B+A Greater Boston

4 0 | Greater Boston Builder+Architect BOSTON.BUILDERARCHITECT.COM Three experts from the building community offer their insights about designing for lifestyle. Perspectives: Identity-based Design By Thomas Crocker of colors and great energy surrounding our project represented how everyone at the school stood up against the chaos of the earthquake's aftermath. In several of our other Haitian school projects, weavers made bamboo shadings for windows and openings, and stoneworkers put up decorative walls using local stone. We try to introduce elements that speak to the local context. Hadjiyanni: Housing characteristics — such as ventilation systems, window types, spatial layouts and material selections — can affect residents' abilities to engage in behaviors that foster health and well-being. For example, some traditional ethnic cooking requires oils and spices that can overtake the home with their scents if adequate ventilation is not provided and the kitchen is open to the rest of the house. A culturally sensitive home might include a kitchen that can be opened or closed, as well as mechanical and natural ventilation. Stein: In my experience, builders usually overlook owner's act ua l identities . A pa r ticu la rly egregious exa mple is t he center-entry Colonial house. Not only does the very form of this housing type tell a stor y that has nothing, really, to do with its owners, but the center entr y itself is almost never accessible from the front of the house — instead, ever yone enters from the side, where the two-car garage is located. A Colonial is not representative of its owner's identity — it 's about nostalgia for a my thical pioneer past wherein houses signified man's four-square stand against the chaos of nature. The best practice for builders and architects is to listen to clients describe how they would like to live, over a period of time, and — using technical knowledge, knowledge of ecology and history, and an understanding of the community — translate that vision into the kind of architectural space that will allow the clients to live that way. Q What is most important to keep in mind when designing for lifestyle? Galo: The designer, architect and builder have a responsibility to ensure a building is the most valuable it can be for the client and community. That doesn't mean simply the deliver y of a great building — it means considering how that building and its design will influence the community for years to come. Hadjiyanni: Homes can inf luence the process of identity construction. Housing that is flexible and adaptable enables people to craft a lifestyle and identity that relates to who they want to become rather than who they are at various stages of their lives. Stein: Architecture lasts a long time — longer than the life of its owner. The stor y a building tells shouldn't be too specific. The building should be able to be altered later in its useful life to tell the stor y of the next owner, and the next. n Photography: Diane Anton Photography Builder: Kenwood Builders Congratulations on being chosen "Builder of the Month" Verne T. Porter Jr. PLS Land Surveyors & Civil Engineers 354 Elliot Street Newton MA 02464 617.964.7170 should be its owner's — for the owner's comfort and for the rest of us to know a little of his stor y. But architecture must tell much more than that. The work of architecture is to explain its (and its owner's) place in the world. Q How do you incorporate designing for lifestyle into your work or advise builders to do so? Galo: We design locally, meaning we engage and hire local designers and architects whenever possible. That is a first step in ensuring we understand the concept of where we're designing and building. Another tenet we follow is sourcing and building with local materials. A project that is near and dear to my heart is a school we built in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake. Haitian metalworkers created beautiful doors and windows for the building. The colors in the school move from a shade of green to a shade of orange; Haitian schools typically feature blue and white. The variety

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