You should hire an architect.

I recently attended an energy design conference to collect some continuing education requirements that are required for licensure.  A lot of what was presented wasn’t new to me…it’s stuff I’ve been doing for the past 5 years already. But it did reinforce what I’ve been doing and reinforced the need for an architect.

The thing that did it were all the pictures the building consultants kept showing of things built wrong. Very wrong. So wrong that the guy giving the class was hired to come in and tell them how to fix it…usually for tens of thousands of dollars. And even if the contractor ended up paying for it (which they don’t always do because they may not still be around), the homeowner is very unhappy about being put out while their house is fixed.

Most “designers” and contractors don’t pay attention to how a house is designed at the detail level. They’ll do the bare minimum to get by. They’ll draw what looks pretty and has “curb appeal.” But they won’t think about the things that make a house last a long time and won’t rot. Most architects do think about these things as they design. They put standard details on the drawings, that if followed, will keep the house dry. I’ve yet to see a “builder” set of drawings (that is drawings done by a builder for themselves) that had any of these key details. And if the drawings don’t have the details it’s unlikely they’ll build it right.

So, hire an architect. Design is about more than just what it looks like…it’s about how long it lasts, too.

There’s a lot of confusion about different styles. John Milnes Baker has put together a great book that describes the major styles. He takes a “standard” floor plan and adapts it to fit the style of the house. The plan is as much a part of the style as is what it looks like. Before you go to your designer, I highly recommend American House Styles: A Concise Guide.

New urbanism (NU) is based on the idea that diversity is a value (rather than diversity being a fact). The more diverse the population base, the more diverse the uses, and the more public transportation, the healthier the community. At least that’s the theory. New urbanists point to points and places from the past stating “this is how it ought to be…again.” As discussed in Part I, this idea is based on fable and myth. If you research the NU communities, you’ll discover that they are not diverse in population base and, after a while, they’re really not diverse in uses. Finally, most have very weak public transportation systems. Read the rest of this entry »