NickH-7B

There are many aspects to art. Most things have a multitude of principles and elements of design that many people are unaware of because they don’t know enough about these principles and elements. After learning about them, I had to look through my house and find some of them. It was surprising to see that almost all of them were already there. The most common elements of design are lines, shapes, colors, textures, spaces, and values. These are everywhere in my house. The most important lines in my drawing are roof panes and terrain lines (figures 1 and 2). Roof panes determine the shape of the roof and terrain lines determine the elevation of the ground outside. Shapes are also everywhere. One of the shapes in my house is the shape of the living and family rooms, which are the same. They are shaped this way to keep the house as symmetrical as possible and to make efficient use of space (figure 3). Another prominent shape seen throughout the house is the pointed arch of gothic doors and windows. The shapes of these doors and windows are unique and remain the same in the entire house to keep with the theme (figure 4). The most unique shape of the house is the J-shaped kitchen counter, which was just done because it was unique (figure 5). The kitchen is also a good example of color. The light walls and dark countertop create a nice contrast (a principle of design, not an element) (figure 5). Also, in the living room, the darker walls and lighter furniture create a contrast. The similar shades of brown and red in the living room are also and example of value (figure 6). Also found in the kitchen are examples of texture and space (figure 5). The kitchen and dining room are actually one room, and the lack of walls between the two makes both rooms seem much bigger than they actually are. The wooden cabinets and marble counters are examples of texture. These textures are actual textures, because they are actually wood and marble. Also, in the entry room, the moldings and rails are white marble, yet another example of texture (figure 7). I used the marble because marble implies wealth. There are also principles of design, which are more complex than the elements of design. These principles are balance, contrast, pattern, emphasis, and unity. The living room is a great example of balance, because the furniture is more or less equally spread throughout the room, instead of piled in one place (figure 6). The floor tiles in the entryway are a pattern (figure 7). The emphasis of my house is on the kitchen/dining room. It’s the biggest room in the house, and took the most effort (figure 5). Unity can be found in the living room. The Persian rug has both dark and light browns and reds, just like the room its’ self, and ties the whole room together (figure 6).



Our latest project was to research the kitchen standards established by the National Kitchen and Bathroom Association. When finished, we had to apply the standards to our own kitchen. After several redesigns, my kitchen finally meets as many of the standards as possible. First of all, there are six types of kitchens: straight line kitchens, L-shaped kitchens, corridor kitchens, peninsula kitchens, U-shaped kitchens, and island kitchens. My kitchen, to comply with the standards, has become sort of the Frankenstein of kitchens; it’s got an island, a peninsula, and is in an L shape. It mostly resembles a peninsula kitchen (figure 4). Peninsula kitchens are popular and have many good points. Firstly, the peninsula is perfect for open floor plans, and most of my house is one big room. It can be used as a separator between the kitchen and the dining room. The peninsula also can be used for many purposes. It can be a food preparation center, a cooking center, or a place to eat. Peninsula kitchens shorten the distance between work stations and make the work triangle (the total distance between work stations) shorter. My first kitchen, which was just a straight line, failed to meet nine of the kitchen standards set down by the National Kitchen and Bathroom Association. As it is now, it still doesn’t meet two. The first one is the “cooking surface ventilation” standard. It states that I should have a vent above my stove. However, because of my cathedral ceilings, this is not possible. The second one is the “countertop edges” standard, which says that all countertop edges should be rounded. This was not possible, because I couldn’t find a way to do this on the Chief Architect program. Most of the standards had to do with accessibility and ease of motion. Standards such as “Door Entry” (all doors must be 34” wide), the “Walkway” standard (all walkways should be 36” wide), and the “Work Triangle Traffic” standard (no traffic patterns should cross through the work triangle) ensure ease of motion and use throughout the kitchen. These are the standards that killed me. I was constantly moving things. The “Distance Between Work Centers” standard forced me to rebuild and add the island that’s there now (figure 4). After a lot of redesigning, my kitchen now meets the ease of motion standards (figures1-4). Another set of standards had to do with convenience. There were a variety of “Landing Area” laws that had to do with the counter space around various appliances and areas of the kitchen. Thankfully, I met all of these because of the large amount of counter space in my kitchen (figures 1 and 2). Other standards had to do with the effective placement of appliances. These reminded me that I was missing a few key things, like a dishwasher, a microwave, and wastebaskets (figures 1, 2, and 4). Finally, there was a whole section on having ample cabinet and storage space. I meet the standards on these as well, but there’s no way to render the cabinets with the doors open, so I could not show these. The final standards section was on safety. I feel that this is the most important section. Unfortunately, it’s the section that I met the least of the standards on. I’m still not meeting two of them (mentioned above). I also forgot to put in fire extinguishers. Every standard had a second part geared towards handicapped people. Such parts included making walkways wider and making turning spaces for wheelchairs by putting spaces under cabinets. While I was able to cater to a few of them, I was unable to complete all of them.









The house that I am creating is a single-story ranch. I chose this design because I wanted to make something other than a two story house, because mine always come out looking like giant boxes. My favorite part of the ranch is that, with well-planned and numerous windows, you can make the house appear much bigger (see figure 1). Unfortunately, there are multiple downsides to building a ranch.



Firstly, the cost of building a ranch is higher than that of other types of houses. This is largely because all of the rooms that are normally in a house have to be on one floor, raising the amount of land needed and the size of the foundation (one of the most expensive parts of building a house). Also, for the same reason, the size of the roof is increased, which will also increase cost. Cost is the largest problem when building a ranch, and there is no real way to address this problem unless you make a smaller house. I suppose you could put rooms in the basement, but I believe that the cost of building, finishing, and furnishing a basement would be about the same cost as having a larger foundation. Heating and cooling are also more difficult because of the larger floor space. The farther away from the heat source, the colder the house will get, and because the floor space is so big, there may always be a cold room or two. The same goes for cooling the house. There are two solutions to this: either get electric heating (which I plan on doing as soon as I know how), or build your house somewhere where it’s not too hot or cold. One of the good things about a ranch is that the low roofs and ceilings makes maintenance easier (see figure 2). It’s much safer and easier to paint, clean, and maintain the roofs and ceilings. Another advantage to a ranch is the handicap accessibility. Having one floor means there are no stairs (see figure 3). When building a basement, you could easily substitute the stairs with a ramp.