Archive for May, 2010

May 31, 2010

Why not All Old Buildings Should be Saved

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet This weekend, the Phoenix Historic Neighborhood Coalition (PHNC) released the Most enDangered Dozen. It’s a list of local historic buildings in danger of being torn down, some because they are in blighted neighborhoods, some because they themselves are in terrible condition and some because their owners have foreclosed. In other words, these properties are on the verge of being sold to some very enterprising but potentially culturally insensitive people that will likely tear these buildings down. The buildings that made this list elicited different reactions from me. With some of them like the Art Deco Professional Building and Al…

May 26, 2010

The Environmental Imperative for Historic Preservation

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Green building is all about solar panels, smart thermostats and fancy gray water plumbing right? Well, not really. Those things are components of green building, but they’re not the entire story. Far from it. The most effective green building happens when ancient wisdom is combined with new technology. Unfortunately, this ancient wisdom is not as sexy as new technology can be and hence it rarely gets much press. Some examples of ancient wisdom are orienting your building for passive solar design, using the least amount of materials to build, using local materials, and reusing what is usable. Today I…

May 25, 2010

The BIG delusion in Phoenix

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Paul and I live in a 920sf unit with 3 cats. Does this seem small to you? No that’s not our place in the photo. That’s a luxury home in Queen Creek. Here’s what’s making me think that size does matter. Yesterday I wrote about the Awakening the Dreamer Symposium which highlighted the environmental, spiritual and social issues of our world today. One of the exercises of this event was to question our assumptions. The assumption I want to challenge today is about size. Here are some variations of the basic assumption that bigger is better: bigger = more…

May 24, 2010

3 Phoenix Events Profess that Newer and Bigger is Not Better

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet This weekend I attended 3 awesome events whose message is summarized in the video I’ll share with you at the end of this post. The first event is the Places, Spaces and Faces Community Dinner. This event brings people together to share food, ideas and stories in historically or architecturally significant buildings in Phoenix. This monthly event was founded by Kathleen Bartolomei, Yuri Artibise and me and now is organized by two new community members every month. This month’s event was held at the Hotel San Carlos and featured a presentation by Robert Melikian, who’s family owns the hotel. …

May 20, 2010

Why Arizona Owes a Great Debt to Frank Lloyd Wright

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet In my previous post, What is the Arizona School, I mentioned that Frank Lloyd Wright was the father of the Arizona School, a term coined by Reed Kroloff for the style of architecture unique to this Place – the desert. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of taking a tour of Taliesin, Wright’s farm, residence and school complex in Spring Green, WI. Farm building at Taliesin – now used as residence space for students This tour gave me a deeper perspective on what Wright was working on before he made Scottsdale his winter home and embarked on a new style…

May 17, 2010

Why Phoenix Could Learn from Milwaukee’s Neighborhoods

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet This week I’m traveling in Milwaukee, WI visiting family. One of the best parts of traveling is that it gives you a fresh perspective on what’s back home. The prevailing trend is that people from the midwest move to sunny Arizona because of the weather and the promise of a new start. But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a whole lot that’s right in the midwest that Arizona could learn from. So during my stay in Milwaukee, I’ve been thinking about what Phoenix can learn from this city. One of the big differences I’ve seen is in the…

May 12, 2010

Why Solar Gardens are a Perfect Fit for Phoenix

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet The Community Solar Garden Bill is about to be signed in Colorado by it’s governor, Bill Ritter. This bill essentially allows homeowners to buy into a share of a Community Solar Garden. A solar garden is similar to a windmill farm, but on a smaller scale. It’s a place that houses a number of solar arrays that generate enough power that can be distributed to many different households. It’s aimed at people who can’t install solar panels on their rooftops for whatever reason. They may be renting, may live in a condominium, may have a roof that’s in shade,…

May 11, 2010

Help Cash for Caulkers pass the Senate!

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet The Cash for Caulkers bill, or the Home Star Energy Retrofit Act, was approved by the House on Thursday May 6 and is expected to pass the Senate this summer. What is it? Cash for Caulkers is similar to Cash for Clunkers where you get an instant rebate for making energy efficiency improvements to your home. There are two levels of rebates you can get: 1. For the the Silver Star, consumers would be eligible for rebates between $1,000 and $1,500 for a variety of home upgrades, including adding insulation, sealing leaky ducts and replacing water heaters, HVAC units,…

May 10, 2010

Another Phoenix Infill Lot Wasted on a Circle K

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet I’ve been driving by this new building in construction the past few months. It’s on 11th St. and Indian School. My first thought when I found out what it was was – oh great, all we need in this city is another Circle K. There’s hardly anything getting built nowadays and for good reason, we have way too many existing buildings waiting to be reused. And one of the few new buildings is a Circle K – a brand new gas station and convenience store? Convenience gas stations are, as you might know, the bane of our Phoenix urban…

May 06, 2010

Welcome to the new Blooming Rock!

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet You may have noticed that I didn’t post my usual weekly blog posts this week. That’s because I was working on relaunching the Blooming Rock website so it’s easier and more enjoyable for you to use and get information from. Take some time, poke around and get to know the site! If you like what you see, spread the word and let your friends know about the new and improved site here to inform, educate and inspire you about architecture in Phoenix. I’ll be back on my usual blog post schedule starting Monday!