I'm an apprentice architect in a small development firm without an architect. I've been asked to design a spec house with a loose budget of 280k (selling for ~460k) in a high-value but otherwise ugly estate subdivision. Some of the homes here are going for over a million dollars but are very poorly designed, e.g., enormous amounts of wasted or even inaccessible space (areas under steep roof portions). Especially in spec houses, the only consideration is given to street-facing "curb appeal" in which material budgets are spent exclusively on the front elevation, leaving the interiors and rear elevations in a very empty and sad state.
The lot I've been given to design on is a corner lot in a very odd shape, so it was very cheap to buy relative to the average land price. I'd like to design something good, but I'm not a real estate agent or richfuck, so I'm unsure of how to approach a middleground area of good design, value and what those parties want.
The home will be located in West Texas, with a mostly-arid climate with tremendous amounts of sunshine year-round and a near constant breeze that cools the land during the nights. These conditions have led me to believe that the best design approach would be a home that incorporates passive & active solar techniques to lower the overall energy requirements while increasing natural light within the house.
Despite this seemingly obvious solution, I see almost no houses at any budget level (especially higher budgets) that incorporate any of these strategies.
Why would this be? Are the necessary forms seen as unattractive? Is the concept's origin in the 70s seen as dated?
Not sure if this is the correct place for this, but It's more of a real estate question than architecture.
Contemporary homes are ugly. If this is going to be in a neighborhood with other traditional homes it will just look out of place.
Colton Ross
You should go for a sleek modern souless design meant to crush any remaining vestiges of cultural heritage from the goyim that will end up buying the house. Make sure they get an adjustable rate mortgage for when the central bank has to continue raising rates, that way the lender can stay profitible at the homeowners expense despite their poor lending decisions. I would set the house far enough back from the curb so all of the new immigrants have a place to culturally enrich the neighborhood at no cost until luxurious taxpayer funded housing can be found for them within the neighborhood.
Elijah Long
You don’t see these forms and strategies, because developers and buyers don’t care enough about these things to spend extra money to incorporate them into designs. Cost is the biggest factor here, and most single-family home developers will buy or create the cheapest set of plans and mass produce them with no regard to the actual site they are building on. Everything in that field is market driven. Props for trying to strive for better though.
this 100%. build it to look like the other shit that's there and move on. maybe put a little extra thought into some parts but don't make it look too different or it will be a disaster. this is a fucking 460k house not some site in the hollywood hills. the people buying it will be classless rednecks. you'll fuck yourself bigtime if you do anything that isn't wal-mart tier
Caleb Morgan
This. Also, is this gaudy McMansion regarded as "traditional" in West Texas? Looks ridiculous.
Jose Ortiz
It is. That house, and the others like it, have sat vacant for the better part of three years while other contemporary-styled houses have been sold within six months of completion.
Dylan Hall
This is the reality of college
>get a degree like architecture
>believe you can make a difference in the world
>Have an entire nation comprised of real estate agents, banks, regulators, and developers tell you what to design despite your scholarship and insights
>Have most consumers demanding that every part of the house is just as tacky and useless as other houses commanding a higher appraisal and resale value.
design two, spend most of the design effort on the mainstream appeal pleb tier home unit. but also spend a little time on a concept pitch for what you would rather do instead if they are interested. if it works like that. youll be ready to go on sceduale with the less ideal home they probably want. but you will be eager and ready to switch over to your ideal design instead if approved. thatd be more work though.
Josiah Wood
I'd recommend a C shape with the opening facing the back. That way the front can still have uniformity, but it's not a boring box. The inside of the C can have lots of windows to connect the outdoor area and let in natural light. This is just my opinion but cookie cutter houses are just glorified commie blocks
make some concessions to mainstream appeal and fashion like anons are saying. but dont fully go retard tier home design even if that seems to be what sells because fuck it. youre also building a reputation and that cookie cutter crap on your resume hardly makes you stand out. try for worthwhile house with mainstream appeal. as if modern fashion had been taken and upgraded to be less retarded.
Ryan Lee
also I would switch the laundry and guest room in pic
guests shouldn't feel isolated and laundry gets loud and should be isolated
Kayden Murphy
Yea, it's production time over quality with homes in the Midwest. Not that they are bad quality ... but electricity is generally cheap ($.07 to $.1 kwh), land is cheap with urban sprawl as there are not the regulations they have on the east/west coast to shove everything together. Add on top of that that people love sq footage more than quality and I think you have most questions answered
Samuel Allen
>I'm unsure of how to approach a middleground area of good design, value and what those parties want.
Make it as big as possible with the cheapest materials available. This seems to be what 90% of homeowners want these days.
Watch some HGTV shows to get an idea of what people want.
Include some shit like a breakfast nook, a cozy corner, and a master bath suite that the real estate agent can talk up.
Ayden Young
I'd buy these houses and your sketches are beautiful. Shame I'm a poorfag pseudo-intellectual 125+ IQ like everyone else on this board, presumably including you - i.e., not someone who will buy houses in West Texas. Design for your audience. These houses would be beautiful somewhere like the New Zealand outback.
Thomas Wood
or, for jokes, make the most retarded dumbfuck pleb tier tacky curb appeal mcmansion you can. with doors that open into other doors and unusable space everywhere. two staircases, not because it needs them, theyre only a few feet apart, its just pointless. super steep roof, this bitch has to be tall. giant windows for the 8 bathrooms, living room beside the laundry room. a closet with a door that opens into a bathroom. kitchen is between two bathrooms. two front doors but its not clear which is the main one and the other door goes straight into a bathroom. see if they go for it then tell them it was all a joke and then cry/laugh when they make you build it anyways.
>Shitposting through architecture What a time to be alive.
Aaron Mitchell
i like the house.
i have about 400k USD saved up and would like to build a house in the philippines with water-front view.
obviously i dont trust the architects/developers there, but is there a site i can learn the architect basics to get an understanding of what i should be looking for?
E.g. - material used should be dependent on the climate (and i guess on nearby material, though that could be shipped?) - foundation : what should be checked for (soil, water moving closer to land are the obvious ones) - general design (incorporation of sun-path etc)
Alexander Hughes
I'm going to recommend you two books that will cover most of the soft-side (aesthetics of good design) as well as the hard skills and technologies of designing a home.
"Form Space and Order" and "Building Construction Illustrated" by Francis D.K. Ching. Both are incredibly invaluable. I don't know an architect who doesn't have a copy at home and at work.
