February 23, 2011

The Importance of Place at the Castaway House

by: Taz Loomans

1 Comment

In this update:

I. Claire talks about the outdoor lifestyle in Phoenix

II. The urban context of the Castaway House

III. A quick survey on modes of transportation

Outdoor Lifestyle:

 

Urban Context:

We’re designing for a sustainable lifestyle at Castaway House.  A huge part of leading a sustainable lifestyle is where you live.  Nowadays, big home builders are building new subdivisions way out in the outer suburbs, but are claiming to be green.  Here at Blooming Rock and The Ranch Mine, we believe that location and place are fundamental to sustainability. Those “green” homes way out in the periphery defeat most of their other efforts to be sustainable because they encourage long, auto-centric commutes to the centers of town for work and play.  Plus, building further and further out dilutes already existing urban centers instead of adding to their vibrancy by making them more dense and lively.

The Castaway House site was carefully chosen to be located in an already existing, vibrant urban center near Downtown Phoenix.  As Claire talked about last week, this house was gutted and abandoned in a strong, existing family-oriented neighborhood, leaving a blight for the community to deal with.  Our goal is to repair and revitalize this house and enhance the vibrancy and livability of this already existing area.

Take a look at this area map created by Cavin to see all the existing neighborhood amenities around the Castaway House easily accessibly through walking, biking, transit and of course, the car.

As you can see, Castaway House is central to all the great things that already exist in this urban node, with a Walk Score of 78.  It was important to be within a dense area where biking, walking and transit are viable options to get around as well as driving.  Including these transportation options in people’s lives is fundamental to the sustainable lifestyle that we’re designing for at Castaway House.

We’d like to know what you think!  Please answer this quick survey about which modes of transportation you’d like to include in your life.  If you’d like to add something to your answer, feel free to leave us a comment! And remember to tune in every Wednesday for a new update on the Castaway House!

 

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world’s leading questionnaire tool.

Image credit: Area Map with Neighborhood Amenities by Cavin Costello.

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  1. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Taz Loomans, Taz Loomans. Taz Loomans said: Read about why the central location of Castaway House is fundamental to the sustainable lifestyle we're designing for: http://fb.me/GeX2twJ7 […]