This is a picture of a Greene and Greene entertainment center I found on Fine Woodworking’s web site made by Andrew Drake. There is a lot to like about this design. First, I think he got the proportions perfect. There is wonderful symmetry both from right to left and from top to bottom. The curved doors are complemented by the curve in the bottom rail. The three drawers in the center occupy slightly less than 1/3 of the interior space, yet give the overall feeling of balance. Most importantly, an important design paradigm is for form to always follow function. You start with function, what the piece is supposed to do, then design the form to achieve the function, yet still be pleasing. I think Andrew Drake has achieved this goal.
Although I’ve found so much to like in Drake’s design, I don’t want to want to reproduce his piece exactly. I do want to use Drake’s design as a kind of design template, however. A “design template” is a kind of bounding box inside which I will place my own design. The basic shape and proportions become something akin to an artist’s canvass. The details inside that bounding box represent the changes I will make to incorporate my own design ideas.
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