Less Is More

By Pat Curry
Products By Nigel F. Maynard
Photographs By James F. Wilson

Take three very tight lots, three distinct buyer profiles, and strict architectural guidelines, and give them to three world-class architects. What do you get? Three small servings of perfection.

Like many projects of massive scope, the New Urban Challenge sounded deceptively simple at its inception: design and build a 2,300-square-foot house to mirror the square footage of the average new house built in America. Put it on a tight lot in a high-density development because that’s where the building industry is headed. That by itself probably would have been enough for any builder to undertake.

But good ideas have a way of growing and the New Urban challenge was no exception. Working with Houston-based production builder David Weekley Homes, Builder and Home magazines decided to give three top architects the same square footage and lot size, with the thought that they would each design a house for the same hypothetical buyer.

That was a better idea but still not quite everything it could be. So the idea grew again. Each architect ultimately was charged with designing a house for a different buyer demographic--a family with two young children, a professional couple with no children, and an active adult, empty-nester couple.

The homes would be built side by side in Orlando, Fla.'s Baldwin Park. The 1,100-acre community is built on the site of the former Orlando Naval Training Center and is one of the largest infill. redevelopment projects in the United States. The houses would front a park-like mews on 45-by-I20 lots with detached, alley-loaded garages. Not only would there be strict architectural guidelines to follow, but the houses would also need to help the owners simplify their lives and meet their desire to form an emotional and spiritual connection with the place they call home -and incorporate products and services from 44 national sponsors.

The response from the architects was intensely personal. They designed houses they would want to live in themselves.

Seattle-based architect Bill Kreager immediately chose the active adult buyer and continually referred to it during design and construction as "our house." The Shingled Cottage, with its master bedroom on the main level, is first and foremost a gathering place for friends and far-flung family, with cozy window seats that grandchildren can delight in, no less than four distinct gathering spaces, and a garage apartment geared to the minimalist needs of a returning college student.

Geoffrey Mouen, who fled New York to Central Florida with his young family because he and his wife longed to raise their twins themselves instead of leaving the children in the hands of a nanny, designed the Classic Residence. It features a massive front porch that functions as an outdoor living room, his-and-hers master baths, a quiet retreat off a family-centric kitchen and great room, and a kid-friendly playroom above the garage.

New York City urbanite Donald Rattner created a sophisticated Mediterranean-inspired Villa for a Modern Couple, a pair of professionals with gourmet tastes and a passion for entertaining. An inviting loggia is the entry point to a spectacular two-story great room, abundant flex space, a dramatic second-floox mezzanine, and a contemporary media room above the garage for upscale social events.

"It's typical that we get a variety of buyers, so we have plans that target young families, young professionals, and empty-nesters. These designs responded to those buyers and went to the extreme." -Bob Rohde, vice president of design, David Weekley Homes

"The architects weren't given restrictions of creating houses that can be stamped out in a mass-produced way," says David Pace, the managing director of Baldwin Park. "We said, ‘Show us how to take a small house and (make it) live large so people who would buy a larger house would look at this and not feel they're compromising.’ These are incredibly good houses. Each of these houses is almost like a rolltop desk you live in. There is no space that's not cleverly used."

Bob Rohde, vice president of design at David Weekley Homes, says the houses also represent the fiffl range of today's home buying market. Putting them next to each other creates unique opportunities for building community across the generations.

"The diversity in the buyer group alone is exciting," Rohde says. "These are all integrated in the same neighborhood, which makes sense in Baldwin Park. It's typical that we get a variety of buyers, so we have plans that target young families, young professionals, and empty-nesters. These designs responded to those buyers and went to the extreme."

Baldwin Park's town architect, Sean Lackey, says the trio of houses represents the next generation in new urbanist homes, with designs that are fresh and historically inspired at the same time. If there's a criticism of new urbanist communities grounded in traditional architecture, he says, it's that the architecture often is seen as being too mild or plain. That criticism definitely doesn’t apply to the New Urban Challenge houses.

"I think the visitors to the show homes would agree that there is not anything mild or plain about the homes," he says. "What surprised us most about the homes was the depth of character that each home was able to exude.

Each of the houses had to meet Baldwin Park's architectural guidelines, which center on home styles found in Central Florida before World War II, when housing became much more homogenized. (While the Shingled Cottage didn’t quite fit because it wasn’t built in pre-WWI Central Florida, Kreager got the okay to proceed as long as his design was faithful to the style he had selected.) Lackey says the New Urban Challenge houses deftly achieve both cutting-edge design and historically accurate expressions, with well-proportioned exterior details and the embodiment of good massing that translates into designing the floor plan hand in hand with the elevation.

“Artistic license within the mastery of these two attributes tends to bring about the more successful designs, a talent that not every architect or designer is able to master easily," Lackey says, "and the secret is making it look as though it occurred effortlessly. All three homes are strong examples of this mastery."

They also take into account one of the practical elements of new urbanist land planning. With the homes built on such narrow lots, fire suppression is critical to keep damage from quickly spreading from one house to the next. Each of the New Urban Challenge homes includes a fire sprinkler system from the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition.

The attention to detail and the emphasis on 360-degree architecture paid off handsomely, says Bill Wood, senior builder and on-site supervisor.

"The homes really stand out," he says. "There's a fairly busy street running right behind them, and it's amazing to see traffic slow down, stop, and pull over. People want to see what they are. They're turning heads. The design teams have done a phenomenal job. ... They're as nice as custom homes or better. Some of the materials are just incredible, especially considering the size of the lots and what we have available. The homes are just stunning."

Ted Brock, Weekley's project manager for Baldwin Park, says that while the houses are in the same architectural style and square footage as the ones his company builds in Baldwin Park, they are far from production homes in the level of detail. They might not be reproduced for mass-market appeal, but they sure were fun to put together.

"If it were Christmas and you could do what you want," he says, "this is it."

OLD WORLD ELEGANCE: A Mediterranean-inspired villa offers a graceful sanctuary from a hectic lifestyle.

BY DONALD RATTNER FOUND THE INSPIRATION for the cool, inviting loggia that serves as the entry to his Villa for the Modern Couple by a "wonderful accident."

"Early in the project, we gathered in Orlando and went to dinner," he says. "We went past a classic Orlando cottage and the front porch was decorated like a living room. That drove the whole front loggia. It was very important to us."

Rattner says he was drawn to the New Urban Challenge because it offered an alternative to the "prevailing trend in our business of big, bigger, biggest.

"It was a pleasure ... to give it the charm and functionality of a larger home and show people they could live in something less than mega-sized residences."

He chose Spanish-influenced architecture because of its historic connection with Florida and because it lends itself well to a subtropical climate. Plus it was well suited for Baldwin Park, which has several homes that complement the Villa sprinkled throughout the community, and with modifications, it could be adapted for an economical price point.

"You don't have to have thousands of details," he says. "It could be built anywhere else."

The critical role of outside spaces in new urbanist site planning and design is immediately evident in Rattner's plan. Much to the delight of Baldwin Park town architect Sean Lackey, Rattner saw the loggia as a frame-work for the mews, not just as a poch that’s passed through on the way to the front door.

"It was a pleasure ... to give it the charm and functionality of a larger home, and show people they could live in something less than mega-sized residences."
-Donald Rattner, architect, Studio for Civil Architecture

“It’s a great transitional space,” says Bob Tohde, vice president of design for David Weekley Homes. "It starts getting you to feel what the home is about before you get into it. I think you'll see most people eat that up. ... The loggia is one of those places where you can get away. Most people get away to the backyard; in this one, you can get away to the front of the home, read that book or do your thing."

But Rattner gave equal attention to the private realm of the backyard, too. French doors from the dining room open onto a pergola, which creates an intimate al fresco dining and grill area beside a tranquil pool and spa with a fountain.

Since Rattner was designing the house before he and his wife had their first child, he found the idea of creating a space for a professional couple "very enticing." He incorporated many of the features that would appeal to his own personality and lifestyle and kept the plan free-flowing and informal while incorporating amenities that affluent couples expect.

That resulted, in Rohde's opinion, in one of the most memorable spaces in the overall project- a soaring, two-story great room with massive beamed ceilings.

“As far as impressive, this is the ‘WoW’ room," Rohde says. "Not that the others aren’t, but this is the only space through all three homes that is a true two-story space. It's really tailored to that 'young professional (with) no kids' kind of buyer."

In designing the great room, Rattner says he wanted to avoid what happens in traditional homes-"the living room getting mothballed 35o days a year. We tried to push that space and keep the openings as wide as possible."

Just across the foyer from the expansive great room is a room Rattner dubbed a “cozy room." (“We made it up. We're allowed.") Tucked behind French doors, it functions as a private retreat with a full bath and a roomy closet and acknowledges an individual's occasional need to be alone.

Merchandised as a masculine home office, it could easily convert to a third bedroom. just don't call it a guest room.

"If you call it a guest room, it's used 10 days out of the year," he says.

Flexible space is a hallmark of the plan, Rohde notes. The only rooms in the house that have just one function are the kitchen and the master bedroom. The second-floor guest suite could be used as an office, an exercise room, a hobby room, and a study.

Senior designer Suzette Bass from Marc-Michaels Interior Design tied together the Old World feel in the house with the use of dark, stain-grade wood beams that match baseboards, window frames, built-in bookcases, stairs, and exterior doors.

Bass says that she loves the clean feel of the kitchen, especially the formal Timberlake cabinets, the cultured granite backsplash, and the new meteorite finish on the KitchenAid appliances. The dining room features dramatic Sea Gull lighting of varying heights and hidden storage space concealed by Mediterranean-inspired wooden lattice doors.

The single dining space, located at the back of the house off the kitchen, is another dramatic departure from traditional home design.

"People will see that and say, ‘That's different,"' Rohde says. "I call it a formal breakfast area."

The entry to the upstairs is a dramatic, yet space-efficient U-shaped staircase, with barrel-style arches. It lands in the center of the floor on a graceful, curved balcony with wrought-iron railing that overlooks the great room.

A mezzanine, with built-in bookshelves, connects the master bedroom and the guest suite. In combination with the balcony, it provides ample space for a spot to unwind.

"We thought it would be a place for a moment of rest," Rattner says. "Put an easy chair there and a lamp and sit and read. We wanted to reduce the idea of corridors that you just pass through and walk by."

While the Classic Residence uses its above-garage space for a playroom for children, the Villa for the Modern Couple takes advantage of the open space to create a sophisticated party room. “A big media room was one potential use," Rattner says. "If there's a guy thing going on, like the big game, you could have a big-screen television with sofas. We wanted to keep it loose. It's a very sensible way of looking at the room, and it gives it a longer life. We haven't pigeonholed it, so you don’t have to undertake huge renovations to change it."

GATHERING SPACE

WHEN GIVEN THE THREE buyer demographics for the New Urban Chalenge, Bill Kreager immediately asked to design the house for an active adult, empty-nester buyer. With the master bedroom on the mainlevel, he nsidered it a greater challenge because it reduced the options for usable outdoor space. The solution was a house dining area.

But beyond the creative challenge was a personal attachment. Kreager and his wife, Kathie, have been married for 37 years and love to entertain. Plus~ they have four grown daughters, one of whom is a graduate student living at home because she can't afford a place of her own while she's in school. He literally envisioned his family in every room.

"I love the idea of a formal dining room," he says. "First, (we) entertain casually, around the kitchen, then Kathie lights the candles and says, 'Let's go into dinner.' It's a very conversation-focused environment. You sit there for an hour and a half after dinner and then say, 'Let's go back and sit by the fire.' It's meant to be a comfortable place where everyone feels welcome. There is no formal stair or grand entry. It's very warm and unpretentious."

Inspiration for the house came as Kreager spent time walking through the older neighborhoods near Baldwin Park.

"We were looking to recapture the heritage and character of Old Orlando-high ceilings, lots of windows, things you don~t see in a typical spec-built home," he says.

With the dining room that fronts the mews, a relaxing family room flooded with light, a morning room with built-in seating and cabinets, and the courtyard, the house has ample space for quality time with family

and friends. The kitchen, with a curved island, serves as a core of the house. From that spot, it's easy to socialize with guests in the morning room, the living area, and the courtyard. Plus, the house is packed with window seats for snuggling with a grandchild or sitting with a book.

Flexible space is a hallmark of the design. The front room is identified on the floor plan as a dining room, but it just as easily could be used as a study, office, or hobby room. The command center off the kitchen could be converted to a butler's pantry.

David Weekley Homes' Rohde says he was thrilled to have one of the houses with the master bedroom on the main level, even though it effectively eliminated the possibility of a backyard.

"It's more cozy," he says. "It's more oriented to the side yard than a backyard, ich speaks better to the empty-nester. I think when you walk in the home it will e a completely different feel than the her homes. This is a little more quaint."

Marc-Michaels interior designer Bass her favorite part of the house is the breakfast area.

"You feel like you're sitting in a sunroom," she says. "The glass doors make everything feel so open."

Bass chose cheerful yellow walls, with arcoal and linen accents and wood ors throughout the main level to give it e look and feel of a seaside cottage. Her am gave considerable thought to the placement of the television in the family room They felt strongly that the target r wouldn't want the television to be a cal point. The fireplace is flanked by en bookcases against Fypon-molded ick. With help from the electronics wizds at Best Buy, they installed a flat-panel t above the mantle, hidden behind artrk that can be raised and lowered by remote control.

While the master bedroom is small, e space looks larger with a floor-to-ceilling mirrored wall framed in white Fypon. e master bath is thoughtfully designed th a walk-in shower, seating, and a spacious vanity.

The second level has an extraordinary amount of storage space, in closets and in built-in cabinets that line the hallway been two bedrooms. One bedroom functions as a traditional guest room while the merchandised as a hobby room. With a built-in bench overlooking an oak tree on the mews, it's the perfect place to curl up with a book or stretch out for a nap. In addition, the second-floor landing has a spot carved out for a sunny window seat or a small desk.

Rohde says, "When you come up the stairs, it gives you a little, special new neat' space."

The apartment above the garage was crafted for a graduate student; in this case, an engineering student at the University of Central Florida who enjoys biking and backpacking. But it could just as easily be used by a caretaker or a renter if the family needs additional income. The one-bedroom, one-bath unit has a contemporary feel, with a metal backsplash in the kitchen and an ultra-convenient Polara stove and an in-sink dishwasher.

Overall, Kreager says he loves the character of the house and the way it lives.

"It's open, yet the rooms are defined," he says. "The floor plan is circular; actually, it's a figure eight if you open the French doors. It's a great house to entertain in, and it's fun to furnish."

The project also met his standard for green building because of its location and lot size.

"The most important (thing) to me is concentrating growth," he says. "Homes that live large but on much smaller lots are the most responsible tthing a planner can do."