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Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater: Still Fabulous at 72 |
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For most Americans the most important house in America is the White House. For architects it’s Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater. It is revered because of its extraordinary design and because it demonstrates what is possible when a designer has a one in a million clients who is willing to leap into the great unknown and build a house that breaks with tradition in just about every way. |
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The Greening of Golf Course Living |
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New golf course communities now incorporate environmentally sensitive planning in the selection of turfgrasses, the amount and frequency of fertilizer and pesticides applications, the establishment of mini-ecosystems and mini-wetlands, and the collection of storm water runoff from adjoining houses.
The best also have freeways wide enough to keep golf balls out of the homeowners’ yards. |
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Design for Visitors With Special Needs |
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For many age-denying boomers, planning for their own old age while planning a new house is unthinkable. But if they make the house “visit-able” for visitors of any age who use a wheelchair or a walker, they might eventually benefit themselves. |
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Bringing Kids to the Design Table |
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When children are asked to participate in the planning of a new house, the design is often enriched. Although the parents worry that their children’s fantasies will be extravagant and expensive, architects said that the kids’ ideas are usually simple, easy to execute and almost never things that the parents or the architect would have suggested. |
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Suburban Ranch House Is American Original |
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If asked to name America's most important contribution to residential architecture, most people would probably suggest Abraham Lincoln's log cabin, a Southern plantation mansion like Scarlett O'Hara's Tara (even though it was only a movie set) or George Washington's Mount Vernon. |
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InSync Home: Not Your Mother's McMansion |
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Most American households own timesaving devices that would astound our great-great grandmothers who lived 100 years go. But few households have taken technology to the next level and surrounded themselves with equipment that can smooth out the rough edges of life. For example, massage by 22 spray nozzles in a shower, with water temperature programmed to match your mood. |
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TV for Every Room |
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The variety of televisions on the market today is mind-boggling. There are different types, an enormous range in screen size, and nuances in picture quality and resolution to satisfy the most persnickety movie buff or the sports nut who wants to watch instant replay with minimal blurring. And there’s a price to fit almost every homeowner’s budget. |
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Sizing Up: Big Houses and Happiness |
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When the goal of owning a new house is to impress your peers and friends, it won’t bring you happiness for long because, according to two University of Chicago economists, bragging rights are not a sustainable source of happiness. But if your goal is a modest house that supports a modest lifestyle without regard to the “next new thing,” your new house could be a boon to your life. |
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When There's Too Much Room for Real Togetherness |
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Every household member needs some privacy and a space to call his or her own. The household also needs to spend time together. The thousands of interactions between parents and their children teach the children how to get along with other people, a crucial skill for a civil society. The interactions between the adults help them to sustain their relationship as they face the numerous challenges of raising their children. |
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Value Beyond Cost Per Square Foot |
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New home buyers’ insistence on evaluating quality in terms of the best deal and the lowest cost per square foot has consequences that they don’t’ appreciate. The builder who offers the biggest house for the lowest cost has most likely compromised quality at every step of the construction process. |
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