(oranges on the patio at Greg and Joan's)
1. Never drive to L.A. on a Friday after work.
2. For naughty architectural indulgement head to Palm Springs.
The entire stretch of highway between San Diego and Los Angeles was stop and go. By the 4th hour (of what should have been a 2.5 hr drive by normal standards) I was talking to myself and making crazy lady gestures to no one. I might have been chittering too but I think I was just rolling "r's. By the time I made it north of L.A. to Camarillo, the site of M's mom and two boxes of leftover chinese food almost caused me to either cry or laugh hysterically. That was good leftover chinese! Saturday morning we all ate at a french breakfast cafe, where I consumed a croissant that probably had 3lbs. of butter baked into it. Greg gave me a sample of his new slow-smoked and slow-braised ribs and they were amazing. He had about 6 racks of ribs cooked and packed for the day's business at the Hi Cees BBQ Cafe. I suggested I take them all for the road and he thought I was kidding. Ribless, I headed for Palm Springs and once I got there the exhilirating rush of modernism washed over me. The mid-century furniture show was so-so but I did stop in a gallery on Palm Canyon and saw the first U.S. exhibit of an Australian couple's work Korban/Flaubert and it was amazing. They do very elegant industrially driven pieces of sculpture. The link I've included here shows a picture of a woman in a swimsuit reclining on a metal tube with a dent in it. After seeing that piece in person, I wouldn't recommend that use for it.
The simplicity and beauty of the Palm Springs style of modern architecture is going to stay with me as a fat footnote to my Next Generation Nursing Home Project. The NextGen Nursing Home has been a slow-growth idea that's now going through a phase-change. Part of the reason I took my current job is due to the very specialized and niche nature of health care design and remodeling. The State of CA has a strict regulatory agency that oversees every inch of carpet and drywall that gets moved or built in health care. I'm learning a lot from my boss in 3 weeks about the bureaucratic processes of getting heatlhcare design done. Yes, I bleed modern and drool over beautiful residential structures but I can learn that anywhere. My boss doesn't even have to do any marketing because her field of design is so specific.
But back to the Next-Gen Nursing Home. My first job while still in high school was working at a nursing home in Woodbury, MN in the food dept. I pushed a food cart around and scooped out questionably edible mash in perfectly rounded mounds. The place was even considered to be a fairly NICE nursing home and it had a 2 year waiting list. Most of the CNAs were barely out of high school and didn't care a great deal about who they were taking care of. I was in that nursing home because my great aunt was put there by her husband and I couldn't bear the though of her being there alone. I worked there for 4 years and after high school I continued to commute back on weekends while I attending college in Wisconsin. When my great aunt passed away it was in the middle of the night due to a fall on the bathroom floor. Ultimately, I believe it was negligence due to the staff and by design of the place. Nursing homes need a complete overhaul and infusion of innovation. The staffing model needs an innovation in who is hired, how they're vetted, how they are trained and what they are compensated. The design needs to be patient-centered as much as it is provider-centered and innovative uses of technology is not even on the radar in nursing home design. For example, there's a university research group on the east coast that's developing embedded sensors that can detect that an elderly person has fallen and alert caregivers, I could go on for another three pages but I'll probably be putting together a plan and prospectus that will go on for 300 pages. Currently, I'm looking for advisors, researchers, administrators, engineers, designers, thinkers that would be interested in collaborating electronically for now on this project. I intend to get my Architect's license in the state of California within 3 years and then put together actual plans, acquire the land and attract the funding for such an endeavor. Ultimately I'd like to create a model that would be adopted by others. My most important supporter, Malinda, is on board and I truly believe that we will make this happen.
2. For naughty architectural indulgement head to Palm Springs.
The entire stretch of highway between San Diego and Los Angeles was stop and go. By the 4th hour (of what should have been a 2.5 hr drive by normal standards) I was talking to myself and making crazy lady gestures to no one. I might have been chittering too but I think I was just rolling "r's. By the time I made it north of L.A. to Camarillo, the site of M's mom and two boxes of leftover chinese food almost caused me to either cry or laugh hysterically. That was good leftover chinese! Saturday morning we all ate at a french breakfast cafe, where I consumed a croissant that probably had 3lbs. of butter baked into it. Greg gave me a sample of his new slow-smoked and slow-braised ribs and they were amazing. He had about 6 racks of ribs cooked and packed for the day's business at the Hi Cees BBQ Cafe. I suggested I take them all for the road and he thought I was kidding. Ribless, I headed for Palm Springs and once I got there the exhilirating rush of modernism washed over me. The mid-century furniture show was so-so but I did stop in a gallery on Palm Canyon and saw the first U.S. exhibit of an Australian couple's work Korban/Flaubert and it was amazing. They do very elegant industrially driven pieces of sculpture. The link I've included here shows a picture of a woman in a swimsuit reclining on a metal tube with a dent in it. After seeing that piece in person, I wouldn't recommend that use for it.
The simplicity and beauty of the Palm Springs style of modern architecture is going to stay with me as a fat footnote to my Next Generation Nursing Home Project. The NextGen Nursing Home has been a slow-growth idea that's now going through a phase-change. Part of the reason I took my current job is due to the very specialized and niche nature of health care design and remodeling. The State of CA has a strict regulatory agency that oversees every inch of carpet and drywall that gets moved or built in health care. I'm learning a lot from my boss in 3 weeks about the bureaucratic processes of getting heatlhcare design done. Yes, I bleed modern and drool over beautiful residential structures but I can learn that anywhere. My boss doesn't even have to do any marketing because her field of design is so specific.
But back to the Next-Gen Nursing Home. My first job while still in high school was working at a nursing home in Woodbury, MN in the food dept. I pushed a food cart around and scooped out questionably edible mash in perfectly rounded mounds. The place was even considered to be a fairly NICE nursing home and it had a 2 year waiting list. Most of the CNAs were barely out of high school and didn't care a great deal about who they were taking care of. I was in that nursing home because my great aunt was put there by her husband and I couldn't bear the though of her being there alone. I worked there for 4 years and after high school I continued to commute back on weekends while I attending college in Wisconsin. When my great aunt passed away it was in the middle of the night due to a fall on the bathroom floor. Ultimately, I believe it was negligence due to the staff and by design of the place. Nursing homes need a complete overhaul and infusion of innovation. The staffing model needs an innovation in who is hired, how they're vetted, how they are trained and what they are compensated. The design needs to be patient-centered as much as it is provider-centered and innovative uses of technology is not even on the radar in nursing home design. For example, there's a university research group on the east coast that's developing embedded sensors that can detect that an elderly person has fallen and alert caregivers, I could go on for another three pages but I'll probably be putting together a plan and prospectus that will go on for 300 pages. Currently, I'm looking for advisors, researchers, administrators, engineers, designers, thinkers that would be interested in collaborating electronically for now on this project. I intend to get my Architect's license in the state of California within 3 years and then put together actual plans, acquire the land and attract the funding for such an endeavor. Ultimately I'd like to create a model that would be adopted by others. My most important supporter, Malinda, is on board and I truly believe that we will make this happen.
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