Architecture Wednesday: Walled Garden House

While it’s a rather lovely house, what makes it interesting is what surrounds it: the ruins of multiple old stone sheds and outhouses that were restored to retain the history of the site and form the backdrop of the new build.

And that new build is two distinct A-framed volumes, one of which is a 2-story section where the upper floor cantilevers over the lower to create a covered entrance walkway, while the other A-frame is a simpler single-story volume. These 2 volumes are connected with a flat-roofed single-story building that gives the two distinct structures space to stand independently of one another and allow light to penetrate into the walled garden. It also helps to reduce the scale of the building to reflect the scale of the surrounding old stone structures.  The new buildings are a mirror L-shaped reflection of the existing stone ruins that create the walled garden between the new and old.

The building's materials are a celebration of the locale; the stone cladding used on the lower section of the new building is reclaimed from the fallen stone walls on site and so it’s as old as the stone structures yet crafted in a modern manner to highlight the contemporary addition to the site.

Atop this stone cladding is a Tyrolean plaster band that runs around the entire house, tying the different volumes and materials of the house together while a black corrugated metal roof—which mimics the roofs on nearby agricultural buildings—covered the entire home. In addition taken to creating a house that, while very modern, mimics the old buildings, is also quite environmentally friendly. The house is built using prefabricated panels of light gauge metal steel, is super insulated, has triple glazed windows, a mechanical heat recovery system, an external air source heat pump, is extremely airtight, and has roof-mounted photovoltaic panels. The house achieved an Irish Building Energy Rating (BER) of A1, the highest possible grade. 

Now that’s all good, but is it nice? Well, there’s a spacious Great Room with living area and fireplace, dining room with glass walls on two sides, and a sleek modern kitchen. On the same floor are laundry, storage, powder room, and the primary suite with bathroom and walk-in closet. On the second floor are a media room, guest room with en suite bath, and a third bedroom and bathroom.

It's all very sleek and rustic, old stone and metal, and walls of windows to the countryside.

As always, click to emBIGGERate …

ArchDaily

Bobservations

So, we were at the Elephant’s Delicatessen in Portland last week ordering breakfast and a woman noticed Carlos’ cane and came up to talk. Turns out her father has Retinitis Pigmentosa, too, and has been blind since he was a child. We stood and chatted while waiting and then she asked Carlos how long he’d been visually impaired.

Carlos thought she was asking how long we’d been waiting and he said:

“About fifteen minutes.”

The look on that woman’s face is etched in my brain! And for the rest of the time we were on vacation, I’d turn to Carlos and say …

“About fifteen minutes.”

… and howl.

Oh look, closeted gay man, who only came out when we learned he molested young boys, Kevin Spacey, has a film coming out.

Billionaire Boys Club is Spacey’s first film since he was replaced by Christopher Plummer in All The Money in the World after multiple allegations of sexual assault.

Check that off the list of films not to see.

What’s this … FamilySearch, the world's largest genealogy organization, is redesigning its website so the LDS Church-sponsored database can store and provide records of same-sex families.

The Mormon Church doing something right and decent for the LGBTQ community?

Maybe Hell is freezing over.

On the other hand … a few weeks back Pope Frankie Goes to Hollywood, er, Francis told a gay man that God had made him that way and lotsa folks in the LGBTQ community lost their shiz.

I, however, said, “Wait.”

And this week Frankie condemned abortion and once again clarified the Catholic Church’s view of what is considered a “family” is a heterosexual family only.

So, again I say, F%k off Frankie.

But then … in heavily Catholic Ireland this week it was announced that gay men convicted of sex crimes prior to the decriminalization of homosexuality a quarter of a century ago will receive an official apology in Ireland’s Dáil—the Assembly of Ireland—and Seanad—the Senate of Ireland:

“The all-party supported motion will say the law prior to 1993 caused harm to gay people and to their family and friends. The motion is expected to get the support of the Cabinet at its meeting this morning and later Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is set to deliver a key speech in the Dáil. Politicians from across the Dáil and Seanad will also speak on the motion that will acknowledge the hurt caused to people who were deterred by the law from being open about their identity. It will say this prevented many of them from engaging in civil and political life. There will also be calls to ensure Irish foreign policy promotes the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people globally.”

Good news on that front, eh?

In a majority six to one vote, the Richmond Public School board voted to change the name of J.E.B. Stuart [a Confederate General] Elementary to Barack Obama Elementary School.

_____ must be livid because schools named after him get sued for fraud.

Openly gay Pennsylvania lawmaker Brian Sims blasted Vice President Mike Pence on Facebook upon Pence’s arrival in Philadelphia and offered a one-finger salute and said:

“OFFICIAL WELCOME: Vice President Mike Pence let me be the first person to officially welcome you to the City of Brotherly Love, and to my District in the State House!

To be clear, we’re a City of soaring diversity. We believe in the power of all people to live and to contribute: Black, Brown, Queer, Trans, Atheist, Immigrant, we want you and we’ll respect you.

So, keep that in mind while you’re here raising money to attack more families, spread more lies, blaspheme with your bible, and maybe even talk to a woman without your wife in the room. We have plenty of them, and they’re pretty much all more powerful and more real than you have ever been.

So…get bent, then get out!”

Bravo, sir, bravo.

John Kelly is once again ALLEGEDLY barely tolerating _____ according to those close to him.

While Kelly himself once believed he stood between _____ and chaos, he has told at least one person that he may as well let the president do what he wants, even if it leads to impeachment.

Um, John? You, like Pope Frankie, can f%k off, because you are as complicit as anyone in this hate-filled regime because, worse that acting like a spoiled petulant wannabe dictator baby, you stand by and allow it to happen and say nothing.

Kiss my ass.

Oh, and for anyone who didn’t know this, it was John Kelly, back in April, who suggested that separating children from their parents at the borders was a good way to stop illegal immigrant.

So, yeah, f%k off again.

In sad news, openly gay actor Russell Tovey has parted ways with his fiancé, British rugby player Steve Brockman. Tovey broke the news of the break-up in a comment to a follower on Instagram, who had asked if the couple was still together:

“No darling.”

Um, Russell? Steve? If either of you needs a shoulder to cry on, or, you know, whatever, I’m here for you.

Laura Ingraham is at it again; and by ‘it’ I mean acting the racist tool on Fox.

Laura Ingraham actually described the detention centers where immigrant children are being kept after being torn from their parents as “essentially summer camps”:

“As more illegal immigrants are rushing the border, more kids are being separated from their parents. And temporarily housed at what are, essentially, summer camps.”

Ingraham can take her place in the F%k Off Line.

Oh, and while we’re here, let’s, all of us, stop calling then “detention centers” and “tent cities” and shelters” and call them what they are: Internment Camps.

And if you needed any more proof that ____ is kissing the asses of Kim Jong Un, Xi Jinping, or Vlad Putin while denigrating our allies around the world, look no further than the fact that the White House has removed all photographs of French President Emmanuel Macron and replaced them with photos of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

Makes sense, because this week the United States of America pulled out of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Human rights are clearly no longer important in America.

The move comes amid criticism over _____’s policy of separating child migrants from their parents at the US-Mexico border.

The Little Dick-tator got his diaper in a wad and left the group.

Aidan Turner. Hot. Irish. Actor. He has appeared on TV, film, and stage, and starred in the BBC’s Being Human—I never saw that one, though I was hooked on the American version—as well as in PBS’ Poldark and as Kili in JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit. He has also voiced a role in the first painted animation movie, Loving Vincent.

But again, smoldering, brooding, Irish, and hot as evidenced by the fact he was voted Sexiest Man in the World by UK Glamour magazine in 2016.

The Funny Papers ... Around The World

The other morning, as I was posting The Funny Pages to my blog, Carlos suggested I post political cartoons from around the world that show what some other folks — besides us and U.S. — think of [t]Rump.

I politely told Carlos to get his own blog … and then I found this:

The foreign press from around the world and their views of [t]Rump. Some are funny, some are high-larious, some are scary … none of them seem to be on his side.

So, in no particular order, here they are …

Bulgaria By Christo Komarnitski

United Kingdom By Ralph Steadman of New Statesman

Austria by Petar Pismestrovic of Kleine Zeitung

Canada By Micheal De Adder of the Halifax Chronicle Herald

United Arab Emirates By Paresh Nath of The Khaleej Times

France By Plantu of L’Express 

Note that this one isn’t against just [t]Rump; that’s Hillary Clinton on the left. The cartoon insinuates that Trump is in the race just to make sure Clinton has an easy win in November.

The phrase translates to “Toward an eclipse of the moon” and refers to the legend that lunar eclipses—Blood Moons—are bad luck and how we could avoid the bad luck of [t]Rump by voting Clinton.

Australia By David Rowe of Financial Review

Scotland By Bryan Adcock of The Independent

Jordan By Emad Hajjaj

Ireland By Dan Murphy

Cuba By Ramses Morales

The Netherlands By Joep Bertrams

Which is your favorite?

h/t Groopspeak

#ShredOfDecency: Confetti Made From 100% Lies

Gosh, I just love a story like this ....

Ireland is soon to have its own vote on marriage equality and a paper company called Daintree is trying to take a little of the ugliness out of the discussion and make it all pretty,

It seems that the lovely people Daintree have been taking charge of the numerous anti-gay pamphlets that are being mailed out, and handed out, and posted along walls, and then shredding them into heart-shaped confetti to be thrown in celebration at same-sex weddings.

Hate into Love.

Daintree is calling the product A Shred of Decency, and they pledge that their confetti is "made from 100% recycled lies," thanks to the hateful propaganda from which it's repurposed. The confetti retails for €5 (about $5), with all profits going to Yes Equality, a political advocacy group promoting marriage equality in the country.

From the Shred of Decency website:

"If you receive any dishonest flyers or leaflets in the run up to the referendum we want to recycle them into confetti. Just drop into our little paper shop at 61 Camden Street, Dublin and hand the lies over to one of our lovely shop staff and we’ll create more beautiful confetti to help people celebrate marriage equality."

I love it. And if you'd like some lies recycled into love you can purchase the confetti at their wesbite.

via Shred of Decency and HuffPo