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jumpOUR SERVICES
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OUR SERVICES PROVIDE A SYSTEM OF PRODUCTION AND SUPPORT THAT ALLOWS people to take back the conception, planning, building, making, and care of their own environments.
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| Go to | OUR PHILOSOPHY |
| Go to | LOW-COST DIRECT SUPPORT |
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PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
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| Go to | WORKING WITH US |
OUR PHILOSOPHY next jump back to menu |
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Whether construction is run by big construction companies, or by local builders and small groups of neighbors, the tools we offer make it possible for people to live in houses or apartments that are highly differentiated and unique. These tools also make it possible for the businesses they run, or the workshops they work in, to be part of the neighborhood, and for these, too, to be unique, friendly, identifiable, and not part of the commercial and deadly world which became pervasive in the 20th century. It is our hope that, in the long run, people all over the world will gradually take back control over layout and conception of their neighborhoods and buildings -- possibly supported by enlightened developers who allow the necessary processes to thrive in a business framework. | |||||
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To achieve such a world, people must help work towards it, for themselves. Huge, distant developers and huge commercial builders are not going to supply that kind of world, and are, probably not capable of doing it with real heart. At best they might try to emulate a personal quality, by faking it, if they believe it is in their own commercial interest. But that will never give us, or them, or you, the real thing. Nor will it genuinely take care of the world, the land, the trees, the flowers, or the animals. The real thing can only come from you.
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It is our aim to help you, and your friends, and neighbors, and partners to achieve this quality, wherever you live, in the town or countryside, where you live, in London, or in Colorado, or in the outskirts of Madras or Istanbul, on the banks of the Rio Amazona. HERE ARE SOME OF THE DIFFERENT WAYS WE MAY BE ABLE TO HELP YOU
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LOW-COST DIRECT SERVICES next previous jump back to menu | ||||||||||||||
| PERHAPS YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT A POSSIBLE PROJECT | . . . large or small, and need some tools with which you can get people involved -- help discussion with family, friends, neighbors, professionals, or colleagues. We can advise on a wide variety of issues and projects, on an hourly basis. If you want a sounding board and advice, this low-cost option may appeal to you. We can suggest a way of looking at the materials of this site, so you find things most relevant to your situation. | |||||||||||||
| PERHAPS YOU ARE STARTING TO THINK ABOUT A BUILDING OR A GROUP OF BUILDINGS | Together with others, you have an idea or inspiration to build a certain kind of complex, possibly a group of buildings. You may already have written a description, perhaps even a pattern language, which describes how some of you, collectively, see the project. In this case we could help take your pattern language, and make it into an operational generative code, so that it can then really become the basis of the actual layout, and building design. Even more helpful, if the cost of the whole building complex is beyond your present financial resources, we can construct the generative code so that buildings can be designed and built, one by one, making the place better and better as each contributes to and fine tunes the previously existing ones. | |||||||||||||
| PERHAPS YOU ARE A CITY MANAGER, OR DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR OR PLANNING OFFICER |
. . . wanting to build a new neighborhood, but are beset by difficulties. Perhaps, in your town the rather extreme requirements of local and national authorities (ODPM and Pathfinder in the UK), are causing difficulties. Townspeople object to old neighborhoods being torn down. The housing authority insists on high density. All in all it is hard to make a beautiful neighborhood which keeps the best of the old, and introduces beautiful new buildings that fit and make the old ones even better.
In this case we may be able to show you a kind of generative code and procurement process which can resolve these human, procedural, and financial dilemmas in a practical way, that leads to a genuine renaissance of that neighborhood. | |||||||||||||
| YOU MAY BE A MODEST DEVELOPER | . . . struggling to do better work, but are caught in an industry that makes it very difficult. If you are interested in finding practical ways to do better, so that people in the neighborhoods you build will thank you, and reward you with genuine affection and gratitude, we can help you think about how to achieve this. The required changes in procedure and management can work in the context of running a successful business. | |||||||||||||
| ARCHITECTS AND ARTISTS MAY BE ESPECIALLY INTERESTED IN THE GEOMETRICAL COHERENCE OF BUILDINGS | This geometric and artistic quality of buildings, one of the deepest losses of the last 100 years, can be understood and taught, and can be practised. We are very willing to collaborate with architects on real projects, if they wish in the process to learn what some of the deepest aspects of this geometric quality are, and when to introduce such buildings into neighborhoods, especially where they can do the greatest good for the human core of the place. | |||||||||||||
| UNDERTAKING DIRECT BRICKS AND MORTAR CONSTRUCTION IN A PUBLIC PLACE: A GIFT TO THE COMMUNITY | It could be that a church council, or a city, or a charitable trust, or a small company or neighborhood, want to make a mark in a public place, for the public benefit -- something as small as a fountain, or as grand as the medieval cross in Chichester, West Sussex, UK. If there are groups hoping for such a thing, to be undertaken in a craftsman spirit, with the aim of providing something memorable, and profound to mark a spot, we would be happy to undertake such work. In particular we would work to involve local citizens and craftspeople, and teach them the way such work is done to make something truly beautiful, and memorable, perhaps making a lasting trace that animates the place for a very long time. | |||||||||||||
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| ENGAGE OUR SERVICES TO BUILD AN ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD WITH YOU | If you own a large parcel of land, and want to build a group of houses and business on your land, we can undertake community development and construction, in the fashion described in Main Steps. We would help attract people and build a community, develop a generative, process-based master plan which allows context-sensitive growth to take place over time, build the infrastructure and the buildings. See an example of a built community. | ||
| GENERATIVE MASTER PLANS FOR NEW COMMUNITIES | We can develop for you a generative, process-based master plan which allows context-sensitive growth to take place over time. The community will then be able to grow sensibly and evolve by reacting to the already built context, with little effort wasted on fixing too much ahead of time. See an example of such a master plan, for a town in Oregon. | ||
| GENERATIVE CODES FOR NEIGHBORHOODS IN EXISTING CITIES | Like the many examples shown on this site, we can prepare a generative code for your neighborhood or your city. We have written a wide variety of generative codes, covering a wide variety of particular situations. These codes can address:
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| DESIGN OF THE CONNECTIVE TISSUE OF PUBLIC OUTDOOR SPACES IN A NEIGHBORHOOD |
Public outdoor space is the lifeblood of a community. We can assist your neighborhood by working out the design of its outdoor space; for example a street, an intersection, a park, a waterfront, a neighborhood garden. Nature of Order references | ||
| DESIGN OF INDIVIDUAL BUILDINGS | Ultimately a neighborhood is realized by the buildings which shape the outdoor space. We can design and help build the building project which you may face. We are able to handle the very large to the very small. Public buildings, schools, neighborhood centers, multi-family housing, individual homes, gardens -- we have done them all and can be of assistance to you. | ||
| YOU TELL US WHAT YOU WANT US TO DO | If you have a problem that is rather different from the ones described above, and feel you need help, but do not know that the help you need fits into these categories, please describe the problem to us. It will help us and other users of this site, and we will try, if possible, to suggest some way of solving your problem, or talking it through with you. Please contact us and talk to us. | ||
WORKING WITH US previous jump back to menu | ||||||||||||||
| FILL OUT OUR WORKSHEET | If you would like to explore the possibility of getting professional help or advice from us on a project, using the techniques described on this site, please send us an email in which you tell us, in rough terms, what your needs are (please use the worksheet, for the kind of information that would help and attach it to the email). Or, if you don't know what your needs are, or do not know how best to describe them, please tell us in very informal language how you are situated, what would like to do, and what problem you are facing.
OUR REPLY | When we receive your email, we will consider whether we believe we can help you. If we can, we will email you back telling you how we think we might best provide assistance. If you choose to go forward with us, we will begin by phone. An initial phone discussion with one of our staff might last anything from half an hour to a couple of hours. If you wish, it could be stretched over several days. During this time we will try to formulate a very rough approach to your situation.
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FEES | This consultation will be charged at a rate of $120/hr.
| After this initial consultation, we will formulate, with you, an approach that meets your financial constraints, and gives you something useful for as little money as possible.
WHEN YOU FEEL THE NEED | Our long-term aim will be to put you in a position where you and your partners can continue working together, with the help of materials available on this website, backed up when necessary by our help, as and when you feel you need it.
| We would not normally expect that you would require full professional services in the early stages. If your project does ultimately progress to the stage where you need planning permission, or need help running group discussions in your neighborhood, or preparing building designs, or site layouts, we will always be prepared to provide these services, as needed at professional rates. But the aim of the exercise, to start with, will be to get you and your partners to a stage where you have a clear idea of what you want to do, and how you may best go about doing it together.
SEND US AN EMAIL | Please communicate with us via email by clicking this link, and filling in a few details. Do write to us. You will receive acknowledgment of your email within a week, and will then hear from us within another week after we have had time to think about your situation carefully.
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