about “Clean, clear water”? I still find myself singing “Don’t… waste… water. Water water […]
GUEST POST BY DELLA HANSMANN Lets talk about windows. Let’s talk about light. MORNING WINDOWS Christopher Alexander explored building design by looking for patterns in existing building styles, and he stresses the importance of natural light – eastern light – in the house, and particularly in bedrooms. Pattern 138 in […]
GUEST POST BY DELLA HANSMANN Stuff … we all have it. I’m as guilty as the next person of accumulating questionably necessary possessions. I was reminded of that only this morning when I ventured down to the basement of my apartment building to get my tent out of the storage […]
GUEST POST BY DELLA HANSMANN After I wrote this title I decided that perhaps the metaphor is slightly off. It seems to be more a question of albedo, the distinction between the many shiny-nesses of green. As Denise mentioned on Tuesday, this weekend our family met in Madison and […]
GUEST POST BY DELLA HANSMANN Why work with an architect when you can just hire any contractor, buy a plan off the internet or even … design it yourself? A professional designer is trained to help you solve the problems you’ve been wrestling with as well as others you never […]
GUEST POST BY DELLA HANSMANN If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you’ve seen the term “whole trees” a number of times. Doug and Denise have decided that they want their new home to be a whole tree house. They won’t be living in the air, however. Here’s […]
GUEST POST BY DELLA HANSMANN Whole Trees Architecture and Construction Before you even start thinking about the specific design of your building, you can have a huge impact on its comfort and cost by choosing the site wisely. Issues of solar gain, prevailing winds, and drainage are key, as well […]
Today’s guest post is written by Della Hansmann of Whole Trees Architecture and Construction , a young architect who is designing the house we expect to build in 2012. See more here. You don’t have to make a building more expensive or technologically complex to make it sustainable. Before entering […]
Digging in the Driftless 