My good buddy Rahm Rechtschaffen has mashed web 2.0 with architecture. Not information architecture; we’re talking real live house building architecture.

Check out Open Source House.

In short, Rahm has opened up the “code” to a new house he’s designing for his father, Stephan, in Costa Rica. He has solicited, and ingeniously incorporated, ideas from a community of at least 15 “users” — people who will likely spend time there. The design has come a long way. I can even see some of my ideas in it.

The most radical idea, though, was Rahm’s. By opening up the design process, he’s flipped the traditional architecture paradigm on its head. In my experience, architects are too often bullheaded, self-centered “visionaries” who would rather make buildings with no regard for user needs. I love how Rahm has trashed that old model and replaced it with something truly user-centric.

(One friendly guess — that the work of his wife, Eve Fox, helped inspire Rahm. Eve is an online advocacy professional at M&R Strategic Services. Am I right, Rahm?)