As we’ve been house hunting this spring, I’ve put together a Pattern Language House Scorecard to help evaluate prospective houses based on the most relevant patterns in A Pattern Language. It’s highly unique to us: I’ve selected patterns that I think matter the most to us (describing them in terms I can...
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@mbattles @ablerism Reporting back here: it’s unclear to me how successful the effort to quantify this was. Most of the houses we looked at scored very similarly to one another in total points. The house we ended up with might still have been the highest, barely. The exercise was probably most helpful for getting us to give attention to which patterns matter the most for us and whether/how they were present in the houses we looked at.
We did end up with this wonderful room, which has light on 3 sides, functions as an alcove off of the main living room, contains a seating circle, and has views of the woodstove (hearth) in the center of that living room:
(Photo credit: @bethanyh)
@andrewz This makes sense—there is value in giving shape to attention! I wonder if there’s an expanded version that takes in patterns at neighborhood and community scale—perhaps you already had these patterns/factors sorted?
@mbattles Great idea! About the only improvement there over our last place was integration with nature (lots of natural spaces within walking distance). Our old neighborhood was in the heart of the Cities (c. 1920s construction) and so built according to a lot more of these patterns than our new 1950s-era suburban neighborhood. But that proximity to natural space (and quiet) mattered a lot for us.
@andrewz I just met someone who is a “sustainable realtor” in the Twin Cities. He helps people think about exactly these kinds of holistic questions when looking for a home. We could have used someone like this for our last move. I’m glad you found a deliberate way to ask these questions!
