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Chubby is good!
How often do you read a statement like that?! In the case of developing room shapes and sizes, our authors recommend rooms to be "potato-shaped", i.e., relatively compact and oblong rather than long and skinny, like a carrot. The 16th Century Italian architect, Palladio (ever hear of a Palladian window?! Yep, that's where the name comes from!) suggested that a room should never be narrower than half its length and that its height should never be less than half the width. Rooms that follow this pattern are "compact and chubby" in volume. Much like a potato!
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"Working With the Parts in Proportion" Pattern
Organize the house along lines of movement and growth, both in plan and in elevation. One line, or axis, normally starts at the main entrance, branching out toward the sun and views, away from the street and its noise. Another begins at the ground and grows up toward the sky.
Balance the area and mass of the house around these lines of growth. Let the plan grow outward on both sides of the main axis toward privacy and sun. And place the highest part of the house in the center, surrounded by lower supporting parts of the building.
Give the house visibly specialized parts: solid structural elements that can be seen supporting the building, generously shaped rooms to contain activities, and distinctive circulation paths to conduct movement and flow through the house.
Create a rich variety of room sizes and orientations, always including human scale in the circulation, structure, trim, and openings.
Nifty the rooms with a similar shape, typically compact in plan and chubby in volume.
Let the overall form of the house grow naturally out of the forms of its various parts, rather than being superimposed form outside. In this sense, the form of the house equals the form of its parts.
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Time for Soup!
According to the 5000 year old Ayurvedic tradition, Fall is a "Vata" season. This means, in the simplest of translations, that it's time to balance the "light, airy, ethereal qualities" of Fall with warm, soothing heavier foods. Homemade soups are good mainstays during this season (and all through winter!) as they are both hot and liquid, which is the opposite of Vata qualities of cold and dry. So, when looking for receipes for soups and stews, choose lots of root veggies like carrots, turnips, beets, and potatoes, veggies that are in their prime in the fall like apples, winter squash and kale, and plenty of hearty grains including quinoa, oats and bulghur. Eating foods like these, Ayurveda suggests, keeps the essense of the earth down in your belly to keep you warm, grounded and happy!
Here's just one example of a Vata-style soup - It's a lovely deep red color, savory and rich, this is the Architect's favorite winter soup! Serve with hearty whole grain bread.
WHOLE BEET BORSCHT (from Laurel's Kitchen; A Handbook for Vegetarian Cookery and Nutrition)
8 beets with tops
1 medium potato, diced
1 small onion, chopped
2 quarts vegetable stock*
2 TBS. vegetable oil
2 TBS whole wheat flour
juice of 1 lemon
2 tsps. Salt
1/8 tsp. Pepper
2 tsps. brown sugar
optional:
¼ tsp. paprika
½ tsp. dill weed
Wash the beets and the beet tops. Chop beet tops fine and set them aside. Peel and grate the beets and cook with the potato and onion in the vegetable broth. Simmer the vegetables until they are well cooked.
Mix the oil and flour and cook on low heat for 2 minutes. Add 1 cup of the soup mixture slowly and cook this sauce until it thickens, stirring constantly. Return the sauce to the soup pot.
Season the soup and add the lemon juice. Stir in the chopped beet greens and cook the soup for 5 to 10 minutes more. Taste and adjust the seasonings.**
Makes about 3 quarts.
* we sometimes use chicken stock instead, a richer flavor, but kinda ruins the vegetarian aspect!
** we serve it with a dollop of sour cream or plain Greek yogurt.
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The Autumnal Equinox this year officially arrives at 4:05 a.m. CDT on Friday September 23. (to learn more about the Equinox, visit here.
Ah, fall. For many of us here in the Midwest, autumn is our favorite time of year. And what's not to like? The crushing heat and humidity of Summer has given way to crisp morning air and cooler temps. The leaves begin to exhibit their glorious fall wardrobe and even the sky seems bluer, clearer and cleaner. Fall means apples and apple cider, football, and the scent of tilled earth and falling leaves on the air. Fall means a settling in, as Mother Nature invites us to come inside to enjoy the abundance of harvest foods and colors, and to cozy up to new projects and creative opportunities as we leave summer activities and excitement behind for another year.
The first day of fall inspires us to think about this special "crossroads" between summer and winter. While we tend to "go inside" physically and spiritually, it's also a good time to spend some extra time outside to watch the swirling leaves, breathe in that particular tang of autumn and watch the unfolding of Mother Nature as she bends towards winter.
It's also a really good time to think about battening down the hatches against our cold, cold winters. Here's a few tips to consider before that old North Wind starts to howl. (Thanks to "The Art of Manliness" - gotta love that name!)
15 Ways to Winterize Your Home:
1. Call an HVAC professional to inspect your furnace.
2. Have the HVAC guy clean and inspect heating ducts.
3. Trim nearby trees.
4. Reverse ceiling fans.
5. Block air leaks.
6. Winterize the air conditioning.
7. Replace your furnace filter regularly.
8. Install storm doors and windows.
9. Check your insulation.
10. Wrap your pipes.
11. Check smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
12. Prepare a 72-hour kit.
13. Get your chimney inspected.
14. Wear a damn sweater.
15. Clean your gutters
All of these will help you feel warmer, save money and save energy this winter. All good ideas, and for more info, check out these websites too:
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Featured Article
From the Architect
Design Matters
September 2011
Parts in Proportion: An interview with the Architect
- You've been showcasing the concepts in the book "Patterns of Home" all through this last year of Design Matters. Why did you choose this particular book?
I think that this book introduces people to the most important concepts for developing beautiful, livable homes. The authors explain how all of these patterns, or elements of design, work together, how to think about these design questions to make your home a better place to be. I think for non-designers, it's also a great way to get comfortable with design concepts and be able to ask the right questions of your architect or builder.
2. The Patterns so far have been pretty accessible and easily understood by the average homeowner. This Pattern, "Parts in Proportion" seems a little tougher to grasp. Why is that? And how would you best explain what parts in proportion means?
This pattern is just so esoteric - it really gets deeper into the "art" of buildings. Really, it's all about balance and about organization of spaces and the relationship of one room to another within a home. Proportion - well, when you're in a place that's not designed well, you may not be able to articulate it, but you know it feels wrong. When it's right, when rooms, functions, details and materials are designed thoughtfully in proportion one to the other, you also feel that. And that's quite a good feeling.
3. Does symmetry play an important role in proportion?
It's just one of the ways in which an architect or designer can organize a building. Most of us respond favorably and feel good about things being symmetrical; I like to design with symmetry. But asymmetric has its place in good design as well. When a building isn't symmetrical, balance of the whole becomes even more important.
4. "The form of the whole equals the sum of the parts." What does that mean to you and how can you put it in "layman's terms"?
The sum of the parts - appropriately sized and shaped spaces and elements of the structure; the form of the whole - all those parts, when done correctly add up to a wonderful building.
5. What does it mean to you to "balance the area and mass of the house"?
Again, kind of esoteric, but if area and mass of building work together and neither overpower or unbalance the other, the composition of the final result will be pleasing to all of the senses. Height + depth + size + volume all in balance equals excellent design.
6. Do materials make a difference in the balance and proportion of a home? How about natural light?
Materials used in construction, detailing and finishes need to be compatible and pleasing in their use, location and arrangement. Materials can be vastly different from space to space and still work together in a carefully considered composition in which items complement each other rather than contrast or challenge. Some of the best designs today incorporate many different, seemingly incongruent, materials in the composition of the building elements, and yet they work together because a lot of thought has gone into how to balance these materials and elements. . Window location, size and shape, for instance are critical in how a building comes together and feels, both inside and out.
7. And what about the site? Is it also considered as part of the balance? Explain how that works.
How a building sits on its site, relates to its site impacts the overall balance of the building and its final composition. Axis and focal points lead onto, into and through a building, enriching the space and the process of moving through it..
8. Any other thoughts on "Parts in Proportion"?
This is one of the more elusive design concepts but this pattern really distinguishes a building and site as one that's been designed by a skilled and knowledgeable individual who knows how to put the parts of a home together in the best possible ways. It's likely to be a professional architect, as we are educated, trained and tested on these very tough design concepts. Bringing proportion to a house allows the end product to feel elegant, distinguished, composed, regardless of the size of the home.
Utilizing this pattern and the others in this architects' tome really creates homes that make sense, that feel good to be in, that feel like a place of comfort and solace and life. It's what good architects do.
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Always Up to Something!
Chris Fye and Tom Sorg have been testing out a new structural engineering software, in both 2D and 3D, that will enable them to better understand how different forces act on buildings and thereby design structures to counter-balance those forces. The RISA Technologies software package comes to us thanks to the good folks at WoodWorks.
Pat and Chris recently took in the exhibit entitled Bertrand Goldberg: Architecture of Invention at the Art Institute of Chicago. Pat clearly remembers as a child in the early 60's the bold and innovative "Marina Towers" photograph that graced the cover of the Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine. Even then she was taken by its quirkiness and unusual shapes, reminiscent to her of ears of Midwestern corn. It was a delight to view drawings, sketches, and presentation drawings of this highly innovative architect. Click here to view!
above: Marina Towers |
As summer fades and fall folds itself down into winter, we move away from construction and site visits and look towards the opportunity of lots of hours of design and drawing so that clients are ready for spring bidding and building. Come to us with your dreams, your challenges, your building problems. Our energy, our talents, our knowledge are at your service!
Christopher Fye + Associates
(866) 233-2215
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