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Making Better Architecture
A recent comment by Ricochet member extraordinaire James Lileks discussed an article from Forbes which stated “Frank Gehry, the world’s most famous architect, recently said that “98% of everything that is built and designed today is pure [crap]. There’s no sense of design, no respect for humanity or for anything else.”*
The Forbes article continues with “insulated architects are “increasingly incapable … of creating artful, harmonious work that resonates with a broad swath of the general population, …this has been a problem for over forty years, and that things are even worse today.” The article also shows a pretty “Katrina cottage” vs. another modern monstrosity in New Orleans. As we have little power over what’s chosen by politicians, we can (still) choose our residence to reflect both our needs and wants.
When I was young, I enjoyed drawing superhighway exchanges and houses, so I thought of becoming either a Civil Engineer or an Architect. My older cousin went to a special four-year program at Michigan State University in Architecture Engineering but then became an Urban Planner instead. After I graduated with a Computer Science degree in Engineering, my Architect dream never faded, and within ten years I designed the first of two houses.
I spent many nights and weekends not only drafting plans but also learning about all the subsystems (Electrical, Plumbing, Heating/Air Conditioning, etc.) and construction details. The two-story house was ”solar ready,” with a 45-degree pitched roof on the south side and three bedrooms upstairs. The first floor had a bedroom/office with a full bathroom for guests or special needs. The downstairs Family Room and upstairs Master Bedroom both had a fireplace within a common wall. For the façade, I found a modern design with an extended stone wall (a required covenant) to help hide the outside air conditioner unit. After making mistakes on the first house, I returned six years later with a bigger house and better floor plan, and tackled designing the façade. It was also “solar ready,” trying to anticipate future modifications.
Like fashions, house designs go through fads. In the 1970s, houses had intercom systems that played music and also incorporated the doorbell. Upscale, one-story houses in Texas included “conversation pit” in front of the fireplace. Frank Lloyd Wright developed this idea before World War II, but it wastes space by being inflexible. Since then, we’ve gone through the McMansion stage, where people buy the biggest house to sell later at a profit. The present Open Floor Plan (Kitchen, Dining, Family) tries to compensate for smaller houses, but it mimics the 1930s Usonian homes of Frank Lloyd Wright and others. In my daughter’s apartment, the noise from the kitchen made it difficult to listen to the TV or read a book, so another enclosed room is still needed.
If you want help designing your home, I recommend reading the following:
A Pattern Language “The wonderful places of the world were not made by architects, but by the people.”
I especially liked the first book, as it gives templates such as a “sheltered entrance with a sitting space” (e.g. a short wall) as an example. In Georgian architecture, the “five (widows) over four with a door” is pleasing, but it doesn’t have an entry sitting space and sometimes not even a roof for the rain. Georgian designs work in London’s tight city streets by reducing the exterior entry space.
The second book was written by an architect who adds functionality with less space. Because so few homes are custom designed, her experience tends to be very upscale. From Goodreads with a positive and negative comment:
What a concept. Small is beautiful. And yet we continue to build MacMansions. This book made me rethink what I want and need in daily living. I guess I am not alone because Susanka has spun off about a dozen books reflecting this sensible concept. “Return to Simplicity” is now my mantra.
The biggest challenge was the totally open floor plan, with kitchen, living room, and dining room all in one rectangular space that didn’t lend itself to built-in dividers such as ceiling beams or bookshelves;
Even after designing two houses, I still have the bug and have purchased a half-acre lot. The present design is focused around a south-side sunspace. The main rooms (Family, Room, Nook, Kitchen, and Master Bedroom) share solar heat in the winter and cross ventilation during the summer. The small Living Room is isolated using doors and can become a fourth bedroom. Removable panels allow Dining Room adults visual contact with children in the Nook, with hot and cold food areas around the oven. It’s designed to be Americans with Disability Act (ADA) ready, with the large lot and “reasonable” size/cost appealing to young families.
Do you have comments on good/bad house designs throughout the years? Is a smaller house with more architecture details better than more space? Do you think the Open Floor Plan is a fad again?
* Gehry’s designs like the Walt Disney Concert Hall above (one of his “best”) still put him in the 98 percent yuk category. Gehry’s design method has been satirized as “dropping sugar cubes on the floor, throwing water over them until they mold into an interesting shape” and then drawing the result, as shown in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology building on the right. In Architecture, form follows function is not an absolute, but it is a good starting point.
Published in Group Writing
Lol. I demanded as much as I could when I was a carpenter.
Here’s one thing I find annoying about a lot of houses. You come in from the rain or with snow on your shoes and you are carrying some bags or a package. You don’t want to just walk into the kitchen and track snow in, but there’s no place to set your stuff. So you have to put it on the floor, then take your shoes off while standing up, then pick up the stuff and go in. The ideal entryway should be big enough for a small bench and a foyer table. It should also have a large coat closet.
My wife and I are hoping to move south some day, and one thing on my wish list is to have a covered front porch. It should be large enough for some rocking chairs and a small table to rest your glass of ice tea.
I’m thinking about putting a little shelf on the latch side of the door so that if you’re carrying two things, you have a place to put one while you open the door.
Good point, Randy. Most homes do not, but I have seen a few built that way, mostly in older homes. I think they call it a “mud room.”
All variations on A Pattern Language, “as it gives templates such as a sheltered entrance with a sitting space” (e.g. a short wall) as an example.”
After WWII, the Levittown houses (like the one I grew up in) had the entry door directly into the “Living Room,” most without a covered entrance. Cost and speed of construction was the primary motivation.
If you’re moving south, you gotta have a porch swing.
I am surprised at how few new home layouts either have no coat closet, or if they do, it is nowhere near the front door (and sometimes not near the garage entrance either).
In our big house near Rochester NY we did have a bench in the entry hall for the purpose of dealing with overshoes and other snow-related footwear. Very helpful.
A key feature of the new house we just bought in Texas was the wide covered front porch that well protects us as we unlock the front door. It stretches across the front of the house so that it also shields the windows of the front room from the late afternoon sun. And has room for chairs and a small table.
Our present (not designed by me) house in the frozen north has one. It was a sitting place for our daughters after a date.
Was that so you could conveniently keep an eye on them?
Oh, good eye!
Did anyone else notice that this building is slightly askew from the rest of the community? Intentional symbolism?