Karrie Is So Very

I'm actually in Kyoto, Japan as I write this, attending the 2nd International Conference on Universal Design (more on that later). But I wanted to pass on some information about critic/journalist Karrie Jacobs visiting Portland for a couple events.

Jacobs is the author of The Perfect $100,000 House: A Trip Across America and Back in Pursuit of a Place to Call Home, published by Viking. She is also a contributing editor at Metropolis magazine where she writes a monthly column, “America,” about how ideas and strategies in architecture and design play out on the landscape. Jacobs was the founding editor-in-chief of Dwell magazine, and also served as the architecture critic of New York Magazine.

On Monday evening at 7PM, Jacobs will give a lecture at the Art Institute of Portland. And on Tuesday at 12:30PM at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, Jacobs will be joined by Oregonian architecture critic Randy Gragg for a Q&A and conversation.

Jacobs is here to plug her book, but she's one of the top thinkers and writers in the United States about design and all its attendant social issues. These events are highly recommended. I'd check them out if I were in the same hemisphere.

Comments

[Lyle]

My wife and I went to Karrie Jacob's presentation last night. We both came away with some similar observations. She lacked energy for her subject, read her presentation and provided many photos that were either blurred, shadowed or both. She did not take her research and connections to those building these types of homes to another level. Despite all of that we think that she raises some good questions such as, How are we going to provide housing choices for middle America?

We felt that Ms. Jacobs should be moving towards "what is working what is not" conclusions. She only provided a montage of projects along with some of the respective builder/designer's ideas. She barely touched on prefab homes which in our view appears to offer real possibilities when working towards good $100K homes. Ms. Jacobs pointed out that the prefab homes are now generally manufactured by "mom and pop operations." Perhaps this can change. But if you think that this type of home does not have any potential, or that the "mom and pop" builders are not making some headway ... I suggest checking out fabprefab.com to see some of the many interesting designs and solutions.