Evening star., 1936-08-01
COMFORT IS KEY
IN HOME BUILDING
Increased Stress on Con-
venience Is Evident in
New Plans.


we're outlined by Hugh Potter, home
builder of Houston, Texas, former
president of the National Association
of Real Estate Boards, in an address
before the recent Great Lakes Regional
Convention of the association.
Emphasizing the degree to which
comfort can be achieved for house
through its design. Potter, member
of the Housing Advisory Council of
the Federal Housing Administration.
former chairman of the land develop
ers and home builders division OF the
national association, said in regard to
the architectural plan for the moder-
ate-priced house:
The thing that is most obvious to
me in the new plans is the increase
in convenience to the occupants, a
thing which may be designated as
use-seuuence The phrase means, of
course, the order in which you use
things. Our achitects and builders
seem only recently to have come to
designing homes in response largely
to the demand of the housewife, so
that the things which she uses are
placed before her in the order in which
she normally uses them, and she does
not have to run from one end Of a
room to the other, or from one end
of the house to the other, to do
things that normally follow each other
in her days work.
Plan From Inside Out.
"The result of adopting the use
sequence idea is that you will invari-
ably plan your house from the inside
out, that you will design your floor
plans before your exterior, that you
will effect complete working unity
inside the home before you undertake
to devise the pleasing architectural
:. elevations which all of US hope will
characterize our structures.
"The contrary method Of procedure,
too frequently used, Is to commence
with an exterior that is to look like
some other structure and undertake
to place in it the rooms we need Tor
the family that Is to live in 1t. The
second method probably will result
In a greater total expense and IN
house which does not meet the con-
venience demands of the family which
Is to live and work in it.
another important point is COM
mendable tendency upon the part OF
designers to relate the interior OF our
houses to the out of doors. There has
come upon us rather suddenly in this
generation in the design OF small
- homes a realization of the tlne
.. 1ealth-producing living that IS avail
.. able to us if this Is done. You Will
now see, even in Northern climates,
porches, patios, terraces, sun rooms,
sleeping porches for use during that
part of the year when feasible. All
of these ARRANGEMENTS of the home,
the ward and the garden which en-
able the occupants Of a small mouse
to spend as much time as possible In
the air and sunshine are highly de-
sirable features and add very little
to the total cost.
Architects Take More Interest.
"It also Is part of the present tend
ency to take into consideration the
existence of, or the prospect OF, chill
dren in the family.
"It seems to me that there Is an
increasing willingness upon the part
of the architects, the skilled men at
the top of the profession, to devote
time and thought to the production
of q small home, although unfortu-
nately many of them still shy away
from it. There are many of them, OF
course, who are too busy with more
profitable work. There are some
men, of course, and that might include
men who have designed some OF the
finest skyscrapers, who should not try
to design a small house"
OF materials and mechanical equip
Ment, Potter said:
I'm home construction We are now
witnessing marked increase in the use
of more durable materials, and pro-
nounced trend in the direction OF the
Use of fire-resisting materials These
make for permanence and Is deslr-
able, especially where land values are
high.
Gadgets Too Expensive.
"In the congested areas OF large
municipalities the fire hazard is
heavy one, and there even in the pro-
duction of the less expensive units we
probably should aim at the fire-resist-
ing structures But in the less popu-
lated areas, where the abundance of
land keeps it at a more reasonable
price, the fire hazard may perhaps
better be minimized by requiring
larger spacing between homes and the
usage of larger building sites, rather
than the incurring of extra expense
in the use of fireproof materials.
Along with the use of more durable
materials has come an unusual de-
velopment of mechanical equipment.
In this field come conditioning,
indirect lighting, better devices for
washing, cooking cleaning and what
not. These and other improvements
are nothing short of startling, but
they are available as yet only at far
too great price to be used in volume
1T is unfair to the prospective home
owner that advertising exaggerations
are being practiced which tend to per-
suade the man of moderate income
that he can actually have these new
devices in modest home at a very
slight increase in the total cost. The
fact is that present prices of such
mechanical Improvements as COM
plete air-conditioning are prohibitiye