BEFORE THE ARCHITECT – HOME DESIGN GUIDE, HOME BUILDING GUIDE
HOME DESIGN BOOK REVIEWS AND SUGGESTIONS
May you be as interested in learning as these two buddies of streetsmart artist Julian Beever . . .
There are things you learn in going-on 4+ decades of home design and home building. Skepticism. Job-site reality. The overwhelming importance and influence of superior knowledge and experience. The vital values in unhurried consideration of a home plan. Recognition that you'll never know it all. Before The Architect
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Home design book reviews:
The Access Board ,
A Federal Agency Committed to Accessible Design.
http://www.access-board.gov/gs.htm - if you
home design and home build these days, this is a gotta have and hold close -
nobody's getting younger.
. . . . . . .
In AG’s
opinion, there’s pitiably little of practical application in the literature
regarding designing for aging eyes. That’s what drove him to his own work on
the subject as presented herein under. Two monographs, better taken together,
are of some assistance in this regard, and compliment his study:
www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/lightHealth/AARP/pdf/AARPbook1.pdf
and
www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/lightHealth/AARP/pdf/AARPbook2.pdf
. . . . . . .
The
Architecture of Light: Architectural Lighting Design
Concepts and
Techniques; A Textbook of Procedures and Practices for the Architect, Interiors
Designer and Lighting Designer by
Sage Russell , Conceptnine, 2008. For anyone on their way to a career
in home light design and for those who handoff to them.
. . . . . . .
AG’s
currently most favorite home design style? Southern Colonial, or Postmedieval
English, of late 16th century American, through, particularly, the 18th
century, and into the 19th century, broadly defined as would be
Country French or New England Colonial and vaguely referenced as Jacobean .
Glad you asked.
There are these beauties and several more farther on down this road.
Architecture of the Old South: 1585-1850 by Henry Chandlee Forman, Harvard University Press, MA, 1948. Best Of Show. See below for further.
Architecture of the Old South: Colonial & Federal by Mills Lane, A Beehive Press Book, Georgia, 1986. Good overview of Colonial.
Architecture of the Old South: Georgia by Mills Lane, Abbeville Press, New York, 1990. Precious little of Southern Colonial save for the tail-end of the Period, being the last and poorest of the original 13 Colonies.
Architecture of the Old South: Kentucky and Tennessee by Mill Lane, A Beehive Press Book, Georgia, 1993. A few good pics. Federal shows up mighty fast.
Architecture of the Old South: Mississippi and Alabama by Mills Lane, Abbeville Press, 1989. Not this custom house designer’s interest.
Architecture of the Old South: North Carolina by Mills Lane, Abbeville Press, New York, 1985. Plenty to feast upon outside and inside.
Architecture of the Old South: South Carolina by Mills Lane, Abbeville Press, New York, 1984. Distinctively Old South.
Architecture of the Old South:
Virginia by Mills Lane, A Beehive Press Book,
Georgia, 1987. Plenty of Southern Colonial.
. . . . . . .
AG’s got a
heap of reading on proportion and Classical architecture. Most
of it’s not especially interesting – clinical mathematics, nautilus shells,
practical and intellectual arm’s length and beyond.
The Art Of The Old South: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture & the Products of
Craftsman, 1560-1860 by Jessie Peosch, Alfred A.
Knopf, New York, 1983. Broadening.
. . . . . . .
As most
interesting as it’s gotten so far is this one albeit heady, heavy-going:
Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism
by Rudolf Wittkower, W. W.
Norton & Company, 1971.
. . . . . . .
The
Bungalow: America’s Arts & Crafts Home by Paul Duchsherer & Douglas
Keister, Penguin Group, 1995. Purty pictures and purty informative.
. . . . . . .
Colonial
Interiors, Second Series, Southern Colonial and Early Federal by Edith Tunis
Sales, c1930, later published by Bonanza Books, undated. Lest one forget that
Classical design roots came over on those boats, too.
. . . . . . .
To
impassioned geeks: There’s the graphically entertaining
Geometry Of Design: Studies in Proportion and Composition b y
Kimberly Elam, Princeton Architectural Press, 2001, for those more deeply into
design, notably including contemporary graphic design; then there’s the
intellectually entertaining and well-written
The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, The World’s Most Astonishing Number by
Mario Livio ,
Broadway Books, 2002; the commanding presentation of the Orders, their making
and remaking in The Classical Language
of Architecture ,
The MIT Press, 1962; the philosophically ponderous
Proportion: Science, Philosophy, Architecture by
Richard Padovan, Spon Press, 3rd ed. 2003.
. . . . . . .
For the
dedicated user of Autocad for residential design, this is the best hatch pattern
program we’ve come across, bar none, from CompugraphX, 3 Portsmouth Place, Coto
de Caza, CA 92679, P:949-459-5406; F:949-459-5438;
http://www.compugraphx.com .
The author, Watson Kilbourne, truly is a gentleman and a scholar. The rub:
you have to reckon with the tortuous and torturous method to embed it in the
drawing software. Add-on authors should, in this custom home designer’s
opinion, include those embed routines in their wares.
. . . . . . .
Whether or not you put any credence
in Feng Shui , its
principles make for fundamentally sound design. For written sources on
residential design, these are two of the best:
THE COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO FENG SHUI: How to
Apply the Secrets of Chinese Wisdom for Health, Wealth and Happiness by Lillian Too, Harper Collins
Publishers, London, 1996, 224 pages; and
interior design with feng shui: New and Expanded
by Sarah Rossbach, Penguin Group, 1991, 186 pages.
. . . . . . .
Almost
entirely off the subject of this monograph, but unavoidably attractive to its
author – The Devil’s Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce; Dover
Publications Inc., 1993; original, Neale Publishing Company, 1911. Among the
insights of Ambrose: “Architect, n.
One who drafts a plan for
your house, and plans a draft of your money.” Page 7.
. . . . . . .
Best written
of ‘em all, this one’s about the essence of quality design –
The Old Way Of Seeing: How Architecture Lost Its
Magic (And How To Get It Back) by Jonathan Hale, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994. You
won’t ever see house design the way you used to.
. . . . . . .
Patterns of
Home: THE TEN ESSENTIALS OF ENDURING DESIGN
by Jacobson, Silverstein, and Winslow, The Taunton Press, 1941 & 2002.
Keeps on giving.
. . . . . . .
For staying
in-touch with California residential design varying in size, style, and
artistry, Pure California: 35 Inspiring
Homes in the New California Tradition by Bassenian/Lagoni Architects
"Bassenian/Lagoni Architects" , publishers.
. . . . . . .
“Radon – A Brief Discussion" by Caoimhín P. Connell, Forensic Industrial
Hygienist, Forensic Applications Consulting Technologies, Inc., undated, at
http://www.forensic-applications.com/radon/radon.html.
Fair, balanced, comprehensive, concise in its way though there’s nothing brief
about it. Best of show. In this home designer's opinion, if you're
mitigating radon, this is a must read. I dearly wish that the folks who
wrote the radon mitigation section of the current International Residential
Code had read it and thought hard about the implications for both materials
and methods.
. . . . . . .
Roots of Home: Our Journey to a New Old House by Russell Versaci, The
Taunton Press, 2008. Lucid and illuminating, simple and satisfying historical
tracery of American houses. The single best and most beautifully presented
photographic tour of distinctly relevant, American home design styling to this
custom home designer’s sense of it. Artful, interiors painters help a lot.
. . . . . . .
Super
Kitchens, 40 Guidelines to Kitchen Planning by the National Kitchen and
Bath Association, Inc.
http://www.superkitchens.com/sk/asp/catId.59/itemid.123/ks/page.htm
. . .or, better yet, the more rigorous . . .
Kitchen & Bath Planning
Guidelines with Access Standards by the National Kitchen and Bath
Association, Inc.,
http://www.nkba.org/guidelines/
. . . . . . .
Traditional
Construction Patterns: Design & Detail Rules Of Thumb by Stephen A.
Mouzon, McGraw-Hill, 2004. The most useful house design text the AG’s laid
hands on to date. The occasional whiffs of stylistic intolerance can be easily
discerned and forgiven. This is a one-of-a-kind gem for serious designers
of a home.
. . . . . . .
Classy,
up-scale, well-designed, well-photographed, chock full of elements, features,
treatments . . . especially impressive in various combinations of natural stone
and brick, a combo most frequently presented poorly at best and degrading to
past wretched, these illustrations show you how to do it right: Tuscan &
Andalusian Reflections: 20 Beautiful Homes Inspired By Old World Architecture by
Bassenian/Lagoni Architects, publishers, 2005.
. . . . . . .
Updating
Classic America Bungalows: Design Ideas for Renovating, Remodeling, and
Building New by M. Caren Connolly and Louis Wasserman, The Taunton Press,
2002. The other purty picture book and purty informative text on subject.
. . . . . . .
Expulsive,
Victorians be. And you thought that you knew about Victorians. Hah.
The Victorian Home In America, With Over 250 Illustrations by John Maass, Dover Publications, 1972. Thereafter, take, for example, these two: Victorian House Style, An Architectural And Interior Design Source Book by Linda Osband, David & Charles, 1991-2004 and American Victorian Cottage Homes: Profusely illustrated with perspective views, elevations, floor plans and details by Palliser, Palliser & Co., Dover Publications, orig. 1878, current 1990.
On brickwork – 2 – the stunning Victorian Brick and Terra-Cotta Architecture: In Full Color, Edited by Pierre Chabat, Dover Publications, Inc., 1989 and in dramatic black and white, Decorative and Ornamental Brickwork: 162 Photographic Illustrations by James Stokoe, Dover Publications, Inc., 1982.
And you thought you knew Victorian, what constitutes a cottage or farmhouse…ha…Bicknell’s Victorian Building: Floor Plans and Elevations for 45 Houses and Other Structures, A. J. Bicknell & Co. , orig. 1878, current 1979.
. . . . . . .
This is about
the work of Christopher Alexander, particularly as it relates to residential
design, as in
http://www.jacana.org.uk/pattern/. There’s A Pattern
Language: Towns, Building, Construction by C. Alexander et al.,
Oxford University Press, 1977, especially pages 375-1166 and its companion
The Timeless Way of Building by Christopher Alexander, Oxford University
Press, 1979. The latter is better read first; the latter’s vital contribution
to AG’s way of thinking is the exposition on “the quality without a name.”
“There is a central quality which is the root criterion of life and spirit in a man, a town, a building, or a wilderness. This quality is objective and precise, but it cannot be named. The search which we make for this quality, in our own lives, is the center search of a person, and the crux of any individual person’s story. It is the search for those moments and situations when we are more alive.”
“This quality in buildings and in towns cannot be made, but only generated, indirectly, by the ordinary actions of the people, just as a flower cannot be made, but only generated from a seed.”
“The more living patterns there are in a place-a room, a building, or a town-the more it comes to life as an entity, the more it glows, the more it has that self-maintaining fire which is the quality without a name.”
“So finally the fact is, that to come to this, to make a thing which has the character of nature, and to be true to all the forces in it, to remove yourself, to let it be, without interference from your image-making self – all this requires that we become aware that all of it is transitory; that all of it is going to pass.
“Of course nature itself is also always transitory. The trees, the river, the humming insect – they are all short-lived; they will all pass. Yet we never feel sad in the presence of these things. No matter how transitory they are, they make us feel happy, joyful.
“But when we make our own attempt to create nature in the world around us, and succeed, we cannot escape the fact that we are going to die. This quality, when it is reached, in human things, is always sad; it makes us sad, and we can even say that any place where a man tries to make the quality, and be like nature, cannot be true, unless we can feel the slight presence of this haunting sadness there, because we know at the same time we enjoy it, that it is going to pass.” The Timeless Way Of Building by Christopher Alexander, Oxford Press, 1979, Chapter 8, “The Quality Itself.”
Now, if that doesn’t scratch the itch you have not
yet reached, the more’s the pity.
. . . . . . .
First
reasonably comprehensive and intellectually accessible home light design guide the
AG’s seen so far:
http://www.elflist.com/index.html. If you’re into getting your
home light
performance bar raised higher, try on
http://www.lightingplans.com, where you’ll just have to get over
fluorescents, fluorescents, fluorescents. Note: generally, AG and the Missus
leave specifics to others in the home light profession fulltime; however, our
guidance is increasing. Herewith, two fuller presentations of home light design,
the former marginally more readable than the latter and the latter informative
in the AG’s opinion, noting that AG senses 2 surprising aspects to home light
design: 1. vacuum of really useful, all in one place, drop-dead gorgeous
presentation of home light design; 2. stupefyingly fragmented subject matter:
Lighting Design Basics by Mark Karlen and James Benya, John Wiley &
Sons, 2004; Interior Lighting For Designers, 4th ed. by Gary
Gordon, John Wiley & Sons, 2003
. . . . . . .
Comprehensive, concise, considered. This work is fundamental to anyone
designing anything. You may need to stretch your senses and sense of things to
relate virtually every point to house design, and the exercise is worth the
effort. Universal Principles of Design: 100 Ways to Enhance
Usability, Influence Perception, Increase Appeal, Make Better Design Decisions,
and Teach Through Design William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, and Jill
Butler, Rockport Publishers, Inc., 2003.
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English
country houses are joys to behold on several levels. Here’s the elegantly
presented road map to beholding them – How to Read a Country House
by Jeremy Musson in Association with Country Life, Edbury Press, London,
2005. Masterly writing. Try to read it with an accent.
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For those interested in Southern Colonial Style, a/k/a Postmedieval English, and
vaguely referenced as Jacobean, here are 2 out-of-print books worth every penny
and more: The Architecture of the Old South: The Medieval Style 1585-1850
by Henry Chandlee Forman, Harvard University Press, 1948 [AG’s opinion: Best Of
Show]; Historic Houses of Early America, Tudor Publishing Co., 1927.
[Previously, others were included in this listing, and subsequently removed for
eventually determined lack of substance comparable to the first two acquitted.]
Then there’s
the in-print, fine compendium, An Illustrated Glossary of Early Southern
Architecture and Landscape, Carl R. Lounsbury, Ed., orig. Oxford
University Press, Inc. 1994; reprint, First University Press of Virginia, 1999.
Farther down the Southern Colonial food chain, interesting some both for
exteriors and interiors (along with the best pic yet of Bacon’s Castle from a
woodcut), not so interesting in that attention to Southern, residential
architecture thins out and falls off after turning into the 18th
century, is Domestic Architecture of the American Colonies and of the Early
Republic by Fiske Kimball, orig. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1922; reprint
Sidney Fiske Kimball, 1950; reprint, Dover Publications, Inc., 1966.
Finally, he
thinks, A Guide to Early American Homes – South [yes, Clarence, there’s
another for the North, too] by Dorothy and Richard Pratt, Dorothy and Richard" ,
McGraw-Hill, 1956; reprint, Bonanza Books, which, while not strikingly
forthcoming in either picture or print, surprises for what’s left out, e.g.,
Bacon’s Castle [an AG hone of a house] and what’s left in, e.g., the
Tupper-Barnett house [AG’s newest best friend in Old South residential
architecture].
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In AG’s
opinion, the best of a breed – Illustrated Handbook of Vernacular
Architecture by R. W. Brunskill, Universe Books, 1970. Rightly,
vernacular architecture is that design which gets you from here to there
pleasantly albeit ham-fisted; whereas, “polite architecture” is that design
which the other guy who’s gone to school thinks you ought to have to get you
from here to there looking like a national or international aesthetic. The
territory is England. The work is disciplined. Categorically, what you read
and see about that Old Country residential, vernacular architecture comes to
Early America to become the American aesthetic, schooled or not.
Lost America: From the Atlantic to the Mississippi
by Constance M. Greiff, The Pyne Press, 1974. All buildings no more, some
residential, some Southern Colonial.
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Shop Drawings
For Craftsman Interiors, Cabs, Moldings & Built-Ins For Every Room In The Home,
measured and drawn by Robert W. Lang, Fox Chapel Publishing, Cambium Press,
2003. Indispensable.
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This one’s a
wee step or two outside AG’s trodden path with design – to an extent, more
detailed on interiors designing than usual…..not ever…..just not usual.
“Climbing The Walls” by Charlene Prince, San Francisco Chronicle,
Wednesday, December 7, 2005…unusually creative, generally simple ways to turn a
space into an indoor playground. AG and The Missus have been commissioned to
design as much of that article into a to-be-built house. This in-house
playground is different enough in AG’s judgment to rise to your attention.
. . . . . . .
You betcha
that there’s an Australian Vernacular home design style. Recent inquiry brought
it to the attention of AG and The Missus. Examples are not abundant. Among
them, there’s the well executed Timber And Iron: Houses in North Queensland
Mining Settlements, 1861-1920 by Peter Bell, University of Queensland Press,
1984; the insightful “Vernacular Architecture in Queensland, Australia: Current
Issue and Opportunities” by B. Bajracharya et al., School of Design and Built
Environment, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, 2003; the marvelous
“Anglican Church of Australia Archives”
http://www.anglican.org.au/archive/images.cfm?BrowseCategory=24#title
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