Digital Log

    Home Design

    Patterns

    • 128. Common areas at the heart
      • Place common areas along the path from entrance to private rooms (along the intimacy gradient).
      • The path must be tangent not cutting through the common area.
      • Ideally includes: kitchen, eating area, outdoor space.
    • 129. Entrance room
      • Have windows looking at the outside entrance area from kitchen/living room (to wave at guests)
      • Provide shelter outside the door
      • At least 20sqft outside, raised or otherwise distinguished
      • Light/windows inside the door
      • Waist high shelves inside/outside the door
      • Minimize what can be seen inside from the doorway (inside of bedrooms etc.) ?
      • Coat pegs plus 5' diameter space
      • Dead corner for storage
      • Note this is basically what Britt and Ben have
    • 130. The flow through rooms
      • Avoid corridors and passages
      • Allow movement from room to room
      • Ideally there is a loop around the whole house from room to room
      • If you must have a corridor, make it as short as possible, light-filled, wide, and furnished like a room
    • 134. Zen view
      • Don't make gaping windows onto a beautiful view!
      • Make it viewable from transition places so that you see it more rarely
      • If you really want it viewable from a room, make a window seat or special corner of the room so that you consciously take in the view.
    • 135. Tapestries of light and dark
      • Don't make everything super bright.
      • Alternate light/dark such that people walk towards the light when going towards important places.
    • 136. Couple's Realm
      • It is a sitting room, a place for privacy
      • It does have a bed, but the bed is tucked into an alcove
      • Ideally has a double door or ante-room to protect privacy
      • Ideally it has access to the bathing room
      • It is distinct from all other areas, but has quick path to children's rooms.
      • Give it light on two sides
      • Review shape of indoor space (191), low doorway (224), closets between rooms (198), dressing room (189)
    • 138. Sleeping to the east
      • Bedrooms oriented to the east
        • Or on the west side, if there is a courtyard/terrace to the east of the bedroom
      • Window placement:
        • Don't let window shine directly on bed
        • Let window frame a view that shows the weather
        • Review filtered light (238)
    • 139. Farmhouse kitchen
      • Make a bigger kitchen that includes the family room
      • Don't separate cooking and eating, let them happen in the same space
      • Light on two sides
      • Table and chairs, some soft and some hard
        • Skylight tube above big table!
      • Counters, stove, sink around the edges of the room
      • Surround walls with open shelves
      • Review cooking layout (184), sunny counter (199), eating atmosphere (182), open shelves (200), waist high shelf (201)
    • 144. Bathing room
      • Positioned between public and private parts, next to couple's realm.
        • Paths from bedrooms to bathroom hidden from common rooms
      • Their idea is to make a single bathroom suite with its own private realms - private shower stall, toilet stall, etc.
        • (Couples realm can thus have private entrance, door does not need to lock)
      • Compost toilet
    • 145. Bulk Storage
      • likely 10% - 20% area should be storage
      • probably shed, but maybe attic of pitched roof
      • north side, if any