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Issue Date: Sept. 7, 2003
The Essential Principles of Satisfying Homes
Avoid common mistakes new homebuyers make. A panel of top architects shares four quality concepts that take your dwelling to an entirely different level.
By Barbara Winslow, Max Jacobson and Murray Silverstein
Owning a home is a central element of the American dream. And with real estate values continuing to rise and interest rates still low, this is a great time to buy a first home. Choosing one is one of life's big decisions, but it's a choice most of us are not well prepared for. It's not something we learn growing up. When it comes time to buy a house, we tend to either rely on media images or fall back on our personal histories, seeking to replace the home we grew up in, or rebelling against it by looking for something very different and untested.
A better way to approach buying a first home is to learn to pay attention to the qualities that are built into the forms, details and placement of a house so you can find one that suits its setting and your lifestyle in ways that feel timeless and natural.
Begin by narrowing the field. You'll be making a serious financial commitment, so one of your first tasks is to determine your budget -- for both the house and the ensuing investments in landscaping, repairs, finishes or furniture that will make it your own. Selecting a neighborhood that meets your needs for commuting, shopping access, quality of schools, availability of recreational activities, and connection to friends and family further defines your choice. Determining the size of home you require and identifying the spaces you need for your family's activities begin to give form to your choice.
But the array of possibilities is still vast, and the goal is to find a house that goes beyond meeting your basic needs and somehow contains the essence of home -- the undefinable but perceptible quality that makes a house satisfying, memorable and enduring.
As architects who have designed hundreds of homes, we have come to believe there are several essential design concepts -- or patterns -- that link the way a house is designed with the way people experience their surroundings. These four patterns will help you look closely at the houses you are considering and avoid some common mistakes homebuyers make.
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Inhabiting the site
Evaluate a house's outdoor spaces for private as well as a public activities, and for which spots will be shady or sunny.
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A house's placement determines many aspects of how well the home functions: access to light, air and views; the size and shape of public and private outdoor spaces; the points of connection from indoors to outdoors. As a buyer, you are purchasing the land as well as the house, and your first task is to understand the way they work together. A well-planned site has driveways and parking kept to the edges to maximize the yard space. Look for a house that is situated to create both a private realm -- with protected yards offering a variety of spaces for your activities -- and a public face compatible with those of its neighbors.
The typical homebuyer sees the house only a few times in a single season. This can result in not really understanding how the sun enters the outdoor spaces at various times of the day or the year. When you shop for a home, one of your most important tools is the compass, which will give you a good sense of the site's solar orientation. Knowing where the sun rises and sets in each season (the midday sun is high in the southern sky in summer and low in winter) will help you visualize how the light enters each outdoor space at the times you will use it. If you plan a sunny garden, that area will need southern light; if you long for breakfast on the terrace, make sure it gets the morning sun. Consider the need for shade as well: Summer barbecues and children's play areas often demand protection from the hot sun. Then make sure each outdoor space is easily reached from the room it serves.
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Capturing light
Quality of light is probably the most memorable aspect of any room. Think back to the role light played in places you have particularly enjoyed -- perhaps a seat by a sunny window or a cool porch looking onto a bright lawn. Rooms that receive controlled and balanced natural light are comfortable and inviting. Conversely, it's difficult to work or relax in rooms with dim, bland or harsh light. Select a house with the potential to receive light throughout the day at all times of the year. Break out that compass again and keep in mind that north-facing windows receive no direct sunlight in winter months. Hills or tall buildings on the south side may block the low winter sun. Deciduous trees to the south will provide cooling shade in the summer and admit sunlight in the winter. Look for a house that is planned to track the sun from morning to night, with each room placed to receive sunlight at the time it's most wanted -- eastern light in the bedrooms to wake up to or in the kitchen to light the breakfast table; midday light where overhangs or awnings can prevent excessive heat gain in the summer.
Using a compass can help you determine which rooms will get natural light, and how much, all year round.
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A common problem with light in contemporary houses is the tendency to locate windows on just one side of a room. The result is glare. A person sitting in front of the window is in shadow, while a person looking toward the window sees a harsh contrast between light and dark that is hard on the eyes. Important rooms should receive light from at least two sides (or from one side and above) to create balanced illumination.
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The flow through rooms
Think of the house and its site as a whole, made up of indoor rooms and outdoor "rooms." The way we move through all these rooms controls our impressions of each space and our contact with the people in them. A graceful flow will reveal the house gradually, facilitate interactions and avoid intrusions into private spaces.
The flow begins at the street. As you approach a house by car or on foot, the path of arrival should be clear, with well-defined parking areas and paths to the front door. The main entry should be clearly visible to arriving guests, located near the center of the front of the house and linked directly to the most public parts of the home.
Avoid houses with long, dark, narrow halls; they use valuable floor area as a place people just hurry through. Look for well-designed circulation: passages along the edge of communal spaces that enliven the rooms and enlarge the apparent space; carefully placed stairs or short halls that depart from the main circulation route and arrive in the midst of the rooms they serve; and passages that take advantage of natural light.
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Private edges, common core
Family life is complex. Your goal is to find a home that meets your family's specific needs and supports your potential to grow and change. This demands a balance of spaces -- some that bring people together, as well as more remote areas (the bedrooms or a study) that allow for complete privacy. The main common rooms -- the kitchen and the dining, living and family rooms -- should flow together to form a generous open space. Somewhere within it should be the "heart of the house": the kitchen table or the gathering area in front of the fire where people naturally congregate. Look for smaller nooks or alcoves along the edge of this common core that encourage intimate gatherings or allow someone to retreat while remaining connected to the family -- places where a child can be "alone" but still be supervised, or where a couple can pursue separate activities yet not feel isolated.
Buying a house with too many rooms of similar size and function is a common mistake. Give up the conventional notions of the spaces that make up a house. Do you really need a living room and a family room, or a kitchen table, a breakfast nook and a dining room? Will you really use all those spaces? Or will they just accumulate stuff and require cleaning to look presentable? Spend your house budget on the spaces you really care about. Enjoy the intensity that comes from a central core with overlapping uses and the security of comfortable retreats at its edge.
Remember, real estate agents and home sellers work hard to make sure you see each house at its best. It's up to you to look beyond the polished surfaces and see the possibilities and the problems that are inherent in the design -- and choose the home that works best for you.
Barbara Winslow, Max Jacobson and Murray Silverstein are the authors of "Patterns of Home: The Ten Essentials of Enduring Design" (Taunton Press).
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About the house on this week's USA WEEKEND Magazine cover
"Pardee Homes" is the builder. "Saddle Peak, Plan 2" is the project name. This project is in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Photograph by Keith Swan/Esto
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