Planning and Building a Home

Shelter like food and clothing, is one of our fundamental needs. There are many problems, sanitary, economic, social and architectual, involved in a consideration of shelter. There are two considerations of prime importance which should influence every decision made in connection with the selection of a house. First, the primary use of a house is for protection, it is what we put between us and the world. Second, the house is our base, the point from which we make our contacts with the world, the place where we recover from our daily struggles and prepare for them, the place from which we set forth for adventure and pleasure, it is like a naval station where ships are repaired and where they get their supplies, and as with ships and their bases, the distance which we can put between ourselves and our houses is limited. Our choice of a house, as all our choices are, limited. In the case of the choice of a house the greatest limitation is the economic one, again the occupations of the income-earning members of the family limit the choice of location. The plans for the house consist of floor plan, roof plan, elevation of interior and drawings of parts of the house such as fireplace, built-in cabinets and doors. This floor plan is drawn to the quarter inch scale