Feature Articles - Housing
Timeless Ways of Building
Ronn Phillips, Arch.D., and Bobbi Hauptmann, Environmental Design, College of Human Environmental Sciences, University of Missouri-Columbia
One way to increase the quality of one's housing is to use
design principles that are enduring. These sustainable and
enduring principles are referred to as "design guidelines"
or "design patterns."
House Orientation on the Property: If the right
rooms are facing south, a house is bright, sunny and
cheerful. The most important rooms in a house should be
located along the south edge of the house spreading the
building out along the east-west axis. For example, the
common area should receive a full southern exposure,
bedrooms southeast, and porch southwest. For most climates,
this means the shape of the house is elongated east west.
Natural Daylight: When people have a choice, they
will always gravitate to those rooms that have natural
daylight on two sides, and leave the rooms that are lit only
from one side unused and empty. When rooms are oriented with
windows that permit natural light to fall from more than one
direction, they are perceived to be more comfortable than
those rooms where natural light only enters from one
direction.
Outdoor Rooms: There are ways of being outdoors
that are not met by a deck - the outdoor room. An outdoor
room is a partly enclosed space, outdoors, but enough like a
room so that people behave there as they do in rooms, but
with the added beauties of the sun, wind, smells, and
outdoor sounds. This room needs to be defined at its corners
and possibly partially roofed with a trellis, for example.
"Walls" around it could be created with fences, sitting
walls, screens, hedges, or the exterior walls of the house
itself.
Varying Ceiling Heights: One way to add visual
interest is to vary ceiling heights throughout the house,
especially between rooms that open into each other, so that
the relative intimacy of different spaces can be felt. In
particular, ceiling heights in rooms that are most public or
meant for large gatherings should be 10 to 12 feet high,
lower in rooms for smaller gatherings (7 to 9 feet), and
lower in rooms or alcoves for one or two people (7 feet).
Improving Fireplace Efficiency: The "draft" one
feels when standing or sitting near a fireplace comes from
the air required for combustion. Typically, this air comes
from the spaces around wall openings (doors and windows) and
then flows up the chimney. If outside air for combustion
were introduced inside the actual fireplace combustion
chamber (a vent with operable damper), the draft would be
eliminated. Under this condition, glass fireplace doors
could also be added without sacrificing combustion
efficiency.
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Last update: Wednesday, May 06, 2009
