I'm going to take a nap in the bath...

How do you turn a dilapidated, run-down lot like this...

...in to a palatial, weather manipulated, sliding roofed, floating walled, mini-house in South London -- that is -- in South London for £210,000 (about $435,000 US)?

With a second mortgage from your father to cover construction costs, and around a bazillion friends to put it all together for you.

A steel-framed house is pretty difficult to construct when you can't afford a crane. But somehow, Monty and Claire made magic, constructing this beautiful dream home out of nothing (how much free pizza and beer do you need to offer to do something like this?!?!).

But really, how cool can this house be? It's sammiched TIGHT between two surrounding brick structures. There's just enough room for one bathroom? They're so close to the neighbors that side view windows wouldn't even work. They must be squeezed at the gills, right?

Well, the bed in the master slides to the side to reveal a bathtub underneath. I'd say that kind of space management can be filed under cool.

In actuality, just about everything in this house can be classified as cool, seeing as it all rotates, slides or spins to add more space.

There's the wall on the master:

The window on the upper mezzanine:

The huge, corner-positioned doors on the side of the dance studio. Yes, a dance studio. FYI: The floor is made out of a Sycamore tree that was cut from the site:

The kitchen cabinets that work at a slant to fit into the odd-shaped nooks and crannies:

And yes, once again, the sliding bed/bath:

Want to take a virtual tour?

Take your seat on the internet Routemaster HERE.

Visit the Pekham House's main website HERE.

We can pollute in space...

Original Picture Credit
Photoshop by me

And suddenly, the Dyson Sphere doesn't seem so impossible...

The US Military has a small proposal: a space-based solar power station.

First and foremost, the question should be asked, "Why in the hell is this being done by the US Military? Why not NASA?" Well, the shot-callers in Arlington decided that energy independence is now an issue of national security.

So we're invading the moon? Wow, I didn't even know it had weapons of mass destruction.

Seriously though, why would the DoD be interested? Here's just a few reasons from this guy:

Immediate military tactical and operational needs:

1. Dramatically reduce the energy logistics train to forward operating bases and reduce the need to secure massive energy convoys and stores in:
-Disaster relief efforts
-Nation building efforts
-Combat zones

2. Beam power directly to vehicles in all operating media for the following reasons
-Reduce weight of carrying fuel
-Increase range and loiter time
-Eliminate need for refueling and reduce the need for refueling vehicles
-Reduce the need for consuming local energy supplies
-Reduce size and signature

3. Use SSP for liquifaction of carbon-neutral fuels for current generation of liquid-fueled systems
-Continue to exploit current liquid fuel infrastructure, using carbon neutral fuels
-Gain independence from foreign liquid fuel providers

Urgent national security strategic goals:

1. Assist in achieving national energy independence from current liquid fuel providers
-Reduce level of national interest in unstable regions
-Reduce national dependence on unfriendly foreign governments
-Reduce the risk of energy competition wars in the 21st Century

2. Assist allies in achieving their national energy independence
-Develop and strengthen broad international partnerships
-Participate in international energy consortia and alliances

3. Economic: Become an energy exporter
-Increase national ability to influence or avoid geopolitical events
-Increase GNP, wealth of the nation, and increase tax revenue
-Use energy earnings to pay off national debt

4. Environmental: Dramatically reduce carbon emissions into the atmosphere
-Prevent food wars which might happen if global warming continues
-Enhance soft power and green credibility around the world
-Lead the international clean energy movement by example

OK, so the product has legitimate applications and is not, in fact, an invasion of the moon. I can see it now, like two big bug eyes circling the earth, harvesting solar rays in a "lock box" where they are converted into high-power density microwave beams back to earth. Like this:

Sound a little far-fetched? Well it needs to be, because whoever develops the technology will rule the world.

Lotttttttsssssss of money. Lotttttttsssssss of power. Lotttttttsssssss of women.

Brown hot women.

They estimate that just one of these bands will produce enough energy per annum to equal that of the entire oil reserve left on the planet (granted, this is an estimate from a bunch of guys that can't even get a missile shield working).

Still, I'm optimistic...not in my lifetime, but maybe when my one year-old son is on the verge of retirement.

From the website:

NSSO Backs Space Solar Power
Oct 11, 2007
Frank Morring, Jr./Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

Collecting solar power in space and beaming it back to Earth is a relatively near-term possibility that could solve strategic and tactical security problems for the U.S. and its deployed forces, the Pentagon's National Security Space Office (NSSO) says in a report issued Oct. 10.

As a clean source of energy that would be independent of foreign supplies in the strife-torn Middle East and elsewhere, space solar power (SSP) could ease America's longstanding strategic energy vulnerability, according to the "interim assessment" released at a press conference...

And the U.S. military could meet tactical energy needs for forward-deployed forces with a demonstration system, eliminating the need for a long logistical tail to deliver fuel for terrestrial generators while reducing risk for eventual large-scale commercial development of the technology, the report says.

Read more HERE.

More communion, please....

Thisplaceis has an interesting post on sacred spaces. I found it interesting because my firm is currently prepping for our annual Principals' Meeting, a portion of which will be held at the recently opened Bar of Modern Art in Columbus, and I've always wondered about that rehab.


Developer Gary Gitlitz turned BoMA from an historic Baptist church into a bar/nightclub/100-seat dining room. Funny thing is....this is the Midwest....so I was fairly surprised when only I seemed to have reservations about the church-turned-into-house-o-sin metamorphosis.

Shin-pei Tsay, one of three contributors at Thisplaceis, brought up a location in New York that curbed my misgivings about sacred spaces in general (he also talked about absinthe, which gave me an instant flashback hangover). It's the New York City Marble Cemetery, a liger-like combination of somber reflection and socializing. Monday through Thursday it's your typical cemetery, but Friday through Sunday it's encouraged to be used as a park.

In the interest of full disclosure I must admit that I believe that burial, in itself, is a selfish act. To me, it signifies a desperate grab at immortality by peeing on a tree and claiming it yours for all of eternity...or in this case a 6' x 4' plot of land. As a result, I'm now torn on these Eco-Cemeteries that appear to be popping up (or down) all over the place.

Anyway, so while I'm not planning on holding a burial after my party is busted God's police, I do, however, retain a large amount of respect for the land the ground-sleepers have chosen as their final resting place (lack of couth with terms like ground-sleepers notwithstanding).

To each their own...may their God/next life treat them well.

So prior to this I had never considered the notion that a place like a cemetery could be predispositioned as a shared-use space. Although the New York Marble Cemetery had (apparently) evolved into its shared-usedness (my word), why not make them into places of gathering/celebration/familia.

Likewise, is there really a problem with a church-turned-nightclub conversion if the conversion, when finished, is done tastefully, without disrespect to the prior history of that space? Although some might argue that a bar-conversion for a Baptist church like BoMA might not be the best renovation possible, the end result is, in all honesty, quite nice. And isn't a church intended for celebration?

Thoughts? Sacrilege or preservation?

Check out thisspaceis for pictures of the New York Marble Cemetery.