High Desert seasons can bring extremes. Here in the shadow of the Cascades, we experience frequent weather changes. Within days of a snowfall, our sky can clear to a brilliant blue, ensuring even lower temperatures for the next few days.
We monitor the weather on a daily basis, and more so when heading out on an outing.
So now we find the day is sunny, dry . . . and cold. In this weather interval we visit places that offer relief from the chill. A regular spot on a winter’s day is the Oregon High Desert Museum.
The traveling exhibit that caught our interest, this fall, deals with disaster and homelessness. A day pass, which can be checked out online from the Library, makes it practical to take in a single exhibit.
A desert tortoise, a porcupine and a family of otters usually get our attention. But there are regularly changed exhibit spaces, as well as an art installation in the lobby gallery which are often worth checking out. Online and emailed monthly newsletters alert us to interesting shows.
This Fall they filled a gallery with concepts on Survival Architecture. This traveling exhibit came from a California nonprofit who asked artists and designers to offer solutions to a growing worldwide housing problem.
The fact that homelessness has been trending in the news is only part of it. Making use and re-use of materials was also a major theme.
As part of the project to make lightweight structures “Cardborigami” designer Tina Hovsepian offers a four step path out of homelessness. Something Oregon’s new Governor might want to visit.
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- Provide participants with immediate shelter and privacy/ownership
- Provide connections to services and tools to re-integrate people into society
- Provide permanent housing
- Help individuals sustain housing through jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities.
There were lots of interesting design concepts around ocean and water based structures. Another used the biomimetic principles of a spruce cone to design self opening window ports.
On a more practical note Chilean architect, Alejandro Aravena offers, what I consider a brilliant concept.
Customizing a shelter to personal needs makes these cookie cutter buildings seem more like a home . . . giving value to the housed, as well as the homeless.
The High Desert Museum is always a great spot to spark some discussion around nature, art and environment.
On top of being a warm and inviting, the museum is set on 135 acres of High Desert plateau which you can explore even on a cold December day.
During the winter, we often venture to the Nature Center. From its location on the northern edge of the resort, a lightly used trail runs past the lake, under the road and out along the edge of an airfield. At the west end of the runway lies open fields, often filled with geese. Last year we watched a convocation of Golden Eagles just chillin’.
Where the Fremont Highway drops down the southeastern edge of Paulina Peak, a bank of low clouds covered portions of the desert. Inside that fog the temperature dropped ten degrees.
Fall weather has muted any remaining green and added yellow and orange hues to the hillsides.
We break open the lunch, brew fresh coffee, and enjoy the rush of river. A month ago this spot would have been baking in summer sun, today we are dressed in flannel and clouds flash intermittent bursts of sunlight.