My partner designed a “traditional” house for a client of ours. It’s currently under construction and we went out for a site visit. It’s nicely designed. However, the owners have made some poor decisions and mucked up the proportions. It’s now taller than it should have been. As designed, it was pretty good. But I couldn’t like it. I kept wondering why.

Last night, if figured it out. I figured out some of what I don’t like about traditional styles, or why modern interpretations of traditional bothers me so much.

It’s really not very complicated. While I may not like some “traditional” architecture (and by this I mean early 20th century or older) I can appreciate it. I do enjoy their proportions, detailing and I’ve gained a better understanding of why they did what they did.

What I don’t like about modern “traditional” stuff is simple. It’s badly done. And, there is so much of the bad stuff that the good stuff sometimes just gets lumped in with everthing else. The details are similar and from a road distance, the good blurs by. I’m so used to seeing poorly done “traditional” that I’ve stopped looking at it all together. In the end, I may miss well done “traditional”.

It’s much like thinking that Totino’s Frozen Pizza is what pizza is. If most of your experience is Totino’s, then you may not have much of a desire for a really good brick oven pizza from the local pizza parlor. Good pizza is easy to find and make. Unfortunately, good “traditional” isn’t easy to design or build. That’s probably why we don’t see much of it. And when we do, we’re likely to lump it in with Totino’s.

PS: I actually like a Totino’s… once a year. Any more than that and we’ve exceeded my ability to deal with it.

Those of us who desire residential architecture that better reflects our modern times have wondered what it will take to get there.  A look through plan books, Better Homes and Gardens, and a number of places show that we’re not leaning modern, yet.

The “Green” movement might bring hope.  While vernacular designs did take into account the local climate conditions and material availabilities (along with the skills brought by those who settled the area), they didn’t take into account many of the things we’ve learned about construction, energy use, etc.  Show me a “traditional” house that doesn’t look out of place with solar panels.

“Green” brings hope.  “Green” design almost dictates a modern style.  It wants us to be more sensitive to the site, material choices, and energy usage.  All of these are opportunities for us to come up with designs that aren’t traditional.

Green might be what it takes to final get Modern.

After you’ve voted on the poll, please leave a comment about why you like that particular style:

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