thebitcoinyogi on Nostr: Make architecture sound again! Insightful essay from JonesN on patterns he’s ...

Make architecture sound again!

Insightful essay from JonesN (npub1kep…4w62) on patterns he’s bringing back for designing homes on a #bitcoin standard….

quoting note138k…59rj

In a world where homes are increasingly valued by their size and room types rather than their functionality and authenticity, it's time to rethink how we design and build houses. [A Pattern Language](https://www.patternlanguage.com/bookstore/pattern-language.html), written by Christopher Alexander in 1977, offers a timeless approach to architecture that prioritizes human needs and experiences. Architects and homeowners can use this classic work as a pre-fiat reference to learn about principles to create functional, authentic, and meaningful homes. The principles can be used to create homes that are worth HODLing.

How would your grandmother use this space? [Muir,](https://muirstewart.com/) my favorite Scottish professor in architecture school, asked this question. Besides, have you boys ever seen a pint of Guinness Stout? In Alabama in the last century, a pint of Guinness did not exist, and the idea of writing your name in the head with a fountain pen to see it at the bottom of the glass was even before our time. 

Planning spaces for how your grandmother used them sent us at Jones Pierce down the
rabbit hole of designing for humans and not the current fashions of that day. This led my
baby architect tribe to A Pattern Language, written in 1977, and [A Timeless Way of Building,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Timeless_Way_of_Building)
written by Christopher Alexander in 1979. Alexander and graduate students researched and
documented their projects over eight years to create Patterns that individuals and groups
could use as a shared pattern language to design for themselves and their communities.

A Pattern Language and the Timeless Way of Building were open source before there was
open source. The books outline a process meant to be used by the people and groups
designing their own spaces utilizing a collection of shared patterns combined to solve the
design problem of their site, built for their unique needs.

Now, I look back and wonder if the book's conception to enable people to design their own authentic spaces, neighborhoods, and towns was the self-design guide it was intended for or if it was a reaction to inflation that began to kick in in the early 70s. Were Alexander and the crew trying to provide a lifeline as housing products decreased in quality? You know how architects are…they probably thought the layperson did not know how to build meaningful spaces. Maybe when the erosion of fiat currency started, it was not allowing people to consider affording meaningful space.

To prepare for the coming time when hard assets will once again enable people to build
authentic architecture, it is worth reconsidering the Patterns used from a time before fiat.
Interestingly, Pattern Language and the Timeless Way process use patterns to create
personal architecture based on sound money. Structures are designed mindfully,
developed organically, and built to last. In other words, *architecture on a bitcoin standard*.

From my own professional experience working with clients, I have seen that, given a choice, people always choose the most interesting space that best aligns with their needs in the best community they want to afford. The patterns for design (from Pattern Language) are still relevant as a starting point to build with hard money assets again - bitcoin. These patterns are baked into our process of working with clients at Jones Pierce, and I want to share some of the relevant patterns from the book with my commentary on how they have evolved from the 70s until today to create homes worth HODLing.

**Patterns for the Site**

Analyzing the site and site patterns is the most critical first step for homes worth HODLing. We want to end the practice of "ready, aim, fire" - when the builder makes their well-considered opening move by calling the Grading Guy to clear a building site. Features came with your property as part of the price of the land; take a breath and figure out how to capture the most potential of your property to create a building site. These are some of the patterns essential to us:

*104: Site repair* – Locate building sites on parts of the land in the worst conditions, not the
best. Be a contrarian and locate a house on the edge of a flat spot to create quality outdoor
spaces the house can open to.

*105: South facing outdoors* – Locate buildings in a place to allow indoor/ outdoor transitions to happen to the south. If south is not possible, East works for morning outdoor spaces, and west works for afternoon spaces if you can protect the outdoor spaces from the heat.

*112: Entrance transitions* – In The Pattern Language, this pattern is about an urban entrance oƯ the street into the building. We apply the pattern to capture the total use of properties. Define the entrance to the property to visually claim the space to use the entire front yard for your benefit and not just the HOA's.

*134: Zen view* - Analyze the site for Zen view potential to orient windows and spaces to connect space beyond the house's walls visually. This pattern works well with site lighting to extend your night view beyond the window's glass. On more significant sites, we analyze for opinions and work out places to capture the money shot for essential rooms. We also think about creating smaller Zen-view moments that happen continuously while living in the house. Why not make a surprise view through a slot window when brushing your teeth?

*168: Plan to connect buildings to the earth*—Use paths and gardens throughout the building to blur the line between the future building and gardens. To accomplish this blur, we study the site topography to ensure that the construction will not create an oversized kill zone caused by grading a house in the wrong spot.

*177: Vegetable garden* – 1/40 acre per person for food production. It is even better when combined with *169 terraced slopes*, *170 fruit trees, 173 garden walls, 175 greenhouses,* and *178 compost.* When designing a custom home, the design thoughts extend to the property line. We like landscapes that have classic landscape organization with food production. Make your house a homestead to prepare for [The Mandibles, A Family, 2029 - 2047](https://www.amazon.com/Mandibles-Family-2029-2047-Lionel-Shriver/dp/006232828X) scenario if times get tough, or provide nutrient-dense food for your loved ones.

**Patterns for the Building**

We are attracted to patterns that provide a return on investment beyond money. How does a house footprint create outdoor space, have a rational roof plan, and let in natural light? Do the rooms function by following the sun around the house during the day? Can we use design to create a place to work, recover, entertain, and retreat? How can a house design allow an owner to transition through life phases in the same house? Can we save space and cost by function stacking to use the same space more than one way? Is there an opportunity to create rental income or a place to work on side gigs to convert more fiat to BTC? The following are some patterns we think about:

*106: Positive outdoor space* - Use wings pattern 107 of light to create an L-shaped positive
outdoor space. Designing homes that make outdoor spaces contrasts with building a
square-shaped plan with a roof that does not relate to the plan we call a PILE… a pile of
excrement, typically.

*128: Indoor sunlight*—Morning beds, breakfast nook, kitchen, family and garden spaces, mid-day living spaces, and evening living, dining, and porch spaces.

*136: Couples Realm*—Provide adult spaces away from kids' noise and access. Include a bed, sitting area, and dressing space in the Couple's realm.

*141: A room of one's own*—Everyone in the house needs a personal space, such as an alcove, nook, or room. This is not on the appraisal sheet to determine value, but we ensure everyone, including kids, pets, and outside help, has a place to call their own.

*143: Children's bed clusters* – Clustering beds happen for us in lake houses to let smaller houses sleep more guests. In a non-fiat house design, they can be a great way to save space if there is no bank to tell you there should be a certain number of bedrooms. Your kids may even grow to like each other by sharing a space.

*146: Flexible workspace* – The patterns provided flexible workspace for working, which you could use for other uses when not working. For us, the pattern evolved to an idea of function stacking to provide additional uses. Space is expensive; use it twice.

*153: Rooms to rent* – This is a function of asset architecture. Make some parts of the building rentable with outside entrances so the use of the space works flexibly either in the entire house or rentable. These spaces are also flexible, allowing uses for rentable accessory dwelling units (ADU), a teenager's cottage, boomerang kids, or multigenerational housing.

*157: Maker's space* – Make a place in the home where hobbies and side gigs happen. Give the workshop a few hundred square feet off the street for owners to hang their shingles or rent to others. Some of our clients are first building “barndominiumns” to stage for construction and live on-site as construction on the main house happens. These spaces can become workspaces for personal use or rent after construction.

*159: Light* – Light on two sides of every room. Some houses feel right when you walk in. We contend these spaces have windows on at least two walls.

*163: Outdoor rooms*—Plan spaces beyond the building footprint to allow functions to flow indoors and outdoors.

*181: The fire* – There is no substitute for places where fire and gathering happen, inside or out.

*203: Child caves*—We like to create toy caves that become play spaces for young kids, trapping toys in the space rather than the living room. Adult caves are root cellars, wine cellars, or basement golf simulators.

*204: Secret places*—The original pattern references a hidden place for precious objects and family history. We use this space for storm shelters, safe rooms, gun safes, and areas where precious stuff like your hardware wallet is hidden.

**In Conclusion**

Our architectural firm has stayed in touch with how quality homes are designed without fiat because our clients are older and mostly pay for projects with assets or cash. Our clients come to us as architects to help provide a non-cookie-cutter housing solution and are willing to pay for it, which we call architecture.

Bitcoin may offer the opportunity for more people to build quality personal architecture backed by a sound money standard who can think longer term beyond the initial construction or sales price. More authentic architecture happened before fiat currency began, and the values were accepted when building with fiat. The values of the person on a personal BTC standard who wants or even needs to make a home to live in will wish for their home to be the best asset they can build to hold long-term value.

We need to rethink house value to prepare for the opportunity to build with hard currency. The degrading products of the 50 years of fiat building may not be worth holding, nor store value on a bitcoin standard when we remove housing’s monetary premium. Architects can study past resources, like A Pattern Language, to help ourselves and clients remember what was important before fiat. In addition, we can develop new patterns to enhance the high-value design further.

We chose clients willing to consider the house's total cost over time, not just the construction cost. We want clients to understand the opportunity that a well-considered home and spaces around the home can do for the quality of our lives, the people who will live in and experience the architecture for a long time, and the people who get to help create it.

Our firm is working on organizing our process to service bitcoiners with less friction. We are creating a sister company to our 25-year-old firm focused on service products to help more people have a personal architecture in their lives. Our new company will operate on a Bitcoin standard to walk the walk so that we can compare the operation to our existing company. We believe the world is better when more people build things for the right reasons. We accept the mission to focus our work on creating houses worth HODLing.

Bryan