THE DRAWING BOARD-August 2010

This month’s Drawing Board is the second in a series of four installments by architect Jeremiah Eck about the progression of a house in Lovell

The architectural precept “form (ever) follows function” is one of those rare statements that almost any person with even a rudimentary knowledge of architecture has heard or can repeat. First proclaimed by the American architect Louis Sullivan, it seems to express a fundamental truth for all of us, that the form or shape of an object, to be true to itself, must reflect its function. This should mean that a school would look like a school and a house, a house. Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case.

Entrance foyers large enough for a camel to walk through, garage doors that obliterate any sense of pedestrian arrival, and dormers haphazardly positioned on roofs are just a few examples of form not following function. In my July essay on this house in Lovell, I illustrated how siting influenced the design. In this essay, I’ll show how the homeowner’s functional needs came to bear directly on the forms of the house.

Viewed from afar, the dominant form of the house is composed of two intersecting, two-story gabled roofs, wrapped almost completely by a one-story, porch-like structure at the first floor. It’s the same simple shapes one might find in early farmhouses all across New England, and it’s a testament to the enduring value of form following function, for in some ways, this house follows the functional prerogatives of a former farmhouse but with a contemporary twist.

Just like a farmhouse, the high central shape contains the major living spaces of the house. In the old days, it might have been a parlor and den on the first floor and a maze of bedrooms on the second, but here it’s something completely different, a two-story central living space, what I like to call a Living Hall on the first floor and a floor-through master bedroom on the second. Any resemblance to the old is especially absent on the rear, where a two-story wall of glass provides the major source of light and the most dramatic views for the house. On the second floor, there’s also a striking cathedral ceiling in the long master bedroom facing south and west. As a perfect example of “form follows function” in the twenty-first century, it’s not hard to read in the central part of this house two of the most important functions according to the homeowners: a dramatic living space and a magnificent master suite.

There’s also a contemporary functional twist in the one-story, porch-like structure on the first floor. In the past, it might simply have contained porches, and that’s true here too, where a portion of the space is dedicated to an entry porch and a screened porch. But on the south side, the rest is dedicated to a truly modern kitchen and dining area along with a mudroom and laundry and even a small greenhouse extension. A guest room/study rounds out the function of the porch-like massing on the north side of first floor.

This house is a good example of what we mean by “form follows function.” What’s just as interesting and a real testament to the flexibility of the phrase is the way contemporary functions have been adapted to older forms, giving the home a truly timeless quality.