Architectural Design: The Short Course

Must you stay awake nights worrying about proportion, scale, symmetry, massing, and pattern?  In a word, no.

All these concepts are part of the language of building. You'll find understanding them is helpful when talking design with architects and builders. None are beyond your understanding, and to flout them in renovating a house is tq risk spending good money on a bad renovation.

Yet perhaps the most important word of all when it comes to remodeling work is continuity. Remaining true to the existing building isn't everything, but it sure can help. When it comes to planning exterior details like siding and roof shape, try to match the new ones to the old. Roof slope and overhang and the choice of siding are easy enough to match up.

On the inside, keeping the same overall sense of scale, window design, molding treatments, and other basic details can also draw the place together.

In combination, these elements define the massing, symmetry, proportion, and texture of a house. Make them consistent or, if you want to contrast the old, use them to communicate something to the observer other than that no one could agree on what to do. Keep in mind, though, that if you're remodeling a house with a distinct style you either use it or lose it.