Home Sweet Home Design: A Primer for the Beginning House Designer

A primer for the beginning house designer emphasizing the land and sustainability. Appropriate for someone who is interested in making a career of designing single family houses or is merely interested in getting involved in designing a house just for themselves and their family. This book will then serve as a reference throughout the beginners initial efforts and beyond. The content attempts several things:Providing the beginner with an overview of the subject thereby allowing their determination of the feasibility of their interests.Education of both the career residential designer and the individual homeowner in the scope of good design, some of the technical intricacies, the necessary minimum efforts and where to head if one chooses to develop their skills further.Streamlining technical areas into tips and rules of thumb to get the beginner started while they embark on the lengthy process of digesting the industry.Description of places where the designer or homeowner can choose to fore go involvement or not.Revealing design’s place in the wider construction industry. Pointing to the other ’players’ and how to use them.AndLast but not least, exploring some of more important values of going “green”.

Len King is a licensed architect and residential builder with over 40 years of experience. After gaining a Bachelors degree in Architecture and a Masters in Urban Design he practiced in New York City and western North Carolina. He has designed and built numerous homes ranging from traditional to the very progressive. His comprehensive background has provided a unique perspective on what design is and what the young beginning designers need to be prepared for. Likewise he acknowledged that 'on the job training' was a viable alternative to lengthy and often expensive education. As such the question was asked what does this person need to get going, be effective and grow into the expert the industry needs? Simultaneously teaching at local colleges where many of the students were adults interested in learning what was needed to 'design their own home' Len had the idea for this book. He hopes that his experience and insights will be discovered and useful and improve what is presently a very hit and miss industry design quality wise. Last and not least is his message of "look first at your land" before you design a house and stay GREEN.