New "Design Me a House" podcast and website!

Hi folks, fun news: Design Me a House, a new website and podcast that I co-host with textile designer Dawn Oliveira has launched!

Here’s the description of the podcast from the screenshot above:

At Design Me a House, architect/designer/author Katie Hutchison and textile designer/educator Dawn Oliveira share insight into home design and design for the home. Design isn’t an added extra, an extravagance, a nicety; it’s a holistic process that drives the creation of homes that nurture and reflect our best selves to ourselves and within our communities. Katie and Dawn aim to demystify and humanize home design and design for home. So grab a cup of coffee, and join us for some friendly design chat to inspire and inform your home and, by extension, to inspire and inform your life.

Hope you’ll visit the Design Me a House website and give the podcast a listen. We’d love to know what you think. Send ideas and questions to info@designmeahouse.com.

Tune in!

by KatieHutchison for House Enthusiast

Interview with me, architect and author Katie Hutchison, on Bontena Brand Network

Find a recent interview with me on Bontena. Fun to be featured.

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast

Q: What does the architect say? A: Program

For a home design to be successful, it must first satisfy a homeowner's program, which is the design's spatial criteria. The program often takes the form of a list, describing each desired room/use, the approximate amount of square footage assigned to each, and the relationship of each to other rooms/uses, environmental forces (like sun and breezes), and/or the site.

Think of the program as the building blocks of your home design -- whether your home will be new construction or a renovation/addition. Your program will be unique to you. It should reflect how you would like to experience your home. Edit it, and edit it again to be sure the spaces and relationships it includes are true to your lifestyle, not your parents' lifestyle, not your neighbors' lifestyle, not the imagined lifestyle of some unknown potential future buyer.

If you're drafting a program for your home project, you might want to visit the homework section of the KHS website. There, you'll find a number of questions that will challenge you to hone your program. Visit the KHS design process page to to get a sense of how your program fits into the overall design process.

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast

Q: What does the architect say? A: Clerestory

Found on many a homeowner's wish list, the clerestory window is one which is placed above an abutting roof line and, as such, is well above eye level. We designed small, square, awning clerestory windows for the Brewster Long House, pictured here, which draw daylight from above, deep into the dining area below. One of the beauties of the clerestory window is that it can welcome daylight and views of treetops, mountains, and sky, but typically not views of neighbors or a home's occupants.

Clerestory windows are often confused with transom windows. Transoms are ganged directly above a door or window. Both admit daylight from above. Clerestory windows generally draw daylight deeper into a space since they themselves are usually positioned deeper within a space.

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast

Q: What does the architect say? A: Massing

Today's word is massing. Building massing refers to the three-dimensional forms which comprise a structure. Massing, for example, can be compact, charaterized by forms tightly arranged around a central form, or winged, in which forms branch off in a wing-like fashion, or perhaps linear, in which forms are aligned, or nearly aligned, end to end.

Generally, architects aim to balance massing. Ideally massing is legible, such that the distinct forms communicate meaning in relation to each other. You may be familiar with the book Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn: The Connected Farm Buildings of New England. It illustrates the connected massing of 19th century farm buildings in which the Big House, which was the main house, could be understood in relation to the Little House, which might comprise a kitchen, to the Back House, which might contain additional space for in-home industry like cheese making, to the Barn which was the primary location for agrarian enterprise. The arrangement of the massing of these distinct elements communicated what happened within each component and the relation of each to the other.

In the image above of the West Tisbury House, we arranged the massing of the home such that three overlapping gable forms of different height and width communicate a similar hierarchy of sorts. The distant tallest gable contains the main house (Big House); the one and one-half story gable to the left is the Little House (kitchen and more); the single-story gable to the right is the Back House (ancillary living space); And, in this example, there is no Barn. 

When designing a home, massing is one of the first characteristics an architect considers.

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast