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Terrace Villa, Ramsar, Iran by Poorkeivan Studio

My 28-year old self would’ve loved this. But my 68 year old self with all those stairs?

And it needs color. I’m thinking of it as a blank canvas to be filled in with brightly colored furniture and carpets.

Villa Terrace: A Layered Response to a Steep Coastal Landscape

Poorkeivan Studio: Villa Terrace is designed on a steep hillside in Ramsar, northern Iran, where a thirteen-meter difference in elevation is transformed from a construction challenge into an opportunity for creating a layered living experience.

Despite the complexity of construction and the increased costs associated with the site, the client intentionally selected a higher location to benefit from wide views toward the Caspian Sea and the surrounding urban and natural landscape.

The main design challenge was how to respond to the steep topography while preserving climatic comfort and creating diverse spatial experiences. Inspired by the client’s desire to experience different framed views of the landscape, the project transforms the slope into a sequence of interconnected terraces.

Each floor is conceived as an individual terrace, where enclosed spaces are carefully positioned according to their functions. The swimming pool, gym, breakfast area, bedrooms, and living spaces interact with these terraces, allowing every part of the villa to engage directly with the surrounding environment.

The north–south orientation of the site guides the placement of openings to maximize natural ventilation and daylight. The terraces extend toward the sea while opening toward the forest, creating a natural airflow system. Sea breezes pass across the terraces and enter the villa through a central vertical opening around the staircase, which functions as a wind channel and distributes airflow throughout the interior spaces.

The façade design reinterprets the traditional metal roofs commonly found in northern Iranian architecture through a contemporary language. The standing seam metal cladding, finished in a grey tone, recalls the collective memory of the region while creating a modern architectural identity.

From the northern street, the building appears as a modest two-story villa; however, entering the project reveals a deeper, multi-layered spatial experience shaped by the terrain. The terraces frame different views of the surrounding landscape, gradually revealing the true scale and complexity of the villa.

By utilizing the potential of the slope, integrating passive climatic strategies, and combining concrete structure, curtain wall glazing, and a metal envelope, Villa Terrace establishes a balance between contemporary architecture, local identity, and environmental responsiveness.

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the performative screech-monkeys of the entire wingnut outrage-industrial complex are shitting themselves raw over the mere existence of Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, and I am so fucking here for how he’s kicking their tiresome asses in response.

El-Sayed is so good at this. listen to him tee off on that doughy pantload, Couchfuck McGee.

“is that Peter Thiel’s boy, with that Ohio charisma he’s got? I think we’ve had enough of him. the last thing that he said that made any sense was Hillbilly Elegy — after he said that Donald Trump had no business being president of anything. that was the last time he made sense, and then he decided to suck up to power. but that’s exactly what this is about. you got Republicans who will do anything for power and money, including corrupt their office.”

as I’ve said before, Abdul El-Sayed sounds like one of us. he’s snarky as fuck. he does everything we’d want him to in that clip but refer to JD Vance as ‘that doughy pantload Couchfuck McGee.’

we’ve all seen the video of Abdul commenting on Dear Leader’s diaper-filling habits, but let’s play it again, because it’s oh-so-satisfyingly good

Sky News reporter: “[Trump] says you’re full of shit.”

Abdul El-Sayed: “at least I don’t let mine go in the middle of the Oval Office.”

Abdul also wins at social media.

“I know it’s complicated for you, habibi. I’m happy to teach you how this works at our next debate…if you’re not too much a coward to debate me.”

‘habibi,’ by the way, is the Arabic word for ‘my beloved’ — and El-Sayed is employing it sarcastically, in the same way southerners say ‘bless your heart.’

but he’s not just a snark factory. he’s thoughtful. listen to him explain how the dumbfuck exercise videos farted out by Piss-Drunk Pete and Bobby Brainworms are just a hollow version of masculinity.

you asked me about like Pete Hegseth and RFK, that, like, they’re trying to speak to this particular group of people, and it ends up trying to like, again, just create one more performance that is like, the way to be a masculine person. and you know, as we’ve thought about it on the campaign, [lifting weights] is something that I’ve always done — but a lot of what I’m trying to do is be like hey, look, being a man is not about how you show up at the gym. it’s like how you show up for your family. it’s about how you show up in your community.”

El-Sayed gets it. you show up — for your family, for your community, and for your country. do you think Piss-Drunk Pete or Brainworms have ever shown up for anyone but themselves? of fucking course they haven’t.

as always, the moral rot starts at the top. Dear Leader loves only three things in this world: money, power, and his own porcine self — and not necessarily in that order. he’s the fucking president, and not once has he ever put his country ahead of his own greedy self-interest.

you know who else gets it? New York City’s islamocommunofascist Mayor, Zohran Mamdani.

If it looks like an Amazon delivery and drives like an Amazon delivery, then it’s an Amazon delivery, right? Not according to Amazon. Big companies like Amazon have built a vast network of subcontractors who deliver their packages while shielding them from accountability. It leaves our workers unprotected and our streets less safe. It’s time for a change. I’m proud to support the Delivery Protection Act to crack down on exploitative subcontracting and build an economy that works for everyone.

Mamdani, too, is so fucking good at this. it’s like he was made for standing in front of a camera.

but Zohran’s not just a pretty face. he wants to build a better world, and level the playing field for everyone. that’s why, as he explains in that video, he’s backing legislation that would force Amazon to stop reclassifying their drivers as independent contractors, which enables Amazon to weasel out of providing them benefits such as healthcare.

you know who else is good at this? Wisconsin Rep. Francesca Hong.

reporter: “were you prepared for this intense pushback you received, especially from Republicans, framing you as far too extreme for Wisconsin?”

Francesca Hong: “what’s extreme is Congressman Tiffany, a long-time DC Congressman, has voted against the interests of Wisconsinites over and over again. what’s extreme is that he’s an election denier. what’s extreme is that he continues to protect Epstein and pedophiles.”

Wisconsin Democrats really biffed it when they failed to pick Hong to be their candidate for Governor in yesterday’s primary. don’t make me come over there, Wisconsin, and explain how badly you just fucked up.

Democratic Socialists like El-Sayed, Mamdani and Hong — they’re not just twenty-four-seven charisma generators. 

they get it. they get what’s wrong with America: government is broken. politics is broken. late-stage capitalism is broken. none of that shit works for We the People any more.

and if you needed any more proof that everything is fucked all to shit, did you know that Fishin’ Trip Sammy Alito has been enriching himself off the cases he’s been ruling on?

The supreme court justice Samuel Alito gained up to $2.9m from his fossil fuel interests between 2005 and 2024, a new review of financial disclosures shows.

The findings come as the supreme court prepares to take up a case in which the oil companies Suncor Energy and Exxon asked the justices to find that federal law prevents subnational governments from filing lawsuits against fossil fuel producers for the climate-warming effects of their products.

what kind of shithole country allows this to happen? what kind of shithole country looks the other way while corrupt judges rake in the dough like it’s going out of style?

this is the kind of fuckery we used to mock tinpot third-world autocracies for. congratulations, America, you’re some penny-ante kleptocratic backwater. we’re number one!

it’s bad enough that Fishin’ Trip Sammy goes on all-expenses-paid luxury vacations with the oligarchs who tell him how to vote. now we’re finding out that Sammy’s been fattening his own wallet all along.

how fucking broken is that?

Republicans are scared shitless right now. they know that their policies totally fucking suck, and that they’re going to get creamed in the upcoming midterms — and so they’re lying their fucking faces off about the Democratic Socialist agenda.

“they’re crazy enough, yes. they want to cancel Thanksgiving, they want to cancel Christmas. look, these communists hate America. they hate capitalism. El-Sayed is also an Islamist, as is Mamdani, and look, you’ve seen the green-red convergence, where the communists and the Islamists, they want Sharia law, they hate Jews, they hate Christians, they hate capitalism, they hate America.”

shut the fuck up, Esteemed Senator Fidel Cancun. none of that that shit is true, and you fucking well know it. well, except for the part about hating capitalism. so we’ll give you that one, beardo. ace job, Ted — you got one right. take a victory lap.

El-Sayed, Mamdani and Hong grew up in this world that no longer works for We the People, and they’re fucking well tired of it. they’re tired of Republicans who work only for their oligarch overloads. they’re tired of watching Preznit Fuckwit and his felonious family rob this country blind. they’re tired of useless Democratic establishment lumps like Chuck Schumer writing one strongly-worded letter after another. let me tell you where you can stick those letters, Chuck.

Democratic Socialists like El-Sayed, Mamdani and Hong have decided that if anyone’s going to fix this shit, they themselves are going to be the ones to do it.

they’ve earned our support.

fuck yeah.

this is going to be my closing message for the foreseeable future:

practice self-care. do what you need to do to keep sane. if that means you need to disengage with my daily posts for a while, I get it. this community of ours will still be here when you return.

to all the people who have signed on in the days since the election, welcome aboard. settle in as we all try to deal with the shitfuckery that’s ahead of us.

we are all in this together, and we are all here for each other.

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The People Have Spoken

Traditional it is! Thanks for playing!

I hate to admit it, but the more I get into the WordPress block editor—something I’ve resisted for years—there are features readily accessilble I either had to dig or resort to an add-in with with the old editor. Conversely, I’m asking the Google, “How do I [simple command in the traditional editor, but completely hidden now] in the WordPress block editor?” I get the answer and—much like it was when I first moved to MacOS from Windows those many, many years ago—I go, “Duh! So simple!”

Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks after all?

Tricks. Sigh. I remember tricks. I remember when I had the hormones of a 25 year old and tricks were about the only thing on my mind.

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