A Residential House or Home?

Why is it so often new estate residences are built as reproductions of massive funeral mausoleums, colonial barns, or classical museums? Is it because owners think such styles will suggest they have good taste and class? Is it because they think copying the style of the famous and wealthy of the past will grant them the same prestige? 

There’s still a belief that an estate house built to look like a funeral mausoleum, colonial barn, or classical museum will establish the owner as someone with “class” and good taste. The reality is quite different. People laugh at them first because in today’s world, buildings of such styles are no longer considered good taste or a statement of class and elegance. Second, they’re laughed at as fools for spending unnecessarily excessive amounts of money because they’re told  reproductions buildings are more “difficult to build”. The reality is they are led to believe that unless they spend additional amounts of money the desired appearances and incorporation of modern amenities cannot be accomplished. Third the resulting house because of its reproduction interior has no relation to how people live today or enables the smooth installation of the Smart Home technologies desired in today’s residence. The insides are often expected to be very modern with all the latest technological “Smart Home” marvels stuffed into them. As a result, most of the failures of buildings from the past make the residence a place barely able to be lived in. Instead of a warm comfortable home they get a cold, uncomfortable and costly to operate house. Fourth, because the building is an attempt at a reproduction, its appearance looks out of place and even ridiculous in today’s modern world. As expected, the building is an aesthetic blemish, no matter how many architectural details are added to the façade, the interior, or how many acres make-up the site.

It’s not until later that owners realize three unpleasant things. First, they’ve been “taken” with unnecessary and very inflated costs. Second, they’re laughed at behind their back for their lack of taste and class. And third, they have a building that’s an impersonal, “cold” almost unusable house rather than a warm, personal, and inviting home for family memories.

In the real world, funeral mausoleums, colonial barns, and classical museums were originally built at a time when there were limitations in construction technology as well as the absence of modern conveniences desired in today’s homes. These homes were originally built at a time when classical or European styles were considered chic and the copies were very accurate. That’s not the case in today’s world.

There’s also the situation where owners think just because they have money, they know more than professional architects, engineers, or interior designers about design and aesthetics. The sad reality is they’re unsuspecting sheep with little knowledge of materials or furnishings, little or no contact with many luxury suppliers and are ready to be sheered like dumb sheep and fleeced from their money. Unfortunately, there’re still plenty of unscrupulous architects, engineers, and interior designers ready to agree to any convoluted building design a client wants. They happily artificially inflate costs, design and build outlandish monstrosities,  “steal” the clients’ money, and laugh all the way to the bank.  

Architectural Design Partners, Inc is different. We design and build contemporary mansion homes, not houses. Our homes are comfortable to live in; have integrated, state-of-the-art, Smart Home amenities; have interior furniture and finishes created to enhance a family’s lifestyle; and a building in harmony with their landscaped site. We have access to hundreds of  thousands of suppliers, most of whom clients are not aware of. We’re also able to buy materials and furniture at substantially lower costs than retail and we pass these savings along to our clients.

We shake our heads and ask, why do clients want to pay artificially inflated costs, want to live in an uncomfortable house instead of a home, or be laughed at behind their back? Why do they think they know more than us with 50 years of ongoing study and international and domestic design experience? If you’re ready to consider a modern home solution instead of a relic from the past? Let’s talk.

I’m Harry, managing director of Architectural Design Partners. See some modern customizable concepts in our residential portfolio on our web site: https://www.architectdesignpartners.com

For a free enlightening consultation fill out the request on our website or email me at architecturaldesign.partners@gmail.com