https://ciamama.cargo.site How A House Works Fri, 17 Jan 2020 19:07:30 +0000 https://ciamama.cargo.site en https://ciamama.cargo.site/Menu Mon, 16 Dec 2019 02:38:20 +0000 How A House Works https://ciamama.cargo.site/Menu C.I.A.MAMA ALIX BROWNE THIS HOUSE IS YOU THE CANS AND THE TRACKS AND THE DIMMERS AND THE SWITCHES DOES THIS HOUSE LIKE ME? CAN WE GET TOGETHER AT YOUR PLACE? NOTES ON MINI-REZ #1—VERONICA OCTOBER 29 2019 https://ciamama.cargo.site/Archive Fri, 17 Jan 2020 19:07:30 +0000 How A House Works https://ciamama.cargo.site/Archive CIAMAMA domestic design archive with special thanks to my old friend from art school, Dr. Nicolas Maffei, who read an early draft of the document and made invaluable suggestions for further research and design. Also special thanks to Don Mullins, who’s shared his immense knowledge and collection of 19th century furnishings with me over the years. And to Lope Gutiérrez-Ruiz and Michu Benaim Steiner for workshopping an early version of the project. Edith Wharton - The Decoration of Houses Charles Eastlake - Hints on Household Taste Elsie de Wolfe - The House in Good Taste Russel and Mary Wright - Guide to Easier Living Grace Lees Maffei - Design at Home for Routledge Clarence Cook - What Shall We Do With Our Walls? Vincent Scully - The Shingle Style Today: Or the Historian’s Revenge - Christopher Alexander - A Pattern Launguage Robert Venturi - Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture Denise Scott Brown, Robert Venturi, and Steven Izenour - Learning from Las Vegas Tom Wolfe - From Bauhaus to Our House John Kennedy Toole - A Confederacy of Dunces Vincent Scully - The Shingle Style and the Stick Style Charles Moore and Kent Bloomer Body, Memory, and Architecture Kazuko Sato - Alchemia Joseph Hotlzman - Nest Magazine NY Times - T magazine Conde Nast - World of Interiors Magazine Raymond Loewy's MAYA (Most Advanced Yet Acceptable) Otto Neuraths' ISOTYPE (International System of TYPographic Education)?︎ Go Back https://ciamama.cargo.site/Images Sun, 05 Jan 2020 18:01:02 +0000 How A House Works https://ciamama.cargo.site/Images <img width="1096" height="717" width_o="1096" height_o="717" 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data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c6c152c50fc5d25de826570f025e1c05b98bce2eea3dbc6105bca5759517398f/thumb_IMG_4420_1024.jpg" data-mid="57774342" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/768/i/c6c152c50fc5d25de826570f025e1c05b98bce2eea3dbc6105bca5759517398f/thumb_IMG_4420_1024.jpg" /> <img width="1024" height="768" width_o="1024" height_o="768" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4a1437c653e23bad093a2409ec7497fd44b02dbb99efa6f6a358bada31aeaa7f/thumb_IMG_3664_1024.jpg" data-mid="57774337" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4a1437c653e23bad093a2409ec7497fd44b02dbb99efa6f6a358bada31aeaa7f/thumb_IMG_3664_1024.jpg" /> ENTER https://ciamama.cargo.site/CIA-Title Fri, 17 Jan 2020 06:06:54 +0000 How A House Works https://ciamama.cargo.site/CIA-Title C.I.A.MAMA The Center for the Identification of Architectural Micro-Aggressions, Molestations, and Assailments https://ciamama.cargo.site/Part-1 Mon, 06 Jan 2020 04:07:06 +0000 How A House Works https://ciamama.cargo.site/Part-1 No matter how large your drawing-room may be, keep it intimate in spirit. There should be a dozen conversation centers in a large room.There should be one or more sofas, with comfortable chairs pulled up beside them. No one chair should be isolated, for some bashful person who doesn’t talk well anyway is sure to take the most remote chair and make herself miserable. I have seen a shy young woman completely changed because she happened to sit upon a certain deep cushion sofa of rose-colored damask. Whether it was the rose color, or the enforced relaxation the sofa induced, or the proximity of some very charming people in comfortable chairs beside her, or all of these things – I don’t know! But she found herself. She found herself gay and happy and unafraid. I am sure her personality flowered from that hour on. If she had been left to herself she would have taken a stiff chair in a far corner, and she would have been miserable and self-conscious. I believe most firmly in the magic power of inanimate objects! The House in Good Taste - Elsie de Wolfe https://ciamama.cargo.site/Part-2 Mon, 06 Jan 2020 03:48:21 +0000 How A House Works https://ciamama.cargo.site/Part-2 Do you live in a civilized home <img width="1024" height="768" width_o="1024" height_o="768" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/bc6c303cbad46f184821aad8425df69dc614c132363c1a2c842b09ac3f5c0193/thumb_IMG_4442_1024.jpg" data-mid="57802455" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/bc6c303cbad46f184821aad8425df69dc614c132363c1a2c842b09ac3f5c0193/thumb_IMG_4442_1024.jpg" /> Need a house whisperer? Tired of the same-ole Feng Shui charlatans? Please consider C.I.A.MAMA - a fully-licensed design consultancy concerning the identification of architectural micro-aggressions, molestations, and assailments; those little domestic faux pas <img width="1024" height="768" width_o="1024" height_o="768" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cde68fa7ad15bf35f88c91b7eb2bdc4e18f226b45847336f7d5b4934397896ab/thumb_IMG_3658_1024.jpg" data-mid="59814852" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cde68fa7ad15bf35f88c91b7eb2bdc4e18f226b45847336f7d5b4934397896ab/thumb_IMG_3658_1024.jpg" /> that developed along the way, that have gone overlooked, or were simply shoved under the rug. My concern will flesh out and identify a list of problem areas, and at the end of my residency make suggestions for solutions to these nasty transgressions. I will administer to you, dear homeowner, recommendation of an outline of forward-looking occupation, heightened awareness, and everyday tools for advanced living. Typically the process culminates with a half-day workshop in the client’s home. https://ciamama.cargo.site/Entry Tue, 14 Jan 2020 12:01:46 +0000 How A House Works https://ciamama.cargo.site/Entry https://ciamama.cargo.site/Part-2-copy Tue, 14 Jan 2020 12:04:09 +0000 How A House Works https://ciamama.cargo.site/Part-2-copy How Does it Work? The identification process is assisted by an uncanny sensitivity to problematic domestic situations through a number of proprietary techniques, key among them is a process I call the “insecurity of dislocation.”<img width="1024" height="768" width_o="1024" height_o="768" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/071788995318a54b4434cee6933b276ed33588c2c3751d74fd00807edd9604f0/thumb_IMG_4374_1024.jpg" data-mid="58474997" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/071788995318a54b4434cee6933b276ed33588c2c3751d74fd00807edd9604f0/thumb_IMG_4374_1024.jpg" /> Over the past 30 years of my professional life I have been invited to hundreds of residencies, and have lived, for short periods of time, in many different types of domestic structures...from humble, hand-made sheds to extraordinary châteaux. Typically, during the first few days of dislocation, in this state of heightened awareness, I am ultra sensitive to my physical surroundings. I am able to identify specific aberrations<img width="1024" height="783" width_o="1024" height_o="783" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c86b9acb1831e27223b010fcbcbbb3230e7e2dfc3c5181c4308c4b247c2f066a/thumb_E1F9DBDE-3E27-4813-AC52-3357721C4ECD_1024.jpg" data-mid="58475019" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c86b9acb1831e27223b010fcbcbbb3230e7e2dfc3c5181c4308c4b247c2f066a/thumb_E1F9DBDE-3E27-4813-AC52-3357721C4ECD_1024.jpg" />, both of the spatial and chattel categories. For example, your favorite comfy chair may be situated as such, encroaching upon a preferred thruway, and if adjusted as recommended, will provide improved traffic flow to you and your guests. Often a refrigerator door, with the simple operation of switching the hinge location, will open up to your kitchen triangle in a more excellent manner! Possibly, your faithful architect has specified a handsome, yet dysfunctional handle upon the cupboard, that places an ever-so-slight undue pressure on the inserted fingers. You may not even notice these micro-aggressions, but I will! The identification and correction of these simple design flaws will fall into the category of Small, or Medium. <img width="1024" height="768" width_o="1024" height_o="768" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b3bfd183bcb00ab6e832583f1096c62c45caab69914969cdca7edbde92c6bfdf/thumb_IMG_4325_1024.jpg" data-mid="59814926" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b3bfd183bcb00ab6e832583f1096c62c45caab69914969cdca7edbde92c6bfdf/thumb_IMG_4325_1024.jpg" /> A more involved operation, such as the total rearrangement of furniture within a room, removal or addition of walls, or possibly the relocation of a staircase would be under the Large <img width="1024" height="768" width_o="1024" height_o="768" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0269777cfe85a2f66ee27949b0e8fc7102b42e615d4665a1bed27cd25b2fa3fc/thumb_IMG_3836_1024.jpg" data-mid="58475017" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0269777cfe85a2f66ee27949b0e8fc7102b42e615d4665a1bed27cd25b2fa3fc/thumb_IMG_3836_1024.jpg" /> category. Only upon very rare occasions would I identify the need for major structural changes, such as the addition of a wing, or possibly a relocation / reconstruction of a primary egress, although this is definitely within my purview. Rethinking key architectural elements may seem to be an exaggeration of the Department of Micro-Aggressions, but please be reassured that it is not the size of the project, but the effect they have upon our psyche. These we will call X-Large.<img width="768" height="1024" width_o="768" height_o="1024" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e08d9006fb124a104f09521f21cade2709fe3b6fb159781968b92d8e2aff3ea5/thumb_IMG_2119_1024.jpg" data-mid="58475003" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/768/i/e08d9006fb124a104f09521f21cade2709fe3b6fb159781968b92d8e2aff3ea5/thumb_IMG_2119_1024.jpg" /> Gentle reader, let me now say to you...the effects of an unordered house may seem insignificant, but I am confident to inform you that these repeated domestic molestations will in time, add up to adverse affects in our pursuit of a civilized home! https://ciamama.cargo.site/Part-3 Mon, 06 Jan 2020 04:08:38 +0000 How A House Works https://ciamama.cargo.site/Part-3 And you may ask yourself How do I work this? And you may ask yourself Where is that large automobile? And you may tell yourself This is not my beautiful house! And you may tell yourself This is not my beautiful wife! Once in a Lifetime -Brian Eno / Christopher Frantz / David Byrne / Jerry Harrison / Tina Weymouth Once in a Lifetime lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc, Universal Music Publishing Group https://ciamama.cargo.site/Part-4 Mon, 06 Jan 2020 07:49:24 +0000 How A House Works https://ciamama.cargo.site/Part-4 Why do they Exist? Constructing a micro-aggression-free home is not easy. The experts certainly have tools and talent and certainly get us to a very close approximation of the house in good taste. If they fall short, it is not due to their lack of ability or skills but rather, typically, the result of necessary relationships that develop between architect/designer and client. Often these relationships tend to evolve more in the direction of the therapist, as we all understand how agonizing this business of constructing our surroundings has become. In my opinion, the finishing touches are often overlooked<img width="1024" height="799" width_o="1024" height_o="799" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0da0fe3b8f673567ce00e3c1c642a54a4b7353d60da24469867bc9bb7414de0d/thumb_IMG_4375_1024.jpg" data-mid="57831732" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0da0fe3b8f673567ce00e3c1c642a54a4b7353d60da24469867bc9bb7414de0d/thumb_IMG_4375_1024.jpg" /> due to the inability to understand the importance of “real, lived experience”. Our architect very rarely spends a night in these homes. Even if this happens, I would argue that it takes place toward the end of the relationship, after the experts have spent many months focusing on every detail, and their minds are muddied. There’s too much at stake during the final weeks of completion. There is too much pressure to notice, and then pursue the correction of a possible micro-aggression. Fresh eyes <img width="1078" height="729" width_o="1078" height_o="729" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0ccaa3807d394afa077d0bf85fb3c6c8dd791e39777f33882a8af213ed522141/thumb_IMG_4258_1024.jpg" data-mid="59814978" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0ccaa3807d394afa077d0bf85fb3c6c8dd791e39777f33882a8af213ed522141/thumb_IMG_4258_1024.jpg" /> are needed!