David R Hoover, Architect, NCARB

Design is very personal. People get upset when discussing their own design or evaluating the design of someone else. But why do people take criticism, whether constructive or not, so personally? People are generally products of their environment and education. A persons "design" is based on the buildings that they grew up in or around, their experiences from travelling to different areas and cultures, their education from primary on up, and their reading and absorption of reference materials. If a person stays in the same town, on the same street and in the same house, then their design will be centered around that house and environment. They may believe that every house should have a front porch that is 20' from the sidewalk, because that is where their parents sat in a swing and conversed with the neighbors. They may also believe that all houses should have wood ship-lap siding painted a royal blue, because this is the color that they painted their house every fifth s...

Here is information about Re: Vision Dallas from Derek at Urban Revision - The goal of the competition is to find a winning design for the first a sustainable city block in the U.S. – which will be located in Dallas, Texas. This is not a proposed project. The land has been purchased and the supporting organizations are in place. All we need now is a winning design to get the development started. Though the competition is open to anyone, we are specifically encouraging Students, Professors, Architects, Engineers, City Planners, Designers and Visionaries to enter Re:Vision DALLAS. The top three winning entries will receive $25,000 and honorable mentions will receive $1,000! The top three winners will receive a consultation with the non-profit organization leading the development, Central Dallas CDC, and may possibly be selected to contribute the final design for this multi-million dollar project. Here is a link where you can learn all about the competition: http://www.urbanrevision...

Here is a home designed for Universal Design in Washington D.C that was sponsored by AARP: http://www.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisweek08/0627/0627p_aarp.cfm I know that it is tempting to design homes with doors that are less than 3'-0" or bathrooms that are not wheelchair accessible, but after taking care of my grandmother in my 1970s home, I will make sure that my firm will at least follow fair housing guidelines and at most go with the ANSI 117.1 standards or a Universal Design. Most of the design elements that are in Fair Housing Guidelines are not cost prohibitive and actually make good design sense, so for any type of residential construction this should be required. For the Fair Housing Design Manual, please go to this HUD link: http://www.huduser.org/Publications/pdf/fairhousing/fairintro.pdf Here is a link for Universal Design: http://www.design.ncsu.edu/cud/pubs_p/docs/UDinHousing.pdf

Here is a project using sustainable design that will qualify for LEED Platinum: http://www.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisweek08/0627/0627d_water.cfm

The AIA released some findings from their Home Designs Trends Survey from the first quarter of 2008, which discusses how, due to the weakened housing market, there is a trend to build smaller homes, which have greater accessibility for an aging populace, and a desire for spending money on improvements on the outside areas, which may be easier to do than improvements to the interior. The story is located here: http://www.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisweek08/0606/0606b_htdsq2.cfm For information on accessibility in homes, please review the design manual for the Fair Housing Act located here: http://www.huduser.org/intercept.asp?loc=/Publications/PDF/FAIRHOUSING/fairfull.pdf