The East House
On a slope that faces the morning
Every room opens east. By ten the house has had its light, and it stays cool for the rest of the day.
- Faces
- East
- Its hours
- 06:00 to 10:00
- Rooms
- Kitchen, living room, bedroom
Houses drawn around a single day of light.
It is where you are. This is the light a Verane room would hold now.
- 06:15
First light comes in low and from the east. We put the kitchen there, so the day starts where the light does.
- 09:30
By mid-morning the light has climbed down the wall to the floor. The desk goes where it lands at nine.
- 13:00
At noon the sun is overhead, and the light comes from the roof: one slot that washes the far wall.
- 16:30
The afternoon is long and gold. One long window, low enough to sit beside.
- 19:24
Evening turns the plaster warm. The rooms we live in after work face this hour.
- 21:00
When the light is gone, one lamp, set where the sun was last.
Houses
Each house is drawn around the hours its people are at home.
The Courtyard House
In a dense street
Four rooms around one square of sky. Wherever the sun is, one room is lit and three are in shade.
- Faces
- Inward, to the courtyard
- Its hours
- All day, one room at a time
- Rooms
- Four, around one courtyard
The Long House
At the edge of a field
One wall, one window, the whole afternoon. A house for people who come home at four.
- Faces
- South and west
- Its hours
- 15:00 to 19:00
- Rooms
- One long room, a bedroom, a store
The sun is drawn where it stands for you now.
Practice
Before we draw anything, we spend one whole day on the site, from first light to last, and note where the sun falls every hour. The house is drawn from those notes.
How a house is made
A day on the site
From first light to last, we note where the sun falls every hour.
A study of light
A small model of each room is turned under a lamp, hour by hour, until every window sits where its hour needs it.
Drawings
Only then the plans, the sections and the detail of every opening.
The first morning
When the house is finished we come back for its first sunrise, to see the light arrive where we drew it.
Notes from a site day
| Hour | Where the light fell |
|---|---|
| 06:12 | First light on the eastern boundary wall. |
| 08:40 | Through the olive trees; broken light across the slope. |
| 11:05 | Full sun on the terrace. Too strong to sit. |
| 14:30 | The old roof next door shades the lower garden. |
| 17:50 | Long light along the hill. The best hour. |
| 19:41 | Last sun on the chimney of the old house. |
Studio
A small office that takes on a few houses at a time, so each one gets its whole day.
Visits by appointment, at any hour of light.