To what materials is the second quote referring?

The entire house inside and out is predominantly glass, concrete, and wood, although the bedrooms appear to be white drywall.

The kitchen cabinets are emerald green conversion varnish, which is the only "color" I could see. The furniture in the living spaces (not much) appears to be wood, concrete colored upholstery, or white. Entire glass walls pocket open.

and the views? what are the views like?

Goodness, my architect wouldn't be pleased with those green cabs you refer to, they would detract from the experience. :)

I'm with the architect on limiting materials. Not sure about the house falling away, but I think I know what they mean. Fewer, consistent materials don't distract as much perhaps, allowing for a deeper appreciation of the purity of the space, inside and out, man made and natural?

Context matters. A vacation home, great exterior view, a desire to be outside. To best appreciate these things perhaps more restraint is required than in a busy urban setting??

I agree with fewer materials (and gables esp!) are better, but I don't want my house to fall away....even in places with extraordinary views, I want the contrast so the view is even more appreciated. I want to have spaces that feel inside and cozy and protected as well as those that feel outside and exposed and part of the environment. Especially for those days when the weather is awful...gimme shelter!

IMHO, those statements apply to modern architecture.

Based on my knowledge of architects, they are as diverse in their visions, designs and use of elements as hairdressers are with styling, cut and color.

Architects just require a lot more education, engineering, physics, calculus, chemistry and design classes because cities and buildings do not grow back in a few months if you get it wrong.

This post was edited by patricia43 on Mon, Apr 28, 14 at 9:41

The context is definitely modernism.

I think the emerald green cabinets relate to the outer landscape directly during the rainy season (lush) and pull a little bit of brighter green out of the dry season (faded).

I don't know if there are long views, I think it's a house tucked into trees and meadow.

The house in question is very organic with lots of wood (milled from a few trees that needed to be removed from the site) so it seems pretty cozy.

Although it wasn't heavily discussed about this house in particular, there were other houses in the issue that had neither central heat nor air conditioning but tried to control the interior environment solely though how the building and interiors manipulated sun, prevailing breezes, etc. One of the homeowners whose vacation house was in a more harsh environment said that sometimes the house got awful hot and sometimes it was too cold, but that they felt this was part of the experience. (And since this is a weekend house I suppose they can go home if the weather is too uncooperative)

In the first house I mentioned the homeowners played it safe, they said, and did install central heat and air conditioning. But they said they let the upstairs hit 85 F before they think about maybe turning AC on.

And people say I am form over function!

I will give a slight nod to the concept however, as I have railed on before about central air. I do not want my house to be exactly 68 degrees every single day of the year. Drives me crazy when people in shorts sit under throws because the A/C is on!

I currently live in a 3-story + basement modernist with very bad heat and AC distribution. From 1995-2013 I lived in a large house split into units that did not have central heat or AC. (Each unit had rheostat controlled blower units that had heat from October to April and AC from May to August and nothing for a few weeks in between. No thermostats, you have to get up and turn it off or on.

I have found that living in these houses has been like using an AGA cooker. Too hot or too cold, you either take something off, put something on, or move into a different room. In this house I find myself going up to the un-insulated, open raftered third floor to warm up for a while then going downstairs again. I suppose I will get it fixed one day but for twenty years I've lived with bad climate control and I have found myself pretty adaptable.

68 degrees is delightful for a brisk walk outside, but it's too cold for inside, in any season.

I don't have A/C of any kind. The summers are hot where I live, but blessedly not high humidity and it generally cools off in the evenings. One ceiling fan and a portable fan get me through the summer. Open the house, close the house, cross ventilation. I love hot weather.

Oh, please. If you do not want central air, you have never been to Mississippi in August. I have lived there and in the Mojave, and I will tell you --- you do not need central air in the 120-degree Mojave, but you must have it in the 85-degree Mississippi humidity.

Oh yes, I do allow that hot and humid places are pretty darn hard to function in.

If only I had a button to open and close all our many windows as easily as we dial the a/c and heat.

Linelle, I ws thinking more about right now, when the heat is off and its 68!

IMO this falls under âÂÂsomeone else's opinionâ and does not have to be accepted as gospel.

Architect: "It is a belief in many communities that a good building has no more than three materials."

IMO this depends on the expertise of the architect and a house could have many more materials and still be well-designed and attractive. Arbitrarily limiting the number of materials may be the reason there are so many boring modern developments.

Homeowner: "The repetitiveness of the materials allows the house to 'fall away' so that you can sit inside and really experience the outside."

I don't want my house to 'fall away' (whatever that really means) and even tho I do not decorate my year-round home in a modern style it's still very easy and enjoyable to sit inside and experience the outside. I do it every day.

As far as AC goes, I'm fortunate to live in a dry temperate climate where I don't need it and my house is well-designed for good air flow. When it gets hot (usually no more than 95F here) I open the ground floor windows on the north side of the house as well as the ones at the top of the house and soon the house is cool due to the 'Stack effect' and filled with fresh air. When the temps remain warmer than I like at night I use a fan. Good insulation keeps it warm in winter altho I find 68F quite comfortable with a sweater. I keep it even cooler at night.

Not debating the necessity of whole house AC in hotter or more humid climates as I've BTDT and I will never give up AC in my vehicles! Best thing ever invented IMO!

The materials limitation is a philosophy that seems to be firmly rooted in modernism. Although three may be too limiting for a conventional house, I think the Idea of limiting materials is something that could be important to apply to any sort of house, even if the limit is Ten (another arbitrary number)

As for the house "falling away", I think that this means that the house acts as shade and shelter from the outside, but experiencing the outside environment particularly in a weekend house, takes precedence over a "decorated" interior. The owners have more than one house. so who knows?, the City House could be one of Chijim's Layered Apartments.