Shelby Charette

VISU

Robertson

October 6, 2015

Dan Phillips Ted Talk

Dan Phillips takes home building to a whole new level with his work with reclaimed and recycled materials. He uses objects most people would not usually use, in order to create these unique and fascinating homes. Usually, people prefer standard looking homes that are completely symmetrical and perfect, but that is not Dan’s goal. He creates homes that nobody has ever seen before, ones that are one of a kind.

Dan first talks about how much waste is in the building industry. Waste has pretty much become second nature to us, as if to say, if we don’t like something, we can just throw it out and get a new one, which is a completely valid point. Our society does not view waste as waste, we view it as ineffective, broken, or unnecessary. If something doesn’t work, we replace it with a better one and discard the other.

Two perspectives are brought up when talking of symmetry and asymmetry. The two perspectives are apalonian perspective and dianesian perspective. Apalonian perspective is thought to be more of structured, symmetrical, and a desire for perfection, while dianesian, is the complete opposite. It consists of asymmetry, and natural patterns. Apalonian perspective causes more waste than dianesian, because, again like explained above, if it is not perfect, they will throw it away and try again. Dan’s houses follow the dianesian perspective perfetly, because he goes with the natural flow of things, and uses all of his materials.

The view Dan has on our building industry is extremely informative, and eye-opening. He believes in the cause of recycling, and managing our waste, because it is not just Americans who have issues with waste, it is a world wide issue.