How green is your project?

The gang over at Dwell Magazine have joined with the AIA, that's the American Institute of Architects to those of you not in the know, and together they are hosting a contest to promote sustainable home improvement projects.

If you're the proud owner of a green home improvement project and you'd like to show it off, go to the entry form on Dwell's website and enter. All you need to do is submit up to four photos of your project and write a simple, 250-word description. Then Dwell and the AIA will evaluate your entry. The most inspired projects will be posted on Dwell's website and if that weren't good enough, the winner will win $1000 to use toward his or her next project. Two runners-up will each receive $500 in addition to being posted on Dwell's website. Hurry though, the deadline for entries is June 30th.

If you don't have a green project of your own to show off, don't lose heart. The pages of Dwell Magazine and the AIA's website are great places to go to and find inspiration to start one.

Great lights!

I found this light fixture from Mixco through my pals at Treehugger today, and it may just be the thing that re-engages me in my blog. Thanks Treehugger and thanks Mixco.

I've been having a hard time forging some kind of connection between what I do for a living and what I believe is the deeply flawed vision of my profession. I am bombarded daily with industry generated tripe about what's new and what's better and what's disposable and what's right now. Keeping an eye on design trends is important as a means to make better choices, but I can't escape the feeling that there is a growing sentiment that design is temporary and disposable. "Temporary" and "disposable" are bad words and I am actively trying to purge them from my working vocabulary. In my mind, architects, designers and builders need to be a forefront in the quest for sustainable materials and practices and it's up to us to show people what's good for them in ways that are appealing and fun.

To that end, this new pendant light from Mixco does everything I tell my clients: if you can't disguise something that you can't change, draw attention to it and have it be your idea in the first place.

The shape of a compact fluorescent light bulb has always bothered me and I've always tried to hide them. Well, thanks to Mixco I don't have to hide any longer. Hah!

Herculean Herculaneum

I was pretty amazed by the level of preservation in Pompeii, despite its having been picked over so thoroughly in the last couple hundred years. Herculaneum on the other hand, has more of its architecture intact and entire homes filled with original mosaics and frescoes. I was blown away by Herculaneum. So much so that I want to start a movement in the decorative arts. I was going to call it Pompeiian Revival, but Herculaneum Revival is making more sense to me after having been there.

Pompeii pomp

I spent a day combing through the ancient ruins of Pompeii a week ago and came away humbled and moved to say the least. The classical Romans had surprisingly contemporary tastes and sensibilities. Either that or everything, and I mean everything, really is retro.

More great floors

OK kids, let me trot out some more vacation photos. I noticed a lot of really interesting majolica patterns in some really old buildings that still looked as great as they must have when they were installed. These are patterns that are still available for the most part, only these babies are the originals --the oldest one here is about 700 years old. Bet you can't guess which one it is. Any of these patterns would look terrific in a house today, despite the bright colors and wild patterns that a lot of people object to for being "too trendy." Pattern and color are your friends and these patterns from an old, old villa in Ravello make that statement pretty eloquently.