Entries in opinion (15)
The behavior economics of design
Choosing the best path despite ourselves
Two recent articles about the role of human nature in economic decision-making got my attention. The lessons of each could very easily be applied to the residential design process.
“The Advantages of Closing a Few Doors” by John Tierney in The New York Times (Feb. 26, 2008) expounds on our all-too-human desire to preserve our options and limit our exposure to perceived loss, despite the costs.
Katie Hutchison
Art Cognition
Rationalizing the intuitive
“Art for Our Sake” in last Sunday’s Boston Globe touches on one of my favorite subjects. Ellen Winner and Lois Hetland make the case for art education. The authors are researchers at Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and they’re college educators elsewhere in Boston. They conducted a year-long study of five visual-arts classes taught at two schools in the Boston area: one public and one private. Their findings? Studying art fosters creative and critical thinking. Bravo. But isn’t that common sense? Well, apparently not.
For better or worse, often what we think we know intuitively requires rational evidence in order to convince others, and perhaps even ourselves, that our intuition is in fact sound. Rationalizing intuition and intuiting the rational is also at the crux of what architects do. We couldn’t do it without
Don't Overlook Intangible Value and Cost
Focus on long-term architectural utility not short-term dollars and cents
Foremost on the minds of most homeowners about to embark on a residential project, whether it’s a renovation, addition, or new construction, is ‘How much will it cost?’ This is the loaded question that frequently stops a project in its tracks or sends it off in the wrong direction. A better question is: ‘How can value be added?’ or ‘How can intangible costs be avoided?’ Too often homeowners lose track of how a project could positively influence their lives, focusing instead on the dollars and cents spent today. Of course this happens in part because it’s easier to tally short-term financial costs than to tally long-term and non-financial costs or added value. We mustn’t overlook the intangible value that can be added to a project with one course of action, or the intangible cost of pursuing another, just because it’s difficult to measure. First we need to define our terms.
Common Sense Green
Elements of good design are essential to truly green design
There’s a lot more to green building than green products and check lists. Yes, yes, bamboo flooring and recycled glass tiles are hot right now, but they’re 
photo by: Katherine Drew Dilworth www.kddphotography.comonly part of the equation. They’re not going to make much of a difference if your house (whether it’s existing or new) is oversized, poorly sited, and/or out of touch with fundamental environmental forces. Trademarks of good design such as efficiency, informed siting, and spatial sensitivity to the sun, wind, and other environmental factors are vital to common sense green design. That’s not to say that all good design is green design or vice versa, primarily because the role of aesthetics in the green paradigm is a murky one. But you can’t have truly green design without elements of good design.
Welcome Fellow House Enthusiasts
Allow me to introduce myself, my mission, and the magazine
I’m an architect, but mainly I’m a house enthusiast. Ever since growing up
New England antique in the cozy comforts of an antique New England farmhouse amidst rock walls and wildflowers, I have been fascinated with notions of home, how homes are shaped and how those within are shaped by them.
Early on as a suburban pre-teen, I was intrigued to visit friends’ homes of different eras than my own. To me a contemporary house was some sort of exotic. Open plans with low slung roofs, glass sliders, interior stone courtyards, and decks piqued my curiosity. The smell was different, often the artwork more abstract. What did it mean? What influence did these homes, that were so unlike mine, have on these families and vice versa? How, as a result, were we dissimilar yet also similar?
