Garage Door Rant

I love architecture but am not an architect. I love to watch it, learn about it and try to understand it. I enjoy figuring out why some buildings are a great success and some hurt my eye to look at them. I guess I could be characterized as an alert observer; someone who knows enough to be dangerous.

With that disclaimer firmly in place, I will add that I love Pioneer era homes in Utah. To me, these are the hot homes of our time. Pioneer homes, built from 1842-1870 are charming and comforting. Sanpete County is full of these incredible stone testaments to the ability of men without power tools. They have beautiful physical exteriors that provide meaning to our great respect for the men and women who settled the state.

The Victorian followers are right up there on my list as well. A red brick, two story, decorated home from the late 1800’s is hard to beat. They are larger, have more ornamentation and elicit “oohs” and “aahhs” each time I see one. They maintain principles of balance, mass, proportion, rhythm and scale beautifully.

The post WWII , mass produced Sears bungalow kits although humble, were pleasing to look at and had character. They were functional, attractive and still stand as a good example of how the country stepped up to the plate when the boys came home and needed a place for their families.

In the late 60’s and 70’s the design of homes took a turn for the worse in my view as the horrible split level was invented. I know, I grew up in one. We lived in a neighborhood full of them, one exactly like the next, any unique character stripped away, placed on curved, confusing streets where addresses became hard to find and culdesacs were valued as a new important feature in some neighborhoods. Contractors started to eliminate parking strips containing trees and grass, favoring the asphalt, curb, concrete look, and neighborhoods without a speck of street presence became the norm. Profit drove the builders’ choices and my parents, glad to move up from the bungalow or rectangle were glad for the space that our split level provided. Little did we know that the contractor was saving money on the footprint of the house at our expense.

I would propose that a house has a job to do besides providing comfort and protection for its inhabitants. A house has a responsibility to be a contributing member of its community. The places where people live become living, changing organisms and houses in all their forms add or detract from the experience. This is not to say that houses must be big or expensive. Some of the most charming neighborhoods contain the most modest homes. Sarah Susanka in “The Not So Big House” reminds us, “We are all searching for home, but we are trying to find it by building more rooms and more space. Instead of thinking about the quality of the spaces we live in, we tend to focus on quantity. A house is so much more than its size and volume, neither of which has anything to do with comfort.”

Fast forward to the homes of today. Buyers are demanding and builders are building homes with more style and ability to make walking down the street a more pleasant experience. I believe one important element is lacking still. A welcoming entryway is one characteristic of a successful home. A house needs a front door. This is the important place where family, friends, and neighbors are invited in. Why are we allowing the critical front door to be vanquished, steamrolled, and overcome by the garage doors?

The front entry may be dressed up in recent homes but the effort is negated when the garage doors, ten times the size of the front door, bury its existence. No wonder occupants’ most common observation in these new front doorless neighborhoods is that they don’t know their neighbors. When the garage is so ”in your face”, the homeowner approaches, the doors go up and they disappear inside, never to be seen again. Removing the human scale from a house is the reason that people don’t know why they don’t like their neighborhood or why it feels uncomfortable. Placement of the garage doors in the primary, rather than secondary position is an error that can easily be overcome. Instead of the plane containing the doors being built in front of the front door plane, push it back. A mere six foot reveal can serve to reinvigorate the friendly front door. Edelman, Gaman and Reid in “What Not to Build” advise, “integrating the garage door into the overall design is the best way to prevent them from overwhelming the exterior design.”

Emphasized garages instead of welcoming front doors will be seen as the architectural mistake of our generation. Next time you meet with your builder, work with him to correct this mistake in the plans. Yes, you will spend a bit more to have a longer driveway but at the end of the day, you will appreciate this design improvement. Your back yard will not suffer any by removing six feet from it. Remember, quality will always trump quantity in home design. Hey you might even get to know your neighbors if they can find the front door. Homeowners unite, take back your power and insist on a front door location that will contribute to your comfort, add to the warmth of the of the street, and increase your long-term property value.