CHAPTER 11
EXTERIOR HOUSE DESIGN

After the interior floor plans of a house have been tentatively
designed to fit the needs and activities of a family an exterior must
be found or preferably created to suit the interior. It is sometimes
possible to find a ready-made plan so nearly like the one evolved
by the family that its ready-made exterior design can be used.
Generally, however, the family that cannot afford complete archi-
tectural service should engage an architect to design at least the
exterior and to revise its tentative interior plan where necessary
for convenience, economy, and appearance. The architect's ex-
perience and taste should enable him to crystallize the ideas of the
family into exterior and interior plans for a practical and beautiful
house.

The choice of the exterior design often depends on whether a
sloping roof or a flat roof is desired. Sloping roofs are more
familiar for they are used on most traditional houses. Flat roofs,
however, cost less, weigh less, do not waste space, and can easily
be extended. Compare the roof lines on page 191.

Some interior floor plans indicate clearly what the exteriors
should be like. If a floor plan is symmetrical with a central en-
trance hall and a room on each side, the house may have one of
several different types of balanced exteriors. It may be based on
a Cape Cod, Colonial, Dutch Colonial, Georgian, Regency, or
French house. All these houses with their passive, symmetrical
facades should stand on flat ground,

If a floor plan is irregular, the exterior may be designed as Non-
Period, Modern, Jamaican, rural Mediterranean, or a ranch-house
type. Asymmetrical houses like these are suitable for either flat
ground or hillsides* Irregular houses must be more restrained in.
the city than is necessary in the country.

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