The most successful aspect of my home is the sunlight on
winter mornings. My house is a typical 1980’s ranch derived from developer and
housing contractor driven suburban sprawl. Although the gesture is most likely
unintentional, it is often a spectacular coincidence occurring most brilliantly
in the January and February months. It is always welcome and offers a warm and
glowing presence in our living room, which happens to contains the second most
successful aspect of my home, an unexpected vaulted ceiling. The sun in our
home, is a much desired visitor, and my kids [Bode : 4 years old and Tripp : 2
years old] and dog [Gus : white lab, 2 years old] often find themselves unconsciously
gravitating and thriving in it. Although unintentional, because the house is
not sited for advantageous relationships with the environment, but rather for
developer incentives, this sunny accident suggests that thinking about how our
homes are situated in relationship to the summer and winter sun could offer
delight, health, and happiness to our interior living environments.
why do we not think about siting our homes in relationship to the sun in suburbia?
ReplyDeleteI think we don’t think about this because we have reached a day in age where mass production is the key ingredient in the housing process. In general, it seems that developers and designers are not taking the time to study an area for the benefits people could have from nature, they are merely looking at how many homes can we fit in and also how quickly can we have them occupied. It is unfortunate that we are compromising originality and environmental perks for money. Perhaps in larger custom homes, there is more discussion and planning within the context discussed but I think for the most part the cookie cutter neighborhoods miss out.
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