First, What Is Timeless Design?

Timeless design is something designed with intention and to endure time.

Today, the emotional charge we get from the quick development of strip malls, urban sprawl, and spec housing is a very negative one. But the emotional charge we get from buildings that are made out of something – that are thoughtful – is a good one.

For reasons we can’t fully put into words, we find ourselves emotionally drawn to certain homes. They evoke a visceral feeling of admiration and appropriateness. Christopher Alexander in The Timeless Way of Building identified this quality as being ‘organic’ and originating from within us, yet he could not describe it simply with words.

A home with a timeless design has a strong sense of place which is reflected in its geometry, material usage, historical context, and connection to its surrounding landscape. Meaning, the home seems to belong right where it is and you can’t imagine it anywhere else. It’s thoughtful, intentional, and functionally works now and into the future. Over time, its materials transform and weather, becoming part of the character of the home. It has a sense of permanence and honesty that makes it feel authentic – deepening our appreciation and connection to it time and time again.

What are Qualities of Timeless Design?

Timeless Design Has a Strong Sense of Place

Living in Harmony with a Place

You know a building connects to its location when you can’t imagine it anywhere else. It responds to its surroundings and site features whether by blending into the terrain or standing above it and whether its footprint dodges cherished trees or it’s perfectly positioned to frame distant views of the mountain peaks. With well-positioned sightlines, the home showcases the essence of its setting. It frames views. It captures light. And. it blurs the boundary with the exterior, strengthing its connection with the place.

A home’s material palette further places the building in harmony with its place. The choice of colors, textures, and materials can camouflage a home into its surroundings or highlight colors of nearby flora, vegetation, or rock formations.

In our custom home design process, every project begins with an understanding of the location and the site’s unique qualities. An early site analysis reveals many things about the site. We often feel that the site “speaks to us” and tells us what the structure wants to be, where it wants to be on the site, and how it wants to be.

Rather than clearing and leveling the entire site, we’re deliberate in the siting of the home to keep the natural terrain and to avoid removing healthy mature trees. Instead, we intentionally incorporate their presence into the story of our design by showcasing them either by framing views to them or creating usable exterior spaces under them. We study the local context, the colors of the changing seasons, and the relationship that the new structure wants to have with the land because a structure never exists in isolation. There’s always a context in which it is situated and with which a relationship is established.

Peter Zumthor in his 1988 Lecture at SCI-ARC called “A Way of Looking at Things” and later summarized in Thinking Architecture, describes how some buildings fit into their places in such a way that they themselves become part of their surroundings:

“To me, the presence of certain buildings has something secret about it. They seem simply to be there. We do not pay any special attention to it. And yet it is virtually impossible to imagine the place where they stand without them. These buildings appear to be anchored firmly in the ground. They make the impression of being a self-evident part of their surroundings and they seem to be saying: “I am as you see me and I belong here.”

I have a passionate desire to design such buildings, buildings that, in time, grow naturally into being a part of the form and history of their place.

Every new work of architecture intervenes in a specific historical situation. It is essential to the quality of the intervention that the new building should embrace qualities which can enter into a meaningful dialogue with the existing situation. For if the intervention is to find its place, it must make us see what already exists in a new light.”

Aging in its Place

Timeless design not only lives in harmony with its surroundings, it also responds to it. In the short term, the effects of sun, wind, rain, snow, and wind may be negligible. But over time, they can be significant and transform the appearance of the structure in such a way that the transformation becomes part of the structure’s existence.

Concrete, stone, wood, and metal. These materials can all withstand the elements to varying degrees. They can also weather and transform over time, settling into their place within the surrounding landscape. Concrete and stone lose their smooth finish. They stain, crack, and chip. Wood, like cedar, goes from a honey brown to a grayish color. Metal rusts. Copper develops a patina finish.

An exceptional design not only endures the elements but also interacts with it in a meaningful and thoughtful. A timeless design considers the behavior of materials and allows the process of weathering to improve the architecture. The signs of wear can form a personal connection with one’s experience in the present moment as an imperfect material and also reference a time in the past when it was another state. Yet still, in either case, the structure still belongs right where it is and always will.

Respect of Context and Culture

Another characteristic of timeless architecture is its acknowledgment of traditional precedents. It respects the traditional but doesn’t try to copy it or get in the way of it. It also doesn’t try to stand out like a sore thumb. It’s relevant.

It can take cues from the local building vernacular or use local or salvaged materials. It respects the history of the place – whether that is the heritage of the land or the culture of the people. The cohesion and connection it has with the history of its place create an authentic design that transcends time by connecting to the past and reaching into the future.

Timeless Design Has Incredible Longevity

Permanence

Architecture deals as much with the future as with the past. A timeless home design ensures the home will remain valuable to its current and future owners. It suggests that it will be visually appealing, functional, sensitive, and responsive to the surrounding context, and desirable for years to come.

The general consensus is that timeless design should remain. It’s relevant to its time but anticipates it’s relevance for several generations. It is built to last and be appreciated. It wants to have permanence.

Architectural permanence often equates to construction and material durability, but it should also include social and cultural durability.

Material Durability and Honesty

A timeless design is made of materials and methods that will last and last well within its context. They weather but can resist decay and water infiltration. They’re also honest. It looks like what it’s doing. It illustrates the construction methods to the viewer and reveals how the home goes together.

For example, using natural materials in their honest state (i.e. real stone and wood) evoke a sense of timelessness because these materials remain unchanged for generations. Traces of workmanship reveal the process of exposing how the spaces came into being and further our appreciation for its detail, while the slight error or variance in finish created during construction can impart a sense of authenticity to the architecture, relating it to the human condition, as if it is aware of imperfection.

Also, a timeless design outlasts trends. It stays free of the hype and gimmicks found on many TV shows and instead focuses on an honest meaningful purpose.

Social and cultural durability

In general, our homes play vital roles in society and to our human existence. They solve problems. A timeless design must satisfy these basic human needs now and long into the future. And not only that, it must do it in a way that continues to positively contribute to our personal well-being, society’s well-being, as well as the planet’s.

A timeless design is culturally-informed, sensitive to the environment, sustainable, and functional. A building uses a tremendous amount of resources to build and maintain. The aim of timeless design is to build it once and reuse it several times.

That is not to say that temporary architecture and pop-up structures are not also important. They, too, serve an important role in solving social, economical, and human problems, as seen in many recurring events like the Venice Biennale of Architecture and the summertime Serpentine Pavilions, as well as the various parklets, pop-up retail, and relief housing solutions worldwide. But the role of timeless design is to last and to continue to solve problems and fulfill their purpose well into the future.

Functional Longevity

Timelessness and permanence are related to durability and also their value to the user. In addition to materials and construction details, there is also the necessity for flexibility in design to achieve durability of use.

In residential design, creating spaces that appeal to the most fundamental needs of humankind is a timeless quality because it appeals to permanent, biological habits that haven’t changed over time. We all need to sleep, eat, and feel protected and safe. But beyond that, a timeless design doesn‘t become obsolete because its relevance continues into the future. It is functional now and flexible enough to satisfy future needs over time. A space that was once a den is now a guest room or exercise room. A space that was once a playroom is now a music or art room.

Timeless Design Has Embodied Principles of Architecture

Principles of Architecture

The principles of architecture which include relationships like rhythm, scale, and proportion are engrained in timeless designs. These principles, which we discussed in a previous post called Exterior Design: What To Know Before You Start, are easily identifiable in our built and natural environment.

We recognize these patterns in homes and buildings because they provide a sense of order which our eyes naturally recognize – the repetition of windows or structural elements, the scale of a home in its surrounding context, the massing of an addition compared to its host structure.

However, proportioning systems can go beyond aesthetics. They can provide spatial order, connections, and relationships that help us understand and appreciate a structure: using a repetitive structural system, for example, can relate functional spaces to the aesthetic structure. A structural grid of a four or eight-foot module can dictate window modules that in turn define room layouts. Through this experience of window mullion repetition, a user is able to recognize the system either consciously or subconsciously and can comprehend the structured environment thereby acknowledging and accepting that it works and that it makes sense.

Understanding history

The ancient Greeks taught us the importance of harmonizing different components of a structure and creating right-sized buildings in proportion and scale.Matila Ghyka, a mathematician and philosopher, believed the proportions of the golden rectangle are naturally read by the mind. The squares which construct the Fibonacci spiral are “subconsciously suggested to the eye” without actually drawing them.

Timeless design uses these principles of natural proportions and the golden section, in inconspicuous ways to exude something that just looks “right”.

Vitruvius goes into great detail describing the proportioning system based on the human body as discussed in his Ten Books On Architecture. His categories of defining timelessness as a quality in a building are: order, arrangement, eurhythmy, symmetry, propriety & economy.

While there is evidence of exact proportioning and the golden section in use throughout architectural history, architects and designers have simply become used to simple rules of thumb when it comes to spatial order such as the Rule of Threes and a simple one-third/two-third relationship when it comes to proportion.

While not always seeming obvious, timeless architecture has these ingrained principles of architecture that have endured for centuries as logical, rational, pleasing attributes. Because these qualities have so masterfully been woven into well-designed homes, we almost don’t recognize them. All we see is an exceptional home that just looks and feels “right”, again reinforcing its timeless quality.

A Timeless Design

Recently, we’ve been enjoying the Whidbey Farms retreat by MW Works.

We love how it embodies qualities of timeless design. It is carefully woven in a forest of douglas fir and cedar trees. It’s unobtrusive and modest in scale. It frames views. It brings the outdoors in. It’s materials reflect its surroundings with a palette of naturally weathered woods, concrete, basalt stone walls, and black steel accents. It’s warm and rustic, simple, and open – a house that honors both the forest and agricultural heritage of the site. Overall, a timeless design.

[Whidbey Island Farmhouse by mw works. Photos by Kevin Scott.]

Reflection…

Creating a timeless design is not easy. The process takes time and patience for the design ideas to flow and evolve. The design solution, however, is worth it, in our opinion (and I hope in yours too!). It’s deliberate, thoughtful, client-inspired, and site-specific. It’s special now and in the future for your grandchildren and their children.

To create a meaningful and timeless design, we need to first have a clear understanding of all of the various layers and characteristics working together in unison that make something last and then masterfully orchestrate them into a well-designed custom design. Climate-responsive and site-specific architecture make a home appropriate for its site, but it becomes welcoming and habitable when softened by a sensitive approach towards the culture, history, traditions, local context, and goals for its future existence. This attracts a pleasurable association and instills a sense of belonging amongst its inhabitants. Thus, affirming its place and leading to a feeling of appreciation and desire to preserve the structure.

Redfin recently published an article called How to Design a Home That Won’t Go Out of Style asking for our opinion on timeless design. Check it out, as well as hear what other architects have to say.

At YR Architecture + Design, we appreciate and strive to create timeless designs. We feel they not only look better, they feel better and are better for the environment and society. If you’re interested in creating something timeless and would like our help, get in touch with us today.

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