wikihow.com — "If you've already decided to design as much of your home as you can without the help of an architect, this planning scenario takes you through the beginning steps required to gather the information, resources and examples necessary to enable you to design your own home."
Mar 25, 2007 View in Crawl 4
rheaumeMar 26, 2007
Actually judging from the style of house design in my neighbourhood, it seems people might want to suggest features for their homes. View facing side of the house with no deck or windows or both = MORONIC
nedergrasMar 26, 2007
Just get 3D Home Architect, draw up some plans, then hire an architect or designer to refine it and finalize it if you can't yourself. Designing a house isn't hard at all.
beornborgMar 26, 2007
Disclosure: I am an architect.My first impression was that the writer is pretty ignorant about architects and reinforces much of the stereotypes that are out there. The article is a gross oversimplification of the design process. Every design and construction professional that reads this wiki article should bury it and point out its inaccuracies. Remember your silence is an approval. Part of the problem is that most people don't understand what architecture is or what architects do. Architects are simply an advocate for the owner and are there to make sure that the owner gets the most value for their money. The client's bottom line and not the builder's is the primary concern. I could write and bash contractors, but I won't. I have friends that are contractors, and I was employed by them. There are good ones out there, but I would recommend having an architect around in case you run into a bad one. If a homeowner does not have the technical knowledge to monitor the work of a contractor, how are they going to know if its done right? I recommend watching Holmes on Homes to see some examples of bad construction. There is a saying -- "If it is not inspected, it is not expected."As far as aesthetics and design are concerned, a design professional's role is to assemble the clients sketches, design scrapbook, and ideas and produce a coherent building. Anyone that has gone through a building project will know that at times the building codes, owner's requirements, building circulation, structure, hvac, materials, budget, and design language can or will be in conflict with each other. Through a process of editing and the prioritization of goals, the design of a building comes about. This constant push and pull of all of these requirements are managed by the architect. Unfortunately the final products, the construction documents, renderings, and models, do not reveal the process behind it. Some people are mislead when they see an elegant simple design and think it was easy to produce but in reality it may have involved a lot of work.
ab2650Mar 26, 2007
Next up on digg, "How to cheaply do surgery on your own pets." Now you can have your very own four-assed monkey.Some things are better left to the professionals.
rimotoonMar 26, 2007
As an architect, I will probably never take on any project (residential/commercial/institutional) in which the client has already made a set of "plans" and merely wants approval for structural/aesthetic reasons. The legal reasons alone wouldn't want me to go near the project.To go about the construction of a proper dwelling (without the use of an architect) by making a scrapbook is as ludicrous as performing an appendectomy and basing your prognosis & procedures by note-taking episodes of House MD and ER. As stated by other architects, the visuals of a building are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the culmination of design & construction. I (and I'm sure every architect/engineer/contractor) could go into all the details about what this Wiki has neglected to mention.Though I do believe there are people out there who have the drive, intelligence, and persistence who are not in the profession to do this, considering it seems like most people have problems putting together Ikea furniture, I would strongly advise against this Wiki.
akatsukiMar 26, 2007
The real problem is many architects are also just plain terrible. Sorry to say it, but they just aren't earning their keep. I have seen houses oriented the wrong way on land so that no sunlight gets in, energy inefficiency all over the place, and tons of dead, useless space that adds onto the square footage without actually being part of the living space.A good architect should add value, but a lot of them don't.Then again, I will probably just purchase a Marmon Radziner prefab house when it is time for me to build. (<a class="user" href="http://www.marmolradzinerprefab.com/).">http://www.marmolradzinerprefab.com/).</a> They seem pretty much ideal to me...
beornborgMar 27, 2007
Akatsuki,I'm confused as to what you are referring to. Much of the production housing that you see comes from builders not architects. According to NAHB, 1/4 of the 1.4 million homes built last year were designed by an architect for a production builder. Roughly 120,000 custom homes were designed by architects. With those numbers, chances are that your criticism is really directed toward production housing. Even if the home was designed by an architect this doesn't necessarily mean that the masterplan of a community is designed by an architect. Civil engineers and landscape architects play a big role in the design of production housing. Some of these decisions are made before an architect is brought on the job. I agree that there is a lot of energy inefficiency in homes, but this is a reflection of the choice of materials by the builder's subcontractors that they employ. Much of what I have read indicates that architects are providing leadership in the green design movement. Marmol Radziner, is a great example of this. They are the architectural firm that designed your energy efficient LEED rated prefab. There are other energy efficient prefabs that are available as well. If you are near Santa Monica on March 30- April 1, you should check out the CA Boom Design Show to ask questions and meet some of the architects and builders that are designing energy efficient prefabs. <a class="user" href="http://www.caboomshow.com">http://www.caboomshow.com</a>If you want to do futher research on energy efficient design you may want to visit these sites <a class="user" href="http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=2487">http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=2487</a> , <a class="user" href="http://www.mcdonough.com">http://www.mcdonough.com</a> , <a class="user" href="http://www.mbdc.com">http://www.mbdc.com</a> , <a class="user" href="http://www.pathnet.org">http://www.pathnet.org</a> , <a class="user" href="http://archrecord.construction.com/features/green">http://archrecord.construction.com/features/green</a> , <a class="user" href="http://livemodern.com">http://livemodern.com</a>
x911ozApr 20, 2007
this is worthless go for it if you want a crap building but ask someone who knows once you've dug yourself a blackhole.
superopJul 27, 2007
very cool article. heres a great site that offers stock house plans and garage plans <a class="user" href="http://www.designconnection.com/">http://www.designconnection.com/</a>
sarahw23Aug 8, 2008
Great article! Thanks for sharing! There's a wonderful website that also has floorplans and modifications to suit every taste! www.HousePlanGallery.com.