obeirnedesign

Last week I had a work experience student in the office. On his last day he brought in a  floor plan of a house he designed for a school project when he was in grade 6. With a mix of pride and apprehension he showed me his design and asked, “Can it be built”?

As I looked over the design I considered his question. I thought about the use of the space, the bushfire requirements, the energy efficiency implications, the required head height over stairs, the rise and run of steps, the width of passages, the swimming pool fence requirements, the difficulty of the build, the practicality of curved glass and the expense of the build.

After considering all of these practicalities and rules I stopped…………. I stopped because I was suddenly reminded of a house I designed when I was 10 years old, (it was an underground house with periscope windows). Just like the design I was currently looking over with a critical eye, it was a house that was designed with pure imagination and uninhibited by any form of constraint. It was pure design, pure joy and a refreshing jolt back to the reason why we do this job in the first place.

So, the question was, “Can it be built’? My answer, “YES.!”