The Home as Art

At the very least, our homes provide us with basic shelter. At the very most, they are functional works of art. Thankfully for aficionados of artfully conceived homes, Central Florida boasts a number of talented residential architects and designers who regularly find a balance between beauty and practicality.

We asked professionals from six of the finest Orlando-area firms to tell us about their favorite homes and to talk about local architectural trends over lunch.

Topics ranged from aesthetics to economics, including lively discussions about trends. It was a rare opportunity to quiz the most influential and creative people in the industry about what's new, what's hot, what's in and what's out. We also asked each member of the group to describe his or her favorite project.

THE MEANING OF MEDITERRANEAN

For a few years, "Old World" and "Mediterranean" were interchangeable monikers for the hottest look in home design. The term "Tuscan" was constantly tossed about, and it seemed that every show home was touted as a "villa." That popularity led to a bastardization of the style, according to our experts.

"I think Mediterranean became a catch-all," says Bob Morales of Morales-Keesee Design Associates in Apopka. Such over-ornamented knock-offs give indigestion to designers, who appreciate true Mediterranean architecture for its timeless beauty.

"Our firm does a lot of remodeling work, and if I have to look at another so-called Mediterranean house, I'm going to get sick," says Karen Kassik of Lucia, Kassik & Monday.

"However, really well-done, true Mediterranean architecture will always be beautiful, and will always be appropriate in Central Florida."

In fact, some of Kassick's favorite homes are Mediterranean in the purest sense, especially those designed or inspired by renowned architect Addison Mizner, whose stunning Spanish-revival homes were built throughout South Florida during the 1920s and '30s.

Some designers say their clients are becoming more educated about architecture. As a result, they're more discerning about what is and isn't appropriate in a given style.

"People are interested in more authentic designs," says Jim Ross of Ross Design Group in Orlando.

Benita Hendrickson of Nasrallah Fine Architectural Design agrees. "A client will say, 'I want an authentic Tuscan villa,'" she notes. "But they're also looking for something really unique, their own take on the European style."

But it isn't just authentic Mediterranean that clients are requesting. One of Nasrallah's clients commissioned a home modeled after an art-deco movie theater that he recalled visiting as a youth. That project, which stayed true to the deco form, is one of the Nasrallah firm's favorites.

Other clients are looking for a cleaner, simpler look, according to the panel. Natural materials like wood and stone are in demand. But some interiors are sporting fewer embellishments.

"I think people are simplifying a little bit, making it a little bit cleaner, more refined," says Kassik.

Allen Beaumont Jr. of Beaumont Associates in Altamonte Springs concurs: "Clients are favoring simple lines."

CONTEMPORARY STYLES LAGGING

Still, most Central Florida buyers remain enamored with traditional exterior styles, which means few of our design pros have been able to pencil much that is particularly avant garde.

"Contemporary homes encompass a very small marketplace of buyers," notes Ross, who says he expected to see more requests for contemporary styles after "Coo Coo Ka Choo," one of the most daring local homes in recent memory, was unveiled at a Street of Dreams three years ago.

But while buyers loved touring the unusual home, Ross says, few seemed to want to emulate it. Kassik, however, believes that younger people are more willing to depart from convention when designing homes.

"Our younger clients, in their early 40s, can be very interested in an international contemporary home," she says. "And when the economy's good, people are willing to take more risks."

For the most part, however, condominium projects are where contemporary design is most likely to be found, says Randall Slocum of Slocum Platts Architects Design Studio in Winter Park.

In the single-family market, Rockwellian homes in neotraditional communities are all the rage.

SAY GOODBYE TO FORMAL ROOMS

The popularity of great rooms has led to homes with formal living rooms that are rarely used. But have such rooms become obsolete?

"We find that a lot of our customers are eliminating the living room altogether," says Ross. "We've found the formal dining room going as well."

In their place, some clients are choosing special-purpose rooms, such as dance studios, libraries or recreational areas. For those who insist on a formal living room, Ross suggests installing a fireplace to provide a reason to use the space.

"We are a society of excess," adds Morales. "It blows my mind that we have got to have a breakfast bar, a nook and a formal dining room. I have one place to eat in our own home—it's in the kitchen at an old table where we have our family discussions. And I don't have a living room, either."

Other designers say many clients are afraid to eliminate formal rooms for fear that their absence will impact resale value.

"We've worked ourselves up to listening to the realtor, who will say we have to have a living room, we have to have a fireplace and we have to have whatever item is hot at that point," says Beaumont. "I think it comes down to personal interest and what your priorities are. Does a house feel good? Does it look good?"

Still, notes Kassik, "you can do away with the living room and dining room, but you still have to have an adult space, and you still have to provide a play place for the children."

When a formal living room is mandated, several designers say they depart from that ubiquitous floor plan that puts the living room and dining room predictably to the right and left of the entryway.

Instead, some are creating "transition spaces" at the front door. Several designers describe such spaces as "central hubs," with the home's rooms radiating off like spokes from a wheel.

Kitchen placement, too, has been undergoing some changes. Some clients, weary of kitchen noise, smells and mess intruding in the great room, are asking designers to put the kitchen behind walls again. This marks a major departure from the open kitchens that are now found in virtually every new home.

But, even in an enclosed kitchen, the cook won't have to toil away alone, isolated from the family. These new spaces are large enough to allow for gathering spaces, sometimes in the form of attached nooks, as a nod to the fact that kitchens will always exert a strong gravitational pull.

"The family will always be there," says Luis Torres of Nasrallah Fine Architectural Design. "The kitchen is always the heart of the home. It has to be bigger to accommodate the family."

BRINGING THE OUTSIDE INSIDE

Designers are also tweaking floor plans to allow for more indoor-outdoor living spaces-transitional covered areas between the inside air-conditioned space and the great outdoors. On a nice day, doors open or glass walls roll aside to allow the spaces to flow together seamlessly.

"Most of our clients want to live inside and out," says Kassik.

Some designers are even figuring out ways for visitors to get outside more quickly. Ross's favorite home, for example, allows visitors to go straight from a front courtyard into the backyard pool area via a breezeway, eliminating the need for traipsing through the formal living room to access the party out back.

AGING IN PLACE FOR BABY BOOMERS

Buyers are becoming more interested in building homes where multiple generations can live comfortably together, and where residents can age in place, even if they need to use a wheelchair or walker one day.

"So much of our work, whether it's remodeling or new homes, is designed for multi-generational households," says Kassik.

That means wider hallways and doorways, hardly any step-downs at the home's entrances, bracing installed behind walls so handrails can easily be added later and sleeping suites on the lower level of two-story homes, which might be for an aging parent or for the homeowner later in life.

Torres has seen an increase in the number of elevators installed in homes.

"The elevator has become a very important tool for aging in place," he says.

Other designers are creating spaces that can be converted into elevator shafts later. Downstairs and upstairs closets designed on top of one other, for example, could be removed and an elevator installed when the need arises.

Ross encourages his clients to create flexible spaces that could easily become downstairs bedroom suites later. A pool bathroom connected to a recreation room, for instance, could morph into a mother-in-law suite at little cost, he notes.

BUILDING HOMES STRONGER, BETTER

Designers also report that their clients are more interested than ever in high-quality construction that will hold up well over time and in the face of an increasing number of hurricanes.

"We've had more clients request more solid materials," says Slocum. "We're doing more houses out of concrete block on both first and second floors."

And there's a small but growing interest in building "green" homes, which use as few natural resources as possible for their construction, maintenance, and operation.

"Some buyers are asking, 'How can we be more responsible?'" says Morales.