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High Style for Real Life

In his publication The Poetics of Space, writer Gaston Bachelard urges designers to take into account the adventures a layout will engender because the driving force to get a house’s layout. A house designed for the lived experience, he says, provides a richer and more fulfilling environment than a house made around abstract ideas of visual appeal.

Obviously most people will simply say,”No duh.” But homes all too frequently are designed according to their visual appeal just — think about the ubiquitous model home in several advancements. These houses rarely stand up to the lives which are lived in them.

Good design is not about giving up visual appeal and abstraction to get experience-based layout independently. Nor can it be giving up experience-based design solely for visual appeal. These components are combined by the houses that are top designed into one.

So here are some tips for doing just that.

Jeffrey Dungan Architects

Go large. Small windows with little grids with cloth coverings, shades and shutters are fine. But in case you have a fantastic view, allow it with great large windows which extend from bottom to top. If you don’t need cabinetry everywhere, don’t put it in. An area of magic and delight will always trump that little bit of storage.

Go little. Whether it is a small home, a garden shed, a teahouse or a pavilion to your tub, not everything ought to be large. Creating romantic places for fantasies and time is a certain way to remain balanced in a world that is quick.

Andrea Swan – Swan Architecture

Produce a background. Our lives play out against the walls, ceilings, floors and other bodily features of our homes. So layout those features to enhance your life, letting you live how that you wish and allowing for the sudden and purposeful.

Prentiss Balance Wickline Architects

Produce a foreground. There are times when we want to be the audience instead of on the platform. Look for ways to create a vantage point from which to see the world pass by.

Sarah Susanka

Insist on structure. Instead of being mazelike, the rooms in your home should be arranged in a clear and intelligible way so you can easily move from room to room and readily find exactly what you want.

Laidlaw Schultz architects

Insist in your life. Our lives can run the gamut from mad to silent, from cluttered to orderly, from disorderly to serene as well as every shade in between. So ensure that your home isn’t so minimal it is thrown away with the things you like about.

Lisa Adams, LA Closet Design

Celebrate you. No matter if it is in the front foyer or the most remote closet, organize the preferred things from your life in a screen that puts a smile on your face and happiness in your heart.

Celebrate other people. Whether small or massive classes, we get to experience our homes with kids, spouses, parents and friends. So your home ought to foster these common experiences, even if right now they look small and insignificant.

JSL Exteriors Landscape Design/Build

Find a path. The journey, not the destination, frequently counts. So enjoy the journeys around your house and be open to what you see and learn on the way.

Richard Kramer

Find a location. Include a place to rest, recharge and refocus before starting on the journey again.

More:
Design Leaps of Faith

Grow With Intention: Develop a Vision for Your House

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