WITHOUT THINKING

The philosopher Alfred North Whitehead wrote that “Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them.” It seems to me that this profound observation can be applied to buildings. I open a door, the door handle is at a certain height, near the edge of the door that swings open into the room I am entering. If it is a lever handle, I turn it down—not up—to open the door. Where is the light switch? On the inside wall, on the side where the door opens. I perform all these operations without thinking about them. And when I’ve designed houses, I’ve used such details without thinking. I recently visited a Louis Kahn-designed house where the architect had consciously re-thought basic domestic solutions. All the inside doors were sliding pocket doors instead of swing doors, and the windows were fixed glass with little panels that opened for ventilation, instead of conventional double-hung windows. It seemed to me like a civilizational step backward.