Your Home Your Way Affordable and Sustainable
There’s a lot of good home design out there, and unfortunately, a lot of bad.
You Must Demand Great Design
But when poorly designed homes are selling like hotcakes it’s challenging to argue for better design . That’s really bad news because what’s being built today is going to be around for a hundred years or more.
Home builders have to reconnect to the meaning of “home,” “family,” “neighbourhood” and “community” in your lives. Todays designers need to do that. For too long builders have built homes that have little relationship to the lifestyles they’re meant to support; that deliberately turn their backs on the world outside, and do far more to separate the occupants from their community than they do to connect them. Builders have a responsibility to start commissioning great design and building the best homes they’ve ever made. Homes of character and quality, and free of the ridiculous waste of space, materials and energy in many homes today. You need to demand that, too. Homes used to be all about character and quality design. But then builders started building houses — and forgot to build homes. Maybe that’s because you have been taught to think of your homes as investments first, showcases for your personal status second, and only then as homes for your families. |
That’s probably why some 3,000-square-foot homes dedicate almost 10 percent of their floor area to a two-story entry foyer. Really? Is the rest of the house so well-planned that 10 percent can be wasted on one of the least-used areas?
The answer of course is no, but you’ve become so accustomed to poorly-planned homes that you often don’t recognize one when you see it. Builders have a responsibility to start commissioning great design and building the best homes they’ve ever made. Homes of character and quality, and free of the ridiculous waste of space, materials and energy in many homes today. You need to demand that, too. Homes used to be all about character and quality design. But then builders started building houses — and forgot to build homes. Maybe that’s because you have been taught to think of your homes as investments first, showcases for your personal status second, and only then as homes for your families. That’s probably why some 3,000-square-foot homes dedicate almost 10 percent of their floor area to a two-story entry foyer. Really? Is the rest of the house so well-planned that 10 percent can be wasted on one of the least-used areas? The answer of course is no, but you’ve become so accustomed to poorly-planned homes that you often don’t recognize one when you see it. |