By the term "architecture," I am referring to the entire
built environment, from interior design, to houses and
other buildings, to garden and landscape architecture, and
beyond. Architecture even covers areas as vast as town
planning and as narrow as furniture.
The word architecture is derived from the greek words for
FIRST and CRAFTSMANSHIP.
From a very young age, I have had a love of the
architecture of residential buildings and castles. For
almost as long as I can remember, I have been using graph
paper to sketch out ideas for houses — floor plans,
elevations, details, etc. When I was a child attending
grade school at Smith College, a teacher assigned the class
the task of drawing a floor plan of their homes. I must
have been about six years old, and this is the earliest
time I can remember drawing architectural plans. But I
remember loving the crenalations of buildings in
Northampton long before even putting pen to paper.
My taste in residential buildings is quite broad: from
Colonial to Victorian to some modern styles. I also have an
interest in the construction of buildings. The typical way
that new homes are constructed today is appalling. The
toxic materials used and lack air exchange injure
occupants, who are unaware of the danger. The inefficient
design of most new homes wastes energy and, unlike most
historic homes, forces them to rely on vast amounts of
energy. Materials typically used in home construction today
are also most frequently transported long distances,
instead of the old fashioned notion of using mostly
materials that come from nearby.
