architypes.net - Fulfilling Environments

The fundamental goal of all of these patterns is to create environments that fulfill human needs and aspirations.

These environments consist both of interior and exterior spaces, and the structures which define those spaces. They range in scale from entire cities to the smallest details of a building.

The needs and aspirations that these environments seek to fulfill range from the most primal human needs for protective and comfortable shelter, to the most etheral aspirations of art and beauty.

This pattern can best be summarized as follows:

"The purpose of Architecture is to improve human life. Create timeless, free, joyous spaces for all activities in life. The infinite variety of these spaces can be as varied as life itself and they must be as sensible as nature in deriving from a main idea and flowering into a beautiful entity."

- John Lautner, Architect

The primary way in which patterns are organized on Architypes.net is by their goal. For example, all patterns related to making spaces feel protective are grouped together.

This section allows you to view patterns in other groupings, such as by the type of building or environment that they apply to.

When designing a building or other environment, one has to deal with a huge number of often competing demands. These demans range from the practical needs of the people inhabiting the space to various goals to create a beautiful, uplifting and protective environment. The patterns in this category describe proven approaches to the task of organizing these needs and goals through the design process.

Few buildings, parks or other environments are an island unto themselves. Instead, architectural projects are usually part of a larger community, which they should contribute to and benefit from. The patterns in this category deal with the design of communities as a whole, and how individual projects should be integrated into those communities.

Key to making a building really "work" is to consider and respond to its context. This category contains patterns related to responding to the building's context, such as the site on which it is located, nearby buildings, direction of the sun, and the local climate.

We naturally seek shelter where we can be protected from the larger world. This category contains patterns of how buildings can not only provide physical shelter, but provide a psychological retreat from the world.

We seek to occupy environments that excite us and make us feel fully alive.

People sometimes speak of buildings or spaces that feel depressing; this pattern speaks to the antithesis of such buildings and spaces.

Creating environments that are exciting and uplifting sometimes requires doing things that are contradictory to another key pattern, creating protective spaces. ...

A great deal of the beauty that people appreciate in buildings and furnishings comes from the appearance, texture, color, strengths and other characteristics of the materials they are made of. Materials are, in fact, the first thing that many people are aware of noticing.

Materials are particularly pleasing when their true nature is celebrated. Use materials in the manner they are most ...

We seek beauty in the environments we occupy.

In the most successful buildings and their parts, the aesthetics are seamlessly linked with the purpose of the building or part.

Beauty comes from exactly filling function, having order and harmony, and affording physical, intellectual and emotional satisfaction

For instance, while a repeating pattern (rhythm) of paint ...

A building is most compelling when it can be clearly perceived in the mind as a single coherent whole, rather than a collection of only loosely related parts