The place of houses

by Charles Willard Moore, Gerald Allen, Donlyn Lyndon

With a new epilogue
Richly illustrated with houses large and small, old and new, with photographs, plans, and cutaway drawings, this is a book for people who want a house but who may not know what they really need, or what they have a right to expect.
The authors establish the basis for good building by examining houses in the small Massachusetts town of Edgartown; in Santa Barbara, California, where a commitment was made to re-create an imaginary Spanish past; and in Sea Ranch, on the northern California coast, where the authors attempt to create a community. These examples demonstrate how individual houses can express the care, energies, and dreams of the people who live in them, and can contribute to a larger sense of place.

Genres: Architecture, Nonfiction

278 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Charles Willard Moore was an American architect, educator, writer, Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and winner of the AIA Gold Medal in 1991.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles...

Some books published as:
Charles Moore
Charles W. Moore

Reviews

[Kai · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Anyone who cares enough can create a house of great worth— no anointment is required.”

[Christina Gagliano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much about their own creations, which were not at all to my taste, but the chapters on "Order of Dreams" and "Assembling the Rooms," as well as the checklist at the back of the updated version, are helpful to trying to get a handle on the tangibles and intangibles of what makes a house a home.

[Kim Zinkowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good book.

[Hannah Fredricks · Rating 4 out of 5]

perfect starting point in residential architecture texts

[Ethan Houston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too descriptive at times

[Architeacher · Rating 4 out of 5]

When this was published in 1974, I was in the fourth year of my teaching career (so called) in architecture. Houses were, then, of considerable interest to architects as a building type, an interest that has waned and waxed several times in the interim. As a teaching tool in the 70's it was useful for the metaphysical way it categorized spaces/functions, ways that were slightly off center for a product of the 1960s as I was. Perhaps the most useful teaching tool wasn't in the text itself, but in the questionnaire at the back.

Normally, one asks a client for the number and types of rooms they wish for their home (living/dining/ numbers of bedrooms and baths, etc.). Typically, the client will say they want to seat 8-10 people for dinner. But Moore challenges those functional stereotypes and asks instead: "Where do you eat?" If we're honest in answering that question, food is consumed in any number of places that aren't the Dining Room. Standing up in the kitchen; lying down in bed; sitting on the floor in the family room; walking out the door and behind the wheel while driving to work. I'm happy to note that it was issued in 2001 and presumably has a life in the classroom yet.

[Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredibly deep and groovy look at the way we view, build and inhabit houses. Full of photos, endlessly rich (and bizarre) aphorisms on dwelling and engaging ideas on the interaction between the built environment and the human community that it houses.

Mr. Moore and his associates take an excellently countercultural approach to the modernism of the era, preferring sentimentality, silliness and clutter--many of their houses could be stages for avant-garde Russian theater in the early 20th century. Lots of expansive, expressionist ideas on the art of building and, by extension, the art of living.

My only quibble is that the diagrams and photos, being small and monochromatic, were occasionally difficult to parse. Absolutely worth a read.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible book that helped us plan our amazing remodel. Basically the book talks through what houses are to us and how everything moves through it: air, water, paper, food, dirt, people, pets, waste. With a clear picture of what we needed our house to do for us it was relatively easy to create a house that worked wonderfully for us.

Then we sold it and moved to a house that barely works at all. Sigh.

But I still have the book....

[Ethan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure if this would be considered theory, but if so, it is a great example of excellent theory written by an excellent architect. Above all, I think my favorite part of this book is when they mention that, in planning a house, it may be necessary to consider having a place to hide marijuana from guests and children.

[jw468 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many of the houses used in this book are by Charles Moore and his associates, so it's an excellent resource of information about those projects. Anyone who wants a house that is truly a home will likely find this useful; anyone who is more interested in the resell value of his or her "home" likely will not.

[Yoni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Architecture buff or not, you'll learn a lot about what people need in a home environment, and might realize what's important to you. I read the book as part of an intro to architecture course. It changed the way I think about and interact with my living space.

[Sharon Barrow Wilfong · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book, especially if you are an architect or interested in how the placement of rooms and the furniture and appliances in the rooms affect our relationship to space and how we then live inside those spaces.