What are the driving forces behind the ways our homes work and look? The intertwining DNA of Maine homes is a conversation between technology and culture. Architect and historian Christopher Glass hypothesizes that clapboards developed from the technology of barrel making. The earliest settlers had to bring coopers with them to make barrels as "anyone taking beer barrels on a sea voyage had to bring back materials to make more barrels. That material was called clapboards, and originally referred to barrel staves." Thus the culture of English bottle deposit laws drove the development of house sheathing in Maine, which in turn became a style.

These clapboards sheathed the earliest cottages in Maine, which were fundamentally about shelter and warmth. They were center chimney capes with steep-pitched roofs, a central door and windows on either side. Generally symmetrical, the cape is our archetypal image of "house." The plan is organized around the most efficient use of the chimney for heating and cooking.

However the stairs that wrapped around the chimney were often narrow and cramped and there was no space for a significant entry. "So the chimney began to migrate and one way to trace early houses is to watch the chimney move," said Glass. In southern states the chimneys were usually at either end of the house on exterior walls. However in Maine, the chimneys only moved apart enough to accommodate a central hallway while keeping the chimneys -- and thus the heat -- within the body of the house.

Of course, just like nowadays, folks didn't have enough space to accommodate their work and storage needs so barns became connected to the houses with a variety of ells and sheds. These were used for everything from summer kitchens to wood storage, giving rise to the familiar New England sight of big house, little house, back house, barn. The simple pristine form of the cape, bursting at the seams, evolved into an agglomeration of connected gables, based on need -- a need that gave rise what we now consider a familiar style.

During the second half of the 19th century, the new railroads brought standardized lumber and new-fangled nails to Maine, making construction much more accessible and more efficient. Stick-built structures began to replace traditional post and beam construction and beams were cut in saw mills rather than being hand-hewn. The railways also brought the culture of builders' pattern books, with plans and perspectives adjusted to accommodate uniquely American values and climates. Thus, the cascading variety of Victorian styles was democratically and pragmatically disseminated. The pattern books provided the organizational and stylistic elements of a built environment that has ever since been individually interpreted by the American homeowner.

The World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 marked a key turning point in the use of technology in everyday American life. The White City was dressed in grand neoclassical style but illuminated with the new electricity. Further advances in central heating soon permitted the development of more open floor plans leading to the more relaxed spatial layouts of the shingle style.

Unlike neoclassical architecture, which was an appropriation of our early European cultural ancestry, the shingle style reached back to the simple cladding and trim of early farm buildings and through this, established a connection to the American landscape. However the shapes of the shingle style were asymmetrical and free-flowing, both looking forward to the open plans of modernism and simultaneously echoing the utilitarian additive forms of native New England farm buildings.

This conversation between technology and culture continues to the present day. Nowadays we take central heating and open floor plans for granted, exploring the possibilities of solar power and super insulation while wirelessly working from home. The fact that our homes can now be our workplaces again is indicative of how closely the forces of technology and culture are intertwined.

We highly recommend Christopher Glass and Brian Vanden Brink's new book Historic Maine Homes. If you are interested in delving further into the rich history of Maine's architectural heritage, Rosie is teaching a three-credit online class: An Architectural History of Maine. Email her for more information.

More Design Notes:

• Design Notes: An introduction

• The Welcome Mat: The story of front and back

• Moments of Delight 1: Boynton–McKay Food Co.

• Is It Food Or Is It Art? Rockland's Main Street

• The domestication of the garage

Chris Wohler came to Camden 20 years ago after living in New York for 24 years. She has a Bachelor of Arts in history from Cornell University and a Master of Architecture from Columbia University. She has taught at Ball State University, Parsons School of Design and Columbia University. Her design practice, Breathing Space, encompasses everything from architectural design to retail merchandising.

She likes blackbirds, crosswords, babies, Miles Davis, avocados, quantum physics, Robert Frank, chartreuse, Puccini, roses, graphite drawings, the collaborative process, Great Danes, Patti Smith, gardening, J.S. Bach’s Suites for Solo Cello, architectural plans, movies, Philip Pullman, cooking with friends, everything by Beethoven, New York City and her two sons who currently live there. Reach her at breathingspace2@gmail.com.

Rosie Curtis lives in Camden and teaches architecture at UMA.

Originally from England, she has been designing and building in Midcoast Maine for the last 20 years, although she indulges in a spot of work for a British engineering firm now and then. She holds two bachelor’s degrees and a master’s degree in architecture and has been interested in the built environment her whole life. She believes that design is fundamentally about things working well and looking good. Her two kids are fed up of hearing her pontificate about all things design related and hope this column will provide a channel for her endless wonderings. Reach her at rosie@fairpoint.net.