Practicality Check
Marianne Cusato has written a marvelous book, “Get Your House Right” that outlines and illustrates many of the things builders get wrong in trying to create architecturally distinctive homes. Builders seem to have forgotten the vocabulary and rules of thumb that ensured all the elements work together to create an elegant, coherent whole. The following is an excerpt from the book
Design with Common Sense: Practicality Check
“Most elements of a traditional building originate from necessity. The width of an opening, roof pitch, depth of the eave projection, or detail of a drip molding; all have a good practical basis.
Today, many of these once functional elements have become largely ornamental. Plastic weatherproofing, for example, protects exterior walls from water as well as a deep eave projection. With function no longer an issue, design has often lost sight of a basic tenet of good traditional building – that it should be fit for purpose.
Always think of the practical requirements of and reasons for the elements you are using, and then ask yourself, could it really work? Is it believable?
Shutters were historically used for security ad to provide protection from weather. Today, they are frequently installed too small to cover the windows and glued on the wall several inches from the jamb. Why bother? If you are going to use shutters, at least make them look as if they could work.”
Reprinted with permission. Get Your House Right. On The Level, Volume 14, Number 3, March 2009
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