Inspiring home design books -Resources (Education)- E
Solar Home Chronicles 8
Friday, 19 October 2007
I mentioned the book, A Pattern Language, in a previous article. This book offers a process for people to go through (that would take days to do completely!) in order to hone in on just what they would like, if they were to design their own home. It mixes psychology with architecture in a way that makes it an interesting read, even if you aren’t building a house. I was lucky that the library got this book in for me just at the time that they were taking a lot of time off during the winter, so we had the book around for several extra weeks.
Every once in a while, Eric and I would sit down and go through a few chapters together, taking notes on our responses. It was nearly as good as a `Marriage Encounter’ program. We had no real conflicts to speak of, however it took us a long time to process each of the chapters and to listen to each other’s responses. We never completed the book. I came away, though, with more of a sense of what I wanted our new home to `feel’ like than I had when we were simply trying out optional floor plans together.
Our next inspirational books were the Not-So-Big House books by Sarah Susanka. They are gorgeous books that showcase a variety of American homes that have a `build better, not bigger’ approach. Although largely un-credited, I found many of the Pattern Language principles clearly articulated and demonstrated in these books. Susanka talked a lot about light, space and organization _ key pieces from A Pattern Language. She also showed how attention to artistry in building is important. Many of her examples offered what I love most about older homes (un-painted wood, craftsmanship, comfortable proportions) yet all of the homes were new ones.
Despite Susanka’s intention for people to build smaller, she spent surprisingly very little time on the energy-efficiency aspects of such a choice. This surprised me, since Susanka lives and designs homes in Minnesota _ one of the coldest climates in the USA. As well, although she described her homes as small, most of them were what I would describe as `on the large size’ (i.e. more than 2500 square feet). They had lots of windows (great for light, but very expensive if you install the most energy-efficient ones) and lots of interior walls (more expensive to build and heat than open-concept plans). Her clients were able to pay well for the sumptuous rooms that were designed.
It amazes me that people are still building bigger homes. And that they are not paying attention to the most cost-efficient source of energy available _ the sun. Susanka never mentioned heating choices in her books, and certainly did not discuss house siting and windows except in terms of the aesthetics of light. Additionally, she rarely talked about how to choose building materials that are either natural, recycled or processed with very little energy use. For me, the not-so-big-house concept is missing a key component, if it does not include these.
At a used bookstore, I discovered The Natural House Book – Creating a Healthy, Harmonious, and Ecologically-Sound Home Environment. I can’t imagine why anyone would trade in this book! Published in 1989, it was a book ahead of its time. As well as providing examples of interesting homes from around the world, it also focused on how to avoid building a `sick building’, through materials and design choices. These days, with our efforts to increase airtightness and insulation in our homes, and with our use of glues and varnishes in our building materials, we need to be careful that we have a good air exchange system, otherwise we will become sick. This book was a good heads-up for us as we began to think about more of the details of our home plan choices.
Next time: Visiting some solar homes in our region