Some Assembly Required
A new exhibit at the Virginia Center for Architecture may change some people's minds regarding prefabricated housing.
When most people think of prefabricated housing, the descriptives bland, cheap and wide load are not far behind. But today's architects are re-imagining the design of manufactured homes as a more upscale, or at least, more livable option.
The Virginia Center for Architecture examines the current trend toward contemporary prefabricated and modular housing with its latest exhibit entitled "Some Assembly Required," which is on view and free to the public until Sept. 30.
Prefab homes are everything from factory-built kits of parts homes and modular units to mobile homes and houses that arrive fully assembled. Even some site-built homes that involve standardized parts and are labor-intensive can be considered prefab.
The multimedia exhibition offers a glimpse into the design and construction of eight modern modular house projects through animations, video clips, photography and material samples, as well as architectural assembly diagrams, drawings and scale models.
"I think a lot of times, people hear the word 'prefab' or 'modular housing' and they think about house trailers, and that as a stereotype is an image that is locked in a lot of people's minds," said Vernon Mays, the Center's curator of architecture and design.
(For the rest of the story...) Source: Richmond.com
Showing posts with label Home. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Home. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Monday, July 9, 2007
C-Ville Weekly, ABODE, July 2007
Let’s play scribble
How to make any surface into a chalkboard
If your kids (or you, for that matter) can’t stop doodling on the walls, and you’re sick of scrubbing their masterworks off the satin-finish paint, devote a space to homegrown and temporary art by employing chalkboard paint. The stuff is made for virtually any surface, including wood, metal and plastic—even glass.
Buy chalkboard paint from any hardware or arts supply store. Then prep the surface as you would any other painting project. The final step is paint. Voila: instant canvas.
Benjamin Moore makes an acrylic-based chalkboard paint, while Rust-Oleum has a latex version. One quart is about $14. If you want the chalkboard to be magnetic too, simply slather the surface first with a magnetic paint undercoating. Or buy MagnaMagic’s two-in-one magnetic chalkboard paint. One quart covers 25 square feet and costs about $40.
Having your own in-house chalkboard allows you to write all of those things you were afraid to scribble on the Downtown Mall’s Free Speech Monument. Feeling like a censor? Removing the magnetic chalkboard altogether is also easy: Just sand it down and paint over it.—J.P.
Source: July 2007 C-Ville Weekly, ABODE Supplement
How to make any surface into a chalkboard
If your kids (or you, for that matter) can’t stop doodling on the walls, and you’re sick of scrubbing their masterworks off the satin-finish paint, devote a space to homegrown and temporary art by employing chalkboard paint. The stuff is made for virtually any surface, including wood, metal and plastic—even glass.
Buy chalkboard paint from any hardware or arts supply store. Then prep the surface as you would any other painting project. The final step is paint. Voila: instant canvas.
Benjamin Moore makes an acrylic-based chalkboard paint, while Rust-Oleum has a latex version. One quart is about $14. If you want the chalkboard to be magnetic too, simply slather the surface first with a magnetic paint undercoating. Or buy MagnaMagic’s two-in-one magnetic chalkboard paint. One quart covers 25 square feet and costs about $40.
Having your own in-house chalkboard allows you to write all of those things you were afraid to scribble on the Downtown Mall’s Free Speech Monument. Feeling like a censor? Removing the magnetic chalkboard altogether is also easy: Just sand it down and paint over it.—J.P.
Source: July 2007 C-Ville Weekly, ABODE Supplement
C-Ville Weekly, ABODE, July 2007
By the Numbers 20.6
(inches of rain we’ve gotten so far this year)
An arid May got us wondering: Are we in a drought? Actually, no: By mid-year, Charlottesville normally receives 21.8 inches of rain. Year to date for 2007, total precipitation was at 20.6 inches as we went to press.
Even though water is relatively plentiful this year, being proactive about conservation—especially with your lawn and garden—can‘t hurt.
Rainwater harvesting systems are one way to conserve, says Garnett Mellon, Easement and Education Programs Coordinator with the Thomas Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation District. To do this, simply install a rain barrel on your gutter to collect the water.
You may also want to think about xeriscaping, the water-conserving landscape design concept that all the cool kids are into. “The idea behind it is you plant species that are drought-tolerant so they don’t require a lot of water and don’t need a lot of irrigation,” she says. Drought-tolerant plants include cacti, yuccas, sedem, portulaca, and herbs like thyme and lavender.
Mellon also says adding two inches of mulch around plants helps water retention in the soil.
Another tip: Install a drip irrigation system instead of showering water on your plants from overhead. Water from on high will just evaporate in the heat, Mellon says, while the drip system trickles water directly on the root zone.—Jennifer Pullinger
Source: July 2007 C-Ville Weekly, ABODE Supplement
(inches of rain we’ve gotten so far this year)
An arid May got us wondering: Are we in a drought? Actually, no: By mid-year, Charlottesville normally receives 21.8 inches of rain. Year to date for 2007, total precipitation was at 20.6 inches as we went to press.
Even though water is relatively plentiful this year, being proactive about conservation—especially with your lawn and garden—can‘t hurt.
Rainwater harvesting systems are one way to conserve, says Garnett Mellon, Easement and Education Programs Coordinator with the Thomas Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation District. To do this, simply install a rain barrel on your gutter to collect the water.
You may also want to think about xeriscaping, the water-conserving landscape design concept that all the cool kids are into. “The idea behind it is you plant species that are drought-tolerant so they don’t require a lot of water and don’t need a lot of irrigation,” she says. Drought-tolerant plants include cacti, yuccas, sedem, portulaca, and herbs like thyme and lavender.
Mellon also says adding two inches of mulch around plants helps water retention in the soil.
Another tip: Install a drip irrigation system instead of showering water on your plants from overhead. Water from on high will just evaporate in the heat, Mellon says, while the drip system trickles water directly on the root zone.—Jennifer Pullinger
Source: July 2007 C-Ville Weekly, ABODE Supplement
Saturday, June 9, 2007
C-Ville Weekly, ABODE, June 2007
Move it!
How to survive the prime season for moving
Have you heard of the fashionable new workout, the one where you drop unwanted pounds by lifting heavy cardboard boxes in the sweltering heat from one location to another? That would be “moving day.” The summer months—May through September—are typically the time when most people move.
Paul Breaud, vice president of Student Services Moving in Charlottesville, knows how hectic this time of year is. “I’ve been on the phone since 6:30 this morning doing nothing but scheduling last minute student moves,” Breaud said recently. “I go form running three trucks a day during the school year to running as many as ten trucks a day during the summer.”
The laws of supply and demand suggest that prices should go up when fewer trucks are available. But Breaud says his company doesn’t have a seasonal rate. Year round, you can get four guys for less than $135 per hour.
U-Haul doesn’t have seasonal rates either. Rather, they factor in several variables to calculate the cost of a move, including equipment size, point of origin, destination, and the date of your move, says Joanne Fried, spokesperson for U-Haul International.
No matter who you choose to move your boxes of tchotchkes, if you need a truck on a specific date, call at least a month in advance. And the consensus is, if you are moving in the hot weather, drink lots of Gatorade.
“Make sure everything is packed and ready to go. Make sure you have plenty of liquids for the guys. It’s a hot time of year,” Breaud says.—J.P.
Source: June 2007, C-Ville Weekly, ABODE Supplement
How to survive the prime season for moving
Have you heard of the fashionable new workout, the one where you drop unwanted pounds by lifting heavy cardboard boxes in the sweltering heat from one location to another? That would be “moving day.” The summer months—May through September—are typically the time when most people move.
Paul Breaud, vice president of Student Services Moving in Charlottesville, knows how hectic this time of year is. “I’ve been on the phone since 6:30 this morning doing nothing but scheduling last minute student moves,” Breaud said recently. “I go form running three trucks a day during the school year to running as many as ten trucks a day during the summer.”
The laws of supply and demand suggest that prices should go up when fewer trucks are available. But Breaud says his company doesn’t have a seasonal rate. Year round, you can get four guys for less than $135 per hour.
U-Haul doesn’t have seasonal rates either. Rather, they factor in several variables to calculate the cost of a move, including equipment size, point of origin, destination, and the date of your move, says Joanne Fried, spokesperson for U-Haul International.
No matter who you choose to move your boxes of tchotchkes, if you need a truck on a specific date, call at least a month in advance. And the consensus is, if you are moving in the hot weather, drink lots of Gatorade.
“Make sure everything is packed and ready to go. Make sure you have plenty of liquids for the guys. It’s a hot time of year,” Breaud says.—J.P.
Source: June 2007, C-Ville Weekly, ABODE Supplement
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
C-Ville Weekly, ABODE, May 2007
Cook your buns off
Win big: Do Dixie in the kitchen
What could be more Southern than sweet potato rolls with sticky caramel-pecan sauce? That’s the recipe that won the 2006 Southern Living Cook-off. The grand pooh-bah of all Dixie region lifestyle magazines is running the annual recipe contest again right now, and there’s a big cash incentive to submit. The grand prize winner will score a cool $100,000—enough dough to buy a lifetime supply of cinnamon rolls. Last year’s other finalists created an array of recipes featuring Southern decadence on a plate, including shrimp bruschette with guacamole and spicy braised short ribs with peach gravy and green rice.
One catch: You have to use at least one of the “sponsor products” in your recipe. Your options include pride-wounding stuff like Crisco and Jell-O, but also versatile and respectable ingredients like peanuts and shrimp. This year’s Cook-Off Finals will be held in Birmingham, Alabama, where finalists will duke it out on October 3 and 4.
If you’re a local and you win, we promise not to make fun of you for reading Southern Living. Last year’s winners were all from the Midwest or West Coast, so our position is that Southerners need to bring bragging rights back home. Go ahead and enter! And, for the love of O’Hara, don’t forget to garnish.—Jennifer Pullinger
Source: May 2007, C-Ville Weekly, ABODE Supplement
Win big: Do Dixie in the kitchen
What could be more Southern than sweet potato rolls with sticky caramel-pecan sauce? That’s the recipe that won the 2006 Southern Living Cook-off. The grand pooh-bah of all Dixie region lifestyle magazines is running the annual recipe contest again right now, and there’s a big cash incentive to submit. The grand prize winner will score a cool $100,000—enough dough to buy a lifetime supply of cinnamon rolls. Last year’s other finalists created an array of recipes featuring Southern decadence on a plate, including shrimp bruschette with guacamole and spicy braised short ribs with peach gravy and green rice.
One catch: You have to use at least one of the “sponsor products” in your recipe. Your options include pride-wounding stuff like Crisco and Jell-O, but also versatile and respectable ingredients like peanuts and shrimp. This year’s Cook-Off Finals will be held in Birmingham, Alabama, where finalists will duke it out on October 3 and 4.
If you’re a local and you win, we promise not to make fun of you for reading Southern Living. Last year’s winners were all from the Midwest or West Coast, so our position is that Southerners need to bring bragging rights back home. Go ahead and enter! And, for the love of O’Hara, don’t forget to garnish.—Jennifer Pullinger
Source: May 2007, C-Ville Weekly, ABODE Supplement
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