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Dressing Up the Home |
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Outer SpaceBuilders obsessed for years over interiors. Now it's time to start looking outside.
"In the future, the homes that will resonate with people are those that come together to create neighborhoods where people can interact," says Joe Stein, director of residential architecture at JDavis Architects, a Raleigh, N.C.-based design firm. "There's a real focus on community and streetscape beyond the individual homes." In fact, seasoned architects and designers say that a home's particular architectural style — whether it be midcentury modern, Colonial or Tudor — isn't as important as making sure that it works with surrounding homes to create a cohesive neighborhood. The goal is to recreate the look and feel of older, established neighborhoods. Homes in such neighborhoods seem to fit together despite having different designs, because they have similar scales or use similar materials, says Louis Cohen, founder and CEO of LBC Design. "Architecture styles don't really change much because they speak to climate and the geographic region in which homes are built," Cohen notes. "The context and scale of the home is far more important. There's a big push for all of the houses in a neighborhood to read well and complement each other." For example, a contemporary-style home can relate well to a Craftsman-style home as long as they are about the same size or have similar street setbacks, or if both homes use similar building materials such as brick or stone. "Varying architecture styles and building materials makes homes feel more custom and adds character to the neighborhood," says J.R. Ruthig, managing designer for Dominick Tringali Architects, a Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based firm. Ruthig says that when it comes to creating new neighborhoods, Americans will want a variety of housing types and styles, just like in older towns. As part of this trend, he predicts that more town homes and loft apartments will be built right next to single-family homes. In the future, concerns about traffic congestion and health will also compel more Americans to walk or ride bikes, so when designing neighborhoods it's important that home builders consider what it will feel like to someone on foot. The size of the house, the distance it's set back from the curb, the location of the front door and garage, and a front porch or patio all come into play. In fact, Stein says, Americans will be increasingly interested in homes that are more "human scale" — meaning that they don't overwhelm people as they walk down the street. "It's all about creating authenticity, and there's a movement away from very grand, two-story entries that create false grandeur," he says. Many architects also predict that more developers will incorporate front porches that encourage neighborly interaction and move garage entries to the back. A front-door stoop without a porch or patio won't do. Neither will a porch that's too narrow for people to stretch out on. "That doesn't encourage interactivity between residents," Ruthig says. He recommends eight-foot-wide porches or patios for every home, regardless of the architectural style. "Porches bring street friendliness back to the neighborhood — they create a nicer aesthetic to home elevations," he says. |
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