Summer 2023 – Newsletter

This newsletter is a little different than past ones. We now have two entities sharing space here:
Red Dot Studio Architecture and Design & Red Dot Ranch.

Red Dot Ranch is a regenerative farm to explore our place in nature through food and shelter. The Ranch is located in Pescadero CA, and is an outgrowth of our Studio’s design thinking, regarding climate and connection.

Find a nice spot, take a deep breath, settle in. This will be a 5-minute read.

If you’d like to subscribe to our quarterly newsletter and receive the next ones in your inbox,
here’s the link.
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RED DOT RANCH
The Ranch is located on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Ramaytush Ohlone. We
understand the inherent inconsistency in celebrating and learning our place in nature while pretending to own land which can never truly be owned and is part of us. We wish to acknowledge indigenous wisdom and pay our respects to the Ancestors, Elders, and Community of the Ramaytush and to affirm their sovereign rights as First Peoples.
[photos 1 & 2]

WHAT WE KNOW
Agricultural food systems, building design, and construction delivery systems radically alter the earth. Agriculture accounts for 18% of global carbon emissions. Building Design and Construction accounts for at least 30% of global carbon emissions.
Source: Our World in Data, Emissions by Sector

HOW WE GROW
Intellectually we know we need to draw down carbon and change the course of climate change. Statistics alone have not made

us change course. There are other ways of knowing, portions of our being that hold collective memory and knowledge. Communion and care access that knowledge leading to changes in behavior, allowing new paradigms to take root. Neuroscience confirms that we need many parts of our brain for wisdom, including the limbic system governing emotions as well as the pre-frontal cortex governing executive functioning.
Source: Neurobiology of Wisdom?: A Literature Overview

FOOD
Food is everyday. What if we could eat well today and heal the future?
Mark Curtiss brings his calling to the Kitchen at Red Dot Ranch holding classes this fall/winter where we will tend the wild, forage, tend the soil, harvest, cook and eat together. Last weekend Mark was the guest chef at the Santa Cruz Permaculture farm where guests took part in making the first and last course together, so cooking was part of eating.

SHELTER
Shelter is a basic need of all living creatures. What if we could build like a beaver and give more than we take?
Starting this fall, we will host walk-and-talk lecturers learning about the land as a design partner. We will feature makers who will teach natural and novel building techniques. We will serve as a place for design thinking and retreats. We will grow the practice of architecture.
Red Dot Ranch is in the process of becoming. We hope you join us on this journey.
[photos 3 & 4]

Make a Summer Refresher – watermelon cube, Nasturtium leaf, and lime rain drops
[photo 5]

WOULD YOU LIKE TO HELP?
Summer Volunteer Opportunities:
10 am – 4 pm

Saturday, July 29
Sunday, July 30

Saturday, Aug 5
Sunday, Aug 6

Saturday, Aug 26
Sunday, Aug 27

RSVP to info@reddotstudio.com for more information.
No experience necessary but let us know if you have mad skills or a truck/vehicle with a trailer hitch.
[photo 6]
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RED DOT STUDIO
Welcome Home to three clients. Thank you for trusting us to create your shelter.

WELCOME HOME:

Glen Park Multi-Unit near Bart
Unit 1 1,045 Square Feet
Unit 2 2,446 Square Feet
All Electric
Clonduff Construction
[photo 7]

Sunset Multi-Generational Home
2,824 Square Feet
All Electric
Carroll Construction
[photo 8]

Ocean Beach Surf House
3,251 Square Feet
Gray Water System, Low Carbon Materials
Saturn Construction
[photo 9]

COMING SOON:

Straw Bale Workshop
900 Square Feet
Straw Bale & Lime Plaster, Passive Design
Faultline Building
[photo 10]

We are experimenting with sketch objects as a means for evocative and efficient iterations of architectural concepts. It is a way to ground our thinking in place and in materials.
[photo 11]

Last week we said goodbye to Brian our Enterprise for Youth Intern.
[photo 12]

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INSPIRATION
Wonderground Press
Regenerating Hearts and Minds, The Basis of Regenerative Agriculture with Charles Eisenstein
Velux Timber Frame House