Modern vs Traditional style house

Because we really like to make things difficult for ourselves, we asked our architect to do a concept drawing of the house in a more modern style so we could compare it to the more traditional, Arts and Crafts/Prairie style.

The only problem is that we like the new concept as much as the first.

Tell us what you think.

Below is the more traditional look, with the first picture the front of the house and the second of the rear of the house. (the picture of the front of the house was provided in black and white, so I had to colour it myself, which is why the colours don't exactly match)

and below is the more modern look. First, the front of the house. We both really like the asymetrical porch that she has designed. It's a bit difficult to tell on this picture, but the porch would be covered by a flat roof with wood sticking out the front so it looks sort of like a pergola. There is a wall at the front of the porch, about 3 feet wide or so, that screens the front door from the road. This provides a place to put things like strollers, snow shoves, etc. so that they are in front of the house, but not in sight from the road. The porch would be open at the side behind the wall. The cladding is a combination of stucco and wood siding. The siding would be by a company called Maibec, and they have a 25 year warranty of their siding (which means I don't have to paint it every five years).

and here is the rear of the house. The same basic design, but different windows from the more traditional look. This more modern look would allow us to have large corner windows in the bedroom and the living room.

The Wright Stuff

One of the styles of architecture that we like, and which we think our new house lends itself to, is the Prairie style. This style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped in horizontal bands, integration with the landscape, solid construction, craftsmanship, and discipline in the use of ornament. One of the most celebrated architects associated with this style is Frank Lloyd Wright, and Robie House, the house he designed in 1910 for the Robie family in Chicago, is often considered to be the greatest example of this work.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ocean_of_stars/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

In designing this house, and others like it, Wright emphasized an open plan for the interior. He took the kitchen, sewing rooms and reading rooms, which were typically the domain of women in the house and hidden away at the rear of the house behind closed doors, and integrated them into the family space. The focus in the interior of the house is on the function of the family. Form then followed function. From this idea came today's open concept houses with the kitchen at the heart of the home.

Unfortunately, Wright's ideas had not been widely embraced in 1950s Ottawa, and as a result, the kitchen in our bungalow is securely ensconced at the rear of the house, through a door and down a passageway, thereby ensuring that whoever is working in the kitchen is separated from the rest of the family.

From the outset, we emphasized Wright's principles of interior design to our architect. Everyone knows that if you have a party, everyone ends up in the kitchen, so the kitchen must be at the heart of our renovated bungalow. You can see from our architects plans that she has done that, placing the new kitchen right smack in the middle of the house with excellent sight lines to all of the public spaces in the house.

On the exterior, I like Wright's emphasis on strong horizontal lines and the use of natural materials like wood and stone. As I mentioned, we already have a hipped roof with no gables, so the house already lends itself to the Prairie style. I also like Wright's idea of concealing the front door so that it cannot be easily seen when looking at the front of the house. This gives a sense of privacy and security, which is important when the interior plan is so open.

We have not yet seen our architects concept drawings for the front or sides of the house, but she knows our influences, so I am looking forward to seeing what she comes up with. In fact, today our architect, Linda Chapman, was featured in an article about the Prairie style in the Ottawa Citizen. The house shown below, which she designed, is showcased in the article. With its deep roof overhang, natural stone exterior and square columns, the house pays homage to Frank Lloyd Wright.

Interestingly, today's Citizen also ran a story about how major subdivision developers are starting to pick up on the Prairie style. Urbandale, for example, is marketing its new Horizon Collection of townhomes to be built in Kanata. Urbandale says that they are modeled on Wright's timeless classic, Robie House, although I would say its a fairly conservative take on Wright's house. Still, Urbandale says they have not revamped the exteriors of their townhouses since the '80s, and it was time for a new, fresh look. I find it interesting that they went with Prairie style. I am wondering if this will be the next trendy style in Ottawa as people start to feel that Modern is overdone? We'll see. Maybe we will be trend-setters with our house.

Five more examples of Modern Architecture in Ottawa

If you read my previous post on 10 examples of Modern Architecture in Hintonburg and Westboro, or the latest edition of Ottawa Magazine, you will know that the Modern style is seeing a resurgence in new residential infill developments in Ottawa.

In this post, I provide five more examples of Modern Architecture, mostly from in and around the Glebe, including two houses that show that this style has been around for a long time.

First is this house at 716 Golden Avenue, near Westboro. Built in 1975, the entire house is clad in brick, rather than the corrugated galvanized steel seen on so many Modern houses built today. If your interested, this house is currently up for sale by the original owner for a cool $1.1 million. For a short time, at least until it sells, you can check out the real estate brochure to see pictures of the inside.

Now over to the Glebe.

Freen House at 5 Clemow Avenue is not only one of the best examples of Modern Architecture in the city, it is also testament to the fact the despite its name, Modern Architecture dates back to the first half of the 1900s. Originally built in 1958 in the Modern style, architect John Donkin went to work on it in 2006 re-cladding the exterior and adding tons of new windows to vastly improve the connection to the outside. He also gutted the 2200 square foot interior to create what the owners describe as fluid spaces that are open to interpretation. Below you can see pictures from both before and after the renovation. The total budget for this renovation in 2006 was $435,000 - under $200 per square foot. If you would like to see more pictures of the inside of Freen House or read about this project read Capitalizing on the basics on the Canadian Architect website, or visit John Donkin's website.

Further south in the Glebe, there are a number of newer houses in the Modern style. Close to Freen House are these newly built semi-detached houses 171 First Avenue.

This house at 135 Glen Avenue was built in 2009.

And here is another at 341 Sunnyside Avenue.

I have updated my map of the locations of these Modern style houses in Ottawa. It's a bit too far on foot to visit all these houses in one day, but it might make for a great Sunday afternoon bike tour once summer arrives.

Designing a mud room

Here are some ideas for what our mudroom off the front foyer could look like. I like the hooks and bench, but another idea is to have a set of four cubbies (just like they have at daycare for the kids). That way, each member of the family gets his or her own cubbie in which to store their coats, mitts, gloves and boots. Whatever we do, it will be essential to have draws down near the floor so that the kids can put away and retrieve their mitts and hats. The high cupboards that you see in these pictures are not much use to 3-year olds.

Putting a wall on the kitchen island

Here are a couple of model pictures to show what the kitchen island would look like with a 12 inch high wall on the dining room side.

3D view of the main living areas

Once again, with Google Sketchup (man I love that program) I was able to quickly put together this 3D rendering of the main living areas of the house.

3D model of our latest house design

Thanks to the magic of Google Sketchup, I was able to create this rather rough 3D image of the most recent house design.