Jefferson's alcove bed: reThinking architecture

Photo coutesty of Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Living in the midst of the phenomenally gorgeous Monticello, where he could have anything he wanted, Thomas Jefferson slept in the middle of a doorway. Located between two rooms, he stuffed his bed in between two walls. If he rolled out of bed on one side, he would end up in one room while rolling the other way would lead him to the other room.

Jefferson’s bed looks incredibly odd and “out-of-place” measured on an aesthetics scale. Yet Jefferson was an architect who clearly had respect for geometry and proportion. His mind was replete with the many lessons he learned from European architectural designs he assimilated from the Old World.