How to re-imagine Paris

Paris, one of the most iconic cities in the world, is currently undergoing enormous scrutiny from prominent architects the world wide, who were charged one year ago by French president Nicolas Sarkozy to come up with a new blueprint for Paris.  The results, detailed in an excellent article in the New York Times Magazine, are in and they range from the modest and practical (adding parks and new train stations) to the boldly visionary (moving the Presidential palace to the outskirts of the city).

Sarkozy deserves some credit here; while one never knows whether grand plans like these will ever be realized, it’s rare for the leader of a nation to go even this far in completely re-imagining a city.  His stated goal is for Paris to be the first city to conform to the Kyoto Protocol’s environmental goals.

Now don’t worry: it seems unlikely that Paris’ Haussman-era architecture and old beauty will be torn down to make room for 21st century green buildings.  I mean, these are the French, some of the world’s most steadfast guardians of aesthetics and history.  What will be removed, however, are the dismal housing projects that have grown up steadily around the city’s outskirts.  Many of the ten architecture teams focus on the projects specifically, with schemes such as adding more greenspace, or connecting these neighborhoods to the center of the city with new, efficient public transportation.

Paris, along with Bogota and, very recently, New York, is stepping forward to address the question “What does it mean to be a city in the 21st century?”  An especially important question given that within the next year, more people will live in cities than in rural areas for the first time in human history.  It’s great to hear that Paris, the city of cities, is leading the way.

Hungry for more?  Here’s another NYT article, and one from ABC.

Atlantic Green Conference features Mixson in its tour of LEED projects

The Sustainability Institute’s Atlantic Green Conference starts TOMORROW, June 19, and while tickets to the conference are sold out, you can still get in on some of their tours – including the Green Residential Tour, featuring Mixson, Hunley Waters, and Oak Terrace Preserve.  The tour runs on Saturday, June 20 from 12-2 and tickets for the general public are $15.

The Atlantic Green Conference brings together experts from a multitude of green building backgrounds: solar energy, jobsite deconstruction, LEED documentation, greening historic buildings, green roofs, and countless others.  The conference is being held, appropriately, at 10 Storehouse Row, in the Navy Yard in North Charleston.  The Navy Yard is a high-density, mixed-use center in the heart of Noisette, North Charleston’s master-planned sustainable city-within-a-city.

North Charleston is well on its way to becoming one of the nation’s most sustainable cities, as projects like Noisette and Mixson testify.  And what better place to host this year’s Atlantic Green Conference?

Oprah showcases small furniture with designer Nate Berkus

Back in April, Oprah herself dedicated a part of her show to furniture that slides, twists, folds, and swivels – in other words, small space furniture.  It’s not the best selection of small furniture – I’ve seen better on treehugger.com – but there are a few cool products:

a desk that turns into a bed from Off the Wall Beds

the Cyril Secretary from Ikea

the Jofran coffee table, a coffee table with two storage ottomans that slide snugly underneath

And this isn’t exactly “small spaces furniture,” but it’s cool just the same:

It’s the Hidden Television – a transparent mirror that you hang over your flat-screen TV.  When the TV is off, all you see is a mirror; when you turn the TV on, the display shines right through.

Did all this whet your appetite?  Try these great sites for more small space design and furniture:

Apartment Therapy

Little Diggs

Furniture for Small Spaces

Thank you Maid Pure!

Maid Pure, Mt. Pleasant’s organic, eco-friendly cleaning service, is now taking care of our Mixson home at 4400 Marblehead Lane!  Maid Pure uses ONLY natural, eco-friendly cleaning products to leave your home clean, safe, and comfortable.  You wouldn’t believe how toxic most of the chemicals in mainstream cleaning products are – for example, did you know that the main ingredient used in Lysol is a registered pesticide?  Neither did I, until I saw it on the Maid Pure site.  They have a great “Why Organic?” section that will convince you to throw out all those toxic products and call them right away, as well as a boutique where you can purchase the same eco-friendly cleaners that Maid Pure uses.  They’re a one-stop shop for your clean, green home makeover!

Contact information is, of course, on their website, but if you just can’t wait to talk to them here’s their phone number and e-mail:

843-284-8272

sales@maidpure.com

Park Circle named one of nation’s best neighborhoods

You and I know that Park Circle is a vibrant, engaging place to live, but Men’s Journal has picked up on it too!  The most recent edition of the magazine cites Park Circle as an under-the-radar enclave whose recent development boom has mercifully “left its liberalism intact.”  They also mention that Park Circle is full of “unique, character-driven, fun-loving” residents – they couldn’t be more right there!

Check out the Post and Courier’s article on the honor here.  And to celebrate a little bit, here are a few pictures of the things that make Park Circle really special…