I can still hear the gravel driveway crunch under the tires of Grandpa’s Dodge Fury at my grandparents’ house in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. I remember how well the house seemed to fit in with them and my great-grandmother, who lived with them, and how everything had its place in her home. In those simpler times, houses were smaller and less complex, as was the life of the people who housed those houses. They were very comfortable in their modest ranch. It wasn’t a custom house, but it didn’t look like any other in his neighborhood. It was small, but roomy, and had character. Knowing my grandfather, I’m sure he looked for the best deal on the street, but he also knew about construction and got a solid building with quality materials.
When, as an architect, I began to think seriously about home design, I wondered how the house that fit them so well came to be. I like to think that their quiet little house was designed and built with care and craftsmanship by someone who had a pretty good idea of the kind of family that would like to live there. Our lives are more varied and complex now, and the design of our homes should support and reflect that.
The opportunities for architectural invention in home design today are limitless: new materials, products, and construction techniques are constantly being introduced, and new technologies are having an impact. Unlike days gone by, when historical styles ruled home design, our options today are wide open. We are free to interpret the style or create our own to meet our aesthetic desires.
But all of these available design tools are rarely used to create homes that mold to the lives of their owners. Instead, homebuyers are forced to choose from a few floor plans designed to appeal to a broad market, then scramble to add personality and character with just paint, carpet, and furniture. We try to make a house “ours” with features and decoration and never consider that it is the architectural design itself that brings a house to life.
We lose sight of what is possible and end up with another house instead of a home.
Designing and building a new home is an opportunity to create something completely new, something unique, something as individual as you are. We are working on several houses that defy any stylistic categorization because their inspiration, their “style” comes from the lives of their owners. These houses are built with character as the main building material: architecture and “decoration” cannot be separated.
Homes like these are so much more than just the number of rooms and the size of the floor plan – they are the ones that you look back over and over and think, “Wow, there is something about that house that I really like.” “What you like about those houses is the result of the owners having an active role in creating the design from the beginning. They realize that homes are made of life, of love, of memories, of wishes. and spaces, not living rooms, crown molding and curtains.
Our conversations with these clients don’t start with “how many bedrooms do you need?” or “how big do you want a house?”, they start with “what are your dreams and how do you want to live?”.
Those discussions, and the designs that stem from them, are what a truly custom home is all about.
Good home design brings people together in enjoyable ways. It deals with the family as a whole and with the privacy of each individual. Good design does all of these things, and it starts with taking the time to ask customers about the details of their daily lives. What is the first thing you do when you get up in the morning, go straight to the shower or go down to the coffee pot? Do the children eat breakfast at the table or have a cake on the way out the door?
A recent client of mine described her family’s eating style as “hit and run.” That little play on words tells me a lot about her kitchen design requirements, much more than I would discover by reading cabinet catalogs with her. We spend hours talking to our clients before a single line is drawn. To spend less effort on your family’s personality test is to rob them of the benefits of personalized home design.
Lifestyles change from generation to generation, and houses should change too. And yet, most homes built today are little more than updated versions of 300-year-old colonial designs. Incredibly, we are still building formal living and dining rooms for families who never use them. A better home and a better living experience are the results when the client and architect work closely together to examine the uniqueness of the client’s lifestyle and how it informs and shapes the design of the home.
My grandparents moved south for retirement many years ago, leaving that old house behind for the next family.
I wonder if the new owners fit as well as my grandparents, or if they have had to make changes to fit his unique lifestyle?
I hope they haven’t paved the driveway.