
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, August 29, 1993                   TAG: 9308290011
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: C-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FAMILY HOMES VS. FAMILY VALUES

It didn't take Kadija Ash long to figure out that the inner-city apartment she and her four young children had moved into wasn't very family friendly, architecturally speaking. So the first thing she did was grab a saw and cut in two the door separating kitchen from playroom. With a top half that swung open, she could cook dinner without little ones underfoot, while still watching and chatting with them.

She knew something parents often forget: that home and yard are more than places to eat, sleep, entertain in and show off; they also can nourish family life and enhance life-giving values.

Today's homes, however, often do just the opposite, according to a growing number of experts who are exploring the effect of environment on human emotions and behavior. Home building "has been essentially for adults," says Mack Scogin, chairman of the architecture department at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, "reflecting adult needs rather than the needs of family or children."

What adults think they need in their homes can be more harmful than healthful, says Welsh architect Christopher Day, author of the newly released "Places of the Soul" (HarperCollins). The dominant tendency of modern architecture, he says, "has been to produce forms, spaces, shapes, lines, colors and relationships between elements . . . that are life-sapping, dead in quality."

Americans may say that they place a premium on "family values," but increasingly their homes show otherwise. According to research by the National Association of Home Builders, trends indicate an inclination toward less time with family and solitary pursuits rather than communal.

An office, a "media room," a master bath suite "bigger than the fourth bedroom" and an exercise room are high on consumer lists, according to Gopal Ahluwalia, the association's director of research.

Once, front porches beckoned to neighbors and passersby, and offered a sheltered place for private chats between child and parent or child and friends. But for some years the porch has been replaced by the backyard deck and even today, notes Gopal Ahluwalia, director of research for the National Association of Home Builders, "the first thing people do after buying a house is build a deck." Harvard's Scogin, who has an architectural firm in Atlanta, finds this "an ironic move for a democratic society, to put the front porch on the back where you can't communicate."

One thing a home should do, say Winifred Gallagher, author of "The Power of Place," is encourage family interaction while respecting each member's need for privacy.

Researcher Ahluwalia says living rooms are on their way out, having been supplanted by the family room or "great room." But living rooms can serve a valuable role as a site for more intimate conversations, for reading or even a private retreat.

The shape and size of privacy each family member needs varies according to age, says "Places of the Soul" author Christopher Day, the father of three children, ages 3 to 16. Younger children need cubbies or nooks - private worlds that stimulate imagination and creativity. Teen-agers need larger private spaces to share with friends. Both age groups also need the freedom to roam through a home's public spaces.

Both Day's and Gallagher's books urge readers to be aware of their senses, to make their homes both visually soothing and stimulating. Day goes so far as to say that "the more sterile a home is, the wider afield the child will venture," into arcades and other places that do stimulate.

He argues for softening corners - perhaps with pillows - and for varying amounts of light and shadow. He encourages clients to use natural building materials - wood and hand-finished plaster - and to vary the elevations in their homes with ladders and lofts. Both authors encourage homemakers to bring a bit of nature indoors, whether it be a fish tank, plants or a fountain.

People laughed at Kadija Ash because after she finished cutting the kitchen/playroom door in half, she cut a hole in the wall separating the playroom from the children's bedroom. Her youngsters loved the hole, she says; it was their special tunnel between the rooms. And it cut down on their running around the apartment. "You do these things for your dog," she says. "Why not your kids?"

by CNB