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Simple Rules: What the Oldtime Builders Knew
Shannon Scarlett, author
Adult; Other Nonfiction; (Market)
Simple Rules is a new kind of builder handbook / design guide.
Designed for both layman and professional, this 120 page, fully illustrated book includes 25 key design principles that apply to architecture, art and buildings.
Inspired by long forgotten sources, this builder handbook includes timeless composition guidelines, elegant proportional systems, building techniques and formulas for making buildings more beautiful. It is intended as a design guide for the architect or modern builder who cares about aesthetics and meaning, as much or more than the bottom line.
In this small guide a few select concepts and techniques, salvaged mostly from 18th, 19th and early 20th century builder pocket references and architectural guides, have been resurrected and
abridged—or interpreted where possible—for practical use by the 21st century architect and homebuilder.
Simple building principles and conventions included here were used in the past to make places that were at once familiar and meaningful, sensible and beautiful. The design concepts are equally applicable to modern design. In fact, they are intended to serve as archetypes for a new modern architecture, to free builders from the need to simply replicate old styles.
Reviews
This thoughtful and thought-provoking little gem outlines 25 crucial design principles that the author believes have been jeopardized as domestic architecture has become dominated by developers. Scarlett, who runs an architecture firm in Wellesley, Mass., aims to “remind those in the building community that simple beauty and meaning... is still reproducible in new homes, and that many traditional building techniques are still applicable in today’s economy, and within current construction practices.” In this, she succeeds terrifically. Most of this attractively illustrated book consists of quotations taken from original sources published from the 16th to early 20th centuries. These sources are building manuals such as Palladio’s Four Books of Architecture (1570), which inspired many of America’s greatest public and private buildings, as well as lesser-known volumes such as T.F. Hamlin’s The Enjoyment of Architecture (1921). The rules are broken down by chapter and include “Genius of the Place,” ‘“Asymmetry,” and “Proportion.” Each includes quotations to explain the concept and several well-chosen illustrations to graphically demonstrate the idea. The annotated bibliography at the end is a bonus and provides direction for those who seek further elaboration. Anyone interested in architecture—professionals, students, home-improvers, renovators, home “flippers,” or anyone who regards suburbia with a critical eye—will enjoy this useful and well-written compilation. B&w illus. (BookLife)
Amazon
A highly important design book
"In the same way current thinkers and writers stand on the shoulders of literary giants before them, designers are also deeply indebted to the long-gone geniuses"
Just What Architecture Ordered
"Architects, Builders, Designers and Homeowners: if you are thinking about and/or are designing buildings...GET THIS BOOK! no longer taught in architecture school... a great pocket reference in how to create a building that will last... It is the first in a series, so I cannot wait to see more!"
