Matishak Family Patterns and Design Drawings

MATISHAK FAMILY PATTERNS & DESIGN DRAWINGS*

* Please note that ‘Matishak’ is the Americanized phonetic spelling of the Polish surname ‘Matysiak’.

That which now follows are our plans for an Ecological Homestead. This homestead would begin as a small farm providing food for nutrition and income and develop into a demonstration site and sustainability center that would teach the public about reducing our impact on the land and each other. The primary emphasis, however, will not be on ethics, but on esthetics. J Baird Callicott, in Earth’s Insights, notes that ethics impose limitations on our freedom of action, yet esthetics have none of these ‘burdensome’ connotations. He continues by stating that the good is a demanding ideal, but the beautiful is seductive. Callicott believes that environmental esthetics open up the possibility of a freer and more creative human relationship with Nature. We wish to take this approach and motivate people not from a sense of guilt or fear, but from the possibility of living lives that are more beautiful and rewarding than those we are living presently.

We have had a preliminary try at this with our current home here in Ukiah. When we moved in ten years ago, the house itself was in good shape but the soil was very compacted and plants were not growing well, if at all. Using Biointensive gardening techniques, including double digging, the soil was aerated and brought back to life structurally. In the back of the house, we grew our vegetables and other food crops, but in the front, closer to the public sphere, we planted flowers and other showy ornamentals.

While the back fed us, the colorful plants in the front of the house slowly came to maturity. Gradually, the garden has become an attraction. Pedestrians stop and gaze at all the life that is growing on this small lot. Through discrete use of the ‘art of seduction’ it seems to be possible to educate people about such things as deep cultivation, close spacing, composting, and garden biodiversity.

The following patterns and drawings represent an effort to touch people at a deeper place in the soul. By reaching there, it is hoped that the normal barriers erected by the mind will be bypassed. As people feel the possibility of a different way of being, we hope that they will be motivated to try it for themselves. Once people have experienced a more wonderful and more sensible life, then a new understanding of ecological ethics will emerge.

Pyotr Uspenskii claims that religion and art are two examples of organized emotional knowledge. The aim of art, he continues, is not just the search for beauty, but the search for knowledge as well. Our hypothesis then rests on this belief that certain forms give rise to certain feelings universally. This position is supported by the architectural theories presented above. The work that follows is an exploration of the next step: the possibility of designing in such a way that biophilia & biognosis are restored. We wish our place to evoke, as Alice Waters states, both pleasure and meaning. The purpose of such an endeavor is based on our inherent faith that a restoration of biophilia would save our human species from impending disaster.

These drawings begin with the symbolic realm. They are not yet oriented to any particular site, but do respond to cardinal directions. The drawings that follow those are more relational. These do consider a site, but not any particular one. Their main purpose is to show relationships between the various components and are not to be taken too literally. Finally, solid schematic drawings show wall thicknesses with insulation, kitchen and bath fixtures, beds and sofas in actual dimensions. This is the first step toward placing a solid structure on the ground.

This design work engaged my entire family: my wife, Nyna; as well as our three daughters: Madrone, Manzanita, and Magnolia. Although our daughters were included primarily to feel part of our transitional process, these girls dived in fully and presented us with their own picture designs of how they imagine our future homestead. In the meantime, Nyna & I had many serious conversations about what we truly desired. We asked ourselves ‘What do we truly need’ and ‘What do we truly value’? In the end, the drawings are mine. However, I began to see my role as that of an architect who was employed by this family. My work could not be just for myself, but needed to satisfy this larger collective.

Our work with pattern language is all based on Christopher Alexander and his colleagues. Nyna and I began by taking patterns that are presented as archetypal and determining which ones resonate (produce a deep feeling) with us. We then grouped these patterns by priority while also considering how relevant they are to our project. On another track, I developed diagrams of our chosen patterns that show relationships between the patterns themselves. These maps show relations in both time and space. Finally, a generative process was developed to place our family patterns on the relational design site plan. This site design is more dynamic than the symbolic ones but still fluid enough to respond to the specific particularities of the actual land that we will find ourselves on.

*Drawings will be posted as a complete body in one blog post, this is a background on how the designs were created!