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CHAPTER I

THE SELECTION OF LOCATION, STYLE, MATERIAL AND ARCHITECT

STYLE FROM VIEWPOINTS OF RELATION TO SITE, MATERIAL, GENERAL APPROPRIATENESS, ETC. LOCAL MATERIALS AND LOCAL COLOUR CONDITIONS. FORESIGHT AND ADVICE. CHOOSING AN ARCHITECT

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'N connection with building, more, perhaps, than in any other connection, is there deep significance in the familiarly trite saying: "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing." To be accurate, indeed, the illarranged ideas of most prospective builders cannot even be regarded as "knowledge." If they knew, much disappointment might be saved-it is rather that they think they know either enough to build without any architect, or to set themselves above the architect they actually engage to do the work. "A little knowledge" is dangerous because it is usually ignorance in disguise, and ignorance which will not be helped. Complete and honest ignorance frankly calls in the aid of the professional man.

It is the aim and intention of the following chapters to point out, in a building project, in what respects individual discretion may be employed to advantage, and in what respects professional opinion had best be followed. Certain things are matters of opinion, others are matters of fact. Even in the first group the architect's opinion is usually to be regarded as better based than an uniformed lay opinion, while in the second group, the absolute futility of argument should be apparent.

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The points taken up in the following chapters will be arranged in the sequence dictated by the usual procedure in building a house, and each step will be dealt with in a practical manner. The practising architect is distressed to find that much of the so-called "advice" to persons about to build is arbitrary, erroneous or misleading, so that he is obliged to devote considerable effort and time toward disillusioning his client and establishing a ground of common sense and clear vision. Of this, more will be said in subsequent observations on the relation of architect and client.

The usual private building operation does not call in the architect until certain very important things have been decided. The site of the house, for instance, is often pre-determined by the ownership of a piece of land. The architect might well be called in to suggest the best architectural location for the house, but very frequently he is not consulted on this question, or on the question of what style is to be followed in the design. These things are usually the architect's starting point, though in many cases it would have been well for the client to be professionally advised from the start. An architect's opinion as to what kind of a house would be best suited to a given site might be well worth hearing, and might result in a better solution of the problem.

Varying sites call for different ways of locating the house, and here, at the outset, is a case in which anything resembling a fixed rule might easily be very dangerous to follow.

It is of the greatest importance to give careful consideration to the points of the compass and to prevailing local winds, and to consider these as factors in the design of the house from its inception. If the site is a remote one, far from "improvements," the questions

of lighting, water-supply and sewage disposal should be at least considered before there is detailed thought of" style." Although "style" is to the lay observer the most conspicuous of the architect's performances, it is relatively less exacting from the architect's point of view than many of the more technical problems he is required to solve.

If an architect has been selected at this stage, and has visited the site, and the location of the house, as exactly as possible, has been determined, it is well for a number of good photographs to be taken, or, in the case of a large and important house, an accurate topographical survey made and drawn. In this way the architect may study the different grades or slopes which will govern certain parts of his design for the house.

The ideal procedure is to use the topographical survey as data for the construction of an accurately proportioned clay model of the site. On this model it is possible to lay out driveways and approaches, and even to block in the house itself, in miniature, in its exact relation to the place it is to occupy. The study of an architectural project by means of a model is of the greatest value to architect and client alike. To the first is given a more comprehensive and definite vision of the problem, and to the second is given a presentation of the architect's conception of the relationship of house to site more vivid and understandable than he could possibly obtain from any number of drawings.

It is well to mention here that the topographical survey of the site, being a civil engineer's or surveyor's work, is not a part of the architect's work, and is paid for separately, either through the architect, or direct to the surveyor. It is to be regarded as a means for arriving most directly at the required result—the estab

lishment of the exact relation of house to site, as well as the disposition of drives, approaches, terraces, outbuildings, etc.

The construction of the model is usually undertaken by the architect, or under his direction, and a separate charge should rightly be expected for it, since it involves a considerable amount of special work.

It should be apparent without great emphasis that the location, of placement, of the house on its site is extremely important. Many well-designed houses have given an appearance of unpleasing awkwardness solely because of the fact that they have been poorly placed with relation to the natural features of their sites. On the other hand, many houses of low cost and of little architectural pretension have seemed peculiarly agreeable because, on observation, it will be seen that every advantage has been taken of elevation, grades, approaches and background.

Architecturally, as well as naturally, the most pleasing building is the building which is in the most graceful harmony with its site, and the prospective builder may often do well and wisely to banish from his mind some preconceived idea he may have had, if the execution of this idea would result in an unharmonious relationship of house and site.

The question of site is often involved in the question of style, any formal type of building calling for a level site, while the rugged hill-side site is best suited by an informal or picturesque type of building. Style, when all is said, must always be a matter of personal predilection. To say that no formal house should be placed in rustic surroundings is to ignore the ultraformal French hunting-lodges and châteaux which are often discovered in densely wooded tracts. The

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A harmonious relationship between the house and its level site has been effected by the horizontal lines of the garden walls

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AN AMERICAN COUNTRY HOUSE ESSENTIALLY PICTURESQUE
Successive additions to this charming hillside cottage have made it, with the
aid of informal stone steps and terraces, a part of the steep site it occupies

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