House Research Is Hard Work
Not all that long ago, maybe seven or so posts everyone got to talking about why we build square houses instead of round houses. As noted by me, it was an interesting question — worthy of further research. Off I went; full research mode.
Guess what I found out? Not a blooming thing.
I’m not sure where you do go to find out the history of square homes but it sure isn’t the internet. Using various search terms combining various key words such as house, home, square, history, building, why, … and so on turned up plenty of historical sites and a mess of state capitol building stories but not one of how dear old pa out on the range built the first square home.
So, back to the drawing board. Unless a nice architect comes along with some helpful sites to recommend I’m off to the public library soon because now I’m determined.
In other news, actual interesting to see news, I thought I might dig up some odd square structures. This is the ‘Jennifer can’t find the answer yet, square consolation prize’.
Interestingly I found this picture on Flickr while I was hunting for a picture of an apple (huh). Does this look like an apple to you? I don’t like to use Flickr pictures because I like to bring you a story with the structures here. But I really liked this building. Here’s the lowdown from Flickr, “This building is in Amsterdam”.
Not great, I know, but look at how cool with all the square attachments! If you know something more about this building let us know. Maybe the photographer will come by!
Next up is a home I do have the goods on. It’s square and squat like a little toaster oven.
This home at MoCo Loco is fab and as square as squarish round can be.
Designed as a space saver home the real surprise is on the inside. There’s a cylinder shaped spinning room inside that contains a bedroom, bath, and kitchen. You have to see it to believe it.
Here’s another exterior view:
Strange. Yet oddly, luring me in.
What do you think?
[Photos via MoCo Loco... Go dig around, they have amazing sights]
Tags: apple, back_to_the_drawing_board, capitol_building, consolation_prize, flickr, historical_sites, history_of_square, lowdown, moco_loco, research_mode, space_saver, spinning_room, square_history, square_houses, state_capitol, toaster_ovenRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Eccentricities
4 opinions for House Research Is Hard Work
Angelique
Jul 12, 2007 at 9:10 am
When I checked out the inside of the roundish-squarish house, all I could think was, “A little too plasticky for me.” I think I’d do better as a squatting gnome than a space-age home owner!
I applaud you for heading to your local library. I think people have forgotten about them! : )
Also, I am wondering if you could just randomly pick an architectural group and send them an email? They might answer you for a PR blip on the blog.
Angelique
mysti
Jul 12, 2007 at 9:23 am
Here’s an idea in regards to the square vs round house:
With any square home, it is much easier to add up, down and sideways. You can always expand upon buildings that are rigid and structured. During the building boom in the early years, they took advantage of the same that could be saved by building upwards. Round homes, however, pose amazing challenges when building on. Although the space in those homes is absolutely amazing (I’ve seen a few first hand!) the feasibility of saving ’space’ is limited.
Jennifer Chait
Jul 13, 2007 at 2:57 am
Hmm, the emailing an architect group or forum might work — but I do frequent some forums just to see what’s up in their world and it might cause more fuss than not to ask. I LOVE architects and designers (obviously) but they seem overly busy and.. well, that’s all I’ll say. But yes, it might help.
Mysti.. good point. I’m not sure if someone pointed that out on the other thread or not. Although, I’ve seen many a very tall round building. My theory was lack of tools — which I’m steadfast sticking too until I learn otherwise. I had another thought today that maybe it’s only the US — if you look at designs (even old ones) in many other places they do build round.
Oh, the never ending offbeat questions that have taken over my world… Thanks for stopping by you two :)
Christina
Jul 24, 2007 at 12:36 am
One note on building a square house vs. a round one…Cost is probably one of the biggest factors. It’s much more expensive to build a curved shape in building construction than it is a flat plane. Square shapes are simply much cheaper to build.
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