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by
Joseph Borkowski
There are many things that influence exterior design. These include climate, taste and program requirements of the client, materials, and the basic design principles. While the design is being produced, all of these must be considered.
The design must reflect the architecture of a neighborhood. The part of the country in which the house is being built may restrict the design. This unit is intended to expose the students to the different architectural designs in their neighborhood and in New Haven. The style is the expression, the characteristic manner of design, which prevails at a given time and place; it is an expression of the housing needs, taste, and wealth of the community; it is not the result of accident, but rather an evolution of the intellectual, moral, social, and even political conditions of the time.
My aim is to expose the participants to some of the diversity of style and design and have them evaluate the different architectural designs.
Any type of house is good if it fits the site and environment as naturally as it fitted the local conditions from which it was evolved. Whatever the type, the essential qualities of a good house are proportion, scale, color, texture, rhythm, and repose. The erecting of walls, floors, and roofs; the relating of planes, solids, voids, so that each given meaning and expression, of a type of design of a house.
The shape of a house and the resulting type of the house have a decided influence upon the usable floor area. The greater the area of actual living space which can be obtained from a given shape the more economical and efficient the plan. There are other considerations such as the architectural effect produced and the feeling of roominess, freedom from crowding of space, and so on, which may offset some sacrifice of economy and efficiency.
The following objectives are listed in sequence:
First, we all realize many inner-city students must develop a desirable image about themselves and their neighborhood. I believe students would get a better feeling about themselves and their neighborhood by learning the history of the buildings they live in and of many of the surrounding structures in their area.
Second, to develop a visual awareness of types of structures in their neighborhood and surrounding areas.
Third, to help create and develop a better strategy for identifying basic house designs.
Fourth, the students will be introduced to the different types of roofs on existing structures studied.
Fifth, the students will explore the various types of ornamentation on buildings covered in this unit.
New Haven settlers built homes styled to their economic and social status. The trend of style in New Haven are copies of colonial Georgian, Dutch English, and contemporary design. Teachers can initiate lessons from the existing types of dwellings in New Haven.
The following are the types found in the New Haven area.
The following are some of the types of roofs found in New Haven:
Gable
Hip
Flat
Shed
Gambrel
Mansard
| Purpose: | Students will try to find houses in their neighborhood which represent the basic types. |
| Objective: | To have student recognize various types. |
| Method: | The students will record the street address of each house and name what basic style it represents listed below. Students will make a rough sketch of each style. |
Georgian
Colonial
Cape Cod
Victorian
Bungalow
Modern
Non-descript (i.e. without style)
Ranchhouse
| Purpose: | To teach various roof types. |
| Objective: | To have the students become familiar with different types of roofs. |
| Method: | The student will receive information sheet containing sketches of roof types. The teacher will explain how each roof type differs. |
| Variation: | The student will record in school area roof types, using handout sheet to identify various roof types. |
Roof Types
(figure available in print form)
PROBLEMS:
Listed below at the left are characteristics of houses. Match each with house type. Check under the type that has the characteristic.
| Characteristics | Old English | Georgian | Elizabethan |
| Masonry walls | ______ | ______ | ______ |
| Two stories | ______ | ______ | ______ |
| Many gables | ______ | ______ | ______ |
| Tile or slate roof | ______ | ______ | ______ |
| Double hung windows | ______ | ______ | ______ |
| Shutters | ______ | ______ | ______ |
| Balustrades | ______ | ______ | ______ |
| Balconies | ______ | ______ | ______ |
| Stucco Walls | ______ | ______ | ______ |
| Greek design | ______ | ______ | ______ |
| Low roof | ______ | ______ | ______ |
| Decorative | ______ | ______ | ______ |
| T | F | 1. A building with a symmetrical exterior usually is more pleasing than one that is unsymmetrical. |
| T | F | 2. If a building is in good balance, has good proportion of its parts, is to scale and has rhythm, it presents a feeling of unity. |
| T | F | 3. Since the rear of a house is seldom seen, it is not necessary to consider it when styling the house. |
| T | F | 4. The major influence upon Colonial American residential architecture came from Asia. |
| T | F | 5. The Old English house was not symmetrical. |
| T | F | 6. The Old English house was built primarily by the poor. |
| T | F | 7. The English Tudor house closely resembled the Old English. |
| T | F | 8. The Cape Cod cottage usually is two stories high. |
| T | F | 9. Victorian houses were usually single story with a gable roof. |
| T | F | 10. The original Ranch Houses were built right on the ground and had dirt floors. |
| angle | face brick |
| apron | fascia |
| arch | gable roof |
| baluster | hip roof |
| beam | lintel |
| bridging | masonry |
| casement | mullion |
| column | pitch |
| corbel | shingles |
| double-hung window | sill |
| eave | tangent |
Spence, William. Construction Architectural Drawing. Prentice Hall, Inc. New Jersey: 1976.
Williams, Henry Lionel, and Williams, O Hallie K. A Guide to Old American Houses, 1700-1900. New York: A.S. Barns and Company, Inc. 1962. (American Architecture)
Rasmussen, Steen Eilel. Experiencing Architecture. M.T.T. Press, 1962, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Brown, Elizabeth Mills. New Haven, A Guide to Architecture and Urban Design. New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1976.
Persner, Nikolaus. An Outline of Europeon Architecture. Penguin Booke, New York: 1943.
Clark, Gilbert and Zimmerman, Enia. Art/Design: Communicating Visually. Art Education, Inc., Publishers, New York: 1978, Unit 7: Environmental Design.
Fisher, Leonard Everett. The Architects. Franklin Watts, Inc., New York: 1970.
Salvadori, Mario. Why Buildings Stand Up, The Strength of Architecture. McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1982.
Contents of 1983 Volume I | Directory of Volumes | Index | Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute
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