Visit to a house in Flagstaff made of shipping containers that my teachers here designed!

On our way home from the airport we took a detour up to Jerome, a small mining town built into the side of a hill now largely filled with tourism and art. 

TUCSON | Highlight #4: Brad Lancaster & Bicas

Brad Lancaster is a rainwater harvesting guru who took us on a tour of Tucson for one of the days. In addition to showing us how he has created a rainwater harvesting system at his house, he explained many of the community initiatives he has been a part of. In contrast to some of the other speakers we have had, he is addressing the problems in a more condensed urban neighborhood. 

Some of his community work includes curb cutting in order to divert polluted street run-off, which would normally go to storm water drains and then into rivers, into vegetation. These are often planters that are pushed out into the road or within the center of an intersection, narrowing the street and/or creating a round-about, therefore slowing down traffic within neighborhoods. Through working outside on these projects, making the public spaces like sidewalks more enjoyable spaces, publicly displaying pictures of what an area used to look like, and providing community resources (like his outdoor rainwater washing machine), Brad attracts the attention and support of the community. As Brad was talking to us outside within the trees planted along his block (see picture above), a neighbor Brad didn’t know stopped as he was biking by and asked if we were involved in these changes that had been made. A perfect example of how simply putting yourself and your work out in the public can connect people and create community. 

Bicas is a local bike coop in Tucson, offering community workshop space and tools, classes, used parts to buy, a work-trade option, and more (similar to Free Ride in Pittsburgh). We rented bikes from Bicas for a bike tour of Tucson led by Brad - the pace of biking and the ability to quickly stop and hop off to see something made it a wonderful way to tour a new city! 

TUCSON | Highlight #3: Camping, Traveling & Dust Storm

TUCSON | Highlight #2: Rick Joy Architects

View out my window last week! 

TUCSON | Highlight #1: Sonora Desert Museum

We spent three days in Tucson a couple weeks ago. It was a tiring trip physically and mentally as we were on the go the whole time and had information flying at us non-stop, but it was amazing!! Will posts bits and pieces the next couple of days!

The Sonora Desert Museum was more like a zoo and botanical garden than a museum, but it was beautiful! Mostly outside, it had tons of plants and animals that are present in the Sonora desert and lots of interesting information about them. Could spend a couple more days there!

Hike in Prescott National Forest a couple weeks ago!

Should we live in and use structures that are dead or alive?

Check out these living structures - from houses, to bridges, to chairs. Giving a presentation on this stuff this tomorrow. Wood or steel bridges rot, rust and break down over time, while bridges made out of live roots only get stronger over time. Does it (or should it) matter that root or tree structures can take a 10-15 years to become fully functional? 

Some interesting links to look at:

living root bridges & ladders, mushroom packaging, living tree structures, living houses, “arbor-tecture,” some more tree structures 

Took a tour of Tony Brown’s (the founder, director, and one of our main teachers) passive solar house. He designed it and did most of the work on it himself, or traded for labor or products. It was amazing! So functionally directed-ly beautiful!