It’s certainly interesting to see that the Home of the Year
at the recent
2012 Gold Nugget Awards in San Francisco, entitled “
Modern Farmhouse,” seemed to effortlessly combine the style of a classic farmhouse
with today’s demand for flexible living and multi-generational households. Although built as a semi-custom home to be
auctioned off for St. Jude’s Cancer Center, the Castle Rock, CO home by Woodley
Architects has been so well-received that similar designs are currently
underway.
But this award-winning home is far from an exception. In today’s competitive business environment,
product design for consumer technology, cars and Web sites has taken center
stage, and it is now increasingly felt in updated designs for a variety of
building projects whether they’re intended for single-family homes,
multi-family projects, mixed-use projects or even the growing demand for
multi-generational homes.
For example, Garbett Homes’
Solaris project in South Jordan,
UT, nabbed the Grand Award for Residential Project of the Year – Detached
Product due to a combination of bright colors and modern lines wrapped around
energy-efficient techniques that mean utility bills as low as $5 per
month. In a state of annual climate
changes such as Utah, that’s certainly impressive, and is made possible by
solar or geothermal heating and cooling as a standard feature. Consequently, these homes redefine the
single-family home in ways that are both practical and aesthetic.
In Huntington Beach, CA, Christopher Homes tapped MSA
Architects to create an attached project that varied its facades enough to
emulate a high-density detached development.
By combining useful outdoor spaces, spacious common rooms and
high-functioning kitchens,
The Villas at Pacific Shores -- Grand Award winner for
Attached Product within a suburban Setting – thus provides a luxury, attached
home alternative in this coastal community of Orange County.
For the winner of the Attached Product in an Urban setting,
judges decided upon the
Drs. Julian and Raye Richardson Apartments, which offer
short-term housing for homeless persons in transition. Built in a part of downtown San Francisco
damaged by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, the unique exterior selected by
architects David Baker + Partners has reportedly helped to re-energize a
streetscape long dominated by much older buildings. In addition, a combination
of gathering rooms, an on-site bakery providing job training and a green roof
where residents can grow their own food helps to establish the project as much
more than just a simple building.
In Irvine, CA, The New Home Company hired Robert Hidey
Architects for
The Hill at Lambert Ranch and won the top prize for detached
housing in the newly created category of Multi-Generational Concepts. By cleverly using landscaping and window
placement, Residence One & Two provide privacy for individual family
members while still allowing for a large, common space named, of course, the
family compound.
But it was in San Francisco where developer Bridge Housing,
working with David Baker + Partners, built
Amstrong Place Senior and Family Housing, in the process winning the Grand Award for best attached
Multi-Generational Concept. Combining
affordable flats for seniors with townhomes for growing families, the design’s
primary focus was to eliminate any potential feelings of isolation for its
older residents while still remaining interesting to younger ones. That was achieved by plenty of landscaped
public space and a patchwork of playful colors and patterns on the exterior to
make it a neighborhood stand-out.
Finally, Meritage Homes’s
Ragle Ranch in Santa Rosa, CA won
the Grand Award for continuing to raise the bar for green homes among
production homes. With the latest
construction techniques, these Meritage Homes are reportedly 39% more efficient
than the already-high standards required by California. Advanced ventilation design and low-emitting
products throughout the house help to maintain indoor air quality, while both
plumbing fixtures and outdoor landscaping are engineered for minimal water use. Best of all, since their work was verified by
third parties such as EnergyStar and GreenPoint Rated, customers get separate
proof of a green home.
With new home projects such as these capturing the interest
of buyers or renters and winning the plaudits of their peers in the building
industry, I think it can be said that practical and efficient need not equal
boring. Best of all, these designs will
provide a compelling alternative to older, more staid homes which, relatively
speaking, hog both water and energy.
Please click here to see the edition of BuilderBytes for 7/30/12 on the Web.
