The Owner Built Home & Homestead
(Page 9 of 23)
The so-called "Contraspatial" house grew out of thi's
integrity-of-the-site concept. Another type, the
"Bi-nuclear" house, has also been gaining popularity in
recent years. But for every serious attempt to achieve
integration of house to site, you will find a thousand
houses peppering the landscape which clearly demonstrate
the builder's total disregard for even the most basic
consideration of sun, wind and view. In between these
extremes you will find scores of half-baked efforts which
try hard to achieve some semblance of site-relationship. I
am more critical of these latter abortive efforts than of
the former. The contractor-built tract home is at least an
honest failure, since it doesn't even try for
integration.
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A few examples of the half-baked or "modern" efforts may
suffice as forewarnings to the owner-builder in his
approach to site planning.
The urge for a dramatic architectural effect usually impels
the modern designer to place the structure on the most
prominent position of the site. Or, for ease of
construction and access, the house is located on the most
level portion of the site, irrespective of associated,
outdoor functions. Actually, it is the outdoor
functions which require level gound; the house itself can
be located on precipitous topography, often to great
advantage. It is usually a mistake to build upon the most
beautiful, most level section of the site. Once this area
is covered with massive structure, its original charm is
destroyed.
The "machine-for-living" approach to house-design and
site-planning is about as false to man's true living needs
as the art-for-art's sake approach is to his practical
needs. In the former case, all important rooms in the house
are oriented due south-irrespective of outlook or interior
planning. The idea, of course, is to achieve maximum
heat-gain in winter, and minimum heat-gain in summer. All
the rooms end up with the same lighting conditions, as all
the rooms have the same amount of south-oriented glass.
Glass is one material very much misused by modern
designers. They respond to the bring-the-outdoors-in notion
with floor-to-ceiling sheets of crystal. Paradoxically, the
opposite effect is usually created; namely, claustrophobia,
which results in the urge to break the glass and get out!
Obviously, the glass restricts an easy ingress and egress,
though it succeeds in suggesting such movement.
The "picture window" is, of course, the epitome of the
mistaken bringing-the-outdoors-in notion, now held by
ding-bat contractors everywhere. Picture windows are to
homes what show-windows are to stores. They extend the
market-place mentality with its display of things. In
essence, the picture window provides a vicarious
experience; more people can sit in their armchairs and
look at, not live with, nature.
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