Now this is progress: Green Affordable Housing showing at CIA

Cleveland Institute of Art Reinberger Gallery Director Bruce Checefsky has a deep personal interest in green affordable housing, so I was not surprised to learn the CIA was hosting an exhibition on the subject. Still, when I had the pleasure to preview the show "The Home House Project [1]", I was overwhelmed by the breadth and originality of the content. This is an innovative exhibition on innovation in planning, design, construction and architecture, which is timely and opportune to help this community move from generally bland, resource depleting sprawl to intelligent community redevelopment for an age of global conservation, smart planning, urban renewal and economic transformation. This show is all about visioning our new economy at its foundations, literally, as it explores 100s of concepts for building "green" affordable housing... the anti-McMansion show came to town, and it is fascinating.

"The Home House Project" is far from the usual art exhibit. While it has pictures and constructions, they are plans for buildings and examples of green construction, even featuring a small cutout building within the gallery. Will you enjoy this show? Only if you care about architecture, design, innovation, the environment, or the future of Northeast Ohio and the world. Is this an easy show to take in? No... it is subtly explosive and intellectually challenging... not for the faint of art. I'm going to the gallery again tomorrow to take in more of the show, and will add comments from that, but I recommend reading Plain Dealer Architecture Critic Steven Litt's excellent, glowing review of the show [2], from Sunday, November 19, 2006, for an expert perspective, and then plan to see the show if you care. I care, and am arranging for friends who care about the future of NEO to join me there and consider how they may integrate what they learn into actionable outcomes for the region.

I'm pleased to point out that this exhibition was launched with a panel discussion visioning a "Green Cleveland [3]", which I had to miss (if you attended, feel free to post your thoughts). From gallery Director Bruce Checefsky about this panel discussion:

GREEN IS THE COLOR OF HOPE
“So soon after Cleveland was again ranked the poorest big city in the nation by the U.S. Census Bureau, our hope is this collection of award-winning house designs will capture the interest of city planners, builders, architects, community development activists, advocates for the poor, environmentalists and any other residents concerned about the critical issues of affordable housing, environmental sustainability and good, community-oriented design,”
--- Bruce Checefsky, director of the Institute’s Reinberger Galleries.

It is also important to note, this exhibition continues a refreshingly frequent trend here in NEO, to exhibit and present inspirational and innovative architecture to public forums and spaces where the community becomes engaged in viewing and planning the best prospects for NEO to become a desirable community for the future. Over the past few year, there have been numerous world-class forums and exhibitions on innovative planning and design, significant to NEO, including "Learning from the Dutch Experience [4]", at CSU, the "MoCA Short List Exhibition [5]", at the Kent State Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative, and the "Franco Albini Exhibition [6]", at CUDC as well.

 Next up on the green affordable housing front, besides what we each may do in our own ways, is a follow up forum [7] on "Sustainable, Affordable, Innovative Housing Design in Cleveland", arising from the Home House Exhibition, December 6th, featuring Cleveland City Planning Director Robert Brown; developer Nathan Zaremba; Columbus architects Beth Blostein and Bart Overly; and Jeffrey Bowen, director of the Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity. See you there.