Outside the Box
Whether designing a single house or a pocket neighborhood of homes, we always begin outside the box. What is the larger environment that surrounds us? What is lovable —in particular— about the street...
View ArticleA Camp for Life-Long Children
I am engaging in a lively Facebook conversation with friends from high school. The thread stemmed from one of those alluring photos of a row of tiny houses for a group of friends. One of my classmates...
View ArticleCohousing vs Pocket Neighborhoods – What’s the Difference?
Cohousing has been taking hold across North America and around the world, offering an enticing option for people wanting to live in a more closely knit community. Some even call it a movement. Pocket...
View ArticlePocket Neighborhoods for Special Niches
We are currently working on a new community to provide safe and permanent housing for adults with intellectual, developmental and acquired disabilities. Over the years we’ve helped create pocket...
View ArticleServing Ourselves / Serving the Whole
I had an engaging conversation recently with Sally Fox, a podcaster and leadership consultant, covering a range of big ideas. We talked about zugenruhe moments of restlessness, finding our passion and...
View ArticleWater Dancing on the Ceiling
As I write this, we’ve just passed the Autumn Equinox. The sun is out, the air is fresh and the leaves on the trees are beginning to color. It’s a bit cliché to say it’s a reflective time, but I’d like...
View ArticleBetter Together: Small House Living Thrives in a Community
Small houses are getting a lot of press days. They are capturing our imagination, teasing our nesting instinct, and enticing us to consider the possibility of living with a smaller mortgage or less...
View ArticleA Simple Self-Closing Gate
Langley, a rural town of 1100 people on Whidbey Island, Washington, hosts a robust population of rabbits that have attracted national news. The deer population may not be as noteworthy, but they are...
View ArticleA Microhouse House
Continuing the small house thread from our last post, we’ve been brainstorming into how tiny houses (< 350 SF) may be a viable housing option. Rather than being low-profile ‘outlaw’ houses, lets...
View ArticleBefore a Great Migration
As I fly back to Minnesota to be with my family for Thanksgiving, I think about looking out on the lake I grew up next to. At this time of year, the last leaves have fallen, the temperatures drop into...
View ArticleNotre Dame and the Blue Macaw
The burning of Notre Dame is a devastating blow to the heart. I gasped when I first saw the images of the burning spire, and every time my thoughts turn to this historic loss, I feel shock, sadness and...
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