Crossings : the promise of proximity

Abstract

There are four key notions underlying this thesis: a. there are forces at play which cause many of the home's systems to interact with each other in ways that may be intended or unintended; b. due to these forces, our understanding of each of the home's individual systems may not allow us to understand how they work together; c. in order to understand how the home "works", we may need to redefine its systems based on these interactions, or crossings, and develop an ecology of building systems; d. good-looking homes aren't good enough ... we must move toward the concept of a high-performance home, properly deploying our knowledge of these interactions. The thesis is organized in four principal sections: 1. Crossings proposes a typology for interactions among roleplayers, systems and materials in the home; 2. some of the problems associated with their interactions are illustrated by considering the evolution of the residential chimney (Pipeline to the Sky 1 and the residential wall (The Great Barrier Rift); 3. Toward the High-Performance Home considers the implications of those interactions; 4. the opportunities in those interactions are examined metaphorically in Service Core: The Promise of Proximity and Information: The Currency of Crossings.