A good day / Intelligent houses

It is better to live than lie dead. A dead man gathers no goods. I saw warm fire at a wealthy man's house, himself dead at the door. Viking wisdom from the 8th century.

A good day

A good day was today. I woke early, walked to the market place for a cup of coffee and sunshine (it is a 10-minute walk through a bustling neighborhood full of shops, cafes, bars, restaurants). How luxurious it is to live in a city like this, to have all one needs withing 10-minute walking distance. So many people life in poorer places: most Americans do. Poor them.
From the market place, I took a tram and rode it around the city for an hour. Very relaxing.
Later, I cycled through parks to the Helsinki Institute of Technology to take part in a course on "Global sustainable technologies". Today's lecture was not remarkable for someone with my level of knowledge, but I am sure the rest of the series will be better. The lecturers seems to be some of the leading experts in Finland — I want to know what is the level of understanding of global problems and their effects on Finland before I start my campaign.
Oh, but it was nice to realize, that I can continue studying various issues in Finnish universities now that I am back here, most likely for good. It feels good, and it feels excellent to realize that I have roots here, I belong to a community here. 3 years of living abroad has made me more conscious of my root, and my need for belonging. Nothing to be ashamed of, I would say.
Even later, I had a few cups of coffee by the sea, in a park, then cycled back home, read for an hour, and went swimming for 30 minutes. Now, after a nice dinner, writing and reading.

Intelligent houses

Helsingin sanomat, the local newspaper, ran an article on intelligent houses on Sunday. The article complained that despite well-meant efforts and lots of attention there are not that many of those intelligent houses around. Some houses are able to automatically adjust their temperature depending on occupancy. Such things.
In 1920s Le Corbusier famously claimed that house is a machine for living and designed accordingly. In 1920s, especially in Europe, architects were fascinated by machines, factories and the cultural forms they bred. Thus, even houses were seen and designed as machines, with form strictly following function etc (for more, see e.g. "Human-built world" by Hughes or "Experiencing architecture" by Rasmussen).
The same thing is happening today, only on a smaller scale. The dominant new technology affects architecture and the way we all see buildings. If biotechnology ever becomes as big a business as IT is now, it will be very interesting what a bio-house will look like. "A house as a cell", "A house is a gene of culture".

Alun perin julkaistu kuukausikoosteessa "Blogs July to September 2006".