Even an uninsulated shack, with plants growing thru the floor can be a joyous shelter… (my college years at FSU), but when you intentionally design a house for the long term, the importance of your design is way beyond investment, or appraisal potential.
Good Design is creating what most people want, like.
Is thu pandering? Is this a fad? Is it
These are knee jerk reactions to shock moments, transient moments, ephemeral reactions to a moment.
Good design is timeless. This is a stunningly beautiful sliver of aligning all the parts of a house, to the whole house, AND to the neighborhood and region you are in. It is not confining, but a defining structure to work within….it holds some variables constant, while you personalize others.
Most of these variables that are constant, are the long term permanent ones … the 30-50 years ones described by xxxx… (size and shape, color, material used in a house). Design rules can be loosened up with transient variables that change easily (wall color, temporary walls,
Good design is FLEXIBLE. You cannot just move, every time your family changes, or you change… design in flexibility.
Good design is beautiful. Ah, now we are getting into some very soft opinions… Can you define beauty? YES… Great minds have worked this concept hard….plowed the ideas over and over….
Do you design your house for you now? Or for future buyers? Yes to both… of course… And this is not impossible. Again, you are balancing the needs of Human Nature, Beauty, Flexibilty ….. the further your refine these ideas the more likely both you and future generation will appriciaite your design.
I look at nearly ALL the houses of Patrick Ahearn, and see how just anyone would be truly happy, and contented there. He is a great one to not copy…but be inspired by… grab is use of color, the color white, the hardware the mix of wood, how his houses fit in the neighborhood, not stand out. You stare at them for their beauty, not their size or opulence…but grace in scale, color, and functionalituy.. You SEE yourself on the decks, at the windows, resting with the views, the peace and harmony of the whole.
NO, by most people I mean obeying the laws of Human Nature, understanding Human Nature.
But what ARE the laws of Human Nature… Ah… you knew I would get here.. the bible, the holy grail of great design….consider Christoper Alexander.
Think back in your school days…. there is always one that is the best in class, an order magnitude better than all the rest. Then he goes to college, and is an order of magnitude better that all his peers in college… even better than his teachers. Ok.. now you get to be near him, in his mind… read his notes, follow his train of thought… what a prestigious circle you get to witness, see, examine, be in awe of…
And yet you get to! This mathematical/creative designer has left a massive number of books to peak at., be inspired by. You don’t have to agree with any..but,… he, that spent 50 years honing this subject… a perfect house, a perfect room, light, neighborhood, region… is all there for you to cheat from. Generations of archichitects and designers cut their teeth on his work. Why reinvent the wheel…. but learn from this great mind, and apply what makes sense to you… just beign in the presense of this great mind, is reward enough… It is like going to a great movie or opera, or orchestra… you are better after seeing it. And you hope some of the greatness rubs off in your designs…
At least, you will be able to defend in words, and vague concepts your ideas of beauty, timelessness, flexibility with concrete reasons. You as a designer, will have to fight the banks, the appraisers, the architect, the contractors, and even the subs…you fight what THEY think is right (usually based on their smaller personal history…) are you going to follow a great designer …. the best in class guy…)
Oh, it is a fight all the way…so you have to be able to defend your ideas…
How?
By drawing over and over again in 3D… Proving your ideas will work, the door will fit under the stairs, the windows will fit here, the doors will align up perfectly for a long long view thru the house. You have to pick just the right slope to your roof, the right axis, the right size of window and dormers… scale and exterior visuals have to coordinate with internal rules and views.. This can only be done by repetitive refinements of 3D designs, and then plopping your great ideas in the neighborhood, to see if your house looks good, adjacent to your neighbors…
You can spend 1000’s of hours on design, but if you pick the wrong house color,… a 10 min decisioan…it will be all wrong…if your roof does not match your siding… it is all worng, if your hosue does nto fit your neighborhood, all your great, brilliant genius ideas will be for nothiug,…
Make this a link to a blog….. and move on!
Side note on your personal clutter…this is not a design topic…just a side note on the ephemera layered right on top of even the greatest designed house)
Now imagine how you can apply this to your personal life, your rooms, your entire life…
Makes you believe in getting rid of clutter, trash, junk, stuff laying around… the stuff that burdens your mind as you walk into your own home, in your control… words like self defeating come to mind… you have a choice….you just have to remember how you feel in an ideal situation…
Now I am not saying you should go all Marie Kono on your place… but that is the right direction, The balance…..the ying and yang of this thought… OK… you don’t want to sterilize your house like a furniture showroom, but a room of things you love, that mean something to you…Bunny Williams describes the right amount of clutter this way..
Now…,back to the hotel room
opulent
Alexander pushed away from the cold modern stuff, the mathematical, and back to Human Nature.
FLW was similar… he dipped into Oriental designs, and the Zen/mystique … not modern, not mathematical, but quiet designs of the Far East.
FLW and CA seem to shoot for the timeless badge…
not what is a fad, or what is current.
But what HUMANS just need instinctually to smooth out complex lives.
Examples of Timelessness…
…the quality of not changing as the years go past, or as fashion changes.
Style, vs. dated?
Where dated, is a snapshot of an idea, that is soo cool, so interesting ….at that time…a party dress…but you cannot wear the party dress to the grocery store tomorrow.
A timeless house with good style, is comfortable thru the years, seasons, memories…one that expands and shrinks with your changing family size and time of your life cycle.
a dated house…fits like a dress you wore when you were 20, but now you are 40…kinda tight, creepy