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Tuesday 27 October 2009

The Future is Home Reno-Innovation

Poster: "The Future is Home": 67th National CNBA Conference
March 5-7th, 2010; Victoria, British Columbia
I just picked up the announcement of the CHBA National Conference for 2010 and I liked their slogan "The Future is Home".

I can’t speak on what it means for the Conference, but the reason I liked the slogan is that it implies lots of opportunity in the housing market. And for me the future is in the innovations and the design possibilities. We like to create spaces that are interesting, green, comfortable, livable, light and taking the ordinary to another level. We hope to inspire pushing the envelope in our discussions with the home owners and making their home unique.

"The Future is Home" – Maybe for us it is "The Future is Home Reno-Innovation"!

Martina Ernst
CEO
Wo-Built Inc.
links:
"Road To Recovery": Toronto Housing Outlook Conference 2009 — November 5, 2009, Toronto, ON: Facts — Analysis — Forecasts
Ontario Home Builders' Association
NewHomes.org: Where Smart Buyers Start
BILD.ca: Building, Industry and Land Development
Renomark - Renovate with Confidence
National Association of Home Builders (United States): Reshaping and Enriching Our Communities: Building Women Magazine

Friday 23 October 2009

How About a Design Competition? Design Your Dream House


How About a Design Competition? Design Your "Dream House"
I would like to talk about a new idea we are toiling with at the moment.

We created the "Dream House Assessment" that helps the home owners to communicate their ideas of an ideal renovation and home; hence over the last year we had a lot of time to think about what a "Dream House" is. People spend a lot of money to have additions to their homes, but the situation, the existing house and the bylaws often result in constraints. So, do we really achieve "Dream Houses" or are we falling short?

My idea of a "Dream House" consists of a large greenhouse with living quarters and office space attached. Our supervisor’s idea is to have a tree house. One of our staff considers a condo her "Dream" environment. We all have stories to tell, why we have these visions of a perfect home.

Hence we are thinking of having a design competition which explores the concept of the "Dream House". And we are interested in hearing the stories about them.
Over the next few weeks we will announce the rules for the completion and there will be a price, a photo op and a byline at the end of the competition. So stay tuned.

Martina Ernst
CEO
Wo-Built Inc.

links:
guggenheim.org: Design It: Shelter Competition
"On the occasion of the exhibitions Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward and Learning By Doing, the Guggenheim and Google SketchUp invited amateur and professional designers from around the world to submit a 3-D shelter for any location in the world using Google SketchUp and Google Earth.
Winners for the People's Prize and the Juried Prize have now been announced. Congratulations to David Mares of Setúbal, Portugal, winner of the People's Prize for CBS – Cork Block Shelter; and David Eltang, hailing from Aarhus, Denmark, winner of the Juried Prize for his design, SeaShelter!"

metropolismag.com: 2010 METROPOLIS Next Generation Design Competition
The Metropolis Next Generation® Design Competition was created in 2003 to promote activism, social involvement, and entrepreneurship in young designers.

CALL FOR ENTRIES: DEADLINE: January 29, 2010

theArchitectureRoom.com: Architecture Competitions
Competitions: If you have details of a competition you would like us to publish, then please email us with brief details, the closing date, and the web address where further details can be found. We are happy to add your details free of charge: mail@thearchitectureroom.com

dexigner.com: Design Your Dream House Contest
"Dream House": You have traveled the world, seen wondrous sights, and still, when you approach this habitat, you have to stop and gaze! Never before have you seen such a well designed home. A house so aesthetically mesmerizing and completely at peace with its surroundings. This residence instills a sense of awe and you find yourself suddenly envious of its owners. Mentally your "creative drive" vows to design something equally as captivating! No, even surpassing! You set off to "Design Your Dream House".

Tuesday 20 October 2009

Look out for New Pictures



I thought I give everyone a quarterly update about our progress. No doubt this has been and still is a challenging year for larger projects in the residential market. First the recession, then the long winter and wet summer and to top it all of: the strike by the City. But despite these issues we had our successes and are still going strong!! Over the next few months we will add photos of our new projects onto our website: www.wobuilt.com.

Martina Ernst
CEO
Wo-Built Inc.

links:
Wo-Built: Turning Your Dream Home Into a Reality (Again !!!!)
Wo-Built: Renovations and Recession
Wo-Built: Getting Your Home Ready for Resale