Out Back
Working Saturdays in the early 1970's as volunteers on the initial Recycle Ann Arbor curbside pickups the inertia of youthful intention maintained a strong and steady relationship for years of hard service work. Frozen toes, wine stained clothes, chapped skin, ruby cheeks, and hearty story telling, were all part of the territory for those who carried the mission to the streets of Ann Arbor. A recent meeting at the annual Ecology Center fund raiser rekindled the passing flame. Was it Robert Kennedy Jr.'s stirring words about his River Works efforts or the serendipitous meeting from another wet feeling of the person sitting behind you. Clumsy foot and all kicking over their iced beverage and flooding your Birkenstock's with fermented fruit?
The splash aside, hugs exchanged and the reminiscent words of lively youthful experiences rolled on into days and weeks of more frequented meetings. They had been renting most of their college and young adult life. It was time to create their own space in the world and the planning began in earnest. “Let's build/design one with both attainability and sustainability. Solar warmed and energized with small but efficient private spaces, complimented by larger community and family rooms in the heart and soul of the home. Minimize the electronics and eliminate the nerve degenerative electro magnetic fields of modern sciences ignorance!”
This site is unique, with a front south exposure to the meadow and the rear rolling down into another opening of sorts below the other sites. A beautiful retreat from the roads of our lives this home could be built gracefully in pods of Katrina style design. Each attached with clever base paths between the business and private functioning of our lives. Near the animal trails the wildlife interactions could be preserved with some careful and thoughtful relevance to the other sentients we walk this earth with!