Customer Reviews

A Natural System of House Design: An Architects Way

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This book is full of beautiful renderings of Charles Woods designs. It also shows you the way he uses his module system for designing them. The things I didn't like about this book is that the photo's of some of the finished interiors looked quite bland and cheap compared to the renderings. Also most of the houses are not designed for families with more than 1 or 2 kids. Lots of the houses where designed for earth berming or underground, and most of them are designed for huge lots with hills to build into. In the real world we have small flat lots. I would like to see a book on how to build an attractive underground house into a real world lot that would be big enough for 4 kids. There is some really nice architecture in this book though.

Charles Woods is more than an architect. He is also a prolific artist, having now officially done more submitted art work than anyone on the planet (true!). His work is simply brilliant. Charles, in the vein of legendary Frank Lloyd Wright, incorporates spacial elements and blends inside and outside landscape and transitions into the very heart and soul of each design. In my view, this is actually more than how Wright rendered housing...Woods designs capture the individuals moods, likes/dislikes, transitions seemlessly blend into each movement inside the house, as they should. The house becomes alive.
It will be up to the reader as to how they utilize each of Woods' amazing books, as there are several. It will also be up to the reader to determine if they will contact Charles, and have him design a truly one-off house design for them. His fees are moderate, and, I believe in time, will be as universally acclaimed as the legendary Frank Lloyd Wright. On a bright note, Charles will most definitely give you one of his paintings or renderings for display in your new home - that alone could be worth an easy twenty five thousand dollars, as that is what his artwork is commanding here on the East Coast.

This is a book that anyone can appreciate, even an experienced Architect. This book idealogically comes from a time long past, in Architecture, the time of Frank Lloyd Wright and hand-drawing. Although it could be updated by someone that knows the profession's more recent technologies and creative trends, it is an good, simple guide. Creativity in residential design can happen with a good design system, and it doesn't have to look like the pitiful old stuff that the author uses it for in his book. My only criticism is that the illustrations and examples he uses will not appeal to very many people nowadays, especially the younger generations.