Popular recurring New Year’s resolutions tend to focus on reversing adverse behaviours: Drink less alcohol, drop weight, manage stress, quit smoking. These settlements, and the remainder on a list given by the U.S. government, are barely surprises, but they do inspire me to define several settlements that are more optimistic … and achievable. I believe goals like “lose weight” and “manage stress” are overly broad and overpowering, meaning they get ditched as quickly as they’re made. But resolutions such as “stop drinking soda” and “take a walk before work” (that helps me) are more specific and therefore more viable; they also create positive habits that have long-term consequences.
So this ideabook has some settlements for what I will do on this year. Much of what I write about is inspired by photographs on , yet this ideabook can help remind me that items that needs to be discussed occasionally get lost on the way. Hopefully this won’t happen in 2013.
OKB Architecture
1. Move indoors. I will be the first to acknowledge that most of my posts focus on external architectural form. But space for a container of our daily lives is just as important, if not more so, in relation to form.
Tom Hurt Architecture
2. Harness the creative uses of small spaces. I am a proponent of small houses. Opting for something small means taking advantage of every small amount of space. This office tucked beneath the staircase is 1 example.
Moger Mehrhof Architects
3. Delve into the vernacular. Yes, I love modern and modern design, but more than that I love great design. While I am not a fan of new design that imitates old styles, I can find beauty in conventional style, particularly the vernacular.
Noel Cross+Architects
4. Embrace the conventional. Some conventional layout strikes my fancy, though I am often at a loss as to why. Perhaps it’s layout that isn’t timid about being conventional. Whatever the circumstance, the buildings that strike my fancy, whatever their fashion, will find a way into my ideabooks.
Quartersawn Design Build
5. Mix new and old. Finally, my love of contemporary and the occasional bit of standard architecture means that mixes of the two (be it in 1 building or in neighbors) are worth covering. Diversity in architectural form and creative juxtaposition of styles are healthy, in my own mind.
Montana Reclaimed Lumber Co..
6. Escape town. Many of my ideabooks are focused on the urban realm, but a lot of people live outside cities and suburbs. Time to venture out and take a look.
jessop architects
7. Visit New Zealand. Not literally (though I would love to go) but also to focus on a number of the excellent residential architecture occurring in that nation. Australia got an ideabook; today it’s New Zealand’s turn.
A.GRUPPO Architects – San Marcos
8. Open up to color. Plenty of contemporary architecture is fairly colorless, therefore it might be good to get over the stigma of colour.
Baldridge Architects
9. Think about the kids. As my daughter grows up, I can’t help but think of spaces and objects beyond the nursery. It’d be interesting to delve into style for kids.
Stuart Sampley Architect
10. Celebrate difference. A gap between two spaces often tends to get treated using a normal swinging doorway, meaning a slider such as this is a really special occurrence. Differences such as this one — big and small — can make a home a unique and personal place.
Tell us : Do you have any layout settlements for 2013?