Contributors include architects, philosophers, landscape architects, and geographers, who focus on the question of how people might see and understand the natural and built environments in a deeper, more perceptive way. What is a sense of place and how can it be supported by architecture, policy, and education? Why are places important to people, and can designers and policy-makers create better places? Is there a way to see and understand what might help to make buildings, landscapes, and places that are beautiful, alive, and humane? What role do the geographical and architectural environments play in human life?
This volume focuses on the question of how people might see and understand the natural and built environments in a deeper, more perceptive way. Why are places important to people, and can designers and policy-makers create better places? Contributors include architects, philosophers and architects.
are often lined with garages in front of houses that are clearly more internalized in design, some even taking on a fortress-like appearance. Today's new homes are technically superior in construction; i.e., they are more energy efficient, weather resistant and maintenance free. However, they also seem to lack the warmth and charm of prewar homes, for which more construction dollars were spent on quality veneers, buUt-in features and other human-scale details. The postwar need for massive amounts of "affordable" housing for returning GIs helped to encourage buUding practices that could reduce on-site labor and material costs in houses. The accommodation of the automobile, cost-cutting movements and a variety of other trends caused a gradual decline in the human, social and emotional qualities of postwar residential architecture. This book will attempt to look at the issues and choices facing today's residential designers and home buUders and ask: How can we make our new houses and neighborhoods more responsive to humanistic needs, partlcularly in light of constant pressures to keep housing costs down? This question will generally be addressed by comparing historical designs to those of today, to see if we might be able to reconsider some "old-fashioned" ideas in new housing designs.
Designing Sustainable Residential and Commercial Interiors: Applying Concepts and Practices is a core text that teaches students and designers how to apply sustainable principles to all stages of the design process for residential and commercial interiors. An overview of the types of design projects emphasizes a three-pronged approach to sustainability: equity, economy, and ecology. Through case studies for a range of project types--including retail, healthcare, hospitality, corporate, adaptive reuse, civic and institutional, and residential--readers will learn how to use a sustainable concept as the foundation for well-designed projects. Features -Includes the latest developments in sustainable design, with a discussion of net zero buildings, design for disassembly, and material reuse in addition to what is now the commonly accepted LEED approach to buildings -Features projects with full color photos by both firms and students highlighting how to solve the design problem for each project type using a variety of sustainability approaches -Discussion questions at the end of each chapter ask students and instructors alike to explore important topics, like ethical issues, biocentrism in healthcare, changing workplace environments, social responsibility, economic issues, and life-cycle costing -An Appendix of checklists and guidelines -- including Design Checklists, Checklists for Materials, Plumbing, Lighting, Furnishings, and Building Codes, and a series of LEED Checklists Instructor's Resources -Instructor's Guide with in-class activities and outside-of-class assignments/projects, Test Bank, and Answer Key
"Everyone who designs a house should have to memorize the rules in this book . before being allowed to purchase a drafting pencil. Mac and Charles have managed to consolidate most everything they know about residential design with wit, Clarity, and excellent sketches" -- David Wright, Noted Solar Designer and Environmental Architect * Designing Your Natural House Charles G. Woods and Malcolm Wells As concerns about our mistreatment of the environment keep growing, the trend toward housing that blends with rather than works against natural surroundings continues to accelerate. This important guide explores and illustrates all aspects of how to integrate dwellings with their natural settings. The authors are leading names in the natural design field whose work has been inspired by the contour-friendly, organic style of Frank Lloyd Wright. Charles G. Woods and Mclcolm Wells offer a wide range of invaluable design tips for both constructing new houses and remodeling existing ones. Every design they cover is in accordance with today's ecological and environmental concerns. Beautifully illustrated and hand lettered throughout, this guide explains how to choose the best site design, lay out floor plans, landscape, and incorporate energy-efficient features wherever possible. You're shown how to solve many design, ecological, and environmental problems, as well as how to keep design costs as low as possible. Numerous before-and-after graphics clarify every stage in the design process, and do and don't examples help you avoid common mistakes encountered when designing natural dwellings. Included are 150 money- and energy-saving tips more than 200 tricks of the trade that help assure exemplary results, and sample house plans (which you can order) that promote further understanding of how to integrate designs with the natural site. Designing Your Natural House is timely, comprehensive, and visually appealing, making it an ideal source for architects, contractors, interior designers, landscape architects, do -it-yourselfers, and remodelers.
A #1 best seller for years, Bill Hirsch's Designing Your Perfect House: Lessons from an Architect has been called an essential read for Homeowners as well as Professionals. Bill's flowing style of writing makes you feel like you are sitting with him having a chat about your project. The philosophy behind design decisions is explained with stories, photos, sketches, and checklists. The book is divided into Twelve Lessons, with an additional Bonus Lesson ," Building Green, Naturally". You will learn how to evaluate your needs and work towards creating a suitable design, perfect for you and your family. The experience of home design and construction should be controllable, gratifying and enjoyable. With the valuable advice that Designing Your Perfect House: Lessons from an Architect provides, it can be.
A renowned architect offers up fifty visions of the perfect home, each capturing the essential harmony among the four classic elements of design--site, floor plan, exterior elements, and interior details.
Have you been thinking about how to make your house into a true home? Or are you buying a house that needs the same attention? Where do you begin? This book will get you started, see you through it, and make home design doable rather than daunting. Charming and accessible, House to Home is a beginner-friendly guidebook for creating a home that supports your life the way you live it. With practical, hard-earned wisdom, architect Devi Dutta-Choudhury guides you through the process from the foundation up. Dive into home design with charts, questionnaires, and sketch pages that help you confidently approach and define your renovation. With Dutta-Choudhury’s relatable expertise, you’ll begin to think more like an architect. From understanding the site, working with architects, and being your own contractor to deciding when to redesign and when to leave alone, this book teaches core concepts about privacy, use of space, lighting, access, and more. Whether it’s just one room or your whole house, House to Home is here to help.
"The Adaptable House provides specific design approaches and techniques that facilitate flexible design - both on the inside and out. These principles make it simple to alter a dwelling's layout, demolish partitions or build new ones, upgrade heating systems, and change the locations of staircases."--BOOK JACKET.
