Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Xanadu House/archive2

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[edit] Xanadu House

Self Re-Nomination for the Xanadu House article I have been writing and revising for the past few months. The article, since last time nominated now meets the criteria for nomination articles, and now includes several references, more pictures and a better quality of writing as well as many correct spelling and grammar mistakes. The article is neutral throughout, and gives consistent reading pleasure with lots of detailed information and links to external sources for even more information. I hope that this time the article will be accepted, however if there are any objecting comments and opinions I will continue to improve the article. Wackymacs 18:38, 30 May 2005 (UTC)

• Object. Inappropriate structure and lead section. The lead section doesn't really summarize the article or even explain what the subject will be. The article is titled "Xanadu House", but the lead section doesn't say if it covers the last "House" still standing or the entire project. Also, the lead should mention the nature of the foam (insulation, "plastic foam", and finally polyurethane foam are mentionned later, why not be precise right at the beginning?). The Pre-History section, apart from being somewhat strangely named (shouldn't it be just a "Concept" subheading under the "History" section). The first sentence is already obscure: why is Rob Masters referred to as "Creator of Xanadu", in quotes. Is he the creator or not? Does someone dispute the creation? Moreover, the entire section does not flow logically; for example, the sentence he decided to take a slightly different approach by creating a series of show homes around the country, seems to imply that he was trying to promote his constructions before, but this is not made clear; it is only said that he was a pioneer "in building and living in them". There are countless such imprecisions ("Bob Master's partner Tom Gussel", business partner, lover, friend?). The origin of the name is further obscure, did Gussel choose it, or was it derived from Samuel Coleridge's poem "Xanadu"? Many people are introduced with very little context if any at all; who is Kubla Khan? Roy Mason? Jacques Beufs? Jacques Rougerie? If there are no Wikipedia articles on them, at the very least mention their professions and nationality, and perhaps when they lived. The next section, "History", seems to begin as if the rest of the article did not exist. The "Construction" subheading answers many of the question readers might have had while reading the previous sections (nature of the foam, etc) giving a strong that the article was written by different people who did not review each other's work. The following sections only strengthen the feeling that the article is disjointed: there is no longer any structure or logical order in the sequence of (relatively small) sections. The form of the "using computers in the house" (which is more of a description of the House's interior) is rather bad: the list summarizing the features of the House feels like it was taken straight from a promotional leaflet. It should be turned to prose, and the authors should focus on electronics related features, if the section is to keep the name it has now. (Outside pool and garden has nothing to do with using computers inside a house). The subheadings in that section contain more questionable prose. The "Kitchen" subheading for example, begins with The house itself grew some of that food. Xanadu had a built-in greenhouse. The first sentence of the Work at Home section exemplifies ambiguous and inconsistent use of the word Xanadu throughout the article. When the authors write Xanadu suggested a way to do business at home..., do they mean the creators of Xanadu, the Xanadu project, or should it be taken to mean The Xanadu House's design...? The last few sections should be merged with the History section, and de-POVed (The "Future" section contains wild speculation, and might be get rid of entirely). I am unsure what to do about the Xanadu Book section, perhaps move it to the end.

I hope I wasn't too harsh. In any case I invite the author to take this to Wikipedia:Peer Review. I might lend a hand in improving the article, too.Phils 21:01, 30 May 2005 (UTC)

Wow thanks for the great feedback and constructive criticism.I took into account some of the issues you mentioned and have already addressed them (see updated article). Though the leading paragraph still needs work, and maybe the sections should be reorganized (mainly the "using computers in the home"). I've merged the other sections into the History section. I've removed the "Future" section, I agree that it wasn't very relevant to the subject that much and was pure speculation. If you want to make any changes feel free, because this article still needs a lot of work doing on it. Wackymacs 21:36, 30 May 2005 (UTC)

It's already somewhat better now; thank you for addressing my concerns. I'll see if can make some research so I can help improve the article. Phils 09:47, 31 May 2005 (UTC)

Thanks I like the improvements so far, the best source of research is in-fact the Xanadu book itself because the book includes pretty much everything about Xanadu - but sadly the book is limited in its explanatory of detail about the homes which is why the sections of the article about each room are quite short. I couldn't find much about the architects themselves, and what they went on to do after Xanadu which I'd like to find out.Wackymacs 10:42, 31 May 2005 (UTC)

• Object. Too informal. To choppy. Some images not captioned. Exploding Boy 18:38, Jun 1, 2005 (UTC)

• Refer to Peer Review. There are problems here with style, sources and comprehensiveness. --Theo (Talk) 22:37, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)
• Object. Needs a thorough copyedit. Many examples of poor grammar, enough I'm not sure they could be quickly fixed. Needs more sources, and inline citations for important/contentious facts. - Taxman ^Talk 21:11, Jun 2, 2005 (UTC)

Elasticsoul 21:38, 27 October 2005 (UTC) Made extensive edits to improve grammar, logical flow, and remove redundant information or information not directly related to Xanadu House. [Interesting article, btw!] The parts I cut out are mostly below, some with my comments:

History - Redundant; mentioned previously in the article Xanadu House was an architectural house project originating from the 1970s. Roy Mason, an architect, planned the Xanadu home by creating a clay concept. His vision of the future home of the 1990s was to use plastic foam for the building's main structure.

There were originally three Xanadu homes built, one in Kissimmee, Florida, one in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, and the third in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Xanadu is owned by a vacation ownership property, Star Island Development Corporation, 5000 Avenue of the Stars, Kissimmee, FL 34746. It was purchased to be the sales office for this timeshare resort.

The polyurethane hardens in a couple of days, then paint can be applied and space cut out of the foam for windows and doors to be mounted in.

It was put on sale in 1997 and was re-sold in 2001.

The computers had a number of advantages and disadvantages;

Both ordering food from home and maintaining household calendars, records and home bookkeeping can today be done because of the Internet and Secure Online Credit Card Payments.

do a certain action when the computer can do it for you, while you're not even there. Shown in the picture to the right are two girls in the bedroom typing on a computer.

"In the home of the future, people may be able to control coffeepots and front door locks from their bedrooms."

Great Room: The form of entertainment where family members sit around a television set is passive with little or no interaction between the family members and the Television or with each other. A home computer, on the other hand, allows interactive entertainment.

Work at home: This concept has been adapted to today's homes because of the Internet, and Personal Computers, the majority of people working will work from home running a home business or either working for a company through email and websites. Having access to news services from home has become even easier with RSS newsfeeds. In the recent years, working at home has advanced to a new level that the creators of Xanadu did not even dream of having: Video & Audio conferencing over the Internet.

Spa: Sauna temperatures were controlled by computer, pre-set temperatures could also be used.

Security: - doesn't refer to Xanadu House (AKAIK) A computer can control the locking system of doors and windows in the home require a user to enter a password to enter their home, or either uses their thumbnail print as a key of identification that you own the home and has the privilege to enter. Today, this idea is seen as rather silly because computers can be used to do much more than speak to increase security levels in the home.

Disadvantages preventing picture hanging , or would take automated tasks for granted, resulting in you thinking you never have to do housework again.

Reaction unlike a good piece of architecture which would last a long time, Xanadu a bad piece of architecture After Xanadu House was built, there was not a sudden shock and crave from other designs which caused an outburst of futuristic looking homes,

Book was a hardcover, with contained 260 pages of material

- and some too outdated to be considered any longer

Elasticsoul 21:38, 27 October 2005 (UTC)