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arthur_p_dent) wrote2021-06-30 09:44 pm
Me… Home Design
(This week’s side note: I like the heading format I use for my “New Thing” posts, so I'm going to carry it over here - the name of the post, and then the topic. A bit of organization for me, and a bit more informative for you, the reader.)
Welcome to week two. =]
Home design (specifically, designing floor plans) was something I just started doing on some random weekend afternoon back in my teens. I remember we had a Reader’s Digest book about home architecture from the 50’s 60’s & 70’s. Each chapter started with a sketch of the outside of a house, and then discussed the design and style elements. I never read the chapters - didn’t care about that part of it. But I did start to imagine from the sketches just how each of those houses would be laid out on the inside, and one day I grabbed some graph paper, a pencil and a ruler, and started drawing floor plans.
One in particular was my all-time favourite. It’s been well over 30 years but I could sit down right now and recreate it almost exactly as I did back then. And if I were to build a house today, it would be this house. It was a 60’s style horseshoe ranch, set on a corner lot. One arm of the horseshoe was the 2-car garage, with the driveway coming off of the side street. The base of the horseshoe started behind the garage with the kitchen and dining room, followed by a 2-step sunken living room. The final arm of the horseshoe started with 2 smaller bedrooms along the back of the house, and the master at the front. Large windows in the living and dining rooms overlooked the back yard, where there was a large deck and in-ground pool. In the front, the horseshoe design of the house created a courtyard entrance, with a cement bridge spanning a large pond and waterfall feature. (like I said, I could draw it right now if I wanted)
With the benefit of hindsight, I can look back now and see that this was how I was able to express creativity. I’m a very left-brained person - analytical, linear, strong at using things like scale and spatial reasoning. If I were to try painting, I would end up with a lot of hard lines and stark colours, and would probably make Bob Ross want to rethink his statement that “anyone can paint”. But this was almost like a natural extension of my normal way of thinking, and became an art form for me.
Again with the benefit of hindsight, I can look back now and see some of the possibilities of how my life could have played out differently. This could easily have been a career opportunity. It would have meant attending different schools in different cities, meeting different people, etc etc. I’m not saying I regret the choices I made in life - but I do find it interesting to think about the different paths a life could follow.
I wish I knew what happened to that book. Every floor plan I did was kept in that book, folded neatly and tucked in at the start of the chapter it came from. The book, and all the drawings, disappeared years ago - probably along with all of the Reader’s Digest volumes of short stories that my parents collected back in the 70’s (anybody remember those?)
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Science was one of those classes that I saw as just a “requirement”. Maybe is was the generalized subject matter, maybe it was the teachers I had, or some combo thereof. Regardless, I never had any interest in it. And without interest, I would never apply any more effort than the absolute bare minimum needed to pass and move on.
So, when the aptitude testing pointed at Engineering, I looked into the kinds of classes I would need to focus on through high school - multiple years of Physics, Chemistry, Finite Mathematics. Then into University, more and more of the same. I didn’t even want to take the two mandatory semesters of general science in high school - there was no way I was going to subject myself to any more than that voluntarily.
Another contributing factor was that I was notoriously lazy as a student. I didn’t like putting effort into any subject. For the ones that came easily to me, there was no issue - good grades basically just happened. And I guess that’s kind of how I ended up on the path I did. It was essentially the path of least resistance. A goal I could attain while doing the least amount of work along the way.
Well, you wanted rambling - I think I came through for you. =]
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Stealing this! It's even almost my name XD
That all makes sense and I can definitely relate. Math was my favorite subject in school until it got to a level where I had to put effort in, something I'd never really learned to do. I was one of those gifted kids who never developed good study habits and got anxious when I had to try to accomplish something, haha. Sounds like you might've been in a similar category? My youngest brother is currently in school to be an engineer and just based on what I've heard about the curriculum, I certainly don't blame you for washing your hands of the idea. Nor for wanting to move along with minimal effort, come to that!
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Pretty much sums me up too. =]
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Yay!!! I finally figured out adding an image! =]
Did this all in Excel. The left is the original that I created from a paper sketch. The three after that are with my revisions, showing different aspects. For the record, this was version 8 - I kept making changes along the way until I was happy with the result.
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Now? If not then I don’t know what the problem is. I can see the image in both comments on my end.
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I uploaded the image into DW. The first time I copied the image URL and pasted it in the post. The second time I copied the thumbnail URL and pasted it. I’mobviously doing something wrong but it’s not obvious to me just what that something is.
Edit: the file was set to Access List only. I just changed it to Public. Hoping that was the problem and it’s fixed now. 🤞
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It looks really good :D I especially like seeing the original draft and revisions as well as the final(?) draft; it's cool to see how you tweaked things and brought it all together with more details. Really shows the thought that went into the design. I hope you'll share more some time!