Trending /// Part 1: DIY
1 Bd 1 Bath Earthship for 165,000 | 115 Nogal Canyon Rd, Nogal, NM 88341
Trends are, by definition, merely a direction. They’re not meant to be an endpoint but rather an exciting, temporal stop along the way to some other shiny thing. I’m not one to give into trends easily, or at least, I’d like to think. I resisted reading Harry Potter when everyone was buried in it (but now wish I hadn’t). I prolonged watching Lost and instead binge-watched the last two seasons years after the final disappointing episode had aired. My latest thought is that it’s perhaps more of my inability to live in the present, than an immunity to the shiny things.
As I began digging into the American history of home trends, I’ll admit there’s something grounding and deeply satisfying in relating to them. Looking back over the past 50 years, these time capsules transport us on a nostalgic journey, a reminder of what it was like growing up in America.
A brief history: 70’s: dark (fake) wood paneling, patterned linoleum floors, tiled countertops and gramma’s crocheted blanket draped over the floral couch
80’s: Wall to wall carpeting in every room (read: bathrooms 🤮), along with Miami Vice Art Deco and what I’d describe as Saved by the Bell Modern (i.e. the Max)
90’s: Primary colors, Cracker Barrel rustic, and floral, magnanimous drapes and granite countertops
00’s: The era of shabby chic, black and white kitchens, feature walls (guilty) and granite countertops, once again
10’s: Open shelving, modern farmhouse a la Chip and Joanna, quartz countertops and white kitchens
It made me question, does home design belong in the lexicon of devices that hold nostalgic power over our memories, much like music or food? Would Stranger Things be Stranger Things without the 80’s home motifs?
While some of these trends came and went, others gained some permanence, striving to become fixtures in the trophy case of acceptable home design.
In the weeks ahead, we’ll dive into a series on trends and look at a few that we currently live in: the island, open concept living, and our ever-growing houses. Along the way, we’ll ask fundamentally about what they say concerning our values and how are they are shaping us?
This week, we wanted to start with a trend that has had remarkable staying power: the home reno, or do it yourself (DIY) movement. It’s hard to say how or when this came about, but I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to point to four contributing factors that have helped its rise: economic downturns, HGTV (specifically home reno/design shows), home design blogs, and social media (Pinterest, Instagram, etc).
This one bed home in the Nogal Canyon is a bit strange at first glance, but contains a fair amount of ingenuity built in by the owner. A greenhouse runs the length of the off-grid home, providing tons of natural light and paired with the integrated rain storage tanks, gardening potential. In addition, handmade concrete floors aid in cooling the home, along with the thoughtfully designed cooling vents.
The soil and tires are a signature of so-called Earthship homes, which are passive energy structures built with upcycled materials, an idea originally conceptualized in the 70’s by architect Michael Reynolds.
So how does this relate to the DIY movement?
I’ve recently been inspired by the British show Grand Designs that profiles individuals as they design and build their homes — some use architects and builders, but others design and build it themselves. It’s this process of self-designing and self-building that I am particularly intrigued by, prompting more questions. Does it result in a better end result that aligns with the vision and needs of its inhabitants? And, how do they see their home years down the road, a structure that was built largely on the back of intense personal (and family) sacrifice to get there?
via Earthship Biotecture / Tagma
These Earthship homes, though quirky, seem to be filled with the life of their creators. What they’ve created is unique, personal and built with purpose, and even more, they believe it to be necessary from a philosophical level.
I wonder how our country’s wealth plays into this as well. Is thrift a distant memory for those with the means to pay for work to be done?
The DIY movement spans a rather large spectrum of pure inspiration via HGTV flipping shows, vanity Instagram posts and never ending, hope-to-one-day-accomplish Pinterest idea boards, to the self-taught builder encamped in the Alaskan wilderness who left everything to build his life anew.
It made me question, is our current DIY trend more renovation voyeurism than a desire to do with our hands that which cannot simply be consumed — a pride in our work?
Further Musings
I’ve always been intrigued by “incremental construction”, the approach Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena took for building affordable housing in Quinta Monroy, Chile. Instead of constructing a complete house, Aravena delivered “half of a good house” and gave its future residents the ability to build out and customize the remaining portion on their own timing. When handed over to the residents, the brutalist concrete structures look like one-eyed monoliths that belong in Terry Gillliam’s Brazil.
While Aravena must have been proud of the Pritzker he was awarded as a result of his out-of-the-box idea, I can’t help but think how difficult it must have been for him to give up control of the final stage in a project he brought to life — something between mowing only half of the yard and the feeling of giving up a child for someone else to raise.
This seems counter to the actions of many starchitects of our day that revel in designing grandiose projects that point back to their maker.
But, giving that up meant the residents gained a cheaper home, with the space to make it a better fit for their families. And, it meant a pride in what they were able to accomplish with their own two hands and the help of a few friends.
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Originally published at https://buttondown.email.
