DESIGNING THE GOOD HOME

THE MODERN THINKING THAT GUIDES TODAY'S PICTURESQUE HOUSES

A good home is not just a neutral vessel, blandly waiting for human activity to occur within its walls. A good home possesses character, or what might more precisely be called emotional resonance—the capacity to inspire thoughts and feelings in its occupants. Because I've been designing houses since the 1980s and because I've seen so many houses fail to connect emotionally with their owners, I make it my habit to try to figure out how houses stir the imagination. This book is part of my continuing search for guideposts that designers, builders, and prospective homeowners can use in their own effort to create satisfying homes.

Seen from a certain angle, the quest for emotional qualities in a dwelling verges on the mystical. Surely something magical happens when a house—which is an inanimate amalgam of wood, glass, metal, and an untold number of other substances—touches an individual's spirit. But identifying the sources of that magic and dissecting its workings are, to a large extent, a matter of intuition and experience, at least for me. I think I've begun to make sense of what goes on, and in these pages I lay out a series of techniques you can use to design a house that will arouse feelings. I concentrate on houses that register on people emotionally and that are rooted in modern aesthetics and technology. These modern picturesque or modern romantic houses have the ability to affect us emotionally and at the same time suit contemporary ways of living. This dual focus—on feeling and on modern methods—is for me a critical element in how to design a good house.

• THE GOOD HOME
• PAST TEACHES US
• MODERN TECHNIQUES
• BOLD SHAPES
• GRIDS OF GLASS
• EXPOSED STRUCTURE
• PERFECT LIGHT
• ROMANTIC TECHNIQUES
• BLENDING INTO THE LANDSCAPE
• CONTROLLING THE APPROACH
• MANIPULATING CIRCULATION
• WORSHIPING NATURE FROM WITHIN
• SEDUCTIVE MATERIALS
• EVOKING THE FAMILIAR
• GAFFNEY RESIDENCE
• KAHN RESIDENCE
• WINDHOVER
• OLD MISSION COTTAGE
• CREATING A SENSE OF PLACE
• TUNIPUS COMPOUND
• SOHN RESIDENCE
• TIN ROOF
• TOM & KARIN'S PLACE
• GREENE RESIDENCE
• COLLABORATING WITH THE LAND
• OREGON COAST HOUSE
• PALMEDO RESIDENCE
• GEORGIAN BAY RETREAT
• MCKINNEY HOUSE
• PINS SUR MER
• FOREST HOUSE