Patterns of Home: The Ten Essentials of Enduring Design by Max Jacobson

by Max Jacobson

Clearly written and profusely illustrated, Patterns of Home brings the timeless lessons of residential design to homeowners who seek inspiration and direction in the design or remodel of their homes. Patterns of Home promises to become the "design bible" for homeowners and architects. The 10 patterns described in the book -- among them, "capturing light" and "the flow through rooms" -- are drawn from hundreds of principles and presented with clarity by the authors, renowned architects who have designed homes together for more than 30 years. Insightful tours of 33 homes also bring the essential design concepts to life. This book will jump-start the design process and make the difference between a home that satisfies material requirements -- and one that meets the personal needs of a home. "Patterns of Home gives us the tools to make our houses truly wonderful places to live." -- Sarah Susanka

Genres: Architecture, Nonfiction, Design, Woodwork

Mass Market Paperback

First published August 27, 2002

Reviews

[Erika RS · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains a distillation of the most important patterns from A Pattern Language . As the authors put it,

While there may be many dozens, even hundreds, of patterns that go into the making of homes, there are only a handful that we would now say are essential.

This book takes a stab at defining those essential patterns.

Having read A Pattern Language I approached this book skeptically. I did not think the authors could capture the essence of a good home in 10 patterns. However, I was pleasantly surprised. This book does not contain 10 patterns, in Alexander's sense of the word. It discusses 10 themes. Each theme references several patterns (implicitly or explicitly). I did not keep a formal count, but I would estimate that over half of Alexander's patterns that can be applied to home design are referenced in this book. This new look at the patterns makes the book worth reading even if you have read A Pattern Language, but it also makes it worth reading if you care about what makes a good home but do not want to read the nearly 1200 pages that make up A Pattern Language. If you are buying or building a home, it should be recommended reading.

Without further detail the 10 themes are: Inhabiting the Site; Creating Rooms, Outside and In; Sheltering Roof; Capturing Light; Parts in Proportion; The Flow Through Rooms; Private Edges, Common Core; Refuge and Outlook; Places in Between; Composing with Materials.

[Janelle Zeeb · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 10 design concepts described in this book were generally interesting, and I can say I learned a decent amount of information from this book which I had not seen in other home design books, so I will give this three stars.

But at times I found the book excessively wordy and a little repetitive. The same content was described in the main text and also in the picture captions and text blocks, and sometimes I found myself just reading those and skipping the main text. It was also somewhat frustrating that many of their design ideas seem to favor warm climates where there can be more outdoor-indoor interaction than in cold climates. In a cold climate you get much less use of any outdoor rooms, half-in-half-out spaces, and you definitely don't want to walk across an outdoor breezeway to get from your main living area to your bedroom! So many of their example houses seemed to use these ideas that it left me wondering if they dislike houses designed for cold climates, and how I'm supposed to apply these ideas to designs which must consider cold weather.

[Pam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Humility is an undervalued characteristic in America today and it shows in the lack of modest elegant homes being built. I absolutely love the book "Pattern Language" and consider it the bible for architecture. This book in comparison is extremely disappointing. The authors have apparently ignored the modest elegance promoted in the previous book and now embraced America's McMansion craze, houses without souls. It is a sad day... I recommend you skip this book and go to the bible "Pattern Language" or to one of Sarah Susanka's books.

[June Ding · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought the book a few years later after I first read it in the local library. It was the only book that I felt worth owning. Some helpful concepts for someone like me who had little knowledge at the time about house, such as capturing light, flow of the house, indoor rooms and outdoor rooms and space in between. Now re reading it I realise that my taste has changed and some of the houses look too traditional to me. But those essential concepts still apply.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had hoped that this book would be more tangible, but it does make an attempt to bring the concepts found in the Pattern Language series of books into a realizable form. Might be used as a starting point for younger thinkers, to assist them in understanding the somewhat amorphous concepts found in the original series.

Some very pretty pictures :)

[Sally Kilpatrick]

Research.

The idea of 10 principles intrigued me. Several really made sense to me, but others? Well, there's a reason why I'm an author instead of an architect, I suppose.

I will say that I've read and/or thumbed through several design books at this point. Almost all of the houses featured seem to be either on the West Coast or the East Coast. It would be helpful for me if folks could talk about the South.

Moreover, many of the homes described in these books are so far out of reach for even the upper middle class. Mercy. I cannot imagine having enough money to construct any of these houses. I suppose it's fun to look, though.

[Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the authors of A Pattern Language give an updated and truncated formulation of 10 patterns 'essential' for house design. Wonderful pictures and thorough explanations. Sometimes a bit repetitive, but this is done in pursuit of teaching and works. I wish they gave examples of how their patterns are broken and how they can be fixed rather than just showing the successes (I often find negative examples to be very elucidating), but this is a fairly minor quibble in what is otherwise a great presentation of their thesis. Highly recommend to anyone thinking about building or renovating a house. More digestible than The Pattern Language.

[No Magic Pill · Rating 3 out of 5]

if you like incredibly detailed examples to go with conceptual topics then this is definitely the book for you. the authors go into minute detail about individual homes that exemplify some of the patterns from _the pattern language_. i think this is a wonderful idea because it leaves very, very little up to the imagination. pictures, layouts, descriptive paragraphs, it's got everything to make sure you get what they're talking about. you could probably build your own home with all the information there is.

but sometimes everything is a little _too_ much, as was the case with me. i lost interest about halfway in.

[Jeff Greason · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book due to enthusiastic recommendations from other people as a good summary of architectural considerations in home design. And it is that. But honestly, if you've read decent architectural design works before, you'll find most of this familiar. It is accessibly written, and well illustrated, and not wrong -- but not all that special compared to other texts.

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeous photography, un-actionable for anyone in a VHCOL area where changing homes is not particularly viable. Outside of VHCOL areas, presents a lot of good ideas for thinking about your home's design.

[Ezequiel Mesquita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eloquent, didactic and practical.

A treaty about the central concepts that make architecture shine. Well illustrated and comprehensive. A pattern language for the XXI century.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful photography and clear illustrations guide the reader through a highly relatable residential design philosophy. Drool worthy.

[Reanin Mcroberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was ok a little too dated and complicated for what i was looking for.

[Matthew Lutkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of architectural examples, pictures, and modern theory 🤗

[Alyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had this book for 12 weeks, 2 separate library checkouts including maximum renewals, before finally slogging through all the text. But the pictures are pretty, of course.

The concepts were very familiar to me, perhaps because these authors wrote one of the classic architecture books back in the day "a pattern language". I would've enjoyed a greater quantity of specific examples, but I understand that too many details might get confusing to the average armchair architect.

This book was less repetitive then some "pretty" architecture books. The text contained more substance than usual. But I'm still left wondering how to implement the concepts in a budget dream house!

It left me with the feeling that these authors were showing off many of their projects. And gave me a vague longing to renew my former dream of becoming an architect, for the opportunity to create so many amazing spaces.

I took notes, but I'm left wondering which concepts and ideas would be most important to incorporate into my hypothetical dream house.

I appreciate that some of the powerful concepts from "A Pattern Language" are here demonstrated in full color, living reality. Somehow it has a greater impact than black line drawings...

[brian tanabe · Rating 5 out of 5]

The foundation of this book is based on the 30+ year old seminal architecture design book, A Pattern Language. I own not an ounce of training in the field and yet somehow I know this about the architectural world's canon of great books.

Moving on ... Patterns of Home quite nicely filters the "10 essentials of enduring design" (from A Pattern Language) through the stylings of Susanka and all the other Taunton-esque coffee table books on contemporary architectural design principles. Or in other words, Patterns of Home tranforms the somewhat dry tome that is A Pattern Language into an intuitive and more palatable glossy photo-filled edition. To quote Barbara Jacobs from Booklist, this "is a book intended for the intellectual architect, the sophisticated (and affluent) homeowner, and the committed environmentalist."

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

after reading 'the new american dream,' which was also organized around ten design principles, this book seemed really cluttered and over-worked. lots of text boxes, subheadings after subheadings. the fact that there was so much on every page (both in volume of text and in number of topics) made it really hard for me to get into this book. i would have much preferred an edited down version of this book.

that said, the houses that served as examples in this book were lovely. the recommendations for building also useful, esp. the parts about considering your neighbors and the best way to situate your house so that everyone gets private outdoor space.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the way this book brought a Pattern Language to life in a pithier, more "friendly" way. It changed how I think and gave voice to things I've witnessed, but never knew how to put words on. Inspirational for anyone trying to make their house a home and/or with a remodel in the planning (or dreaming) stages. 4.5 stars

[Del · Rating 2 out of 5]

In my opinion, a total Susanka rip-off that I'm sad I spent money on. To add insult to injury, I sold this book once on Amazon, shipped it happily off to NYC and had it returned due to not being able to fit in the guy's stupid mailbox. It came back all beat up and I can't seem to get rid of it.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating introduction to architecture. Learned so much about why some places make you want to kick hour shoes off and stay forever, and others you can't wait to leave. Good look at principles of design for anyone considering building.

[Zane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, so here is the cheat sheet for anyone wanting to be their own architect for their own home. This is simple clear and profound example design principles for the home. A must read for anyone considering a new home or remodeling.

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful approachable version of directions for making a comfortable lilving spaces in your home - stuff you know when you see but may not be able to articulate. (Based on the famous architecture book A Pattern Language, which is more for professionals).

[Rachele · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent for residential home design. A constant reference book for me.

[Dayna]

Do all of these books look the same, or have I actually read this one before?

[Mckinley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some lovely houses. And a couple of good ideas.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this after A Pattern Language, as it's a practical distillation of some of those ideas.

[Knitgrr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent if your are wondering why you like/dislike your home so much.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A super book with lots of great photos to illustrate the integral elements of design.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another Taunton Press book to show to the architects when we build our dream house.