Someday I may write about what I like about the “square plan”
(and I do love the square plan), but right now I seem particularly infatuated
with the “long plan.” Of course, I had always admired some of Wright’s and Kahn’s
long plans, but it wasn’t until seeing John Hejduk’s “wall house” and other
drawings that a true love affair began.
The long plan AKA “spine plan” leaves little doubt regarding
the important issues and sequences of the project and the choreography is
explicit (!). Long plans are especially
good for experiencing different aspects of a site because they can stretch for
dozens or even hundreds of feet from one end to the other like the Speake
House.
The side façade is probably long and imposing like the
Hubbard House, but the end can be quite minimal like the Johnson House.
Circulation is a critical component of the long plan and
although sometimes rooms can simply be linked in the traditional manner, more
commonly they are attached to a long gallery, library, or circulation space (I
don’t like halls) like the Weber Residence.
Sometimes the long plans curl around on themselves (sometimes
called train wreck schemes) to fit within the confines of their sites or to create
courtyards like the Spalding House.
A “long plan” that was a cutting edge environmentally
sensitive project was the Meredith Residence which was rejected by the
California Coastal Commission.
At the moment we have one long plan under construction, one
in the permitting process, and two in the design stages…
