The Owner Built Home & Homestead
(Page 10 of 15)
tions should be allowed to change. Flexibility is the key
here. Flexibility to satisfy all our senses and all our
moods and life-programs. We need to sit in different ways
at different times; and at different periods of life we
need different places and arrangements for eating and
sleeping.
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When a Living-center "systems" furnishing is not employed,
a room's floor should be kept bare; things can be stored
out of the way conveniently in wall storage cabinets. Rooms
too often become centers for the display of possessions. If
passage areas are expanded into usable alcoves, the size of
other rooms can be reduced, thereby saving on construction
costs. Costs are also reduced by eliminating reveals and
mouldi ngs—"trim." Flush, frameless window and door
openings and broad expanses of plain surfaces also
contribute to this end. Remember, a poorly designed
interior cannot do permanent damage to a well-designed
house—but it can surely ruin it for the duration of
its occupancy.
One final word: Frank Lloyd Wright has said that corners
put an end to space. This is a concept worthy of
contemplation. It just may be that some of the exciting
spatial features mentioned above can be achieved in a
straightwalled structure only with the greatest difficulty
and compromise. I have had sufficient design experience to
appreciate the fact that a rectangular or cubic room is
about the most depressing space imaginable, while a
circular, curvilinear, or organic space—though it may
seem novel or difficult to constructfeels right
just in its own pure and simple "undesigned" form.
BIBLIOGRAPHY (books listed in order of
importance)
Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture: Robert
Venturi, 1966
The Hidden Dimension: Edward Hall, 1966
EPILOG
This epilog to The Owner-Built Home series is at
the same time a prolog to my forthcoming book, The
Owner-Built Homestead, now being written. It is idle
to speculate on building one's own home in the city or
suburb. One would be pounced upon by various officials
before the first nail could be driven. Despotic union
bosses and mercenary contractors' association scouts would
soon squelch any do-it-yourself building
activity—assuming the banker and building inspector
would go so far as to authorize the work.
The factors that hamper and outlaw the owner-builder
project in urban areas form only one small part of the
argument for "rural living" solutions. Very soon in the
construction process an owner-builder finds that positive
resources are required that can come only from a rural
environment in a more or less natural and friendly
community. The two m ost important resources are
freedom and health . An urban
two-day-a-week, two-week-a-year home building program is
next to worthless. One needs a block of free time
to build a home. One also needs the energy and well-being
that can come only with good nutrition, fresh air and clean
water.
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