Get Your House Right: Architectural Elements to Use & Avoid [Hardcover]

Marianne Cusato (Author), Ben Pentreath (Author), Richard Sammons (Author), Leon Krier (Author), H.R.H. The Prince of Wales (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2008

Even as oversized McMansions continue to elbow their way into tiny lots nationwide, a much different trend has taken shape. This return to traditional architectural principles venerates qualities that once were taken for granted in home design: structural common sense, aesthetics of form, appropriateness to a neighborhood, and even sustainability. Marianne Cusato, creator of the award-winning Katrina Cottages, has authored and illustrated this definitive guide to what makes houses look and feel right—to the eye and to the soul. She teaches us the language and grammar of classical architecture, revealing how balance, harmony, and detail all contribute to creating a home that will be loved rather than tolerated. And she takes us through the do’s and don’ts of every element of home design, from dormers to doorways to columns. Integral to the book are its hundreds of elegant line drawings—clearly rendering the varieties of lintels and cornices, arches and eaves, and displaying “avoid” and “use” versions of the same elements side by side.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Acclaimed designer Marianne Cusato has received international media attention for her work on the Katrina Cottages. Leading in 2006 to being named by Builder Magazine as No.4 on their list of the 50 most influential people in the home building industry. Her first cottage, Katrina Cottage 1, was the recipient of the first annual People's Design Award from the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, the National Design Museum of the Smithsonian Institute.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Sterling (January 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402736282
• ISBN-13: 978-1402736285
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #538,943 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

108 of 115 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What They Didn't Teach in Architecture School, December 5, 2007

By 

Marco Antonio Abarca (Colorado) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Get Your House Right: Architectural Elements to Use & Avoid (Hardcover)

In the late 1930's, many of Germany's finest architects arrived in the United States fleeing from Hitler's persecution. Soon Architecture Programs throughout the country adopted their modernist agenda. For the last seventy years, modernism has been the dominant language of architecture school. With a few notable exceptions, the visual language of traditional and classical architecture has all but dissapeared from the halls of academia.

Modernism was embraced by America's cultural and business elites. However, most Americans have never bought into the modernist agenda. When it comes to homes, most new home buyers want houses built in traditional styles. Unfortunately, there has been a disconnect between what architects have been taught to design and what consumers wish to purchase. One need only drive through the streets of most American suburbs to see the numerous failed and often times grotesque attempts at traditional architecture.

Into this skills void steps Marianne Cusato. She is a product of Notre Dame's School Architecture, a program known for embracing traditional and classical architecture. "Get Your House Right" is a comprehensive guide to the architectural language of classicism. Through the use of nearly a thousand beautifully rendered pencil sketches, she shows both poorly and properly executed architectural details. In this relatively short book, Cusato tries to show other architects what they missed in their architectural studies.

I am not an architect. My hobby is looking at old houses. The value of this book is that it helps me understand why some houses work while others houses fail. For those interested in this subject, I would recommend Sandra Edelman and Judy Gaman's "What Not to Build" and "Traditional Construction Patterns" by Stephen Mouzon. One might also want to check out the web site(www.classicist.org)for more information about traditional architecture. These are some of the best resources to help one make sense of what has been going on architecturally in this country for the last seventy years. Highly recommended.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why all those new houses don't look quite right., March 29, 2008

By 

Richard F. Weyand (Naperville, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Get Your House Right: Architectural Elements to Use & Avoid (Hardcover)

I live in Naperville, IL, the McMansion capital of the Midwest. I have watched new multi-million dollar houses go up, and I thought most of them were just plain ugly. Over-done, or pompous, or something. Yet they sell, even now, and they keep going up.

I started to think maybe it was just me.

Then I picked up this book, and there, just above the AVOID label that adorns many of the design examples in the book, was a pencil sketch of what could be a typical new-construction Naperville street.

Having read the book through -- and several parts twice -- I now understand what it was that was causing the rejection of this architecture by my inner voice: bad design. I have nailed down the specific elements in many actual houses that hurt the appearance of the house, that make it less -- much less -- than it could be.

And -- surprise! -- I found that the few houses I did like of the newer construction were properly designed to classical principles.

The book is an incredible achievement. Well-written, accessible, and with hundreds and hundreds of beautiful pencil sketches that clearly demonstrate the principles. Marianne Cusato is a young, brilliant and well-educated designer whose vision has been shaking the architecture world for several years. And she's all of 33 years old!

So get this book, read it through, and then have some fun. Start scanning front elevation drawings on house plan sites and see if you can spot the issues that keep each from being as welcoming, as home-y, as they could be.

We are embarking now on designing our own new home, and this book is by far the most important acquisition in our burgeoning design library.

Thanks, Marianne. We all owe you.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An instant classic, January 12, 2008

By 

M. Guenther - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Get Your House Right: Architectural Elements to Use & Avoid (Hardcover)

I have been absorbed by this book since my copy arrived. The organization is simple and easily accessible. Start in the beginning, middle or end, wherever you like. No problem reading two pages and putting it down until later.

The thing that makes this book exceptional are the illustrations. Thousands of the clearest sketches ever contained in a book, all expertly dovetailed with the text.

While this would have been my most cherished text in architecture school, it really excels for the practicing professional. Extremely practical. It shows how to design and build essential traditional house details like dormers, window and door trims, roofs, home entries, porches, chimneys, garage doors, bay windows, arches and more.