My single favorite writer on architectural and design issues is Ted Wells. Unlike here, where I'm constantly filling in the space between interesting issues with notes of very minor importance, Ted's  puts articles up on Living Simple only when he has something to say. He's a really good writer and teacher (and designer, of course; that is his primary profession), and in my few conversations with him I've learned a lot about architecture and our responsibility to art.

Living Simple's motto is "Do your work. Be honest. Keep your word. Help when you can. Be fair." Even when Ted is critical - as he sometimes is, especially of communities (and homeowners) who are unable or unwilling to maintain architectural and aesthetic responsibility or historic character through either a lack of education or simple greed, or historic homeowners who are dishonest or inattentive stewards of their homes - he is always fair, and takes his responsibilities seriously. He even writes on his personal website that his "most important job is helping guide the stewardship of notable historic architecture, art, built and natural landscapes, and thought and culture."

Ted has a new book coming out next year with Gibbs-Smith, one of the world's best publishers of books on American architecture and design. Ted and John Ellis are currently finishing up work on the book, which is about the mid-century modernist architect Harwell Hamilton Harris. Twenty-two of Harris' homes will be profiled in the book, which will be published next year.