Housing Design 101

Known as “a machine for living in” by Le Corbusier, the house is one of the most important subjects of architecture from past to present. We will talk about the basic principles of housing design, and this will be helpful for house projects that you will experience in every architecture school and professional life.

Context

As in every project, one of the most important principles in house design is context. Before starting a project, it is necessary to know every detail about the surrounding buildings, urban fabric, sociocultural characteristics and context. Understanding the context influences all the design elements you choose in residential design. Every design input is determined by context, including how many floors your building has, construction techniques, scale, and facade design.

Users

The residence is part of the residential architecture and the wishes of the user must be taken into account. You need to analyze well which people and how many people the house you designed will appeal to. Sociocultural level of the society, occupations and age group analysis have an important place in mass housing designs. In addition, when you design a family home, you should understand what family members expect from their living spaces today and in the future. The house will grow and change not only today but also in the future. It should work like a machine, satisfy its user and maintain it for many years.

Plan Solutions

Architects have to make comparisons with traditional methods while developing their house projects. For example, in order to design a house in Turkey, it is important to analyze what kind of solutions have been found in the past in traditional Turkish houses, in which places people are accustomed to live.

The plan solution of a house should be made by considering the expectations and needs of the user. Good resolution of wet areas and ventilation is very important for comfortable living in the house. The bedrooms should be located at the back, and the spatial organization should be developed considering the economic conditions.

Farnsworth House by Mies Van der Roher

One of the iconic projects in modern architecture is the Farnsworth House designed by Mies Van der Rohe. The transparent and transparent dialogue of the house with its surroundings, the simple existence of Van der Rohe’s understanding of free space, is very successful. We can say that Housing Design 101 is about examining and understanding Farnsworth House first!