The Place Of Houses
It seems I have always been a student of houses. Growing up, my mom was always remodeling and redecorating our fifties style, suburban house to meet the ever changing needs of our family. I too had the leeway to rearrange and decorate my room as I saw fit, and did so often. I constantly perused magazines and books about houses, always searching for ideas on design, color, crafts and the like; clipping out pictures for inspiration along the way. My favorite way to exercise to this day is to walk through neighborhoods, all the while taking in the houses and their settings; landscapes, exterior finishes, architectural styles, etc. and how they all relate to one another and to the other houses in the neighborhood. Even my senior year book quote referenced HOME; a lyric line from the musical "The Wiz". So I guess it was only fitting that I decided to major in Interior Design in college. One of my entry level courses was in the Architecture Department, ARC 342 THE HOUSE. Side note: This was back in the stone ages when Interior Design departments were often under the heading of "Home Ec" instead of the lofty title of Interior Architecture, but I digress.
I still have my first assignment from this class; a paper in which we wrote about our own houses and the qualities that made it a home to us. Another side note: The paper, first of all is typed, using an IBM Selectric typewriter, showing all the corrections, typos, etc. and certainly without spell check (I am really dating myself now)!
In writing about my house, I touched upon such things as accessibility within the city, the various areas of the house and how they supported our activities, the space allowed to each of our family members, the outdoor spaces dedicated to basketball, tennis and the like. It was basically an outline of form following an ever changing function; a basic tenant of architecture attributed to Louis Sullivan in the 20th century modernist/industrial movement. A tenant that I whole heartedly follow in more things than design. But what was most interesting about the reflections within the paper and probably the intent of the assignment in the first place, was the focus on the intangibles that all of the built items brought about. Not one by one or cause and effect, but the entirety created. The sense or feeling evoked by the sum of the parts. Such things as a sense of security my house provided. How my house contributed in some way to my sense of being, my sense of self. How it was a reflection of us as a family and of us as individuals. It was the intangible qualities what made our house a home.
Looking back, this assignment was such a meaningful one in that it made us focus on qualities perceived, not necessarily on the details of architecture and design that made that perception a reality.
A lesson in first things first, through our eyes after the fact.
A lesson that in reverse leads to learning the importance of pausing and noticing our feelings when we are in a space, inside or out. LA