Thread: Why Do People Live In Square Houses?

Interesting thought. I think you're right that we would feel more at ease around circular objects.

One reason that pops into my head when I think about why we're all rectangular and stuff is that it optimizes space. If you had a completely circular room, you would only be able to walk around comfortably on a tiny area of the floor since the rest of it would be curved up. You wouldn't be able to reach the walls properly. The ceiling would have to be much higher to make up for the height that's lost when it curves downward. Also, if you had an adjacent room to it, there would be a lot of space lost underneath the connection (picture two circles touching).

That's a huge problem, unless you want to modify your definition of a circular room.

Originally Posted by Mes Tarrant

Interesting thought. I think you're right that we would feel more at ease around circular objects.

One reason that pops into my head when I think about why we're all rectangular and stuff is that it optimizes space. If you had a completely circular room, you would only be able to walk around comfortably on a tiny area of the floor since the rest of it would be curved up. You wouldn't be able to reach the walls properly. The ceiling would have to be much higher to make up for the height that's lost when it curves downward. Also, if you had an adjacent room to it, there would be a lot of space lost underneath the connection (picture two circles touching).

That's a huge problem, unless you want to modify your definition of a circular room.

Yeah I should have been more clear. It's hard because in my mind it's so clear so I'm leaving some things out in my explanation. Basically, the dome would be at or just above eye level. So the curving of the ceiling wouldn't be a space issue. And the dome would be slightly recessed, into the wall so that you can set lights around the ledge and cause it to be lit up ambiently...sort of like at twilight.

Also, I thought about the space thing. But don't think about it as trying to make two circles fit together. Because you can't. Think about it as building around circles. So a house wouldn't be one big rectangle. It would be a series of circular and domed rooms connected to one another through hallways or something like that.

Yes, in a perfect world I would agree with you. However, expensive houses are expensive. Probably you could keep the square basics of building (consider architecture, cost, physics etc. it's SO much easier) and then provide custom mods for rooms, like curved walls and all that. You could make that from like plastic with wall texture and paint over the connection lines and BAM you're done.
It would need mad skillz though. Ahhh, circular walls... no dogs pissing at your corner anymore.

Hey...we gotta start somewhere!

You could start up a business that sells architectural room add-ins. For the room corners (especially the ceiling) there would need to be a plastic piece in different sizes to make it a round corner, make different versions of that, very stylized with customized texture and dimensions. Glue it to the wall by a professional and make it fit in with the room. Would look pretty cool.

I think I see what you mean now. A bit. A drawing would be nice! So like the bottom half of the dome would be square, like it is now? Are you talking about a design that's similar to some churches or mosques or whatever, where they have a normal room and then the ceiling is all circular with paintings on it?

Yes the expense is also an issue.

Originally Posted by Mes Tarrant

I think I see what you mean now. A bit. A drawing would be nice! So like the bottom half of the dome would be square, like it is now? Are you talking about a design that's similar to some churches or mosques or whatever, where they have a normal room and then the ceiling is all circular with paintings on it?

Yes the expense is also an issue.

No squares. Imagine a circular room...the floor is circular. Extrude the walls up several feet, and top off with a dome. Make sense now?

It's just like, a planetarium.

I used to drive by a round house where I lived before; it was cool. Kind of like a hobbit house.

We would need new furniture too. What the heck, if we get a whole new house we would want new furniture to go with, so that's OK.

If you put half and quarter spheres together you could get the roundness with less wasted space where they hooked up.

I understand what you mean. it would indeed be the ideal world where you could connect with yourself and nature.

But the majority of houses are square/rectangles, and with building-a-house costs these days, would we all ever be able to live in dome houses? I don't think so. 'Tis sad.

Of course this gives me a great idea for when I'm old and rich enough to build my own house.

So the floor is still circular?

In that case I still foresee a large loss of space.

Originally Posted by Mes Tarrant

So the floor is still circular?

In that case I still foresee a large loss of space.

Only if you view it as such.

That's the problem with our society now. People have trouble thinking outside the box. We've been trained to fit together perfectly into little squares. You can't see in your mind how circular shapes would fit together. And who says they have to fit together anyway. I guess what I have in mind isn't realistic for this world. Maybe a long long way in the future.

There's a dwindling subculture devoted to dome homes--dwindling mainly because they don't hold up well and they leak. Me, I'm all about yurts--freestanding, semi-permanent Asian Steppe dwellings supported by wood-lattice walls and a central roof-ring. You can order traditional ones from Khazakstan, modern materials versions, or DIY. There are also some more spacious, permanent yurt-based designs where you build a central yurt 15'-20' diameter and use it as center support for an outer ring, rinse and repeat. You can live in the finished rings while you expand.

I at least like to have some non-right angles in my living space.

Rectangular is MUCH MUCH cheaper to build. That includes everything, walls, floors. Let's talk about doors and windows as well, difficult to construct as circular, difficult to put flat ones in curved walls

Think of furnature, you would need circular funature to make optimum use of a room. This means circular appliances like stoves, refridgerators. Televisions would be difficult to mount on walls.

The high school I attended had a circular pod-type layout. It was useful for throwing frisbee's, if you did it just right, it would roll around the outside wall and hit someone walking up the hall.

Originally Posted by Seeker

Rectangular is MUCH MUCH cheaper to build. That includes everything, walls, floors. Let's talk about doors and windows as well, difficult to construct as circular, difficult to put flat ones in curved walls

Think of furnature, you would need circular funature to make optimum use of a room. This means circular appliances like stoves, refridgerators. Televisions would be difficult to mount on walls.

The high school I attended had a circular pod-type layout. It was useful for throwing frisbee's, if you did it just right, it would roll around the outside wall and hit someone walking up the hall.

Is it more expensive because all of our current equipment is made to be used for straight lines? What if all of our manufacturing equipment was curved or made for curved lines? I have no idea how construction works.

You know, it seems that after the Romans, we lost alot of knowledge about how to create and sustain domed structures. We had to start using buttresses and such to hold up walls because we were clueless about how they did it.

And yes, everything would probably need to change...in terms of furniture and such. But it wouldn't HAVE to. You could still have a circular room, but you don't need to push everything up against the walls exactly. Perhaps the floor is sunken in. There are different levels, and the center level can be square. I know that doesn't make sense. I wish my 3d program worked. Darn it.

Domes are swell if you only have one room, but beyond that they're massively impractical. In a rectangular house, every pair of adjacent rooms shares at least one wall. With circles, each room needs a wall for itself, and there will be air from outside between them - that's much more heat loss to the outside. The issue of windows and doors has also been mentioned - it's much easier to make a flat pane or a straight 2x4 than it is to make a curved one of either. You would even need different curvatures depending on the size of the room the piece will go in!

On the other hand, the dome structure seems to be the best idea when you're underground! Underground, the space between rooms means more stability, the dome makes an arch-like structure which distributes the weight of the rock above evenly, and it's much easier to dig out circles than to dig perfect corners out everywhere.

So in conclusion, I suggest you move underground. It's probably more natural that way, anyways, and with proper lighting it could be quite cheery!

Someone just sent me this link.

http://www.rogerdean.com/architecture/index.htm

Yurt pics!

Here's my Second Life av outside the yurt I built there (traditional style).


and here's a yurt home in Maine by yurt master Bill Coperthwaite:


You can see more Coperthwaite homes and find some dome homes at Shelter Online.

EDIT: here's an interior shot of my SL yurt--my av's about 7' tall, so you can see it's pretty roomy.

When I think about space, I don't think about us in America where there's pretty much open space everywhere. Who cares if we waste some of it, right? But in many other places of the world, space is a rare thing and a huge privilege.

I like gnome's idea about going underground, though. Yaaay hobbits!

Also, despite the strength of a dome, they are difficult to construct and are incredibly weak until they are completely done.

Originally Posted by Aquanina

Someone just sent me this link.

http://www.rogerdean.com/architecture/index.htm

Cool, that's the Yes album cover artist.

Nina maybe you should become an architect.

Anyone that has spent time in Kissemee Florida might have seen this one. It is made freeform.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Xanaduoutside80s.jpg

You would also have to consider the space this would take. Squares or rectangles can be put together easily because they are flat, but with circular rooms that wouldn't be as easy.

If the walls were curved things like hanging pictures, finding blinds for your windows, or finding a door would be difficult.

I think there would also be a problem with water. In a circular house all the water would just roll down and go into the basement, in a square house we can have gutters.

Also with domes you cant really have tall skyscrapers, I just don't see how that would work.

I'm sure I could find other problems too, but thats it for now.

Originally Posted by Sugarglider11

You would also have to consider the space this would take. Squares or rectangles can be put together easily because they are flat, but with circular rooms that wouldn't be as easy.

If the walls were curved things like hanging pictures, finding blinds for your windows, or finding a door would be difficult.

I think there would also be a problem with water. In a circular house all the water would just roll down and go into the basement, in a square house we can have gutters.

Also with domes you cant really have tall skyscrapers, I just don't see how that would work.

I'm sure I could find other problems too, but thats it for now.

Domes have proven problematic, but for freestanding homes, yurts solve all these issues while also providing an interesting, organic living space.

Originally Posted by Sugarglider11

You would also have to consider the space this would take. Squares or rectangles can be put together easily because they are flat, but with circular rooms that wouldn't be as easy.

If the walls were curved things like hanging pictures, finding blinds for your windows, or finding a door would be difficult.

I think there would also be a problem with water. In a circular house all the water would just roll down and go into the basement, in a square house we can have gutters.

Also with domes you cant really have tall skyscrapers, I just don't see how that would work.

I'm sure I could find other problems too, but thats it for now.

That has all already been mentioned in previous posts. And if you don't think skyscrapers are possible, you should check out the link I posted. He has created some very amazing structures.

Like this one...

and


I want to live in one of his structures/communities!