[ISBN 0140105662]

This is a wonderful book by the architecture critic WitoldRybczynski that describes his attempts to build a boat house for his summer cottage.  He built the boat house to support his dream to build a boat; his garage was too small.  Memorable parts of the book include the hurried, primitive effort to build a foundation, and the implicit use of FengShui principles to orient the building.  The boat house evolves into a house, and the boat is never built. That is, the building admirably serves an end to which the architect never aspired at the outset; the process offers practical insights into PiecemealGrowth.

-- JimCoplien
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Apropos PiecemealGrowth, the house picks up a new client (his wife), along with a new set of usability requirements, once Witold realizes that it wasn't really about building
a boat after all, and the boat house should instead become a summer home.

If you've not yet had the pleasure of reading WitoldRybczynski, this is a wonderful starting point.

-- DaveSmith
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CategoryBook