Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #45088 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-11
• Released on: 2004-03-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 250 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Acclaimed architect Susanka, who spawned a virtual cottage industry of home books favoring quality over quantity (The Not So Big House; Not So Big Solutions for Your Home; etc.), now turns her eye to 30 key design principles that produce a home. Seeking to capture the "elusive quality of home," Susanka uses beautiful photographs and helpful floor plans to discuss how "the interrelationships between spaces, walls and ceilings, and windows... shape our experience." It isn't the external architecture that matters, she says, but the interior. All homes provide shelter and footage; the goal is to enhance the quality of living. To do that, Susanka employs important tricks of her trade, explaining the rationale behind everything from window positioning and reflective ceilings to achieving symmetry, keeping in mind the overarching themes of space, light and order. Blessedly free of complex jargon, the book stresses that size doesn't matter, but construction does. Susanka's philosophy is simple: good architectural design is as important as good nutrition, and a savvy understanding of your surroundings lets you craft a better place to live. To illustrate her points, the author cites 28 of the best-designed homes in the U.S., from a tiny California cottage to a lavish Minnesota manse and a remodeled Kansas City abode. Susanka's generosity with tips (e.g., a bold use of color can add depth and solidity; aligning a doorway with a window directly across brightens the area) will be a boon to readers, who will wind up getting an architectural education in the process. 60 b&w line drawings.
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Review
"Think a bigger house would make everything perfect? Don't bet on it. Sarah Susanka's re-arranging and re-imagining strategies are brilliant, simple and beautiful" (Reader's Digest)"

Customer Reviews

Inspiring and useful
This book is really 4 1/2 stars. I have found this to be the perfect way for me to start to think about space and light as my husband and I begin planning a renovation to the house we just purchased. Since we haven't lived there, we have the advantage of not being "stuck" in thinking about changes to the house, but we have the disadvantage of not knowing how traffic patterns, seasonal light and other factors will affect our renovations. The text is pretty clear and is arranged within three major categories - space, light, and order. The photographs are incredibly helpful and the author even shows pairs of photos, one with the feature under discussion, and a second "altered" photo showing what the room would look like without that feature (e.g., a window at the end of a hallway). Very helpful to me as I get ready to talk to the professionals and sign up for expensive changes! We've put post-it notes on lots of pages.

Definitely NOT Not-So-Big, and not really a "keeper."
In essence, this book is a checklist of new vocabulary terms that Susanka invented for the purpose of articulating design concepts. Each term is well-illustrated by a residential example,with plenty of pictures. The print quality is beautiful as usual, and the editing and book design are well done, although a little overslicked and glossy. I was very happy to see the comparative photomanipulations to illustrate how a design concept changes the feel of a room. I enjoyed and appreciated the "Public Space" feature, in which Sarah's newly-named concepts are shown in photos of familiar large public buildings such as libraries or museums.

The not-so-big books dealt with the primary design -- the floor plan. The bulk of this book is concerned with "secondary" details that could be applied to any floor plan, such as window placement, staircase railings, ceiling shape, window type, or even the way the wall covering reflected light. Sometimes this felt more like interior design than architecture. You should probably have a floor plan -- and a bursting bank account -- in hand before you try to apply what is shown here.

One major weaknes is that Susanka has chosen far too few houses for her examples. It must have be convenient for the author and photographer when a single example illustrated several design concepts (cuts down on photography time), but the book became very tedious. Must we tour Susanka's own house for the FOURTH time? And the circular kitchen lost its novelty quickly.

Although I understood this would not be a repeat of her not-so-big concepts, I was surprised at the magnitude of departure from the Not So Big books to Home By Design. Although her text has a familiar hominess, her examples here all have a look-don't-touch attitude that I found off-putting. No consideration is given to cost or even space; indeed some of the houses looked so unlivable and showy that sometimes I confused the residential houses with the museums featured in Public Space. My impression was that Susanka was relieved to cast off the limits of not-so-big and focus on the lofty ideals of pure design without distraction from the practical concerns of those pesky clients who were acutally going to live in the house. I don't believe this was her intention, but be prepared for the shift in tone.

On its own objective architectural merit, this is probably a 4-star book, but I chose to take off a star because of Susanka's choice too few residences (and they were too artsy-fartsy at that), and because I don't want readers to be misled by the author's name into thinking this is a No So Big book. DO NOT buy this book sight unseen, especially if you are a fan of Not So Big. Borrow it from the library, or at least flip through all the way through it at a real bookstore before you spend the money on it. It's not for everybody.

Exasperating
Who edited this book? Does Sarah Susanka really believe that a photograph which measures 1.5" x 1.5" is useful? I am a young person with 20/20 vision, and could not focus on these pictures. Susanka explains good design in a way that is original and refreshing; when a room looks good, she tells you why - and this is deeply informative. But the art of design is VISUAL, end of story. A blind person does not care if the alcove has wainscoting! Why then, would a designer of her calibre allow puny, useless, annoying photos in a book that costs $35.US??

All throughout, there they are: tiny little pictures that would have been stunning examples of well-placed design ideas, but instead serve to leave the reader frustrated and disappointed.
For example, under the heading "Art Glass Focus" is a picture of a remarkable stained-glass window panel. But the photo measures 2.25 x 3 inches. There is no context in a picture this small!

If you aren't bothered by pictures so small that you need a magnifying glass, then by all means buy the book. If you only care about interesting text - buy the book. But if you love interior design and get a thrill from a picture of a truly great room, then do yourself a favour and buy the New Decorating Book from Better Homes & Gardens. I waited two months on a waiting list at the library for this book and I am so glad that I didn't buy it - I would be furious.