Remembering The Home

In the process of growing up, it holds true that the childhood home affects a person the most, in terms of growing up and the moulding of a person's personality. Some may say it's a process no child cares about, but subliminally it is the house that shapes the child subconsciously into the person he/she is today. It shapes our understanding of spatial characteristics and qualities, the house is a silent teacher. The creaking staircase, worn out floor tiles, walls that held for years without a single complaint and the doors that tire from being slammed repeatedly. The house teaches us patiently, over the years, without regard for whether or not we understood the lessons taught.

Truthfully the house one grows up in leaves a lasting impression on the person, whether or not the person decides to admit it. What your house was, is or should have been will forever be perhaps at the back of your head, playing an important part in an individual's perception of space. The place i grew up in, the place i call home, is but a simple brick house. Often i fail to understand how this simple double storey house plays a vital part in my understanding of place and architecture. Perhaps i've began to take the place i grew up in for granted. However i find that i have learnt much from this house.

Nevertheless, the way my childhood home affected me was not a direct one. Perhaps like Mies, the house that helped me understand was more of a house i didn't have. I have lived in my childhood house for the past 20 years and it still feels the same. It is a simple double-storey house with 3 bedrooms. From the exterior it looks like any other normal house should be, simple and inviting. Upon entering the house one would be standing in the living room, a small one but comfortable, enough to fit a sofa and a television for family movies and the sort. Next up is the dining area, there sits a dining table for breakfast, lunch, dinner and everything in between. To the left would be the staircase, creaky but sturdy as ever even after two decades of service. Straight ahead is the kitchen, bigger than necessary however. Inside the kitchen, there is a toilet and a storeroom. Backtracking to the staircase, walking upwards there would be another living room in the heart of the first floor, three other doors visible, leading into the three bedrooms.

I'm not complaining about my house, however. But in my opinion it could have been better, in living in this house i have learnt of several do's and don't's of design and spatial planning. This house would be said to have a rather indirect method of teaching me spatial characteristics. For one, the kitchen takes up about 1/3 of the length of the house, although it consists of a storeroom and a toilet, a kitchen need not take up so much space. The space mentioned could be used towards the betterment of the comfort in the house. Not to say that my house isn't at all comfortable.

Regarding this example, i find most of my designs, whether they be on paper or not, consists of a kitchen that takes up little to no space at all, a kitchen that may be integrated with the dining room. That or a smaller kitchen would be more favorable in my opinion. For me, the living room is the heart of the house, and should be the part of the house that takes up the most area. My house does not consist of a huge living area, but i would prefer if it had. These are the sort of examples of the things my childhood home has thought me, and it has visibly affected my design choices.

This much being said, our childhood home may not be the most perfect of houses. It is there to provide shelter from the elements, and to silently guide us in whatever ways it is able. The house i live in may not be flawless, but i have found myself in this house and it has greatly affected my thoughts and ideals in architecture and spatial comfort. And for all these, i feel that there is truly no place like home.