Monday, December 29, 2008

Tent

A tent is a shelter consisting of sheets of fabric over or attached to a border of poles or attached to a supporting cable while slighter tents may be free-standing or attached to the ground, large tents are usually anchored using guy ropes tied to stakes or pegs. First used as portable homes by traveling peoples, tents are at the present more frequently used for recreational camping and transitory shelters. Tents range in size from one-person "bivouac" structures for a hiker to sleep in to huge tents capable of seating thousands of people. The mass of this article is concerned with tents used for recreational camping which have sleeping break for one to ten people. Larger tents are discussed in a separate section below.

Tents for recreational camping go down into two categories. Tents intended to be carried by backpackers are the smallest, lightest, and most costly type. Smaller tents may be sufficiently glow that they can be carried for long distances on a touring bicycle, a boat, or even a person's back. Some very specialized tents have spring-loaded poles and can be 'pitched' in seconds, but take rather longer to strike.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Roman traditional houses

Original architecture element and exact to Romanian rustic architecture, the verandah (prispa) is low or high, situated on one side of the house or on of house, with or without a balcony, it dominates and determine the position of the facades, assuring the fluency of the inside and outside spaces (of the house).
Using natural resources-their joining and structure way together with the pure geometric forms of the volume of the walls and roofs, the subtle dosage of the shadow and the light, the harmonic chromatics- all these characteristics are elements in tight association with the nature. The houses, the house-holds, situated at a certain distance from the road, represent interference points of the natural places with those created by man; they are elements that determined the peasant to make a change in the nature through his creative intervention.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Federal architecture

Federal style architecture occurred in the United States between 1780 and 1830, typically from 1785 to 1815. The phase is associated with the early Republic, and the founding of the national institutions of the United States. This same period is associated with the motifs of furniture design, emulating same design principles of the architectural period. The founders of the United States consciously choose to connect the state with the antique democracies of Greece and Rome. This was a intentional and marked contrast with the Gothic style, which was used for many English public buildings and associated with feudalism. Federal styles takes influence from the Georgian Neoclassical style, but differ in its use of plainer surfaces with attenuated detail; it was mainly influenced by the Adam style, an interpretation of Ancient Roman architecture fashionable after the unearthing of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The Bald Eagle was a common symbol used in this style, with the ellipse a frequent architectural motif.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Ice house

Ice houses were buildings used to store ice throughout the year, prior to the development of the refrigerator. The most frequent designs involved underground chambers, usually man-made, which were built close to normal sources of chill ice such as freshwater lakes. During the winter, ice and snow would be taken into the ice home and packed with padding, often straw or sawdust. It would stay frozen for lots of months, often until the following winter, and could be used as a foundation of ice during summer months. This could be used simply to cool drinks, or allow ice-cream and sorbet desserts to be prepared.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Cottage

A cottage is a dwelling, typically in a country or semi-rural location. In the United Kingdom, the term hut tends to denote rurally located one and a half storey assets, where on the second one has to walk into the eaves in sort to look from side to side the windows, which are generally located in dormers. This sometimes means that the eave timbers intrude into the actual living space, and quite often, particularly in new renovation, the pertinent timbers can be exposed enhancing the cottage experience. However, in most other settings, the term "cottage" denotes a small, often cozy dwelling, and small size is integral to the description, but in other places such as Canada, the term exists with no suggestion of size at all. In Canada, the term "cottage" usually refers to a vacation home, often located near a body of water. However, this is more commonly called a "cabin" in Western Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador, a "chalet" in Quebec, and a camp in Northern Ontario, New Brunswick and the adjacent US states of Maine, Vermont, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Northern New York.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Beach house

A beach house is a house on or near a beach, generally used as vacations house for people who travel to the house on weekends or during vacation periods. A beach house is seen in some areas as a status symbol, for example many of Melbourne's wealthiest residents own beach houses in Port Sea, a coastal suburb in Victoria, Australia, including billionaire Lindsay Fox.The word "beach house" also refers to any real estate that is close to the beach. In the Scandinavian countries there is a long tradition of building summer houses. In Britain, Denmark and other North European countries a beach house can be a day house, usually beside a sandy bay in a seaside resort, designed for protection from inclement weather.

Beach houses are often associated with beach gardens which a particular nature, special planting and a particular type of free time use. One of the most famed twentieth century beach gardens was complete by Derek Jar man at Dungeness. It celebrated local materials, native plants and the directness of the site. Other beach gardens have tried to create an out-of-the-way microclimate. Swimming pools are popular in beach gardens.

Monday, November 3, 2008

President Lincoln’s Cottage at the Soldiers’ Home

Four presidents of the United States escaped the heat and humidity of summer in Washington, DC at The Old Soldiers' Home on a hill three miles from the White House. During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln spent June to November, 1862-1864 in a 34-room Gothic Revival "cottage" there. He reportedly made his last visit to the house, on April 13, 1865, the day before his assassination. He found cool breezes and quiet, but he brought his wartime responsibilities with him. Lincoln was staying in this house when he wrote the final draft of the Emancipation Proclamation in September 1862. Frederick Douglass, the famous African American abolitionist and writer, called the proclamation “the immortal paper, making slavery forever impossible in the United States.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Apartments

Simple energy conservation measures can lower your utility bills while increasing the comfort of your apartment. Although your landlord or management company is ultimately responsible for your building's energy efficiency, you make dozens of energy decisions every day.
  • Electricity
  • Heating and Cooling
  • Water Heating

Friday, October 17, 2008

Irish Cottage

An Irish cottage with thatched roof and whitewashed walls and very small windows could be considered to be the most widespread traditional house-type. Is it possible to create a modern, spacious and ecological house while still retaining important cultural elements? The house must be opened up to embrace the light and heat from the sun on the south (east & west as well!) elevation. The important solar-gaining windows should ideally be incorporated into the design so as not to disturb the traditional ethos. This can be achieved by choosing a house shape appropriate to the specific location. The orientation of a house was of prime importance. The prevailing wind, the path of the sun and the micro-climate around the house was all carefully considered. This is still important and must be taken into account when planning the interior layout of a house.