In the entire world, only 3 countries haven’t formally adopted the metric system as the official measurement system: Myanmar, Liberia, and … the United States. If you agree this is ridiculous, here are some tips to help you make the switch.
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Alan Abrams, our architect, blogs about passive house and other build and design topics on his website. He also chronicled the construction of our home in a series of posts. [UPDATE: Looks like Alan’s site is down.] You can download a single PDF with all the posts about our house (8MB).
View Alan Abrams on Passive House »
Preliminary and final floor plans for our custom home in Derwood, MD.
View Choosing the Design »
A look at the ideals that shaped our design and building process.
View Guiding Principles »
CeCe dug up an interesting article from 2006 in Baltimore’s City Paper (no longer available online). Here she recounts the bizarre tale of how Joseph Di Giorgio escaped death at the hands of his banana-importing rivals.
View The Mafia’s Attempt to Blow Up Joseph Di Giorgio »
Some historical background on our decision to build a custom-designed house on our lot in Derwood, MD.
View Architectural Aspirations »
In July 2011, Aidan spent a week at Camp Olympia. As I was driving north on Avery Road to drop him off, admiring the surrounding trees of Rock Creek Park, I saw an unassuming “Lot for Sale” sign planted at the intersection of Avery and Southlawn. I was immediately intrigued, since it was clearly a…
View We’re Building a House! »Besides the morass of degenerating house plans, many of us were now facing actual graduation from college. Being so rudely thrust into full-fledged adult life was pretty much the final nail in the coffin of the Blackwood commune. I’d like to finish this reminiscence with a look at what life in the commune might have…
View What Might Have Been »
After months of wrangling different plans, it was slowly sinking in just how difficult consensus decisions were. I posted the following missive almost exactly one year after sending out the initial introductory letter: Just when you thought it was safe to check your mailbox… …OK, I know I’m the one who said it was time…
View Reality Sets In »
We wanted feedback—we got it! There was a Version 4.1, with a radically different layout, then Versions 5 through 7 were back to the original concept. Then there was a Type II, again with a very different L-shaped footprint. To open a window on the thought process, here are the notes accompanying Version 5: fireplaces:…
View A Plethora of Plans »