If you are going to build your own home, then reading this book is aninvestment in your future. It will take you step-by-step thru the processof tailoring the building and site to fit you and your family for years tocome. From where the building will sit on the site, to deciding how tocreate living spaces that fit your living both now, and in the future.
This is the first book to truly explore the origins of the American Arts & Crafts Movement.A group in San Francisco began constructing simpler buildings and furnishing them with what eventually was called Mission furniture.This lead to the nationwide popularization of Craftsman homes and furniture by Stickley and others.If you have an interest in Architecture or the "Arts & Crafts" you should read this book.Building with Nature: The Development of the California Arts and Crafts Home presents some revolutionary ideas, including exciting new material on the San Francisco Swedenborgian Church, now a National Landmark and considered to be the model for several lines of Mission-Style furniture; new information on the architectural development of Russian Hill; and the similarities and differences of the almost simultaneous development of the Arts & Crafts movements in England and in the Bay Area. Freudenheim examines how Worcester and his circle encouraged less materialism through architecture that complemented a simpler life in tune with nature, and includes letters from Worcester to his cousin, architect Daniel H. Burnham, along with previously unpublished original documents relating to architectural developments in the Bay Area at the turn of the century.
Leslie Freudenheim is the coauthor of Building with Nature: Roots of the San Francisco Bay Region Tradition (Gibbs Smith, Publisher, 1974). Freudenheim has continued to work on architectural history and related areas, and has been published in the Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post. She also served as editor of Federal Design Matters for the Design Department, National Endowment for the Arts. Since 2002 she has returned to studying Arts & Crafts homes and the architectural and social roots of this movement.
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Much has been written about the Arts & Crafts spirit of Californians, their appreciation of the land, their desire to build simple yet interesting houses that connect with the outdoors (sleeping porches, gardens, verandas, terraces, and so on), and their love of natural building materials. This revised edition of a foundation classic focuses on the beginnings (1865 and on) of environmentalism and Arts & Crafts collaboration in California, and the origins of the trend toward building simple rustic homes in harmony with nature.
Freudenheim and Sussman explore how and why a small, influential group of Californians (including Joseph Worcester, Bernard Maybeck, Charles Keeler, William Keith, Charles Lummis, A. Page Brown, and others)--all of whom had come from the East or from England--were especially devoted to Ruskin and the Arts & Crafts and how this combined with their dedication to preserve California's natural beauty to create a unique architectural movement.
Building with Nature: Development of the California Arts & Crafts Home presents some revolutionary ideas, including exciting new material on the San Francisco Swedenborgian Church, now a National Landmark and considered to be the model for several lines of Mission-style furniture; new information on the architectural development of Russian hill; and the similarities and differences of the almost simultaneous development of the Arts & Crafts movements in England and the Bay Area. Freudenheim examines how Worcester and his circle encouraged less materialism through architecture that complemented a simpler life in tune with nature, and includes letters from Worcester to his cousin, architect Daniel H. Burnham, along with previously unpublished original documents relating to architectural developments in the Bay Area at the turn of the century.
Leslie Freudenheim, with coauthor Elisabeth Sussman, did pioneering research on the Arts & Crafts movement and its architectural manifestations in the San Francisco Bay region. This collaboration resulted in the publication of Building with Nature: Roots of the San Francisco Bay Region Tradition (Gibbs Smith, Publisher, 1974).
Subsequently, Freudenheim continued her work in architectural history. She wrote a weekly column on architecture and urban affairs for the Baltimore Sun, and contributed to the Washington Post and Museum News. Thereafter she served as Editor of Federal Design Matters for the Design Department, National Endowment for the Arts, and while living in Berlin (1999-2000) wrote on art and architecture for DieWelt and Art News. Since 2001 she has returned to studying the architectural and social roots of theArts & Crafts movement in California.Freudenheim lives in Washington, D.C.
Elisabeth Sussman is a curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Her recent exhibitions and catalogues include Eva Hesse: A Retrospective and Diane Arbus: Revelations (both originated at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art). Sussman lives in New York City.
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The best single volumeI've seen on designing a house that works for you (not against you)throughout your lifetime.Excellent information on decline of strength and ability with age, and some excellent ideas on making a "handicapped accessible home" that looks like a thoughtfully designed home instead of a hospital.Plenty of real-life examples, many of them no more costly to implement than the standard US housing market styles, and solid information on remodeling to fit needs.Written for the general public, not specialized professions like architect, contractor, etc., it is readable and practical.It is designed to help you think through the possibilities rather than offering cookbook solutions and plans.
It should also be required reading for church building committee members, etc, though not officially addressing churches and other public buildings.
Buildings well-designed to meet the needs of people with various disabilities are also well-designed to meet the needs of people withoutdisabilities.This book will help you do just that.
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At Home in the Hudson Valley is a beautiful book packed with brilliant photographs. The houses in the book are distinctive and original, the pictures capture the spaces as well as the ideas and personalities of the people who made them. Allison Serrell and the photographer Meredith Heuer pull the vitality and creativity of the Hudson Valley through the pages of the book.
This book is an exploration into the meaning of the word "comfort" and its place in the home.Rybczynski begins the volume with an examination of the Sixteenth Century painting by Durer "Saint Jerome in His Study".He describes each of the objects and furnishings visible in the paining in turn, noting that they are not particularly conducive to comfort or reflective of individuality.Rybczynski goes on to describe how this painting may be representative of the era in which it was painted, how houses at the time had many occupants and were spaces where people lived communally, but not necessarily as a family in the present sense of the term.He argues that in the Sixteenth Century, the nuclear family as a residential unit was non-existent, since children were sent away to live and work with others at a young age, and households always included many unrelated servants or apprentices.It was only later, as the concept of the nuclear family became more established that the need for privacy came to the fore, and private and public spaces began to be differentiated within the house.Later developments in technology, especially plumbing, ventilation, and lighting also came to influence housing design.One of the themes of the book is how the field of interior design has often been faced with the conflict between what looks good and what feels good.Rybcynski stresses that often the style of a design wins out, leaving the residents with the very least in comfort (to the point of having to carry their toothbrushes to and from the bathroom for lack of proper storage there, for instance).Some of Rybcynski's discussion is quite interesting, particularly that concerning the influences French, Dutch, and British cultures have had on the development of houses and homes over the centuries, especially in North America.It would have been interesting to consider some of the influences of other world cultures on housing styles as well.For example, certainly Spanish and Arabic cultures have had a strong impact on house design and interiors of North American homes.However, considering such topics for the sake of completeness might have taken the book too far afield.In order to explore the concept of comfort with respect to design, Rybcynski has selected only a few examples of cultures and designers to explicate his points.
The book is academic in style, although quite accessible and engaging for the general reader.Sources are listed in the extensive endnotes, and there is an index.
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