Skip to main content
Disciplines
Automotive Business IT + Informatics Construction + Real Estate Electrical Engineering + Electronics Energy + Sustainability Insurance + Risk Finance + Banking Management + Leadership Marketing + Sales Mechanical Engineering + Materials
Events
DE
EN
Books
Journals
Topic Page
Marketing
Start single access now
Access for companies
EXTENDED SEARCH
Log in
Top

2017 | Book

Housing Yesterday Read chapter Read first chapter

Designing a Place Called Home

Reordering the Suburbs

Author: James Wentling

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Login to get access
insite
SEARCH

About this book

This insightful volume shares design ideas to help builders, planners and architects create mass-produced affordable housing that pushes suburban development in more sustainable, liveable directions. The author argues that improving the quality of design in our new homes and communities for greater resiliency, sustainability, and equality, we can build neighborhoods and communities where residents feel more connected t their homes and to one another. Through text, photographs and illustrations, the book reviews prototypical American housing design, then suggest ways to both learn from the past as well as adapt for new environmental imperatives, demographic changes and lifestyle needs. Written by a practicing architect with 25+ years of experience optimizing residential design, this pioneering approach to suburban building will inspire readers to view mass produced housing through a new, modern lens.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. Housing Yesterday
Abstract
It seems amazing that in our contemporary society most of our new house designs are based on models imported from Europe, some of them over 300 years ago. Take the Cape Cod-style house, for example, which has been built in New England since around 1680. Essentially, a similar design is still built today in housing communities throughout the country. Why? Because the Cape Cod design is ideally suited to deliver maximum square footage within a minimum exterior building envelope.
James Wentling
Chapter 2. Housing Today
Abstract
In this chapter, we will discuss the challenges facing builders and developers attempting to build (as well as homebuyers attempting to buy) an attractive, affordable, and comfortable new home in a cohesive neighborhood. As we discussed in the previous chapter, postwar communities were increasingly designed to accommodate the automobile, both in terms of their streets and their houses. Other forces from planning and zoning controls, neighborhood organizations, increased land costs, and financing requirements all contributed to the development of stereotypical low-density communities that have come to be known as “suburban sprawl.”
James Wentling
Chapter 3. Community Planning and Design
Abstract
Problem solving generally starts with the broad brush issues. In order to address how we can make our new housing more livable, and our neighborhoods more attractive, let’s start with a discussion of new community planning.
James Wentling
Chapter 4. Siting and Lot Patterns
Abstract
In this chapter, we will progress from our discussion of neighborhood and community design to a smaller scale of issues—designing housing prototypes that will fit on individual lots—yet still relate to the overall street and neighborhood.
James Wentling
Chapter 5. Floor Plans and Building Image
Abstract
At this point, I would like to move inside the house to discuss programming room locations and how they relate to the overall house and lot. Since the interior room organization pattern generally establishes the exterior appearance of the house, the overall building image is integral to discussion here. The goal is to balance interior and exterior objectives through the design process.
James Wentling
Chapter 6. Interior Details
Abstract
This chapter will continue the discussion of floor plan arrangements at a finer level of detail and look at the smaller elements that make a house more livable and personable.
James Wentling
Chapter 7. Exterior Details
Abstract
In this chapter we will return to the outside of the house to look at exterior design details in greater depth than I offered in Chap. 5.
James Wentling
Chapter 8. Multifamily Housing
Abstract
In this chapter we will address the planning and design of multifamily or attached housing in the context of its suburban setting. This will include multifamily of a density that would be compatible with single detached homes, such as the townhouses and garden units found in traditional towns and contemporary planned communities. The discussion will be limited to walk-ups, meaning buildings without elevators that are two to three stories in height and can be built at densities up to around 20 units per acre.
James Wentling
Chapter 9. Manufactured Housing
Abstract
I would like to briefly address manufactured and modular housing as a segment of new home production, particularly with affordable homes. For purposes of this discussion, I will only address manufactured housing that is substantially factory-built as modules, hauled by trailer to the site, and assembled with field labor. And in keeping with the scope of this book, the discussion will only address low-rise applications of manufactured housing, though still acknowledging that recently there have been tremendous inroads toward mid- and high-rise application of manufactured housing in urban settings.
James Wentling
Chapter 10. Toward More Sustainable Homes and Communities
Abstract
Perhaps the most significant factor to influence how new homes are built since the first edition was published has been the movement toward more energy efficient and sustainable design practices. Indeed, the concept of “going green” is everywhere, from cars to household appliances to the entire built environment. The topic of sustainable design is a book in and of itself, so in this chapter we will only touch on how green building practices are impacting the design and construction of new market-rate production housing.
James Wentling
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
Designing a Place Called Home
Author
James Wentling
Copyright Year
2017
Electronic ISBN
978-3-319-47917-0
Print ISBN
978-3-319-47915-6
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47917-0