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Not my usual architecture or interior design post...

but, clean water is key to home and health.

…ecosystem. But activists say this is just the tip of the Pfas iceberg One quiet Saturday night, Sandra Wiedemann was curled up on the sofa when a story broke on TV news: the water coming from her tap could be poisoning her. The 36-year-old, who is breastfeeding her six-month-old son Côme, lives in the quiet French commune of Buschwiller in Saint-Louis, near the Swiss city of Basel. Perched on a hill not far from the Swiss and German borders, it feels like a safe place to raise a child – spacious houses are surrounded by manicured gardens, framed by the wild Jura mountains. But as she watched the news, this safety felt threatened: Wiedemann and her family use tap water every day, for drinking, brushing her teeth, showering, cooking and washing vegetables. Now, she learned that chemicals she had never heard of were lurking in her body, on her skin, potentially harming her son. “I find it scary,” she says. “Even if we stop drinking it we will be exposed to it and we can’t really do anything.” The next morning she rushed to the supermarket expecting frantic Covid-style hoarding, but the aisles were calm – most people hadn’t seen the news. Three days later, a letter dropped through her door from the local authority. Drinking water was prohibited, it said, for children under two years old, pregnant or breastfeeding women and people with weak immune systems. The same letter was pushed through the letterbox of about 60,000 other people across 11 communes. The supermarket rush began. Saint-Louis is now the site of France’s biggest ever ban on drinking tap water. Its at-risk residents will rely on bottled water until at least the end of the year, when authorities hope water filter systems will be installed. Tests of the local tap water showed levels of Pfas – “forever chemicals” linked to cancer, immune dysfunction and reproductive issues – had reached four times the recommended limit. Shelves were stripped bare as families scrambled to stockpile bottles of water to protect loved ones. The source was a firefighting foam used at the airport since the 1960s, ending only in 2017, according to the joint statement from the local authority and regional health agency. Toxic residues from the foam lingered, filtering through the soil into drinking water and people’s bodies – probably over decades.

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The open fireplace and ladder to the sleeping loft.

Architecture in Wood, 1992

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A window wall is given definition with a stepped placement of tiered panes and mullions. Steven David Ehrlich, architect. [Photograph: Tim Street-Porter]

Inside Today’s Home, 1986

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shoes off

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Wells Cathedral Cloister, Somerset

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credit: carleys camera

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Santa Fe

The Library of Congress has recognized this as one of the 8 most important historic buildings in New Mexico. Yet for some reason this isn't on the National Register of Historic Places. After a 2019 restoration it received an award from the city of Santa Fe.

The earliest surviving record of this structure dates from 1845, but apparently it had already existed for quite some time at that point. Experts estimate it was probably first built in the 1700s (the realtor says 1650 which is early yet plausible). It underwent significant changes in 1929 by designer Frank Applegate. The most recent owners undertook a historic renovation to restore most of the home's original character. Has mature trees, a water well, and a courtyard.

Images look a bit wonky because they had to be screen shotted and cropped rather than copied. Reddit limits image uploads to 20, so fewer than 1/3 of the total photos are in this gallery.

References:

https://www.sucasamagazine.com/blog/historic-flair/

https://architectureprize.com/winners/winner.php?id=4647&mode=hm&compID=12798

https://theoldhouselife.com/2023/02/26/new-mexicos-most-expensive-old-house-listing-de-la-pena-house-circa-1845-14000000/

from Reddit

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DIY stovetop