So, How to design a house?

Copy other people’s houses? yes.

Copy pictures in Houzz? yes.

Duplicate rooms from memories? very much yes.

This is all valid…and legit…it is not “copying” as kids do in

school.

You are copying concepts and ideas, not someone’s

blueprints.

But, truthfully, eventually, you let the HOUSE design itself…

YOU get out of the way, and let it happen.

Besides, the final house should not be about YOU anyway.

It’s not about your great ideas, but how each room, wall,

roof, side work with each other…

You have to Zen out, and let it fall into place.

It shouldn’t be a self-conscious, eye-popping house, but

subtle, quiet, natural, kind & gentle house.

This is both terrifically hard & eventually easy….

With time, you get into the zone, and it happens.

You sneak up to it,

you work small to large,

function to style…

just as all houses have been built for thousands of years…

slowly, incrementally.

This process is not my original idea.

Just as human nature is not an original concept.

But KNOWING human nature….now that is something to learn, to fold into your design…

Human nature lets you know, it is a good feeling, to walk into a foyer with a double

height ceiling.

it is oppressive to walk into small a cinderblock school

room with no windows, (or jail cell)

that you creep out in long thin halls thru your house.

that you do not to put white carpets in the kiddy’s room.

the glory of a tall stained-glass window in a church,

the feeling of safety along the edges of a low ceiling attic room, then look up as it soars to the peak…you breathe freely, and calmly.

These commonalities are taught/explained, revealed in the

books of Christopher Alexander.

So, when you get stuck,

when you have no opinion,

when you are just guessing,

take a break and wander thru the 253 rules, PATTERNS of

Human Nature, he has already figured out over his decades

of study.

Then, DRAW your own house, and actually SEE that it

works, before you Build it..

Then you will not fail.

BTW, just the mention of Christopher Alexander’s work

should open you up to months of reading and studying…..

after all, he put in 50 years of thought in designing for

people, working within the rules of Human Nature…So,

peaking at the masters’ notes can only make your ideas

better….

Go ahead, peak, enjoy, be inspired, be impressed…

and let his ideas rub off on you.

It’s the journey…so enjoy it.

You will be better for walking in his footsteps.