Practical Home Planning
Part of the Alison-David Corporation
321 Montgomery Road, suite 161312
Altamonte Springs, FL 32716-1312 USA
Office phone: 407.261.1301
Cell phone: 407.920.8008
Email: practicalhomeplanning@yahoo.com
What do you expect in a new home? What do you want in a new home? Do you even know what you want and need? What should you expect in any home, new, previously owned or remodeled? What would you like to know? What should you know?
To be educated in the process of planning, designing and building a new home, remodeling, addition or restoration/renovation is to be armed with the knowledge and understanding of an art and a science that is becoming ever more complicated each year. Building codes, technology integration and investment strategy are all woven into the fabric of residential development and need to be understood in order not to make costly mistakes that could turn an exciting project into a nightmare. By doing it right, you keep alive the American dream. That is the explicit purpose of this website and these books.
To be educated in the process of planning, designing and building a new home, remodeling, addition or restoration/renovation is to be armed with the knowledge and understanding of an art and a science that is becoming ever more complicated each year. Building codes, technology integration and investment strategy are all woven into the fabric of residential development and need to be understood in order not to make costly mistakes that could turn an exciting project into a nightmare. By doing it right, you keep alive the American dream. That is the explicit purpose of this website and these books.
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, more commonly known simply as Vitruvius was the first century BCE Julian architect who first catalogued the orders of classicism. (Doric, Tuscan, Ionic and Corinthian. Composite was added later.) He stated in his only known surviving treatise on Greek and Roman architecture, De architectura (in English, Ten Books on Architecture) that the three most important aspects of any architectural creation should be firmness, commodity and delight.
Leonardo da Vinci, the 15th century master of all professions, was inspired by Vitruvius, reiterated and elaborated the Vitruvian philosophy of design and construction in his most prolific writings, with derivations that could satisfy anyone's taste with style. He was so taken by Vitruvius that he drew the very famous Vitruvian Man (left), which is used in architectural textbooks to this day.
A contemporary of Leonardo, Sebastiano Serlio and his student of the next generation in the following century, Andrea Palladio, assuredly the most famous purveyor of renaissance classical architecture in the western world, followed the Vitruvian philosphy. Palladio described in his famous I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura (The Four Books of Architecture) that these same attributes can be described as sturdiness, functionality and beauty. Today we would probably describe them as structurally sound, livable and attractive.
Palladio also set out nine parameters--or rules--of proper design for:
1. walls,
2. ceilings,
3. stairs,
4. columns,
5. doors,
6. windows,
7. frames,
8. roof and
9. details.
Palladio also combined the Vitruvius, DaVinci and Serlio attributes into four basic principles to be followed in any design of structure: scale, mass, proportion and balance. The architect of the famous Villa Rotunda (above left) had foresight to understand that someday the world would abound with a vast array of architectural styles, all of which could work if these parameters and principles are applied.
1. walls,
2. ceilings,
3. stairs,
4. columns,
5. doors,
6. windows,
7. frames,
8. roof and
9. details.
Palladio also combined the Vitruvius, DaVinci and Serlio attributes into four basic principles to be followed in any design of structure: scale, mass, proportion and balance. The architect of the famous Villa Rotunda (above left) had foresight to understand that someday the world would abound with a vast array of architectural styles, all of which could work if these parameters and principles are applied.
These parameters and principles should be followed in any design project, and if they are, the home will be structurally sound, functional and beautiful. In a nutshell, that should be all that you need to know if you want a home that is sturdy, easy to live in and attractive to all who see and experience it. This applies to any style, plan, location and lifestyle function anywhere in the world.
My books are not intended to be comprehensive study courses in home design or architecture. Rather, they are intended to give you, the prospective homeowner, the information you need to know in order to get the best possible home for your budget, lifestyle and living needs.
Practical Home Planning for the Twenty-First Century is written for people who would like to purchase or build a new home, remodel or add onto an existing home or restore a historic masterpiece. It provides the reader with helpful information everyone needs to know in order to make the experience enjoyable and rewarding. Written in easy to read language, it gives practical advice to save you time, money and frustration during the planning, design and building process.
Homeowners, builders, developers and contractors can all benefit from the easy to read diagrams and pictures plus the author's experience spanning forty years in every aspect of home planning, design and construction.
Copyright 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 by Steve Allen Shard, AIBD and the Alison-David Corporation. Everything on this site and all the publications listed herein are protected by United States and all appropriate international copyright laws. All information is proprietary and may not be reproduced, copied, transmitted or retransmitted by any means, electronic or otherwise without the expressed written permission of Steve Allen Shard and the Alison-David Corporation, the parent company of Practical Home Planning.
Homeowners, builders, developers and contractors can all benefit from the easy to read diagrams and pictures plus the author's experience spanning forty years in every aspect of home planning, design and construction.
Copyright 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 by Steve Allen Shard, AIBD and the Alison-David Corporation. Everything on this site and all the publications listed herein are protected by United States and all appropriate international copyright laws. All information is proprietary and may not be reproduced, copied, transmitted or retransmitted by any means, electronic or otherwise without the expressed written permission of Steve Allen Shard and the Alison-David Corporation, the parent company of Practical Home Planning.
Some of the subjects considered:
- The decision to buy, build or remodel.
- Selecting a design professional.
- Where to build.
- Planning for lifestyle and re-sale.
- Architectural styles.
- Landscaping and the neighborhood.
- Universal design for Barrier-free living.
- Energy management and conservation.
- Material selection.
- Sustainability and green building.
- Selecting a builder.
- The permitting process.
- Much, much more.
The photograph at the top of this page is Monticello, just south of Charlottesville, Virginia; the classically styled Palladian home designed and built by Thomas Jefferson, architect and statesman of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Photo and drawing by Steve Allen Shard, AIBD.
