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3500 sqft Bungalow, California
June 27th, 2009 |  9 Comments

3500 sqft Bungalow, California (PDF)
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  • Grace

    The worst thing about this house is the pretentiousness of it all, beginning with the portico and epitomized by the master bathroom, which is larger than the living room. Two doors into a gang shower but not a coat closet in sight!

    Everything seems like an afterthought to the master suite. What would a cultural anthropologist conclude from the ruins of such a house in which one bedroom/bath dominate and all else seems ancillary, in which children are afforded little rooms off an ill-thought-out kitchen, in which the ‘family room’ is as far removed as possible from the parental suite?

  • Elva

    - The oversized master bedroom and ensuite compared to the the rest of the house. How many waking hours are acually spent in either of these rooms to justify the space and expense? Unless of course one plans to entertain here.

    - A kitchen that seems more like a throughway then a workable space. What’s with that narrow hallway to the south? Would it be used other then to access the bedrooms?

    - Small second and third bedrooms and shared bath.

  • Paul C

    McMansion…it has probably been used before but if not, let’s coin a new phrase “Hummer House”

    Single worst thing: the enormous waste/abuse of resources.

  • John

    @Paul: “Single worst thing: the enormous waste/abuse of resources.”
    @Grace: “The worst thing about this house is the pretentiousness of it all”

    Waste of resources? There is no such thing. If the owner can afford the bill and enjoys the results, there is no “waste”. There is simply usage that you don’t agree with. Who died and left you King? Trying to impose your choices on others is my definition of pretentious.

    I wouldn’t want to live in this house, or in a neighborhood with this house. I am defending the right of other people to make choices different than mine. Somebody is buying these houses, so clearly, there are people who want them.

  • John

    RE: Coat closets

    There is much less need for coat closets in warm weather areas like Southern California. I lived in California for 20 years, and never missed not having a coat closet. On the other hand, it was very nice to have one when I lived in Illinois.

  • CL

    In my opinion, the worst things about this house are layout (master bedroom and guest bedroom entrance doors in living room and children’s bedrooms next to kitchen and family room) and size of master bath and bedroom.

  • Magnus

    This house seems designed to make sure family members don’t need to see/deal with each other. Everyone can retire to their part of the house alone.

    I can almost see that master ensuite in a scene from a Woody Allen movie symbolizing the domestic alienation of the couple that lives there. Over the noise of faucets running and hair dryers blowing the couple shout to each other from opposite sides of their enormous bathroom and manage to get their morning routine done with out having to actually see each other each.

    What’s wrong?

    1. General incoherence of the layout
    2. The overblown and somewhat silly master ensuite
    3. The crowded and cluttered south wing with its tiny bedrooms and awkward angles and flow.

    Isn’t it odd that their is a fire place in the master bedoom suite but not in the main living room or family room. There is such a focus on the that suite that the rest of the house seems like an afterthought.

    Magnus

  • Paul C

    John,
    I appreciate your viewpoint and respectfully, one opinion does not constitute an imposition. In my opinion, this home is representative of a form of development which is less than sustainable and market demand does not make it so. Therefore, in my opinion, it is wasteful.

  • Grace

    John–You might want to read the principles upon which we base our judgments in the case studies. You can find them in the upper right portion of the site. This is a green site, in which resource depletion is an important issue. It’s also a design site where aesthetic and practical considerations are analyzed. And, it’s an educational site, with the presumption that taste and desire, both of which are cultural products, can be developed and nuanced as new knowledge and ideas are brought to bear on ingrained habits.

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