I opened up the paper today and "Ah-yeek!"

In the DMN today on the front page of the HomeCenter2 section was a photo of a Grand Homes model called the Grand Park III. I went to the site and found a "parade of homes" that I found entertaining. If this is what the market wants, modernism is in trouble. Here ist eh GPIII, but also the link if you want to see even more. My goodness, is there an architectural detail they did not include? Turret (check), double height entry (check), window box (check) dormers (check), gables (check), hip roof sections (check), beams (check)... I guess they couldn't figure out how to add Tuscan columns.

http://www.grandhomes.com/gh_tourmodels_results.php

 

 

As you and I have discussed before I am not so certain it is what people "want" but what they are given. Home selection is a very funny thing. People choose their cars based on so many criteria and are typically fairly educated shoppers. Even more important they tend to choose a car that has the look they like and don't care as much what others like, aside from the brand of course (many Porsche and BMW brand whores in the N. Dallas area.) Some people like trucks, some like sedans, some sports cars, etc. Moreover, they buy according to what “they” like not what is readily available. On the flip side, the general public seems to take their housing as is, no real push by the market for something other than what is provided. They choose their home based on good schools, access to parks, nice neighborhoods, square footage, number of bathrooms, media rooms, and how big the kitchen is. For some reason aesthetics seem to take a back seat in the decision. I can speak for North Texas, the general buyer only seems to care how big the house looks from the curb, the goal of the Texas buyer seems to be to big-time your neighbors and your friends, even if the home is a gobblygoop of architecture.

No arguement here. But adding all these details must cost more and a successful company that adds these costs to production must be able to charge enough to cover the costs. Ergo, at some level the public must like them.

I guess here is my point. This house is hideous. So many of the volume builder houses out there are non-descript, boring, aesthetically off balance, etc. but these Grand Homes houses are so over the top as to be comical. It is as if someone set out to mock volume builder homes in a cartoon and this is what they came up with. Yet managers who have been in the business for years probably oversaw focus groups who told them that the more architectural details they could cram onto a house, the better.

I can excuse ignorance to a better option, but people who should know better did this on purpose. So either the people who run the new home construction industrial complex completely have no idea what is "good." OR, they do, but they know the public so demands hideous design that, against their better judgement, they serve the market and stay in business. Neither option is very encouraging.

You know I live in Grapevine and with Southlake, Colleyville, and Westlake surrounding me this is all I have to look at all day.....its absolutely bad.....There is no thought process here in this area when it comes to building homes

Homes like this are why I start to feel lightheaded and nauseated when driving through the “burbs.” Maybe it is just a case architectural one-upsmanship. If the house next to you combines 3 architectural styles and has 12 details then your house must have 4 styles and 15 details. Jeff I think you might be giving the developers of these neighborhoods a bit too much credit, focus groups, maybe, but I doubt it.

I've seen worse.. actually it's not that bad. What gets me more is when all the design is in front and the back and sides are just vinyl siding.

Trends are the worst. I hate going on the parade of homes, seeing 2-3 homes and then by the 4th home I already know exactly where all the rooms will be, what style doors they'll have, what kind of carpet etc.

I just finished building a home in a 'modern' development and all the other homes going up there are more of the traditional behemoths you would recognize elsewhere. At first it was disappointing but now I like it because if every house were modern, it would be just as dull.