Hi, I'm Jo, as you probably know:)
I’m an architect. It’s all I’ve ever known. That, plus my love for living close to nature, has led to Listen to Your Land. Think of it as a combination of bioclimatics, biophilia, permaculture, regenerative and systems thinking (oofff, that’s a lot already…) and an exploration of the poetry of place, something we've lost in the last years.
What readers are saying:
All of this. (…) The curiosity and joy and courage. The awareness that we are brains and souls and bodies - all three need to be fed.
I love this journey. Take me with you. 🤗
Jo's Epistolary is me writing letters to imaginary friends every second Friday. That's the format, but then what?
We all try to define who we are and what we do, without ego traps or status flags.
I could go pompous with "Defining a new poetic of the domestic space and our own dialogue with nature" or eco-oriented with "what it means to tackle eco-anxiety today" or just plain "I explain Mindful Design* to newbies".
Choose what fits.
My work here is to show the inner discourses we have about our world and the way this is all going.
Weirdly enough, the way we build our homes is a mirroring of our perceived relationship with nature and cosmos. Considering Climate change, this is important stuff.
It is less about architecture than one might think.
The honeypot
There's a handbook I wrote. It’s the method I use for Listening to Land before I build on it. It's free if you subscribe. You can also go all generous and go here for a free-pricing purchase.
But it's really no need.
My purpose here is not to make a buck selling to a minuscule niche. My purpose is to make the niche bigger. As big as the world.
My niche is getting you involved in your own micro-climate. Your own specific context. Getting you to understand it and love it. Zoom out and see - feel - the bigger picture.
The videos
Lately I have been involved in The Carbon Almanac Network, a project generously led by Seth Godin that stands to bring the facts about climate change on the table. It led to the beautiful Connect the Carbon Dots project, which put me in contact with a bunch of incredible thinkers and soulful spirits, and to the birth of a systems thinking approach to Climate solutions. Basically, “It’s all connected“.
Jo’s Epistolary is free, because that’s how I would want it to be if I wasn’t the one making it. If you feel there is value in what I do, you can chose to click this link below:
* Yes, Mindful Architecture is a word I made up. It means what it means. If it mean to you what it means to me, you will love Jo’s Epistolary!
Permarchitecture
My architecture website is permarchitecture.net. As Listen to your Land is exploding into a holistic infinite game, it makes sense to spread the word anywhere I can, via b2b consulting, courses and webinars.
Plans
I have a habit of making pretty house plans out of context.
Yes, it’s counter to everything I preach.
But in the case of the smaller ones - and provided they are mindfully placed on their plot of land - purchasing one can be a very cost effective way to get a beautiful, bioclimatic, biophilic and low-impact home plan. One that people like in particular is this one, the Toiny house.
Coaching
I also coach self-builders, meaning we meet online and talk about their home project. If that sounds nice, you can book here. The first session has a no-questions-asked money-back guarantee.
Everything else
My “all links place“ is here: https://bento.me/jopetroni . This is where I store all of my… well, links. (I even have a Tumblr, for the nostalgic in you)
Projects I’m involved with lately
The Carbon Almanac
When it comes to the climate, we don't need more marketing or anxiety. We need established facts and a plan for collective action. The Carbon Almanac has done just that, all volunteer-based. There's also a newsletter, a bunch of podcasts, a Medium publication, and others. It’s at Penguin.
Check it out and order the book here.
Hameaux Legers
The people at "Hameaux Legers" take it upon themselves to lead a life of least harm. To find ways of mixing our needs with the Earths'. To redefine what a house means. A reversible habitat is one that has little to no impact by the end of it's life. Their main strategies for this are: build small, build dismountable, build compostable, build light, build to move, build to last.
While I believe that we as humans can do better than “less harm“, these are things I care a lot about. So I joined them in their strive. They're set up as an NGO in France. This is their website.
If you like what I do in general and would like to show some love, I’ve just set up a Ko-fi page. Just click the cute button:
Hi Jo, Michael from Brent and Michael Are Going Places Here. I couldn't find an email addy but wanted to thank you for the lovely illustration you did for the Substack thread. I'm not actually bald like Brent, but other than that the likeness was fantastic. And sorry for the slow response. Mostly been offline for the past two weeks.
Jo, would you say your approach to architecture is similar to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Organic Architecture which he described as a desire to build structures for both humanity and the environment? Or does it differ in some way?
I’m glad to see that you contributed to Godin’s Almanac. I’ve been following his blog since 1997? ‘98? It’s been a while. He’s a really smart guy.