Prairie School architects incorporated the idea of indoor-outdoor living into their designs through several key elements:
1. Open Floor Plans: Prairie School architecture featured open, flowing floor plans that seamlessly connected indoor and outdoor spaces. Large, continuous spaces with minimal separation, such as living rooms, dining areas, and kitchens, opened up to outdoor patios, porches, and gardens. This eliminated the traditional compartmentalization of rooms and allowed for a smooth transition between indoor and outdoor spaces.
2. Low, Horizontal Forms: The architects designed structures with low, horizontal profiles that blended with the surrounding landscape. These long, horizontal lines created a visual connection between the interior and exterior, reinforcing the idea of integration. They also utilized long overhangs and cantilevered roofs to extend the indoor space further outside, providing shade and shelter while maintaining a visual connection with nature.
3. Abundant Windows: Prairie School architects incorporated extensive windows, including large, horizontal bands of casement windows, to maximize natural light and visually merge indoor and outdoor spaces. These windows framed views of the surrounding landscape and allowed for cross-ventilation, merging the interior and exterior environments both visually and atmospherically.
4. Organic Materiality: The use of natural materials, such as stone, wood, and brick, in their designs further connected the built environment with the natural surroundings. These materials often extended from the interior spaces to the exterior, blurring the boundaries between the two. For example, stone floors could flow from indoor spaces to outdoor patios, creating a seamless transition.
5. Integration of Landscape Design: Prairie School architects paid great attention to the design of the surrounding landscape, considering it an integral part of their architectural compositions. They often designed gardens, terraces, and courtyards with carefully selected plantings and hardscape elements, such as walls and pathways, to create a harmonious relationship between the built form and nature. This close integration allowed occupants to feel immersed in the outdoor environment while still being within the shelter of their homes.
Overall, Prairie School architects aimed to create homes that embraced and celebrated the natural environment, blurring the boundaries between indoors and outdoors to provide a sense of openness, connection, and harmony with nature.
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