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Patterns of Home: The Ten Essentials of Enduring Design
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Clearly written and profusely illustrated, Patterns of Home brings the timeless lessons of residential design to homeowners who seek inspiration and direction in the design or remodel of their homes. Patterns of Home promises to become the "design bible" for homeowners and architects. The 10 patterns described in the book -- among them, "capturing light" and "the flow thro
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Hardcover, 282 pages
Published
September 9th 2002
by Taunton Press
(first published August 27th 2002)
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The 10 design concepts described in this book were generally interesting, and I can say I learned a decent amount of information from this book which I had not seen in other home design books, so I will give this three stars.
But at times I found the book excessively wordy and a little repetitive. The same content was described in the main text and also in the picture captions and text blocks, and sometimes I found myself just reading those and skipping the main text. It was also somewhat frustr ...more
But at times I found the book excessively wordy and a little repetitive. The same content was described in the main text and also in the picture captions and text blocks, and sometimes I found myself just reading those and skipping the main text. It was also somewhat frustr ...more
This book contains a distillation of the most important patterns from
A Pattern Language
. As the authors put it,
Having read A Pattern Language I approached this book skeptically. I did not think the authors could capture the essence of a good home in 10 patterns. However, I was p ...more
While there may be many dozens, even hundreds, of patterns that go into the making of homes, there are only a handful that we would now say are essential.This book takes a stab at defining those essential patterns.
Having read A Pattern Language I approached this book skeptically. I did not think the authors could capture the essence of a good home in 10 patterns. However, I was p ...more
Humility is an undervalued characteristic in America today and it shows in the lack of modest elegant homes being built. I absolutely love the book "Pattern Language" and consider it the bible for architecture. This book in comparison is extremely disappointing. The authors have apparently ignored the modest elegance promoted in the previous book and now embraced America's McMansion craze, houses without souls. It is a sad day... I recommend you skip this book and go to the bible "Pattern Langua
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I bought the book a few years later after I first read it in the local library. It was the only book that I felt worth owning. Some helpful concepts for someone like me who had little knowledge at the time about house, such as capturing light, flow of the house, indoor rooms and outdoor rooms and space in between. Now re reading it I realise that my taste has changed and some of the houses look too traditional to me. But those essential concepts still apply.
I had hoped that this book would be more tangible, but it does make an attempt to bring the concepts found in the Pattern Language series of books into a realizable form. Might be used as a starting point for younger thinkers, to assist them in understanding the somewhat amorphous concepts found in the original series.
Some very pretty pictures :)
Some very pretty pictures :)
I got this book due to enthusiastic recommendations from other people as a good summary of architectural considerations in home design. And it is that. But honestly, if you've read decent architectural design works before, you'll find most of this familiar. It is accessibly written, and well illustrated, and not wrong -- but not all that special compared to other texts.
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Gorgeous photography, un-actionable for anyone in a VHCOL area where changing homes is not particularly viable. Outside of VHCOL areas, presents a lot of good ideas for thinking about your home's design.
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Eloquent, didactic and practical.
A treaty about the central concepts that make architecture shine. Well illustrated and comprehensive. A pattern language for the XXI century.
A treaty about the central concepts that make architecture shine. Well illustrated and comprehensive. A pattern language for the XXI century.
I had this book for 12 weeks, 2 separate library checkouts including maximum renewals, before finally slogging through all the text. But the pictures are pretty, of course.
The concepts were very familiar to me, perhaps because these authors wrote one of the classic architecture books back in the day "a pattern language". I would've enjoyed a greater quantity of specific examples, but I understand that too many details might get confusing to the average armchair architect.
This book was less repet ...more
The concepts were very familiar to me, perhaps because these authors wrote one of the classic architecture books back in the day "a pattern language". I would've enjoyed a greater quantity of specific examples, but I understand that too many details might get confusing to the average armchair architect.
This book was less repet ...more
The foundation of this book is based on the 30+ year old seminal architecture design book, A Pattern Language. I own not an ounce of training in the field and yet somehow I know this about the architectural world's canon of great books.
Moving on ... Patterns of Home quite nicely filters the "10 essentials of enduring design" (from A Pattern Language) through the stylings of Susanka and all the other Taunton-esque coffee table books on contemporary architectural design principles. Or in other wo ...more
Moving on ... Patterns of Home quite nicely filters the "10 essentials of enduring design" (from A Pattern Language) through the stylings of Susanka and all the other Taunton-esque coffee table books on contemporary architectural design principles. Or in other wo ...more
after reading 'the new american dream,' which was also organized around ten design principles, this book seemed really cluttered and over-worked. lots of text boxes, subheadings after subheadings. the fact that there was so much on every page (both in volume of text and in number of topics) made it really hard for me to get into this book. i would have much preferred an edited down version of this book.
that said, the houses that served as examples in this book were lovely. the recommendations fo ...more
that said, the houses that served as examples in this book were lovely. the recommendations fo ...more
I love the way this book brought a Pattern Language to life in a pithier, more "friendly" way. It changed how I think and gave voice to things I've witnessed, but never knew how to put words on. Inspirational for anyone trying to make their house a home and/or with a remodel in the planning (or dreaming) stages. 4.5 stars
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In my opinion, a total Susanka rip-off that I'm sad I spent money on. To add insult to injury, I sold this book once on Amazon, shipped it happily off to NYC and had it returned due to not being able to fit in the guy's stupid mailbox. It came back all beat up and I can't seem to get rid of it.
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Okay, so here is the cheat sheet for anyone wanting to be their own architect for their own home. This is simple clear and profound example design principles for the home. A must read for anyone considering a new home or remodeling.
Wonderful approachable version of directions for making a comfortable lilving spaces in your home - stuff you know when you see but may not be able to articulate. (Based on the famous architecture book A Pattern Language, which is more for professionals).
Fascinating introduction to architecture. Learned so much about why some places make you want to kick hour shoes off and stay forever, and others you can't wait to leave. Good look at principles of design for anyone considering building.
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Do all of these books look the same, or have I actually read this one before?
excellent for residential home design. A constant reference book for me.
Some lovely houses. And a couple of good ideas.
Excellent if your are wondering why you like/dislike your home so much.
Read this after A Pattern Language, as it's a practical distillation of some of those ideas.
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