Wright Chat

What key ideas or concepts would you include in the design of your new home?

Large overhangs. Insulated tilt-slab concrete construction - requiring no finishing. Polished concrete floors in wet areas, cork tiles in the others. Almost-flat roof construction. Almost no painting required. Solar panels to heat water and/or floor slab (gas assisted). Triple glazed with Low-e Argon. Extensive outside decking. Smallish bedrooms, concentrating the major open areas in the lounge/kitchen/dining area. Kitchen "controls" the house. Wide hallway becomes library. IT futureproofing built in with Gigabit Ethernet. Computer-controlled clerestory windows which react to wind and internal/external temperatures. A dark study. Great airflow. Double or triple-folding external doors in all bedrooms. Security camera system with web-based interface. Simple lighting system using 12 volt halogens, with everything on dimmers. Wall and floor washing lights extensively used. Various ceiling heights throughout. Single level only with a balcony on the garage roof. Internal sound dampening. Two-person shower which opens to the outside.

That'll do for a start.

I would hire an architect and do a wonderful modern house that uses natural light and sustainable design strategies quite well.

I'd give serious thought to the context in which the house is built. Architects and builders need to design and construct functioning neighborhoods, not simple a house or tract development. Ask the questions: How many people will live here? Where will they work, shop, play, and go to school?

Deke

Find a good Designer/Architect who’s work you like. Have the home designed for your site to maximize natural lighting and livability.

Build the bones of the house of high quality and energy efficiency. 2x6 framing with foam sheathing or ICFs. An insulated slab is a good solution but may not be an option everywhere. Use good quality windows and doors. Casement windows and hinged doors seal better than anything that slides. Maximize windows to the south while minimizing them to the east, west and north when possible. Maximize the efficiency of the design, reducing the square footage where possible. This will increase livability and reduce your building and energy costs. Maximize your outdoor spaces.

There are a number of companies on the web offering modernist designs. Build something you love to go home to every day.

Rural setting, private, zoned living spaces, with vistas to distant mountain range, and very aware of solar orientation. Gardens, orchards, and drought resistant landscaping.

An attached (by way of covered walk, trellis, etc..) but separate small Architectural office with great sound system and library.

Large kitchen, open sensible plan for entertaining, a place for music, but integral to the flow of the entire home. Lots of jazz musicians stopping by for all night jam sessions around the grand piano. Plenty of seating areas for conversation, or solitude. A bedroom wing for privacy. A guest wing for musicians spending a day, or week.

A workshop for creating items, ideas, most of my furnishings will be of my own creation and design.

I am of the opinion that todays buildings are too tight.....sure perhaps energy efficient, but so tight they cant breathe, thus the mold issues.
I can handle a draft...I cant handle mold. Full and complete in tune with the surroundings. Reliance on systems complicates the relationships of inside and out..(I plan on staying in California).

Sustainable to where it is reasonable and measurable....dont get me started on this..... (I am all for sustainability....but until there is global corporate and individual commitment....there will be no measurable change.)

Plenty of operable windows and doors, a large veranda for spontaneous outdoor concerts and jam sessions....Music and Architecture living together...integral. A place where people walk in the door and they feel in an instant..this place is special, and it is loved and full of love. A place that is full of life, plants, flowers, integral....thats Organic..

Beautiful things, lamps, decorative arts.

Built ins, perfs, simple materials. Surprising simplicity. Designed by me, for us, without consideration of resale value.

Plenty of storage and electrical outlets, no wasted space.
A design that celebrates life and my love for my wife.

myLiebermeisterAGG- I can tell by your description that the house you imagine will be poetic and beautiful. Let's hope it happens soon...

Much of this is as applicable today as it was 62 years ago:

"We can never make the living room big enough, the fireplace important enough, or the sense of relationship between exterior, interior and environment close enough, or get enough of these good things I've just mentioned," Wright wrote in a 1948 issue of Architectural Forum. "A Usonian house is always hungry for the ground, lives by it, becoming an integral feature of it."

I wouldn't use any wood in the construction framework. I would use it inside as a natural accent, but stone and concrete are the building materials for me.

No visible light bulbs in the lighting scheme.

I also agree that with the observation made about houses being too 'tight" nowadays. My experiences with older home restoration over the years has taught me that a house needs to breathe to last.

It has also taught me that wood isn't a lasting external material unless it is constantly painted or treated, and I hate painting.

-John