Designing Your Perfect House (Hardcover)

Winner of the 2008 National Best Books Award in the Home: Reference Category

Your Architect in a Book

If you ve ever considered building your dream home, here is a step-by-step guidebook that will take you through the design process. Designing Your Perfect House: Lessons from an Architect concerns the thought process of planning and creating a house, the methodology of the design, and how to get everything right.

Reading this book, you will gain insights about how to:

Gain control of the design and building process

Choose a perfect site for your house

Avoid costly mistakes

Unify an architectural design

Not just design a house, but how to design a home

Budget in a realistic manner

The basic premise of the book is that there is no such thing as the perfect house; there is only your perfect house. An architect s task is to help you achieve that dream. The experience of home design and construction should be controllable, gratifying, and enjoyable. With the valuable advice that Designing Your Perfect House: Lessons from an Architect provides, it can be.



Reviews

This book is an excellent guide for anyone wanting to design the house of their dreams. Designing Your Perfect House contains a wealth of information and know-how from an architect who has been working with residential clients for three decades. It s the kind of wisdom that only comes with practice and is of immense value to anyone wanting an inspiring new home. Herein you ll find everything you need to know about the process of working with an architect, as well as what homework to do before you begin.
Sarah Susanka, FAIA, architect and author of The Not So Big Houseseries, Home by Design, and The Not So Big Life

Take a journey into an architect s mind and see your new house through his eyes.
Catherine Collin, Editor, Loft Publications

This book is a must-have for everyone who plans to build a home. We were lucky enough to have Bill Hirsch as the architect on our project, and he is a trusted and knowledgeable source who led us through the complex and overwhelming process of building a home. Now everyone can benefit from his experience. His book is an invaluable tool to guide the way.

Tracy Gibson


About the Author
William J. Hirsch, Jr. AIA, NCARB, is a Registered Architect with thirty years of experience. He has extensive experience in custom residential design, as well as in the design of commercial, office, religious, recreational, and industrial buildings. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects and past president of the Delaware Society of Architects. He received his Master of Architecture from the University of Virginia. Hirsch believes residential design is a very personal and emotional process that has to express the personality and needs of the owner, not the architect.