Get Your House Right - by Marianne Cusato & Ben Pentreath & Richard Sammons & Leon Krier (Paperback)

About the Book

"In this comprehensive and authoratative guide, Marianne Cusato explains why so many of today's traditional-style buildings miss the mark; describes the essential elements of a house, how they work together, and how to use them appropriately; and shows how to avoid common mistakes at every stage of the design and construction process"--Cover, p. 2.

Book Synopsis

Sick of McMansions? Marianne Cusato, creator of the award-winning Katrina Cottages, is a champion of traditional architectural principles: structural common sense, aesthetics of form, appropriateness to a neighborhood, and sustainability. She presents the definitive guide to what makes houses look and feel right, revealing the dos and donts of livable home design. Hundreds of elegant line drawings--rendering the varieties of architectural features and displaying "avoid" and "use" versions of the same elements side by side--make this an indispensable resource for designing and building a timelessly beautiful home.

Review Quotes

Praise for Get Your House Right:
"[A]n important and much needed book."--Sarah Susanka, FAIA, architect and author of The Not So Big series and Home by Design
"Marianne Cusato translates architectural language into the vernacular and, by doing so, into the reach of the average consumer, where such knowledge is guaranteed to do the most good....this Rosetta stone of design will guarantee Cusato a place in the history of twenty-first century American architecture."-- The Philadelphia Inquirer
"[Cusato] provides a vision of how we live together and build on our planet, and points out the consequences of flawed building practices not only to our environment, but to our spirit and our soul."--Michael Lykoudis, Dean, University of Notre Dame School of Architecture

About the Author

Marianne Cusato has received international attention for her design of the Katrina Cottages: affordable, durable home kits created as an alternative to FEMA trailer housing to help the Gulf Coast rebuild. The cottage won the Cooper-Hewitt Peoples Design Award and has been written up in magazines and newspapers across the country, from Architectural Record and Cottage Living to Time and Forbes. She is the principal of Cusato Cottages, LLC, a New York-based firm specializing in traditional architectural design.