Designing a custom home is a way of contributing to the built environment—a contribution that, when done well, will stand the test of time. When selecting a modern residential architect, keep in mind that today’s ostentatious or overly trendy trophy home may be tomorrow’s teardown.
Turkel Design homes, in contrast, strive for an understated elegance rooted in modern design principles that have proven their longevity. Our team employs these principles to create beautiful, inspired design. Read on to learn about three strategies for designing understated, elegant architecture— the kind that lasts for generations.
Maintain Clean Lines
“Architecture is basically a container of something. I hope they will enjoy not so much the teacup, but the tea.”
Yoshio Taniguchi
There’s an undeniable aesthetic pleasure that comes with encountering a straight line. In architecture, a home with clean lines suggests order and harmony—a quiet strength. As the Taniguchi quote above suggests, this gently draws focus to the spaces inside the home, or “the tea.” Like a good cup of tea, those spaces should create a sense of warmth and sanctuary.
Virtual horizontal planes throughout a home’s interior create a pleasing sense of scale, helping us understand our place within the structure. Clean lines also guide the eye; in the image below, notice how the rhythmic straight lines of the ceiling beams direct one’s gaze through the window and to the landscape beyond, blurring the line between indoors and outdoors.
Use Space with a Purpose
“In pure architecture the smallest detail should have a meaning or serve a purpose.”
Augustus W. N. Pugin
Turkel Design homes live larger than they are thanks to careful spatial zoning. This principle dictates that every square foot of space has a purpose—or, perhaps, multiple purposes. By delineating the spaces within a space—zones of occupation, zones of movement, zones of placement—the architect creates a home that shows the inhabitant how to live within the structure. This results in a feeling of order and logic that makes a room feel both more welcoming and more spacious.
Let the Materials Shine
“There is truth in materiality. Bricks, timber, steel, and concrete want to be used in ways that express their core qualities—their strength or flexibility or thinness or texture.”
Louis Kahn
By embracing clean lines and thoughtful spatial zoning, a home avoids the kind of visual clutter that can obscure the beauty of its building materials. Classic post-and-beam architecture delights the eye because it reveals the logic of the structure—how the building components fit together and hold themselves up. As with clean lines and spatial zoning, the result is a pleasure to behold because it creates a sense of order.
Furthermore, when a home is made of high-quality materials, they should be celebrated. Their inherent qualities lend warmth and refinement to the look and feel of the interiors. The grain of wood, texture of stone, and warmth of light through glass possess a natural beauty that needs no adornment.
Get in Touch
At Turkel Design, our team employs classic principles of modern architecture to design beautiful custom homes that enhance each owner’s lifestyle.
Contact us to discuss how you want to live.
