Blog

Theirs & Ours

February 10, 2017

A great focus of ours in our community and floorplan development has to do with 4-sided architecture design principles. We aim to apply as many of these principles everywhere we build. This approach goes beyond what many builders deliver in home design. Rather than only thinking about the aesthetic of the front of a home, we think about all 4 sides of the home looking nice. Rather than only thinking about the flow of a floorplan for someone inside the home, we think about how people should also easily be able to connect with their outdoor environment. The examples below spotlight home exteriors from other builders in comparison to some of our floorplans that employ these principles. Once you see the difference you'll never be able to ignore it as pass by the homes in your neighborhood.

The example on the left shows a grouping of random features. Nothing is aligned, nothing has a match, nothing is symmetric. It's a Frankenstein of functionality, but at the sacrifice of visual aesthetic and architechtural style. The colonial style elevation on the right demonstrates order and style with symmetry, and with element aligned to their center. Considering that the 2-story home on the left has one tiny window on the second level (most likely a bathroom) indicates just how little natural light can be felt inside. The different sections of the home on the right may not be perfectly symmetrical in the roof line, but accompanying elements such as windows and doors should still look great. Alignment is important in architecture. On the left we see that the lack thereof communicates a less than orderly and somewhat sloppy picture. Mixing sliding, hung, and picture windows in varying sizes adds to the feel of randomness flowing from the side of this home. On the right, we see that even though the windows are not all the same size, they are all centered in their respective sections. The features on the back side of this home on the left show that the exterior look of the home was an afterthought result of the interior flow. Window alignment is off, window sizes are mixed, and the left roof line pitches awkwardly. The example on the right is of an ally-load garage that still gives way for some nice visuals and plenty of windows. There is still balance although visually there are different elements presented from the left side of the home to the right side.