“Architecture” is often something grand: an art museum, a high-rise building, a cathedral. But the most significant architectural fact in your life is neither the tower where you work nor the house where you live; it is the four walls between which you wake up every morning.
There is a clear difference between a “house” and a “home.” A house refers to the physical structure that guards you against the rain. A home, on the other hand, is something created by design, something psychological. The design of the hallway, the direction of light entering the kitchen, or the height of the ceiling is more than just changing the appearance of the space. It alters the manner in which occupants act.
Here is how the invisible hand of design affects our domestic life.
Architecture of Friction
Do you ever feel nervous walking into a room when there is no particular reason why? This is what is meant by the failure of flow.
A “circulation route” is a term used by architects, and basically, it refers to how one moves around a room or a series of rooms. Good design ensures smooth passage, where, for example, one can go from where one sleeps to where one brews one’s coffee without stumbling past a poorly positioned “island” or down a dark “corridor.”
Good design is invisible. You don’t forget that the window is installed just where you would like to stop for a moment to look out at the view. You just notice if it’s not right. Poor architecture makes you shape your life around a building, while good architecture makes a building adjust to your life
Light as a Material
We use the switchable nature of light, but from an architectural perspective, light has physicality, just as wood or concrete does. Light sets the pulse of time.
An eastern-oriented bedroom will make you wake up with the sun, synchronizing your biological clock. A living room that provides low and warm lighting at night will signal your brain that it is time to sleep. The positioning of windows goes beyond the aesthetic of enjoying a view; it also involves energy management within a dwelling. A dwelling that lacks light feels as if it is stagnant because it separates its inhabitants from time.
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Defining Domestic Architecture
But what essentially distinguishes domestic architecture? This, it seems, is the discipline that engages the design of space not for public aggrandizement but for private communion. As such, domestic architecture differs significantly from public architecture, as the latter engages the design of space that serves the flow of many, not the stasis of the few.
The Open Plan vs. The Broken Plan
For so long, the advice consisted of tearing down walls. Open Plan living became the holy grail, a single massive space for cooking, eating, and TV viewing. But now, the attitude has changed.
We’re learning that walls have a purpose. They give us sound separation and psychological privacy. There’s a shift taking place toward “broken plan” homes, where shelves, countertops, or “broken” walls divide spaces. Apparently, being able to listen to the dishwasher while attempting to read a book is not the freedom we dreamed of. We want nooks. We want places to hide.
The Adjacent Possible
Ultimately, the making of a home has little to do with finding the right couch. It has almost entirely to do with understanding the relationship between space and emotions. What a low ceiling creates as a sensation is cozy, yet suffocating, while what a long view creates is liberating, yet exposed.
When we plan our homes, we are in fact planning our future selves too. We are choosing how we want to live, interact, and sleep. Therefore, the next time you gaze into a floor plan, not only are you considering the size in square footage, you are considering the life that the floor plan provides as well.
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