Simple Rules, What the Oldtime Builders Knew

By Shannon Taylor Scarlett

Simple Rules is a new kind of builder handbook/design guide.
Architecture design tips for builders, residential designers and DIY homeowners

Publisher's Weekly said:
"This thoughtful and thought-provoking little gem outlines 25 crucial design principles that the author believes have been jeopardized as domestic architecture has become dominated by developers. Scarlett, who runs an architecture firm in Wellesley, Mass., aims to 'remind those in the building community that simple beauty and meaning... is still reproducible in new homes, and that many traditional building techniques are still applicable in today’s economy, and within current construction practices.' In this, she succeeds terrifically. Most of this attractively illustrated book consists of quotations taken from original sources published from the 16th to early 20th centuries. These sources are building manuals such as Palladio’s Four Books of Architecture (1570), which inspired many of America’s greatest public and private buildings, as well as lesser-known volumes such as T.F. Hamlin’s The Enjoyment of Architecture (1921). The rules are broken down by chapter and include 'Genius of the Place,' ‘Asymmetry,' and 'Proportion.' Each includes quotations to explain the concept and several well-chosen illustrations to graphically demonstrate the idea. The annotated bibliography at the end is a bonus and provides direction for those who seek further elaboration. Anyone interested in architecture—professionals, students, home-improvers, renovators, home 'flippers,' or anyone who regards suburbia with a critical eye—will enjoy this useful and well-written compilation." B&w illus. (BookLife) 9/19/2016 http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-4841-5207-2

Inspired by long forgotten sources, this 120 page, fully illustrated builder handbook includes 25 key design principles, timeless composition guidelines, elegant proportional systems, building techniques and formulas for making buildings more beautiful. It is intended as a design guide for the architect or modern builder who cares about aesthetics and meaning, as much or more than the bottom line.

The design concepts are equally applicable to modern design. In fact, they are intended to serve as archetypes for a new modern architecture, to free builders from the need to simply replicate old styles.
An annotated bibliography describes many other design resources.

"Finally, I found an architect's reference book which did not read like a manual!"

A highly important design book
"In the same way current thinkers and writers stand on the shoulders of literary giants before them, designers are also deeply indebted to the long-gone geniuses"

Just What Architecture Ordered
"Architects, Builders, Designers and Homeowners: if you are thinking about and/or are designing buildings...GET THIS BOOK! no longer taught in architecture school... a great pocket reference in how to create a building that will last... It is the first in a series, so I cannot wait to see more!"

Sample Rules:

simple RULE 1
STRENGTH, UTILITY, AND BEAUTY

"All architecture should possess strength, utility, and beauty."
Strength arises from carrying down the foundations to a good solid bottom, and from making a proper choice of materials without parsimony. †

Utility arises from a judicious distribution of the parts, so that their purposes be duly answered, and that each have its proper situation.
Beauty is produced by the pleasing appearance and good taste of the whole, and by the dimensions of all the parts being duly proportioned to each other.

~Marcus Vitruvius Pollio
De Architectura, Book

simple RULE 5
THREE DIMENSIONALITY

"Always keep in mind the perspective appearance when designing the
exterior of a detached building, and not merely the front elevation."
~ Richard Brown, Architect

"From every possible view a really good building mus

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shannon Taylor Scarlett
• Release date: Sep 19, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301011520

Shannon Taylor Scarlett

Shannon Taylor Scarlett is a registered architect with her own practice in the Boston area, where for over twenty-five years she has worked directly with residential clients to create aesthetically pleasing, flexible, functional spaces.In the early 80s, she earned her Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Oregon, giving purpose and direction to her lifelong love of beautiful places. It also set in motion her exploration of the mutual benefits of combining environmental stewardship with good building design, encouraging community participation and promoting awareness of opportunities and need for sustainability.As an architectural history buff, Shannon's knowledge of art and architectural history serves as a primary source of inspiration for her work--guiding the architectural experience through material expression, psychological effects of spatial composition and even subtle building symbolism.

Book preview

Introduction

Like the 1896 guide, Modern Carpentry and Building, This book is intended as an aid to the workman, a veritable handy book to be carried in his coat pocket or in his box of tools, ready for instant reference, not left at home.

The contents differ for the modern user only in familiarity, as these foundational design principles regarding aesthetics, symbolism and meaning of place were for the old-timer carpenter, simply routine. Unfortunately, these principles began to lose their footing in the late 1800s, when building practices shifted toward more commercial technologies. Today this design wisdom is inaccessible to the average homebuilder; even architects would do well to study these rules.

Handbooks illustrating what was once common knowledge pertaining to design aesthetics, balance and rules of composition—aesthetic qualities Talbot Hamlin described in The Enjoyment of Architecture—eventually became overshadowed by charts, formulas, and practices geared toward new materials, and economical building systems:

"The dominant qualities that are common to all beautiful and unified buildings [are] so uniform that they have been codified into laws, or perhaps more really, rules of artistic composition. If they are once understood and applied, sound criticism is the inevitable result, so it is necessary that they be carefully considered.

They are, in brief, the laws of balance, rhythm, good proportion, climax (centre of interest), and harmony… these laws or rules, deduced from good buildings, are practically the same as the laws that govern good literature or good music; that seems sufficient commentary upon their

Reviews for Simple Rules, What the Oldtime Builders Knew

[iwenw89 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wonderfully presented with clarity, preciseness, images detailed for further understanding of each example. A delightful and insightful read.