Women Designing Homes

As an architect and as a mother there are things that I notice about homes that others don't, like the way a floor plan flows, the way that the plan makes for more housework, the way children use their spaces, the feelings that a space can convey.

The majority of housing in this country is designed and built by men. The majority of houses in this country are kept by women. Even women that work full time still are the primary caregivers for our homes. Rarely is the opportunity given to women to design their own spaces and make them as productive, timesaving and comfortable as they want and need them to be.

There are subtle differences in a house plan designed by a woman. She creates quiet places for herself, nooks and playspaces for her children where they can play with wild abandon but still be under the careful watchful eye of their mother. She creates household work stations that are fully functioning and spacious enough to accomodate a myriad of tasks, considering everything from craft projects, household repairs, cleaning tasks, and pet care. She also createse bathrooms whose primary functions are to clean and to stay clean. Her primary concern is not the shear size and luxury of the bathroom , but the ease of maintenance of the fixtures and finishes and her ability to give multiple children baths quickly, efficiently and safely. She pays attention to sharp corners, traffic jams, durability and cleanabilty. She worries about bumps to the head, surfaces that will stain, fingers that will get pinched and splintered.

It is a completely different way to design a house. We need to look at the family as a whole and how they function inside of their home. What can be done to lighten the load of mom? What can be done to make the whole household run more efficiently? What rooms need to be rearanged? What spaces need to be added? What surfaces need to be changed? It is a matter of re-looking at the way that a family uses a house.