Architectural Smoke and Mirrors

A great magician never reveals their secrets, just as a mediocre architect sometime uses a slight of hand to cover pretty bad building. A young child often sits in the front row for a magic show and is amazed and asks themselves how did they do that? Recently I walked past a building in downtown in Salt Lake City, Utah and I too asked myself how did they do that? How did they use “smoke and mirrors” to make a terrible building look somewhat presentable?
At first I glanced at this building and thought it looked kind of nice. I quickly had a double take and realized it is not that great, in fact, it is really pretty bad. Mentally I stripped the granite stone base and the aluminum shading shelves from the façade, and all I had left was this turquoise box that really belongs nestled in some industrial park. I have shown a picture of the front side (the decorated side) and the back side, which would be if the magicians trick went bad and they could make the rabbit disappear.














I see this often in custom homes. As I walk through an open house I often times over hear how great and wonderful it is, sometimes I have to think to myself “am I in the same house as these people!” These people are like the audience in a magic act; they just see flashy/trendy materials, bright colors, or unique fixtures and furnishings. The things that are being overlooked (the slight of hand) are imbalanced forms, mismatched adjacencies of space, bad interaction with the site, poor use of texture, no visual depth, a confusing entry sequence, or terrible circulation.
Don’t get me wrong, materials and unique finishes are great as long as they correlate with the other elements of the building and they don’t try to cover up the bad things. Just like this public building, it has some great materials, but it can’t cover up the poor color selection, the terrible visual depth, or the bad use of windows on the South and West side. Great architecture involves many aspects and can’t be just some magic trick used to deceive.

Pirate Treasure and Architects?

“The home should be the treasure chest of living” is a quote from one of the first modern architects, Le Corbusier. He practiced in the early 1900’s around Europe. One of his famous residential works is a home that was named Villa Savoye. For most non-architecturally interested people this does not look like any “treasure.” However there are some interesting points that could get us closer to realizing how his work could be classified as any “treasure chest.” Some architects, at this time, were fighting the influences of history and classical style. Obviously this isn’t the typical house with a nice gable roof, quaint front door, and typical brick or stone exterior.

Le Corbusier had 5 points, or design principles, which he tried to implement in his designs: These points are:
1. Lift the house with Columns = provide air circulation and elevate the space from the damp ground.
2. Garden Area = on the roof or ground, provides a connection to nature and provides benefits of cooling.
3. Free Plan = open floor plans create a greater flexibility for life at home.
4. Windows = brings in ventilation and light.
5. Free Façade = walls weren’t structural allowing vast ribbons of windows.

As the pirates of old sought eagerly after buried treasure, architects should seek solutions with a same passion to promote quality of living and enhance lives through the built environment. Sometimes this means to sacrifice form (aesthetics) for function. The limitations of the function don’t have to be restrictive, but can be expressed in a way as to define beauty. Much like a treasure chest, the Villa Savoye, was full of rare elements that made it unique and special for its time. A home should be a place of refuge, a place that is valued and a part of the people within. In order to accomplish this it has to be livable and relate. It can’t be cold and a rare gem, if people can’t or won’t live in it. After all in residential architecture, it is Their house and not Your house.

Green Materials, GOOD - Green Methods, GREAT

Green and Sustainable materials are starting to become more and more popular these days. All the talk seems to be about such items as bamboo flooring, recycled glass tile, formaldehyde free cabinetry, water permeable paving, insulated concrete forms (ICF), and many other earth conscious materials. These and similar items are important to a more green or sustainable project, but method or approach to this project is just as important. This “Green Method” starts from the beginning, or the planning stage, and by this I mean the design and drawing for your project.

The planning stage is critical to any home, addition, or remodel. If your project has not been planned, typically there will be a lot of time, resources, and materials wasted by the end of construction. Each project I work on, I sit down with each client and plan out what they want in their project. As I plan, layout, and design each project, I keep a few things in mind.

1. Minimize waste and Maximize materials. Layout rooms, spans, and overall dimensions to fit the building materials that will be used. This eliminates labor for cutting and excess materials that often end up in the land fills.
2. Keep Plans and Designs Flexible. If planned correctly a space can be used for many different functions within the home. In years to come, easy expansion or change to your home or space is easily facilitated. It is always difficult to tell a client they either have to change their dreams, or we have to do more excessive and sometimes expensive work, in order get the client what they want. This scenario is often due to inflexible spaces that were created years ago.
3. Cut Down on Human Effort and Time. The more concise information and level of details in a set of plans, the less time a contractor has to sit and figure what they are supposed to be building. If he doesn’t have to waste much time on such items, they can focus their energies else where on the project.
4. Assemble Your Project Team Early. Once you have selected an architect or designer for your project, it is important to get a contractor on board. Having the contractor involved early allows for greater coordination to occur in the early stages, creating fewer problems once construction starts. This will save time and money in the end, and get you a higher quality of a project.

Green building is not just about the components being used, but is about the methods, approaches, and systems being created. This usually involves time, efforts, planning, and things that can not be quantifiable or measured. The items above are a few of many ways to plan for a greener project, and are often overlooked. They are hard to measure, but they will simplify the process, reduce mistakes, cut back on the amount of waste, and minimize the “headaches” that can sometimes be involved with each project. Once the ball is starting to roll in the right direction the architect or designer can integrate these green materials that everyone is talking about. If you have any questions about green planning or design, please contact me.