“Ability to adapt to certain site conditions in an elegant way”. This is the benefits that David Baird, architect who operates his design firm PLUSone Design+Construction, sees in modern architecture. Indeed, he and his family have carved out their lives in the city of Baton Rouge through the project of Interstate. When I saw pictures of the article, I thought that it was one of the green designs because of grass on the whole house and their sylvan yard. However, it is more than that.
The place is a little unusual site, backing up to the interstate and on the hinge between a commercial area and a residential area. However, these bars shaped structures block the view and noise of the interstate highway creating calm island both interstate-side and street-side.
The key points of his working are “affordable housing” and “community development”. Baird did not want to spend much money on the house and he actually used most of materials and hardware from the Home Depot. This is a good example for frugality. Especially in his house, the spot lit billboards are also interesting. These cheap frames are like clothing of the house softening the hard edges and making artistic atmosphere.
He also wanted to engage the neighborhood and the community, so he used his abilities of art to facilitate an appetite for art in the community. That is my favorite part of the article because he thinks that architecture can create an open community space and he realizes his ideal. Local residents can wander in during his family’s art events and he can be happy with that.
Finally, he got the humanistic goal in this project by making private and public space. Now his children, Bo and Sky do artworks on the custom sliding doors and Baird relaxes in the bright living room. He has vitalized the city remained as a vacant site for years.
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I would like to give Baird a big hand for his idea converting an unusual site into affordable living space. And also, he seems to be open-minded and have such keen eyes. Even though a lot of people have passed the interstate where he decided to build a house, nobody has not recognized the potential lot but he has. Like Ms. Jee agree with Baird’s idea, I am with him in through the whole part of his work. Especially, his efforts to reduce the expense of the house, to solve predictable problems from the house build on interstate are enough for him to be called a remarkable architect. Additionally, his idea could create possibility for a lack of house, one of the most serious social problems. Many people living in a city suffer from enormous money that they have to spend to keep their house appropriate and his suggestion fits to solve this problem. In this article, he shows what the ideal life is and at the same time persuades people by opening his real life in the house built on interstate.
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