Draft principles for "built environments"

I get asked what I learnt from operating a cafe for six years. Mainly I learnt a lot about built-environment design. Today, I continue this study in my own home. Here are some principles you can follow, to avoid poorly designed work and/or play spaces.

1. for efficiency, utilise natural resources ( "goods" )

2. space is a natural resource

2.1. heuristic : preserve longest lines of sight - it may be helpful to build around a point-of-view at the intersection of all longest interior lines of visibility

3. aesthetic activity is a natural resource : light, sound, vibration, heat, smell, etc.

3.1. heuristic : preserve ingress of preferred aesthetic qualities, along natural lines of transmission ; example : preserve longest lines of natural lighting

4. user ( occupant ) memory is a natural resource

4.1. heuristic : co-locality : ( functional ) things that are the same should be in the same place; similar things should be close to each other

4.2. heuristic : separation-of-concerns : things that cause a context-switch in memory, should be separated in space

5. orderliness ( negentropy ) is a natural resource ( for the avoidance of doubt, entropy includes things that tend to fall over, get messy, become dirty, or break )

5.1. heuristic : physical mechanics : in order for things to fall "into place", fall-places should be designed to contain messes ( when things fall over they should end up in pretty positions ) ; 

5.2. heuristic : logistics : places should be designed to minimise their costs of maintenance; places should be designed such that activity paths that restore entropy to a minimum level ( within the planned operating range ), can happen at the lowest cost