Architecture Addiction, The Official Blog of

I recently wrote about how you can make a simple change to your car or truck to double your gas mileage.

You can read that post here.

It doesn’t have a lot to do with architecture. It’s more in the Sustainability category, or even the Taking Personal Responsibility category.

(Or how about the Quit Getting Ripped Off at the Pump category?)

Turns out, that post was one of the more popular of my postings, so I thought I’d tell you more about it.

In my post, I told you about a proprietary system for getting more miles or kilometers to the gallon.

You can do this with simple parts that you buy at Home Depot.

And you get the easy-to-follow instructions here.

Want to hear from someone who’s already done this?

I was looking for a way to decrease my gas expenses and I know it’s no easy task. Let me briefly share my story where I started in this process.

About 2 years ago I was tired of spending a ton of money on gas for the truck I was driving. So decided to buy a small gas economic car. Right away I almost doubled my MPG.

Finally, I was smiling while at the gas station as I watched the digital cash cow roll up on the gas pump.

But, after time went by I realized how much I missed driving my truck, especially during the winter and became a little tired of driving a small car around.

Thought this car could also be used as our 2nd family car, not the case we quickly found out.

So, the question became how do I drive the vehicle I want, while meeting my families needs and still reduce gas expenses?

My wife called me crazy at first, and to be honest I was slightly skeptical about using water for gas.

I made the decision to personally put together the system and tried it out on my older car… Amazingly enough within the first week I had a 82% increase in MPG.

Instantly we became believers and was so excited about this discovery that I decided to find a way to help other people Save on Gas expenses too.

To Your Gas Savings!

Andres Rodriquez
P.O. Box 50163, Billings, MT 59105, USA

You want to see a video of the vaporizer in action? Okay!

My car is an 1986 Subaru GL. I bought her originally in 1989.

Two weeks ago I agreed to have the gas saving device put on my car. Immediately I noticed that the engine was much, much quieter and smoother.

We did a test drive on the car with and without the device. The results were spectacular. The Subaru does 32.8 miles to the gallon. With the device - which is only the very basic fitting - the Subaru did 36.8 miles to the gallon, a saving of twelve and a half percent. With the rest of the equipment that Ozzie has now I estimate I would save circa 40%.

What was really noticeable on this test drive was the difference in the quietness of the engine and how the car picked up much more easy with the device installed.

Since then, I have noticed that the car continues to improve and I feel she is back to where she was in 1989. Feels like a new car!!

I am very pleased to have this device on my car which will not only save on the gas, but clean the engine, reduce emissions into the environment, and therefore give my car a longer life, as I love my Subi.. Also this will help because this year I have to have a complete smog test to go with my application for my registration renewal.

J.H. (California, USA)

It’s very simple. You don’t change your engine or computer. A quart-size (95O cc) container is placed somewhere under the hood. You fill it with DISTILLED WATER and a little bit of BAKING SODA. The device gets vacuum and electricity (12 Volts) from the engine, and produces HHO gas (Hydrogen+Oxygen) as shown in the MUCH QUIETER video below.

I just read this article in The Architect’s Journal by Richard Vaughan called “Krier attacks ‘idiot’ architects.”

Léon Krier, the architect behind Prince Charles’ experimental Poundbury village in Dorset, has slammed contemporary architects, labelling them ‘idiots’ who build ‘absurd shapes’.

Speaking at the launch of his new book, The Architectural Tuning of Settlements, at the Prince’s Foundation in London on Monday (21 April), the fiery Krier lamented the loss of traditional building techniques, adding that architects and planners were unable to design towns on a par with ancient cities.

He said: ‘We have not been involved in [the traditional design process] for so many years. The result is always slightly less good. And this is not just because these cities are old, but because there was experience. There was a tradition of doing things right because there was no choice about it.

‘You cannot build a 30m-long cantilever that is going the wrong way with bricks, mortar and wood. Now we have idiots who can build the most absurd shapes and they stay up. We are in a culture of excess.’

Krier refused to be drawn on which architects he was referring to, adding: ‘You can name them. I don’t need to name them. They are all my friends and colleagues.’

The 62 year old also criticised the government’s eco-towns proposals, claiming it is making decisions without knowing the full story.

‘There is no such thing as an “eco-town",’ said Krier. ‘The government instructed many millions of new homes to be built, but under what conditions? Because the conditions are that the oil will be cheap for another 50 years. But it won’t, and that will cut down so much on our capacity to travel and to extend towns beyond their limits.

‘We’ll have to go back to traditional towns, not out of choice, as I thought, but it will be out of fate. There won’t be choice and it will be dramatic.’

Source

Can I make some assumptions about you?

Because you’re reading this blog, I think it’s safe to assume that you love architecture.

Now, you may be an architecture student. (Or you may want to be an architecture student.)

You might be an architect. Or an architecture professor.

Maybe you just love architecture. (Or all these brown boxes kinda turn you on?)

I think you’re creative. You’re intelligent. Cultured. You care about society, about making it better for people. You enjoy solving challenging problems. You come up with ideas that most people just…can’t. And you kinda like the way it feels to be able to do that.

I have a challenging problem for you to solve.

It’s not an optional problem. You really do have to solve it.

The AIA’s Architecture Billings Index—the profession’s rough measure of monthly architectural output—hit the lowest level in its 13-year history in March, according to numbers released yesterday by the institute. The index continued a slide that began in January, which bodes ill for the architectural economy and the construction sector as a whole, because the design phase is generally first in the building process. Inquiries for new design projects also hit a record low.

Source

This is the challenge: How do you, personally, do your architecture…

and

…get paid for it?

I had a professor tell us once, “Architecture’s great if you don’t have to do it for money.”

Architecture continues to be my answer to the eternal question, “What would you do if money weren’t an issue.”

But, come on now, we all want to get paid. We are brilliant, talented, creative problem solvers. We should get paid for that.

My suggestion? Change your strategy. The old paradigm is suffering. It is up to you to create your new paradigm.

What’s the best way for YOU to do that?

You’re creative. You’ll figure it out. You have to.