The Owner Built Home & Homestead
(Page 12 of 23)
BIBLIOGRAPHY (books listed in order of
importance)
Mystery and Realities of the Site: Richard Neutra,
1951
Looking Through the Picture Window: Bernard
Rudofsky
The House: Robert Woods Kennedy
Japanese House and Garden: Jiro Harada
Japanese House: Yoshida
Natural Principles of Land Use: E. H. Graham
Chinese Houses and Gardens: Henry Inn
Land and Landscape: B. Colvin
RELATED CONTENT
What you need to know about locating your rural water supply, from the Have-More Plan....
One of the most overlooked sources of shop project raw material here in the U.S. and Canada is the ...
A barrel and sink make an excellent place to wash tools and work materials, includes materials list...
You can construct the home built cistern for relatively little expense and with a weekend's work....
How to build this accurate, helpful gauge, including diagrams, blueprints, instructions....
PLANTING DESIGN
A new approach to planting design is now in its formative
stages. Advocates of this new design-concept maintain that
the interior space should be harmoniously extended and
connected with the space outside. It is demonstrated that
the very same principles of building-design apply to the
outside planting-design. Every plant, no matter what form
it may take is a construction in space and an
enclosure in space.
As enclosures of space, plant forms expand from the walls,
floors and ceilings of rooms to the hedge-wall, lawn-floor
and tree-ceiling outdoors. Again, outdoor shelter-forms,
such as arbors, pergolas and pavilions, find
shelter-counterparts within the house. And as constructions
of space, the sculptural effects of rocks, flowers, garden
pools, and specimen plants can be likened to furnishings
and utensils of the building interior.
This integral concept of building and planting was actually
practiced by the 18th century Chinese. Called Feng
shui , the basic principle was derived from the
teachings of Lao Tze, the 6th century Chinese philosopher
who taught a return to nature. Nature and man were
harmonized in the Chinese garden. The garden was symbolic
of nature, while the house was reserved for man. That is,
where the house served man's practical and serious needs,
the garden was a place for the playful, romantic and
carefree side of man. In the house man is in the society of
his fellow beings, but in a garden he is in the society of
natural forms.
It has been said that inside the house the Chinese
gentleman is a Confucian—adhering strictly to the
conventions and moral codes set down by Confucius. But in
the garden he is a Taoist—following the
primitivistic, libertarian precepts of Lao Tze. It is
interesting to note that while the Chinese house is orderly
and formal in style, thus limiting the spirit, the garden
forms are irregular and sinuous, and so give the spirit
release. According to Wing-Tait Chan, the Chinese garden is
a "place where man laughs, sings, picks flowers, chases
butterflies and pets birds, makes love with maidens, and
plays with children. Here he spontaneously reveals his
nature, the base as well as the noble. Here also he buries
his sorrows and difficulties and cherishes his ideals and
hopes. It is in the garden that men discover themselves.
Indeed one discovers not only his real self but also his
ideal self—he returns to his youth. Inevitably the
garden is made the scene of man's merriment, escapades,
romantic abandonment, spiritual awakening or the perfection
of his finer self."
Page:
<< Previous 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 | 12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
Next >>
