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Advice from Designers:

Timeless Design Ideas

By Christopher Alexander

The following "Timeless Design Ideas" have been extracted, with permission, from Christopher Alexander et al., A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (Oxford University Press, New York, 1977).

General Timeless Design Principles

"In a small household shared by two, the most important problem which arises is the possibility that each may have too little opportunity for solitude or privacy."

"If the right rooms are facing south, a house is bright and sunny and cheerful; if the wrong rooms are facing south, the house is dark and gloomy."

"Create alternating areas of light and dark throughout the building, in such a way that people naturally walk toward the light, whenever they are going to important places: seats, entrances, stairs, passages, places of special beauty, and make other areas darker, to increase the contrast." When they have a choice, people will always gravitate to those rooms which have light on two sides, and leave the rooms which are lit only from one side unused and empty."

"A building in which the ceiling heights are all the same is virtually incapable of making people comfortable."

"Rooms without a view are prisons for the people who have to stay in them."

"A first principle of construction: on no account allow the engineering to dictate the building's form. ... Never modify the social spaces to conform to the engineering structure of the building."

Privacy (General)

"Give each member of the family a room of his own, especially adults. A minimum room of one's own is an alcove with desk, shelves, and curtain."

"Give each person, especially as he grows old, the chance to set up a workplace of his own, within or very near his home. Make it a place that can grow slowly, perhaps in the beginning sustaining a weekend hobby and gradually becoming a complete, productive, and comfortable workshop."

"Make a place in the house, perhaps only a few feet square, which is kept locked and secret; a place which is virtually impossible to discover—until you have been shown where it is. A place where the archives of the house, or other more potent secrets, might be kept."

Children's Spaces

"If children do not have space to release a tremendous amount of energy when they need to, they will drive themselves and everybody else in the family up the wall."

"Children love to be in tiny, cave-like places."

"If a teenager's place in the home does not reflect his need for a measure of independence, he will be locked in conflict with his family."

Working Spaces

"As the decentralization of work becomes more and more effective, the workshop in the home grows and grows in importance."

"People cannot work effectively if their workspace is too enclosed or too exposed. A good workspace strikes the balance."

Storage

"Do not leave bulk storage till last or forget it. Include a volume for bulk storage in the building—its floor area at least 15 to 20 percent of the whole building area—not less."

Entrance

"Placing the main entrance ... is perhaps the single most important step you take during the evolution of a building plan."

Doors

"In most rooms, especially small ones, put the doors as near the corners of the room as possible. If the room has two doors, and people move through it, keep both doors at one end of the room."

Corridors

"Long, sterile corridors set the scene for everything bad about modern architecture."

Kitchens

"Cooking is uncomfortable if the kitchen counter is too short and also if it is too long."

"To strike the balance between the kitchen which is too small, and the kitchen which is too spread out, place the stove, sink, and food storage and counter in such a way that 1. No two of the four are more than 10 feet apart. 2. The total length of counter—excluding sink, stove and refrigerator—is at least 12 feet. 3. No one section of the counter is less than 4 feet long."

"Dark gloomy kitchens are depressing. The kitchen needs the sun more than the other rooms, not less."

Bathrooms

"The motions we call bathing are mere ablutions which formerly preceded the bath. The place where they are performed, though adequate for the routine, does not deserve to be called a bathroom."

Closets

"Place the closets ... on those interior walls which lie between two rooms and between rooms and passages where you need acoustic insulation. Place them so as to create transition spaces for the doors into the rooms. On no account put closets on exterior walls. It wastes the opportunity for good acoustic insulation and cuts off precious light."

Windows

"Everybody loves window seats, bay windows, and big windows with low sills and comfortable chairs drawn up to them."

"One of a window's most important functions is to put you in touch with the outdoors. If the sill is too high, it cuts you off."

"Put in fully glazed fixed windows between rooms which tend to be dead because they have too little action in them or where inside rooms are unusually dark."

Balconies

"Balconies and porches which are less than 6 feet deep are hardly ever used."

"If possible, recess at least a part of ... [your balcony] ... into the building so that it is not cantilevered out and separated from the building by a simple line, and enclose it partially."

Roofs

"The roof plays a primal role in our lives. ... If the roof is hidden, if its presence cannot be felt around the building, or if it cannot be used, then people will lack a fundamental sense of shelter."

Outdoors

"People use open space if it is sunny, and do not use it if it isn't, in all but desert climates."

"Outdoors, people always try to find a spot where they can have their backs protected, looking out toward some larger opening, beyond the space immediately in front of them."

"In the climates where fruit trees grow, the orchards give the land an almost magical identity."

"When trees are planted or pruned without regard for the special places they can create, they are as good as dead for the people who need them."

"Form some kind of enclosure to protect the interior of a quiet garden from the sights and sounds of passing traffic."

"Trellised walks have their own special beauty. They are so unique, so different from other ways of shaping a path, that they are almost archetypal."

"The easiest way to harness solar energy is the most obvious and the oldest: namely, to trap the heat inside a greenhouse and use it for growing flowers and vegetables."

"Somewhere in every garden, there must be at least one spot, a quiet garden seat, in which a person—or two people—can reach into themselves and be in touch with nothing else but nature."

"Make a quiet place in the garden—a private enclosure with a comfortable seat, thick planting, sun. Pick the place for the seat carefully; pick the place that will give you the most intense kind of solitude."

Extracted with permission from Christopher Alexander et al., A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction(Oxford University Press, New York, 1977).

Profile: Christopher Alexander
Christopher Alexander is a practicing architect and general contractor, professor of architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, and head of its Center for Environmental Structure. At the core of his writing is the idea that people should design their own houses, streets, and communities for themselves.

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