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Home Design

Introduction

Architectural Design - "It's Elementary"

I teach a mini course for fourth and fifth graders about architectural design. One of the first things I tell them is that I don't want to see any houses with a triangle for a roof, four rectangular windows with a door in the center and a chimney to one side with smoke coming out of it. It's just like my children when we serve them baked beans, "these aren't baked beans, they're not like the ones at school, they're not the ones we usually have". Our senses are numbed to cookie cutter designs, the run of the mill.

Our minds are not properly exercised, we are too willing to take the short cuts. To get the most out of this course you need to open up your self to your creative side. No "I cant's", no giving up in frustration, and you will be pleasantly surprised, just like the fourth and fifth graders who design restaurants with floor plans shaped like apples, homes that look like a cross between medieval and sand castles, or their strange new video games.

It's a myth that creativity can't be learned.

This course will provide you with all the information you need to design your own home. Together we will explore how to design a home from scratch, from just a blank piece of paper, to cut and paste methods and how to modify an existing set of plans.

You will learn how to determine exactly what your design criteria are, how to design to a budget, how to persevere, how to avoid the most common design mistakes, how to visualize and evaluate your plans and others.

Finally, I hope you will have fun with this, the rewards will benefit you in all you do.