Contemporary House Design without an Architect
Using a Pattern Language to Create the Elements of House and Home
Feb 25, 2009
Most people have an intuitive understanding of what constitutes “home”. It is a place with communal spaces for family and friends to meet, yet has separate private space allocated for each family member. It has a hearth or kitchen and dining area for preparing and sharing meals. For preference, it has a private garden or connection to the natural environment. And there is some kind of well-defined transition from the sidewalk and street to entry door.
Is it necessary to hire an architect or designer to create this sense of home? No, but it helps to have an understanding of time-honoured patterns for designing the ideal domestic environment.
Christopher Alexander and his associates assembled 253 patterns for building in A Pattern Language. The book is a guide to creating more hospitable homes and neighbourhoods without the assistance of a professional designer. The book’s patterns for house were based on examples drawn from vernacular architecture around the world.
The Elements of House
There are specific patterns associated with domestic building design, but Alexander cautions that these patterns are connected to other patterns; no pattern is an isolated entity. “When you build a thing you cannot merely build that thing in isolation, but must repair the world around it, and within it.” It’s an idea of house and neighbouring environment that transcends mere boiler plate design.
Some of the more important elements of house include:
- Connection to the street and outdoor environment: A house with no windows on to the street is a house that has ceased to participate in its neighbourhood. The ideal house façade has eyes onto the street and some sense of connection (pathway, terrace, stair), while maintaining a degree of privacy for the occupants.
- Movement between rooms: Avoid long, dark hallways and be generous in conceiving movement paths between spaces. Create sunlit passages, and views onto gardens or the street. A passageway need not be contained between walls; it can flow from one room to the next and provide opportunities for connections between the home’s occupants.
- Kitchen: The ideal kitchen integrates kitchen work with family activities, much like a farmhouse kitchen. It is sunny and has views out to a garden. If a fireplace is planned, this is the room where it should go.
- Privacy versus communal spaces: In a house, too often the need for privacy for the couple is compromised by their bedroom’s being immediately adjacent to children’s spaces. A Pattern Language suggests locating the couple’s private space in a different area of the house from the children’s, while giving it a quick path to the children’s rooms.
- Views out: In a chapter entitled Zen View, the authors recommend designing window views so that they are located at transition places in the house. Good locations include entry ways, stairs and between rooms. Windows in these locations create alternate areas of light and dark throughout the house, a desirable design feature, and they open up views in unexpected ways: much better than the ubiquitous picture window that gapes incessantly at the view.
A Pattern Language’s Ongoing Relevance
New Urbanism and Smart Growth principles emphasize many of the patterns identified in A Pattern Language: the need for “eyes on the street”, for instance, and planning for both communal and private spaces. Sustainable design focuses on passive solar orientation for buildings and using recyclable materials. These and other principles can all be found in A Pattern Language, ensuring its ongoing relevance as a guide to house design and construction.
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