Me, me on the family Seawind KetchMuch to my surprise John Black, who blogs from northern California via A Verdant Life, nominated House Enthusiast for a MeMe. 

I featured A Verdant Life as a web neighbor last spring in hopes of sharing John’s wise and witty posts on garden design, landscape design, and, well, the verdant life, with House Enthusiast readers. 

I’m thrilled to accept the MeMe torch from John and to pass it along, which involves satisfying a few rules of engagement:

1. Link back to whomever nominated you.
2. Reveal seven tidbits about yourself.
3. Nominate and link to seven other blogs.
4. Notify your nominees with a comment on their blogs or in emails.
5. Notify your nominator(s) when your “acceptance” post is up.

Seven formative influences on my passion for designing, discussing, and framing place in and around our homes:

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The Amato House in New Canaan, Conn. designed by James Evans c. 1966It always sounds curious to talk about preservation and Modernism in one breath, but the two are fast becoming linked as time marches forward, leaving the mid-century Modernism movement farther and farther in our past.  In an effort to protect mid-century Modern houses for future preservation The Philip Johnson Glass House (a National Trust Historic Site in New Canaan, Conn.) has created a “narrative survey of 91 existing modern homes in New Canaan” designed by masters of the era like Marcel Breuer, Eliot Noyes, and John Johansen, as well as a second generation of Modernists.  Following the lead of DoCoMoMo (the international organization for the Documentation and Conservation of buildings, sites and neighborhoods of the Modern Movement), the Glass House hopes that the Modern Homes Survey will provide “criteria for significance,” rendering the featured houses preservation worthy.  The digital version of the Survey is accessible online for free.  It tells an interesting tale of a bucolic region surprisingly populated by the works of celebrated Modernists. 

I wrote about my visit to the Glass House here.

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast

There's been fun news here at Katie Hutchison Studio.  Earlier this week the Atlanta-based blog Things That Inspire featured an interview with me in the "Inspirational Architect" series. It was an honor to be included. The response at Things That Inspire has since inspired a new, House Enthusiast, magazine category called "Readers write." This is my first "Readers write" post, which will typically invite folks to share their thoughts on residential design, much the way the readers at Things That Inspire commented on my request for small-house design input. 

Take a look at this excerpt from my Things That Inspire interview, along with a reader comment, and then add your comments:

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Q: My husband and I are building a new house and are confused by roof pitches and wall heights. Does the roof pitch have a relationship to wall height?

Cathy from Hammond, LA

For having her question selected for this post, Cathy is receiving a complimentary set of KHS photo note cards.

A: Often it does. Roof slopes and the relationship of the roof to wall height (relative to the floor and ground) are critical to a successful design. Often the roof and its disposition are the most defining characteristics of a home.

roof slope 101
For the sake of discussion, let’s say there are three roof-slope categories. I consider a lower slope to be 7/12 and below. A steeper slope is 10/12 and above. A mid-range slope is everything in between. Think of roof slope in terms of rise and run. A 4/12 slope means that for every 12-inch horizontal run, the roof slope rises four inches.

Roof slope is partly a function of climate, available roofing materials, and structural considerations. The steeper the roof slope is, the easier for accumulated snow or water to slide or run off. So, wetter, snowier climates tend to have steeper roofs. Materials that perform well on a steeply sloped roof may be problematic on a roof slope below 4/12. Don’t forget that the primary role of the roof is to provide overhead protection from the elements. Roof slope can also have structural implications, with flatter roofs having different requirements than more steeply sloped roofs. Some roof/wall-height relationships can trigger other structural considerations too.

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