Original Post on Dec 20th 2008- Stylistic Intentions

Stylistically, my strength lies in traditional and historically inspired designs. “Tudor Revival” seems to be fairly well accepted across a large part of the country. I’ll probably go a bit cleaner on the exterior detailing though, something more reminiscent of an english country home. I’d like to see some fine, simple detailing on the exterior masonry (the vast majority of homes down here have a masonry exterior in contrast to the northern half of the country.)

One of the main problems lately with homes in this area has been that the market is super-saturated with lots of (what we call) “Old World” designs. Homes that are based on old stock plans with the same exterior detailing done over and over, very eclectic stylistically (some gothic windows here, some classical columns there, a low pitched roof in some areas and steep pitched in others, rough cedar slat false shutters- yeah, you start to get the idea).

Now, the builders are trying to get creative and experiment with the detailing, but it winds up being simply more and more decoration to make up for the lack of a well balanced, well proportioned design. My plan is to design something that, in one sense, is the opposite in terms of it’s detailing and balance, and yet will not look totally out of place next to other homes being built. Superior, yes, but not out of place.

More to come later.