Housing by Lifestyle: The Component Method of Residential Design

Today's discriminatory home buyers want living spaces tailored to the functional priorities of their lives, but that still reflect the multiple roles of a home as a place for community, privacy, ceremony, and outdoor living. In other words, they want designs that are flexible enough to encompass all the facets of their changing lives but with more comfort and convenience!
That's the focus of the second edition of this best-selling housing design guide, updated and expanded to accommodate the needs of today's new households. Using the home buyer's lifestyle as a guide, component design defines housing in terms of major living "components," which are spaces for eating and sleeping, entertaining, being together, or being alone.
Clearly illustrated with hundreds of architectural sketches and drawings, as well as newly enhanced computer graphics and photographs, this innovative book presents solid guidelines to show you exactly how component design works. Full of valuable market-specific information, it shows you how to: divide the typical home into component zones associated with both emotions and functions - community, privacy, ceremonial events, and outdoor activities; organize these components into a workable plan, balancing their importance to various household groups; create floor plans that respond to various home-buyer market segments and develop rules for layouts that will satisfy new buyer profiles; apply the same method of component design to smaller, multifamily units, as well as to homes specifically tailored to America's changing domestic needs, such as single-parent households, work-at-home professionals, and intergenerational households.
Along the way, you'll find the latest information available on market-driven design guidelines, including a list of current features that are in high demand ... prototype layouts of successful plans for different market groups ... new case studies of award-winning home designs featuring fresh and exciting design trends for kitchens, "home theater" and media rooms, home offices, basement upgrades, and much more. Current and future issues, such as affordability, environmental concerns, and increased land costs, have also been addressed in this new edition.
Whether you're a home builder, architect, interior designer, realtor, or other residential professional, you'll be aware of major trends in residential design for the '90s and into the next century with this updated, expanded version of the lifestyle design classic.

James W. Wentling is the principal of James Wentling/Architects, a Philadelphia firm specializing in residential design and planning.