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Discover the Real Meeting Grounds of Architecture
Do smooth transitions or stark contrasts define your home? Hone its architectural style by understanding what happens at the intersections
Houzz Contributor. My name is Bud Dietrich and I am an architect located in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. I am licensed to practice architecture in Illinois, Florida, New Jersey & Wisconsin and I am a certificate holder from the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB). Since 1996 I have worked from my home office and provide full architectural services exclusively to the single family residential market. My passion is to transform my clients' houses into their homes. I strive to have the "new" home accommodate my clients' lives without fighting them at every junction. I look to add curb appeal to encourage a beautiful streetscape. And I design any addition to look and feel like it has always been there.
Our projects have won numerous design awards as well as having...
Houzz Contributor. My name is Bud Dietrich and I am an architect located... More »
Architecture is created where two things meet. This is the case whether it's where the inside meets the outside, the building meets the sky, the building meets the ground, the wall meets the floor or differing materials meet. When we start to see architecture as what occurs at these intersections, we get a sense of and appreciation for how best to design the interface of opposing forces and materials.
From the flat roofs of modernism to the double-hung and paned windows of colonials, in many ways each architectural style is defined by what happens at these intersections. This holds true for both the interior design and the exterior. For example, the crown molding of a traditional design stands in stark contrast to the perpendicular wall and ceiling intersection found in modernism.
So when you're looking at a home of any style and type, take a closer look at where things meet. Doing so will give you a better understanding of the design intent.
From the flat roofs of modernism to the double-hung and paned windows of colonials, in many ways each architectural style is defined by what happens at these intersections. This holds true for both the interior design and the exterior. For example, the crown molding of a traditional design stands in stark contrast to the perpendicular wall and ceiling intersection found in modernism.
So when you're looking at a home of any style and type, take a closer look at where things meet. Doing so will give you a better understanding of the design intent.
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| Modernist homes have that flat roof so that the rectangular or cubic form is what one reads when looking at the home. By using a flat roof, the designer is making the statement that the structure is separate and distinct from nature. Clearly, the home is an object made by humans, displaying all the rationality of the enlightened mind. |
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Homes of a traditional design create less abrupt transitions between the house and the sky. The upward "V" shape of this gable as well as the chimney pointing skyward all create an intersection that's blended rather than severe. It speaks to accommodation rather than separation and lifts rather than reposes.
Color is one of those elements that help define an intersection. While there are times during the year that this structure will blend with its landscape, there are also many times, such as when snow is on the ground or the trees are all leafed out, when there will be a sharp distinction. How and when the architect wants this blending and separation to occur inform the color palette.
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| How the home intersects with the ground is also one of those wonderful opportunities to create architecture. Perhaps the home sits on a platform that floats on the ground. It isn't so much rooted in place as impermanently attached, ready to be slid elsewhere. |
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Or maybe the home blends with and is tied to the ground so that the meeting of structure and land is eased. The home is fixed to its site, rooted in place for all time.
Whereas the modernist example speaks to transience, the more traditional design speaks to eternity.
Whereas the modernist example speaks to transience, the more traditional design speaks to eternity.
by Stone Interiors
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A great opportunity to create memorable architecture is where the inside and outside meet — the exterior walls of the home. The importance of these intersections isn't lost on architects, who spend as much time designing these walls as the floor plans. In fact, it's how the walls and plans meet and intersect that truly defines the home's architecture.
In more modernist houses, these intersections are often more transparent and accommodating. In fact, it's one of the great features of modern architecture that the inside and outside became one.
In more modernist houses, these intersections are often more transparent and accommodating. In fact, it's one of the great features of modern architecture that the inside and outside became one.
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| But even in a more traditional design, we can achieve a blending of inside and outside. |
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by Rachel Grace
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| Again, places that meet and intersect are where we find architecture. So in a traditional design a crown molding eases the transition where wall meets ceiling. The space is no longer composed of a distinct planes, but rather is a wrapped envelope. |
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A modernist interior doesn't include molding between walls and ceilings. Each plane, wall and ceiling is treated as a thin screen that seems to slide past rather than be connected to one another.
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Doors and doorways are also where items meet, and at their intersection architecture is created. Large, classically inspired trim can wrap and frame an opening, creating an event that's more than just the wall and the doorway separately.
Now look about your home and find the places where objects and items meet. Describe what happens at these places.
For example, is an intersection where a wall and a window meet trimmed out the way you'd like? If not, how would you change it to create an architectural moment that speaks to you?
If you do this throughout your home, you'll end up in a place you'll enjoy more.
Now look about your home and find the places where objects and items meet. Describe what happens at these places.
For example, is an intersection where a wall and a window meet trimmed out the way you'd like? If not, how would you change it to create an architectural moment that speaks to you?
If you do this throughout your home, you'll end up in a place you'll enjoy more.
Ideabook published on Oct. 3, 2012.
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But that tends to be the case when someone's scared cattle get gored.
The fact is, architecture, design, and construction are wonderful and fascinating enough without having to abuse the language and write nonsensical passages that make hyperbole the rhetorical standard. If a doorway can be an event, then this comment might be considered a cataclysmic table setting, for all that's left of rational reading.
First, I'll freely admit that I can be hyperbolic and pretentious at times. I am, after all, an architect.
Having said that, I really do think that a doorway does create and mark an event. Maybe not always a capital "E" event, but an event nonetheless. It's really about the choreography of moving from one place to the next and how that transition is designed (or not designed as the case all to often is). There's no hyperbole or pretension intended as I really think this is just a statement of fact and one of the first things I learned in architecture school.
Alas, I may have learned the lesson too well!