5 ms·

When I look at the pictures of this house, I have something like the feeling you get when you start to drink a glass of water and suddenly realize you were real

by pg 17y ago

When I look at the pictures of this house, I have something like the feeling you get when you start to drink a glass of water and suddenly realize you were really dehydrated. I often feel it when I see handmade things. There's something missing in manufactured stuff. It's information poor.

ryanwaggoner 17y ago
I agree, and while I think part of it is the organic nature of the subject, I also think some of that feeling comes from that fantastic quality of the photography. It just looks like a fairytale.
- staunch 17y ago
  Let's just say that if you sent a letter to that place addressed to B. Baggins it wouldn't be returned.
- TomOfTTB 17y ago
  I think you make an important point. It looks great but obviously the guy who built it had an eye for visual design and put a lot of effort into finding the exact right location. Duplicating his setup would be next to impossible. Conceptually though you could take any old patch of land and build a log cabin with the same functionality and general feel of nature (first one that came up on google: http://www.lincolnlogs.com/askabe.html http://www.lincolnlogs.com/askabe.html)
  - KWD 17y ago
    When looking at the design I immediately thought of a Yurt. I guess primarily due to the roof structure. In this case, he just built it into the ground. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yurt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yurt There are actually several companies building modern yurts. It's one of those fleeting thoughts of escapism I often have that is about buying some land and putting a yurt on it.
- gdee 17y ago
  > It just looks like a fairytale. Well applied HDR[1] does that to photography. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_dynamic_range_imaging http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_dynamic_range_imaging
electromagnetic 17y ago
My parent's own a 200+ year old house in France that has an amazing amount of tactile information held in it. To stick with the feel of the building we manually plastered the inside walls, which with exposed wooden beams in every room looks amazing. Each wall is unique in how it settled, each beam is unique in the cuts. The original upstairs floor was beautiful as it was hundreds of solid beams of wood 30 feet long, sadly most of it had been affected by wood worm on the surface ( everything had been hit by wood worms on the surface but miraculously the density of the oak or something seemed to keep them out of the core). While I like the convenience of manufactured products, they all lack the heart and soul that's held in a handmade product. Often they seem to be lacking in quality too, possibly due to the fact that it's the materials not the labor that now costs the most.
- tjic 17y ago
  > each beam is unique in the cuts A few years ago I took a class on timberframing ... and part of the class was building a timber frame house. There's a family that - RIGHT NOW - is sitting, eating, and sleeping feet away from beams that I hand planed and joints that I layed out, cut, and chiseled. That's a pretty cool feeling. There are also a handful of friends and family members who have peppermills and salad bowls in their kitchen, that they use every day, that I made on my lathe. I'm a big fan of making stuff with your own hands. (I even took today off from work so that I could sharpen some of my bowl gouges and work on some projects in the shop). I recommend that folks give it a shot. (And now, the obligatory plug - although I swear that I didn't plan it when I started this post! - if you're thinking of picking up a craft and don't know where to start, check out my startup http://smartflix.com http://smartflix.com )
zackattack 17y ago
Manufactured stuff is "information poor"? What does that mean?
- pg 17y ago
  I mean in the information theoretic sense. A 3d representation of it would compress well.
  - deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
  - thras 17y ago
    Christopher Alexander (the original design pattern guy) has a somewhat similar view. Except that he took four books to say it. The books are quite beautiful though.
  - euccastro 17y ago
    I don't think it's the amount of information that we crave. Traditional japanese living spaces would compress well, yet they look like personal, interesting places to inhabit. Conversely, a messy manufactured home is information rich, but I don't think it would quench your 'thirst' in the same way. I think it's meaning we crave, and if we can get it with a better signal to noise ratio, that's more peace of mind for us. That said, the 'noise' in the shape and texture of natural materials compresses away as generic texture. I think we have evolved to interpret that effortlessly in hardware. The noise of a waterfall can give us peace while the noise of traffic usually has the opposite effect. More interestingly, we can selectively turn off this mechanism to appreciate natural shapes and textures in their full depth. A tree can be very information rich if we direct our attention to it, while at the same time it's easy to filter it out as 'ok, tree here' without further anxiety. A landscape typically has a lot of information in it, but if we can find a pattern that summarizes its overall shape, its beauty just hits us as something really simple, without need for intense attention or effort in interpretation.
    - pg 17y ago
      I wouldn't disagree that merely increasing information content is not enough. Adding noise would do that. But I think a lot of the reason traditional Japanese houses feel comforting is that they do not, in fact, compress well. Close up, they're not simple: in the textures of the natural materials, the details of the handmade joints, etc.
JesseAldridge 17y ago
Interesting. I get the same feeling when I look at pixel art as compared to 3D rendering: http://pixeljoint.com/pixels/new_icons.asp?ob=rating http://pixeljoint.com/pixels/new_icons.asp?ob=rating
randallsquared 17y ago
Last night, I disagreed with this, but wasn't sure why, so I didn't post. One reason I prefer manufactured things to handmade things is that the manufactured ones seem "right" in a way that the handmade ones never really do. When I make something by hand, it's never really done, because I can always see imperfections and problems. When something is made by machine, even the imperfections and problems seem like part of it, rather than mistakes, because the machine (ideally) does the same thing every time. It appeals to my sense of completion. Another reason to prefer manufactured things to handmade (or custom) things is precisely that there's less information associated. It's more relaxing -- less cluttered, in the same sense as the Stuff essay ( http://www.paulgraham.com/stuff.html http://www.paulgraham.com/stuff.html ).
ntoshev 17y ago
There is more to it than being information-rich or information-poor. A pile of junk is information-rich, but it's not beautiful. It comes down to style and taste. The house looks organic. Like it has been grown instead of built. Gaudi's buildings have the same style. I think there is a lot of appeal in the organic style, it's a pity it's so rare. The computational properties of style are explored in Douglas Hofstadter's book "Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies" (I recommend it to any hacker interested in aesthetics or cognitive science, but it is not an easy read): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0465024750?ie=UTF8&tag=descidecom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0465024750 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0465024750?ie=UTF8&tag=... Interestingly, computers can eventually make an assembly line produce unique stylish (organic or otherwise) things. Fractal images are, after all, beautiful, even being totally regular. Certain amount of randomness can do wonders. Of course computers are similarly supposed to enable mass customization for physical things which is probably more important economically, and it hasn't happened yet.

by pg 17y ago

ryanwaggoner 17y ago

I agree, and while I think part of it is the organic nature of the subject, I also think some of that feeling comes from that fantastic quality of the photography. It just looks like a fairytale.

staunch 17y ago
Let's just say that if you sent a letter to that place addressed to B. Baggins it wouldn't be returned.
TomOfTTB 17y ago
I think you make an important point. It looks great but obviously the guy who built it had an eye for visual design and put a lot of effort into finding the exact right location. Duplicating his setup would be next to impossible. Conceptually though you could take any old patch of land and build a log cabin with the same functionality and general feel of nature (first one that came up on google: http://www.lincolnlogs.com/askabe.html http://www.lincolnlogs.com/askabe.html)
- KWD 17y ago
  When looking at the design I immediately thought of a Yurt. I guess primarily due to the roof structure. In this case, he just built it into the ground. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yurt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yurt There are actually several companies building modern yurts. It's one of those fleeting thoughts of escapism I often have that is about buying some land and putting a yurt on it.
gdee 17y ago
> It just looks like a fairytale. Well applied HDR[1] does that to photography. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_dynamic_range_imaging http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_dynamic_range_imaging

electromagnetic 17y ago

My parent's own a 200+ year old house in France that has an amazing amount of tactile information held in it. To stick with the feel of the building we manually plastered the inside walls, which with exposed wooden beams in every room looks amazing. Each wall is unique in how it settled, each beam is unique in the cuts. The original upstairs floor was beautiful as it was hundreds of solid beams of wood 30 feet long, sadly most of it had been affected by wood worm on the surface ( everything had been hit by wood worms on the surface but miraculously the density of the oak or something seemed to keep them out of the core). While I like the convenience of manufactured products, they all lack the heart and soul that's held in a handmade product. Often they seem to be lacking in quality too, possibly due to the fact that it's the materials not the labor that now costs the most.

tjic 17y ago
> each beam is unique in the cuts A few years ago I took a class on timberframing ... and part of the class was building a timber frame house. There's a family that - RIGHT NOW - is sitting, eating, and sleeping feet away from beams that I hand planed and joints that I layed out, cut, and chiseled. That's a pretty cool feeling. There are also a handful of friends and family members who have peppermills and salad bowls in their kitchen, that they use every day, that I made on my lathe. I'm a big fan of making stuff with your own hands. (I even took today off from work so that I could sharpen some of my bowl gouges and work on some projects in the shop). I recommend that folks give it a shot. (And now, the obligatory plug - although I swear that I didn't plan it when I started this post! - if you're thinking of picking up a craft and don't know where to start, check out my startup http://smartflix.com http://smartflix.com )

zackattack 17y ago

Manufactured stuff is "information poor"? What does that mean?

pg 17y ago
I mean in the information theoretic sense. A 3d representation of it would compress well.
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
- thras 17y ago
  Christopher Alexander (the original design pattern guy) has a somewhat similar view. Except that he took four books to say it. The books are quite beautiful though.
- euccastro 17y ago
  I don't think it's the amount of information that we crave. Traditional japanese living spaces would compress well, yet they look like personal, interesting places to inhabit. Conversely, a messy manufactured home is information rich, but I don't think it would quench your 'thirst' in the same way. I think it's meaning we crave, and if we can get it with a better signal to noise ratio, that's more peace of mind for us. That said, the 'noise' in the shape and texture of natural materials compresses away as generic texture. I think we have evolved to interpret that effortlessly in hardware. The noise of a waterfall can give us peace while the noise of traffic usually has the opposite effect. More interestingly, we can selectively turn off this mechanism to appreciate natural shapes and textures in their full depth. A tree can be very information rich if we direct our attention to it, while at the same time it's easy to filter it out as 'ok, tree here' without further anxiety. A landscape typically has a lot of information in it, but if we can find a pattern that summarizes its overall shape, its beauty just hits us as something really simple, without need for intense attention or effort in interpretation.
  - pg 17y ago
    I wouldn't disagree that merely increasing information content is not enough. Adding noise would do that. But I think a lot of the reason traditional Japanese houses feel comforting is that they do not, in fact, compress well. Close up, they're not simple: in the textures of the natural materials, the details of the handmade joints, etc.

JesseAldridge 17y ago

Interesting. I get the same feeling when I look at pixel art as compared to 3D rendering: http://pixeljoint.com/pixels/new_icons.asp?ob=rating http://pixeljoint.com/pixels/new_icons.asp?ob=rating

randallsquared 17y ago

Last night, I disagreed with this, but wasn't sure why, so I didn't post. One reason I prefer manufactured things to handmade things is that the manufactured ones seem "right" in a way that the handmade ones never really do. When I make something by hand, it's never really done, because I can always see imperfections and problems. When something is made by machine, even the imperfections and problems seem like part of it, rather than mistakes, because the machine (ideally) does the same thing every time. It appeals to my sense of completion. Another reason to prefer manufactured things to handmade (or custom) things is precisely that there's less information associated. It's more relaxing -- less cluttered, in the same sense as the Stuff essay ( http://www.paulgraham.com/stuff.html http://www.paulgraham.com/stuff.html ).

ntoshev 17y ago

There is more to it than being information-rich or information-poor. A pile of junk is information-rich, but it's not beautiful. It comes down to style and taste. The house looks organic. Like it has been grown instead of built. Gaudi's buildings have the same style. I think there is a lot of appeal in the organic style, it's a pity it's so rare. The computational properties of style are explored in Douglas Hofstadter's book "Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies" (I recommend it to any hacker interested in aesthetics or cognitive science, but it is not an easy read): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0465024750?ie=UTF8&tag=descidecom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0465024750 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0465024750?ie=UTF8&tag=... Interestingly, computers can eventually make an assembly line produce unique stylish (organic or otherwise) things. Fractal images are, after all, beautiful, even being totally regular. Certain amount of randomness can do wonders. Of course computers are similarly supposed to enable mass customization for physical things which is probably more important economically, and it hasn't happened yet.