How does one find the harmonies in any design situation? A good starting point is determining what the BASIC NEEDS—as opposed to DREAMS—are for the situation at hand. In this realm of design, the harmony sought is simply finding a solution that works. Ask yourself these questions:

• How is the architectural element (i.e., garage door, shutters) supposed to work? Does it need to swing or slide open? What kind of space is needed to accommodate this function?
• Are there any special operation requirements such as low headroom, transoms, high-lift?
• What kind of traffic patterns will the product need to accommodate?
• Does natural light need to enter the space; if so, is that to be through glazed doors?
• Is security a major concern and does that preclude glazed doors?
• Where are the opportunities for being creative, both functionally and aesthetically?
• Is there a great solution hiding “in plain sight” if we just think about it for a bit?

Once those basic questions have been considered, the design process shifts from the practical to the less well-defined plane of aesthetics. Aesthetically speaking, harmony is a much more fluid concept, usually depending on skillful handling of one or more motifs. Now the questions might become:

• Is the home rustic or refined? Horizontal or vertical? A particular architectural style? (See Styles of Homes: An Architectural Guidebook)
• Is it massive, or light and airy?
• Do existing doors appear to be massive or light? Do they fit the character of the home?
• Does historical authenticity play a role in the home’s design?

• Are windows and doors subdivided with panes of glass; if so, how might those patterns influence door design?
• Are there certain shapes or patterns that recur from time to time, such as curves, angles, linear indentations, projecting trim, etc., that can be carried throughout the architecture?

• What kinds of building materials are used in the home? Once you begin looking, there may be many more than seen at first glance.
• How have the materials been assembled, and does that manner of assembly suggest anything for designing a door or shutter? For example, might horizontal siding boards on an extremely modern house suggest something similar for a door design? Or does exposed wood framing or paneling suggest anything?
• Can unusual materials or species, such as marble, granite or Ipê, have some role or influence on the aesthetic nature of the exterior elements?

• Can or should new doors or shutters reflect the color and tonalities of existing doors and trim?
• If the home is unusual, is color one of the keys to that “personality”?
• Should the doors disappear against wall tones or stand out?

• Is decorative hardware a feature of other doors around the building?
• Does the hardware fit the character of the home?
• Would the doors be more harmonious in this place with no hardware?

The basic human yearning for beauty, usually considered to be one of the three essentials for good architecture, the other two essentials being usefulness and sound construction.

A small house, usually of one story, and often having a front porch.

In architecture, a succinct definition of a building’s essential identity, often given in general terms such as rustic or sophisticated, or in stylistic terms such as classical or modern.

Reference to the origins of Western artistic culture, commonly taken to be in Greece and the Roman eras of 700 B.C. to 300 A.D., in which a collection of building types and decoration developed within a uniform architectural language of columnar and domed structures paired with simple, though at times grand, geometrical compositions of forms, spaces and overall plans.

Usually just what it sounds like—red, blue, yellow, etc.; but also sometimes referring to lightness or darkness.

Architects generally use this term as the opposite of a period style, to refer to the spare undecorated design ethic that began to emerge in America in the 1930s with “streamlining” and simple concrete or stucco buildings, later associated with the machine-like buildings and “the glass box.”

Any incorporation of form, pattern or color to make something more interesting or to relieve monotony, especially when such a change is not essential.

In architecture, the practical requirements that must be taken into account when creating a design, apart from any unnecessary elements.

A completely integrated and pleasing arrangement of components.

Design idioms derived from repetitive manufacturing following the birth of the Industrial Age, especially associated with metal and glass architecture and with emphasis on blunt expression of building details.

Having the quality of thinness, or patterned with lines.

Perceived bulk of an object; e.g., the overall shape and form of a building as an object.

A design idiom that seeks to exist without any features that might be considered non-essential or decorative.

A design idea, theme or shape, usually repeating or echoing throughout a design.

Styles of architecture and decoration derived from the Far East, usually China or Japan, and often characterized by simplicity of form and decoration as well as admiration of materials for their own beauty, and Nature above all.

A natural or planned design composition often exhibiting repetition of one or more design motifs.

Any of the many styles in architecture and design prior to the present day, or the opposite of modernism.

The shape or form of an edge; e.g., the profile of a house as seen against the sky.

The comparative relationships between parts; e.g., a slender person’s height might be large relative to their breadth but small relative to a 20-foot tall door. To be “in proportion” or “in scale” suggests that an expected relationship is achieved.

A house type of the American southwest known for its simplicity and unpretentious character, also originally for its semi-rural easy flow between indoors and outdoors; after World War II, it came to be associated with much anonymous suburban housing.

Any style of architecture inspired by past eras but excluding what is presently considered modern.

Architectural styles associated with rural rather than more sophisticated urban life, especially with respect to materials and finesse.

The two-dimensional or three-dimensional expression of an object.

The character-giving features of a surface or of a design composition.

Complete harmony between all components in a design, suggesting ideal resolution of all design issues for a particular situation.