EVOKING THE FAMILIAR

All the houses collected in this book are modern. They are filled with natural light and views, thanks to large expanses of glass. They are built in a modern mode that favors simplicity and minimalism, even if they make extensive use of traditional residential materials such as wood, brick, and stone. All of this, in my opinion, is good. So the question is, how do modern houses become modern romantic homes—dwellings that will tap into people's feelings and engage their emotions? Oke Bowman's sketch of Pin Sur Met One of the most effective methods I've found involves having the new house evoke buildings and places that people are familiar with. If a new house brings to mind buildings or places that people already know and are fond of, the owners—and visitors, too—will feel attachment. Peter Bohlin, Hugh Newell Jacobsen, and Obie Bowman, as modern architects, do not copy buildings from the past. They create houses that are unique, in most instances strikingly so. Yet the houses these three produce connect with people s sentiments, in large part because the designs summon up associations with historical or vernacular houses; they suggest something of the character of traditional houses or rural buildings, usually in the same region where the new houses are being built. The shape of the house is the most basic tool for evoking the familiar. Countless "no-frills" center-hall colonials and saltboxes come into being every year because their shapes suggest classic ail-American homes, satisfying people's understandings of what a house should be. In many cases, it's worth noting that although profiles of historical house styles are discernible in the new tract houses, the detailing that accompanied those shapes two or three centuries ago is absent, so although the new construction reads as a traditional home, it seems anemic—a weak and bland copy of the original. Modern romantics approach the design process in a different way. They aren't interested in simply imitating houses from the past. They may use familiar silhouettes from older buildings, and may even group several such silhouettes together, but they give the houses fresh touches too, because they don't want the results to be boring. Modern romantics want to create something new and imaginative, no matter how much of the familiar may also be perceptible in the composition. Houses by Bohlin, Jacobsen, and Bowman recall shapes that people are accustomed to, but, equally important, they exhibit the passion, ingenuity, or humor that separates distinctive homes from cookie-cutter designs. Each traditional shape possesses its own character. A skillful designer recognizes that character and works with it. Colonials and saltboxes have strong, simple profiles that are well suited to conveying a prim and proper expression; they may suggest a historic place or an established family. A cabin in the woods or a ranch-style house is a more relaxed source of imagery; it befits a more casual or rustic expression. Historically, houses often mimicked the shapes of religious buildings, as when the physical attributes of Gothic churches and Greek temples were applied to residences, for a theatrical kind of expression. The architects featured here often borrow and reinterpret the shapes of American agricultural buildings such as barns, grain silos, storage sheds, and lean-tos. You might question whether such shapes are appropriate for the homes of human beings, but I find them stimulating and usually successful. The advantage of such shapes is that they are familiar and yet they widen the variety of expression; they make possible a composition that's completely modern without being too disconcerting. Shapes can be derived from all sorts of sources.

Modern houses run the risk of feeling alien or weird if they utterly disregard convention. Consequently, in addition to playing with familiar shapes, the romantic modern house often uses elements such as columns, chimneys, windows, and siding patterns in ways that are familiar yet imaginative. The columns or chimneys may be greatly simplified, or they may have a rustic character, depending on the feeling the house is meant to express. Decorators use salvaged pieces of old houses, such as Victorian posts or brackets, as ornamental elements and artistic focal points in contemporary interiors. If the entire interior were Victorian in style, these elements would lose their impact. Employed strategically, however, they have a strong positive effect. For some of his rustic houses, Bowman has used sliding barn doors and timber columns that look like they were retrieved from construction sites. Jacobsen's refined designs in the eastern U.S. and Canada repeat one traditional compositional element over and over again on his stark white buildings as if it were a wallpaper pattern. Bohlin blends traditional elements such as old-fashioned window and door trim with extraordinarily modern windows and doors in his woodland homes. These contrasts help generate a romantic feeling. The romantic house challenges you; it makes you stop and wonder. In this kind of house, the pure forms and abstract patterns of modernism are layered with picturesque touches. Often there is something intentionally odd about how the familiar or sentimental elements are used in the design. The chimney may be way too large for the house. The columns may be too few or too many to be holding up the porch roof. The windows may be off center. These peculiarities are there to hold your attention, to interest you each time you look at the house. They may also be there to express the uniqueness of the homeowner, the designer, or the site. A pair of giant columns on a small house may express a certain haughtiness, while a series of curiously small windows on a large house may express humility. Symmetrical arrangements of odd renditions of familiar elements can make them less off-putting, yet still challenging. The same is true of seemingly haphazard arrangements of traditional elements. The goal of the modern romantic is to infuse character and delight into a home without abandoning the elegance, simplicity, and up-to-date spirit of modern design. Evoking and playing with the familiar make this combination possible.