Dip. Arch. RV – the New Qualification for the Travelling Architect
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Recreational Vehicles [RV’s], so beloved of our American cousins and popularised for many in the film RV with Robin Williams may be the perfect solution to the recession blues affecting architects today.
No longer will that job on the Scandinavian Peninsula seem too remote to be viable, when you can drive to it, and live on site, offering a bespoke service as Site Architect unsurpassed in the history of the profession.
Forget about negative equity – sell for what you can and get a loan to cover the balance, massively reducing your monthly outgoings.
Collaborate with other Mobile Maestros throughout the world either via the Internet or though rallies descending on whatever part of China urgently western standards of design brought to its door by skilled personnel with years of experience and unrequited wanderlust.
Stay 184 days out of Ireland – and everywhere else – and operate legally as a Citizen of the World, lining your pension fund instead of the coffers of national governments who are beholden to shore up failed private banking institutions.
Learn to exploit the tax and legal loopholes that corporations have enjoyed for decades, maximising your earning potential and spreading the good news.
Whilst the descendants of farming generations adopt entrenched positions in apartments in the city only to be alienated and ignored in a cosmopolitan milieu they will never call home, discover the real comradeship to be found on the road, sharing fireside tales with truckers, bikers, travellers and sales reps – as well as half the populations of Latvia and Poland, all of whom will know the best restaurants, best pubs, best sites with the best views and the last hassle.
Become a difficult target for those operating the next generation of weapons systems in WWIII/The Invasion of Iran or alternatively be one of the first on the scene co-ordinating relief and recovery in the wake of the next natural disaster as the earth’s climate and tectonic plates repeatedly tell Man that he’s gone too far.
Finally, for those eco-concious road warriors, take succour in the use of biologically sourced fuel and lubricants, solar panels on the roof, and a set of wind turbines that can be set to “blow” for when you’ve overstayed your welcome and both the NGO’s and local Warlords are getting tired of being upstaged by your tireless pro-bono work.
Does this sound like a pipe dream when only the super rich can afford to be stateless and taxless?
Consider sharing accommodation co-ordinated between three countries if you like a more static lifestyle but still have the will to try something different.
After all, what have you got to lose – your house?!
ONQ.
At first it sounds appealing, but as soon as one remembers with the rising cost of fuel (I imagine these behemoths burn their share, it goes out the window.
fly aware to greener pastures and stay put for the time being.
The snail crawls out with his house on his back,
You may know whence he comes by his slimy track.
Creep, creep, how slowly he goes,
And you’d do the same if you carried your house.The snail crawls out with his house on his back,
But a blackbird is watching him on his track.
Tack, tack! on the roof of his house,
He gobbles him up as a cat does a mouse.😮
K.No, there’s more to this idea than you might think. Mobility is a big part of the story these days, if extreme, check out http://www.terreform.org/projects_habitat_homeway.html.
@L1 wrote:
No, there’s more to this idea than you might think. Mobility is a big part of the story these days, if extreme, check out http://www.terreform.org/projects_habitat_homeway.html.
if it takes off I want one of the houses on the back of the mechanical elephants
interesting site – lots of thought provoking stuff there
@L1 wrote:
No, there’s more to this idea than you might think. Mobility is a big part of the story these days, if extreme, check out http://www.terreform.org/projects_habitat_homeway.html.
There were a lot of revolutionary ideas on human living in the seventies but nothing that grabs you by the unmentionables since eh Bikar wall.
I proposed plug in pods in a first year project, that would be hung from serviced towers wherever the work was – you took your house wherever you went – sort of like clusters of fruit hanging from branches.
Self-propelled flyers, so you could physically migrate in a global workforce, the next stage after globalisation I suppose, although that term wasn’t used widely then.
Then came the virtual reality world and it seemed like we could all work remotely from anywhere in the world so we would never have to leave home.
Now we’re once more comtemplating emigration, something I had hoped never to see in my lifetime again after the loss of our brightest and best in the ‘Eighties.
Buggah!
ONQ.
@wearnicehats wrote:
if it takes off I want one of the houses on the back of the mechanical elephants
Howdah work?
K.This from the RIAI:
Haiti Reconstruction – RKD Architects
RKD has been participating in an initiative concerned with working on redevelopment in Haiti and has been liaising with a US-based non-profit organisation called Architecture for Humanity (AFH) http://www.architectureforhumanity.org They are seeking construction professionals including architects, structural and civil engineers, surveyors and quantity surveyors to carry out voluntary field work there.
Architecture for Humanity need volunteer professionals at the rebuilding centre they are establishing in Port-au-Prince and are looking for smart professionals with great gobs of common sense and an ability to work in rough conditions.
Architecture for Humanity provides lodgings and daily subsistence. While they do not provide the cost of travel, RKD Architects would be prepared to pay for airline tickets for up to 5 volunteers who would be prepared to go for a period of 3-6 months.
From their website, AFH are providing support to assist community partners and NGO’s in the design and construction of housing and civic infrastructure destroyed by the earthquake:-
1. Housing for underserved/low-income populations
2. Transitional/Permanent Educational Facilities
3. Childcare Facilities
4. Health Clinic Facilities
5. Other public/civic institutions and infrastructure as required
Services offered:
• Training in safe and sustainable building practices (Building 101 classes and manual)
• Structural assessment training and tools
• GIS and mapping support for community-level planning and assessments
• Technical support and capacity building in green building practices
In addition, the Rebuilding Centre will offer on-going design services to community partners and NGO’s for specific building projects, including but not limited, to:
• Needs assessment
• Site feasibility analysis
• Community-based design services
• Consulting on sustainable and green building practices
• Contract documents/ bid/tender process
• Construction documents and technical specifications
• Construction administration
• Post-occupancy analysis
If you are interested in taking on the challenge of this work (for whatever period), please contact David Browne at RKD before Friday, 14 May 2010 – dbrowne@rkd.ieIf I was 20 years younger I’d go
If anyone does contact David would you ask him what exactly “great gobs of common sense”
We want you to go work for nothing in hot sticky Haiti, but only if you have ”great gobs of common sense”
Hmmm,
Even if I don’t have the required gobs of common sense, I will definitely go down to the quayside and wave off whoever does get on board that particular banana boat.
@gunter wrote:
We want you to go work for nothing in hot sticky Haiti, but only if you have ”great gobs of common sense”
Hmmm,
Even if I don’t have the required gobs of common sense, I will definitely go down to the quayside and wave off whoever does get on board that particular banana boat.
I have to say Gunter that’s not very charitable to the dispossessed of a third world country.
I also have to say, however, that if I was sitting here as a recently redundant ex RKD employee I’d be wondering where the money came from for this. Charity begins at home…….
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