A Language. A Pattern For Living.

By KEITH LIGGETT

Life is organic. Buildings should be organic.

We all have walked into a house or a building and immediately felt at home, comfortable, kick off our shoes and stay. On the other hand, we have all walked into buildings that no matter how long we stayed, how much we ignored factors, we could not feel at home, at ease. The Chinese practice a study of building design and interior space called fung shui. Fung shui seeks to harmonize the building with the surrounding land and with spiritual principals of design. The practice is over 5000 years old and practitioners claim ordering buildings and interior spaces can dramatically affect your life—from love to wealth.

More recently, in the early seventies, Christopher Alexander and a group of his students at the University of California, Berkeley, researched and developed what they called “a pattern language“ of design. The resulting book, A Pattern Language (Oxford University Press, USA, 1977) defines a series of over arching architectural models found in enduring communities. The book follows a logical path, starting with the largest and moving in steps toward the smallest. Where cities are best sited. How neighborhoods develop and become self-limiting in size. How streets are developed. Right down to why a 4-foot balcony does not work—you must sit in a row looking out. And why a 6-foot or larger balcony works—you can sit around a table and have a conversation. They looked at the design of outside finishes and even down to the design of a proper doorknob—function and fashion.

Recently, Max Jacobson, Murray Silverstein and Barbara Winslow, three of the members of the original team, published Patterns of Home; The Ten Essentials of Enduring Design (Tauton Press, 2002) distilling the original A Pattern Language ideas and then expanding them into ten distinct areas of design to keep in mind when designing or remodeling a home. In looking at a home, these ideas are central to comfort. All

We live in a spectacular and dramatic landscape. Rocky scarps rise 7,000 feet above town. A broad river flows through the heart of town. The most comfortable homes in the Elk Valley bring that landscape into our day-to-day living, both the distant and the foreground and allow us live with our valley. “Buildings give shape to their interior spaces but also to the exterior spaces around them.” A house in a landscape is more than a shelter from the weather. It is a feature that defines the land around. It may stand in conflict. Or it may stand in harmony. By incorporating surrounding outdoor spaces, or rooms as they call them, into the design of the interior spaces of a home, the living spaces become larger, more encompassing and inviting. A classic example of this would the Spanish hacienda. With wrap-around covered porches and a central courtyard, the hacienda flows seamlessly from inside out. The thought is to interweave the inside space

The second point to consider (their fifth point) is Parts in Proportion. “A home is an assembly of parts, materials, and spaces—entry, roof, garage, kitchen, bedroom—and in some graceful, rhythmic way, all these parts just add up to an orderly and sensible whole.” Every individual and family has particular needs. Some need a game room. Some a huge kitchen. Some (me) a library. All the parts must fit with the life of the occupants in an organic and comfortable manner. If a couple entertains constantly, a Pullman kitchen will not work. The parts must flow as a life would flow, one to another each building on the last. The parts must flow and balance each other in the living of the home.

The last point (their eighth) is Refuge and Outlook. “One of the abiding pleasures that homes offer is being in and looking out—providing a solid, stable, and protected place from which you can look out toward and over a larger ‘beyond’.” Our landscape changes constantly. From the sun lighting the ridge of the Lizard Range in the morning to the Ghostrider riding out of Mt. Hosmer every night. In between, we revel in the changes of the day. Our weather is at times extreme. And at times, most gentle. A home should position us to enjoy the passage of the day and night, the passage of the months and the years. A breakfast nook on the east. A deck or reading room on the west from which to watch the sunset at the end of the day. Throughout, there should be seatings, nooks and crannies for personal refuge within the home. The inside looking in and the inside looking out are equally important. “Caves with views.” To my mind this factor determines a critical livability of a home. Are you always exposed—as in so many modern loft style designs. Or is there a corner where you can sit with a book, reading and occasionally looking up to watch the world pass by. The world inside and the world outside.

In looking at a home, sit. Sit and watch the home. Watch the passage of the day and listen to your heart connect with the surroundings. Take into account the essentials of your life. Will the home feed your life. If you find a glitch, don’t say no. Talk to a contractor. There is little that cannot be changed. Take out a wall here. Add a window there. And move the chair on to the back porch to watch the hummingbirds.

The essentials of every home lie in your life and how you live. Each is different and each is right.

If you want to delve more into the essentials of design, ask the Library to order Patterns of Home or visit to Polar Peek Books. They often have a copy in stock and, if it’s out, can order one in only a few days. A Pattern Language is a little thicker, both physically and mentally. It’s a fun book to open and read, but not a cover-to-cover read.