James Cooke ::: Long-term Design Solutions : Natural & Mechanical Systems Integration : Community Based Design – Long-term Design Solutions : Natural & Mechanical Systems Integration : Community Based Design

Quoin (koin), v.

1. trans. To secure or raise with a
quoin or wedge. Also with up.

James Cooke

Long-term Design Solutions : Natural & Mechanical Systems Integration : Community Based Design

In May of 2002, the University of New Mexico awarded the Master’s in Architecture with distinction to me.

After a career designing and building furniture and commercial tenant improvements, I returned to school to explore the possibilities for longer-term architectural solutions in commercial and community-based projects.

Since May of 2002 I have provided land use and energy planning services to non-profits, and continue to provide environmentally responsible planning and design services to clients with commercial and civic interests in California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Montana.

My commitment to meaningful design solutions extends to species recovery facilities, environmentally and culturally appropriate housing, and pocket agriculture.

Invention of the Spoon

A discussion for children of all ages re: the value of collaboration, kind hearts, clear minds and open eyes.

“A long time ago and far away in an arid land lived a mother and her child. There were just the two of them, because the child’s father had been taken by a predator some time before, during the daily visit to their local watering hole.” [excerpt]

[FULL] HOW THE SPOON WAS INVENTED (PDF)

A brief introduction to water.

In 2013 a West Coast chapter of the World Affairs Council convened a panel of experts to discuss the planet-wide fresh water crisis. I was asked by the moderator of that panel to write his opening remarks. Word was these were delivered verbatim.

“Although it is tempting to do so, and often unavoidable, no conscientious panel moderator intentionally steals the thunder of his or her panelists by reciting a litany of the facts and figures which those panelists, as the invited authorities, have worked so hard to collect and explain. It is more appropriate, rather, for the moderator to set the tone, to prepare the canvas on which the panelists apply their compositions. ” [excerpt]

[FULL] WATER IS LIFE INTRO (PDF)

Architecture at Room Temperature

The marriage of the machine and nature melts. The waters roll.

With no apologies to Gropius, van der Rohe, Le Corbusier et. al.

2010

Agroecology teaching tool.

“There is one, and only one solution, and we have almost no time to try it. We must turn all our resources to repairing the natural world, and train all our young people to help. They want to; we need to give them this last chance to create forests, soils, clean waters, clean energies, secure communities, stable regions, and to know how to do it from hands-on experience.”

— Bill Mollison

Play

GPI Shelters

Gear Punk Intermodal Housing (not a tiny house)

Affordable housing suited for temperate zone climates repurposing “high cube” intermodal shipping containers. Systems include helical piers for footings, EIFS (Exterior Insulating Foam Stucco) at the exterior w/ Dryvit elastomeric finish coat, mini-split heat pumps for space conditioning, photovoltaic energy generation, Orenco’s AdvanTex®/engineered wetland for waste water treatment/recycling.

This model: 640 s.f. | Estimated cost: $40 < $50 per square foot.

Basho, Lynch & Schrödinger

37º35’14.13”N | 105º28’58.69”W

and Forgiveness.

“When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle.
Then I realized God doesn’t work that way, so I stole one and prayed for forgiveness.”

– Emo Philips

[MORE INFO] Specs | Credits | [FOR A GOOD TIME] Emo Philips | Banksy

In five movements – Introit, Kyrie, Gradual, Tract, Dies Irae

Native Aquatic Species Recovery Facility, Albuquerque Bio Park

June 2008 – April 2009

Initiated design and secured $1,220,000 joint funding from City of Albuquerque’s 3% Energy Conservation Bond Fund and U.S. Fish and Wildlife by way of New Mexico Game and Fish at $460,000 each, and $300,000 from CABQ Bio Park. Design Development pursued to 90% before my abrupt and peremptory furlough in April 2009. [The City IG investigation remains “open” to this day, thereby prohibiting any public examination.]

A new kind of car wash

For Western Territories Group, LLC; w/ Wright and Hammer Architects June 2002 – June 2007

Water/Energy conservative carwash. Design and Project Management. Site evaluation, design development, and proforma financials for several locations in NM, CO, and AZ. CDs developed and permitted for Albuquerque, NM and Longmont, CO. Implementation pending but unlikely.

Strawhouse Redux

Adaptive re-use at its best.

Integrated environmental upgrades.

~~www.strawhousemarket.com~~ | Link to article on new use.

ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSE CONSULTATION (PDF) | RENEWABLE ENERGY SUBSIDY APPLICATION (PDF)

HMI

Formerly The Savory Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico

La Semilla Corral, HMI Headquarters & West Ranch Energy Consult

implementation pending

WEST RANCH FACILITY PLANNING (PDF) | WEST RANCH ENERGY RECOMMENDATIONS (PDF)

Crownpoint, New Mexico

w/ Paulina Aguilera-Harwood

Water & Community Gardens Planning

implementation pending

TYPICAL REPORT [CONSTRUCTED WETLAND] (PDF) | HOSPITAL BOARD RESOLUTION (PDF)

Fused Horizons

Thanks to Profs. Paul Lusk, Stephen Dent, & Kuppu Iyengar
Special thanks to Chen Jing

THESIS POSITION PAPER – 2002 (PDF)

THESIS ABSTRACT – BELOW

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Profs. Alf Simon & Teresa Cordova

Design Team Member / 3D Modeling – w/ Paulina Aguilera-Harwood & Bernadette Miera

A DIALOGUE FOR SUSTAINABILITY: PEOPLE, PLACE, AND WATER (PDF)

Into the New Kadam

Prof. Kramer Woodard

Adaptive re-use from a serio-comic, ersatz Gelug (Yellow Hat) point of view – or, how many trees does a building make?

Recycling a Reservoir

Prof. Stephen Dent

Proposal for a new Fine Arts Plaza at UNM on the site of an existing reservoir.

On a postage stamp

Thanks to Profs. Stephen Dent & Edith Cherry

Extracurricular project based on the 2000 Leading Edge competition. Integration of curriculum, building systems, & site with commodity found in the combination.

A short history of nearly everything*

*Thanks Bill Bryson

GET IN TOUCH

Credits

A NOTE ON CONTENT

Why would a designer include projects thwarted by malfeasance or an abundance of caution, bureaucratic ennui or palace coups? Because those designs were neither conceived nor executed alone.

From the beginning I sought inspiration from designers/furniture makers Noguchi, Esherick, Nakashima, Maloof and Yanagi. Time passed and I was introduced to architects Gaudi and Murcutt. Ecologians Lao Tzu, Abbey, Mollison, Fisk and Savory came along soon after; all within the context of my interests in Shinto, natural systems and vernacular traditions.

More, perhaps most, important, are the friendships and collaborations spawned by the actual commissions. Some of those collaborators are credited throughout this website. Others remain unnamed to protect the innocent. I cherish and thank them all.

A NOTE ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Common title to the future and fused horizons depend on the wholesale coalescing of one’s territory, mind, and spirit with that of others.
With the exception of Furniture Studio student work, borrow at will from this site for both non-commercial and commercial uses under terms providing for attribution and citation.

That is to say, we meet, we talk, we agree and then we get back to work.

Full documentation, including construction documents, exists and can be made available at my discretion.

Contact

SO LONG AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH

Thanks to Avedon and Ardman
Various Cosmologists
an anonymous Sumi-e brush Master…
the Daisy of Death is mine

SITE MADE WITH LOVE ♥

– TRISTAN PITTARD

Quoin (koin), v.

1. trans. To secure or raise with a quoin or wedge. Also with up.

James Cooke

Long-term Design Solutions : Natural & Mechanical Systems Integration : Community Based Design

Invention of the Spoon

A discussion for children of all ages re: the value of collaboration, kind hearts, clear minds and open eyes.

Water is Life

A brief introduction to water.

Architecture at Room Temperature

The marriage of the machine and nature melts. The waters roll.

Urban Life Raft

Agroecology teaching tool.

GPI Shelters

Gear Punk Intermodal Housing (not a tiny house)

Dunes in the San Luis

Basho, Lynch & Schrödinger

Bicycles

and Forgiveness.

Requiem for a Refugium

In five movements – Introit, Kyrie, Gradual, Tract, Dies Irae

Rain Factory™

A new kind of car wash

Strawhouse Redux

Adaptive re-use at its best.

HMI

Formerly The Savory Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico

implementation pending

Indian Health Service

Crownpoint, New Mexico

implementation pending

M Arch Thesis Project

Fused Horizons

THESIS ABSTRACT – BELOW

Sanchez Farm

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Studio 501

Into the New Kadam

Studio 502

Recycling a Reservoir

Elementary Classrooms & Science Labs

On a postage stamp

Work 1973 — 1999

A short history of nearly everything*

Contact

GET IN TOUCH

Credits

A NOTE ON CONTENT

A NOTE ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Contact

SO LONG AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH

SITE MADE WITH LOVE ♥

1. trans. To secure or raise with a
quoin or wedge. Also with up.