Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Design
your house need not be
dark or dreary. It
can have all the amenities, including air-conditioning
and inspired plumbing. It can and should be for year-
round living. No matter what the design, it will have a
special feel and a mood like no other house.
Traditional designs age well — everything inside
may appear old and mellow, or be a statement in
sanded and oiled wood. Owners and decorators have
transformed my restorations and new structures into
imaginative living experiences. I like that approach
best: the look of antiquity outside and whatever you
like when you go through the door.
Hewn-log houses, weathered gray in rain and sea-
sons of sun, cracked and aged in old axe marks and
lichened stones, blend into the mountains and the
fields and the hills as a fact of history. They follow a few
basic designs that have endured as the most useful.
Traditional log styles can adapt easily to personal requirements. An
overriding concern is that the house should fit its surroundings.
Harmonize with the Setting
Of course, your own house should be a personal state-
ment, not necessarily an established building style.
But architecture should fit, growing as naturally from
the ground as possible, using natural materials in a
harmonious, serendipitous complement to surround-
ings. If you choose variations on the basic designs —
and you will, as surely as did the early settlers — let
them be subtle, in keeping with the use of surround-
ing materials and craftsmanship. You will approach
your finished house many times, and you must always
be happy with what you see.
The classic log house was of hewn logs, V-notches or
half-dovetailed notches, shake roof, stone foundation
Log house interiors need not be dark. These rooms were lightened
with the addition of windows in the low knee wall.
