Stearns Design-Build

Sustainable Design

Sensual Transitions

There are many kinds of transitions that a home can have. The most obvious of these are visual transitions. What are we looking out on? What time of day are we most likely to be looking out? How is the light affecting our inside space? What happens to this view throughout the year?

There are also other sensual transitions that we can consider as well. Can we coax songbirds to nest near the window by the breakfast table? Can we catch the scent of a rose garden and let it freshen the home? And what can we do so that we feel the breeze?

This approach requires us to extend the boundaries of our design. It is not enough to simply design a house, we must also design the space around the house. In this inside-out design, we consider interior designs when we look at landscape design; and as we consider landscape designs, we think about interior design.

We do not extend the boundaries of our design simply to consider the views. We also want to design outside spaces that are inviting and can be lived in as much as inside rooms. Though we live in a harsh environment, there is a great deal that can be done to better occupy our natural environment. Mindful design of easy transitions to the outdoors makes this possible.

Transitions to the Social Environment

We also want our designs to connect people to their social environments. As a culture, we have become all too aware of social isolation. Our homes play a big role in this; the modern home has become a fortress from its neighbors. Gone are the large porches that we sat on before the advent of air-conditioning. These porches were wonderful transitions into our neighborhoods, as neighbors would wave and chat from these outside rooms. Porches have now become an out-of-scale, stuck on afterthought in home design.

Because we are no longer trying to catch the prevailing breezes, we tend to put up tall privacy fences that further isolate us from our neighbors. With modern home design, is it any wonder that we no longer know our neighbors? There is a great deal that a transitions design can do to reconnect a home to its social environment.

Porches

Porches, especially front porches, help draw people outside and give us an opportunity to talk to our neighbors. This will not happen with the small, stuck on porches that have become common. In order for a porch to invite people to sit on it, it must be large. This has the added advantage of providing shade to the rest of the house.

Fences

Tall privacy fences have become ubiquitous in the suburban environment. Not only do they isolate neighbors, they also restrict vision and breezes, create drainage problems, and are just plain ugly. When neighbors agree to take down the fence between them the impact can be dramatic. Kids have more space to run and play, neighbors get to know each other, and the visual lines and natural settings are multiplied. Privacy can be selectively created with landscaping, and animals can now be contained within invisible fences.

Carports

In the south, carports are a good way to cut down on the cost of a home. They also provide greater opportunities for neighbors to say hello to each other as they come and go.

Outside Rooms

Creating outside gathering spaces and rooms, such as kitchens and kids play areas, helps invite neighborhood connections and to economically enlarge the size of a home.

Interior Transitions

We also use the concept of transitions when we think about interior spaces and how they relate to each other. We want a home's functions to flow naturally together making easy transitions from private to social areas and work areas to relaxation areas. We seek to create areas that invite conversation and other areas that are niches for escape for quiet time. We want all of these areas to look out on beautifully designed natural areas and social settings.