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Category: FOOD

these two are supposed to be fundamental to human existence. an integrated solution might be a good idea.


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The Kitchen

The Kitchen
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In the oversized Victorian country houses of 19th century Britain, it was the custom for domestic tasks such as the preparation of food to be conducted out of sight of both family and guests but, in the Middle East, houses often a separate outside kitchen in which the maid roasts meant while, in the indoor […]

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Food Stuff

Food Stuff
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Architecture has had a love affair with prefabrication ever since Gropius’ conversion a hundred years ago. It never did become our dominant way of making buildings but the possibility was sufficient to invite him to Harvard and make his career while destroying those of independent craftspersons and carpenters worldwide. Such is the way of venture […]

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Reconstructivism

Reconstructivism
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The theme of the US pavilion at the 2016 Venice Bienalle was The Architectural Imagination. There wasn’t time to ponder this next project so I took some photos. These. I was suspicious of the appealing graphics and thought the proposal looked a bit too jolly for what’s essentially an inhabited multi-storey car park. But the […]

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The Dacha

The Dacha
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One response to urban lives characterised by work and routine is to take a break from it all. Some people retreat to their country or weekend houses, others perhaps book a hotel or go to a timeshare in some foreign country. Urban living in Russia is also characterised by work and routine but Russians don’t do any of the above if […]

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The Passivehaus Diet

The Passivehaus Diet
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“Man’s own metabolism is a renewable energy source which he can use freely as long as he exists. It is obvious therefore that it should be exploited for the heating of buildings.” V. Korsgaard One defining criteria of a passivhaus is 10W/m² maximum power to maintain 20°C internally when it’s -10°C outside. Within a passivhaus, the heat […]

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It’s Not Rocket Science #10: Integrated Sanitation and Nutrition

It’s Not Rocket Science #10: Integrated Sanitation and Nutrition
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1969: Apollo 11 photographs such as this one were a new way of looking at Earth and making its inhabitants feel special, if a little isolated. They also heightened awareness of our planet being a self-contained bubble and in the early 1970s, something called “environmental pollution” was identified as a bit of a problem. See here […]

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Home Grown

Home Grown
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So what’s for dinner then? Over on prep-blog.com (Prudent Reasonable Emergency Preparedness) Thoreau has done the groundwork for how much land you need to feed one person per year. He allows 145 kg of carbs (55% of total calories), 35 kg per year of fats (35%) and 35 kg per year of proteins (15%) per person, and reckons that 4,700 sq.m […]

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Calories/m3

Calories/m3
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The UK is in two minds about large supermarkets. Mind #1. Mind #2.  There’s nothing romantic about what’s replaced it either although some attempt faux-countryside or equally faux architectural-media stylings. Here’s an eco-friendly, sustainable supermarket designed by the CHQ Partnership. It didn’t stop the rot. And nor did smaller stores in central London, partly because the limited range of goods on offer […]

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The Orangery

The Orangery
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Some of mankind’s earliest attempts to understand climate came from observing simple natural phenomena such as slope aspect. The slope on the left faces north and supports a different type of vegetation from the slope on the right which faces south and is drier. It didn’t take long in the history of civilisation to figure out […]

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Food as Art

Food as Art
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In Alicante there’s a restaurant named after it’s founder-chef Quique Dacosta Restaurant. You can find out more about Dacosta’s food on the excellent alifewortheating site from where these next images came. Here’s a taster. Dacosta’s food is pretty and tasty. The emphasis seems to be on excellent seasonal produce, which puts it in the same realm as Japanese […]