Classic design principles are influencing today’s best new homes
Modern architecture aficionados may dream of living in an authentic midcentury home designed by one of the movement’s masters. Despite preservation efforts in many parts of the United States, however, many significant midcentury Modern homes have been demolished, often in favor of new builds that reject the style’s well-considered use of space in favor of bloated, ostentatious floorplans.
Thanks in part to this increased scarcity, those who may be lucky enough to secure a historically significant Modern home should be prepared to spend a considerable amount.
For homeowners who respond to the design principles of the midcentury masters, building a new home may well be a better option—if they choose the correct architect. At Turkel Design, our prefab homes take inspiration from the Modern Movement while embracing technological innovations that improve sustainability and promote better living.
Here are several reasons why homeowners frustrated in their search for a midcentury home may instead want to consider building a twenty-first century modern prefab home:
Flexibility of Location
One obvious advantage to building a new home is that the client can decide the location. There is a difference, however, between building on a piece of land and building for a piece of land. Modern architects of the twentieth century are celebrated for embracing nature through design. Turkel Design takes inspiration from that tradition by designing each home to capture the beauty of its natural environment. We use a 3D digital model of the building site and its surroundings as a canvas, determining appropriate siting, approach, ideal views from each room, optimal positioning in relation to the sun, and opportunities to blur the line between indoors and outdoors.
Predictability of Cost, Timeline, and Quality
In the twentieth century, architects such as Carl Koch pioneered prefabricated building systems—i.e., homes built in a factory and then assembled on the building site. Also driven by the goal of making high-quality housing efficiently available to homeowners, Turkel Design has refined a signature prefab process that marries elegant design and top-quality materials with the precision of off-site prefabrication. The benefit to the homeowner is clear: this systematized process reduces the risk of custom home design, bringing predictability to the cost, timeline, and quality of each project.
Environmental Sustainability
To be sure, buying an existing home is better for the environment than building a new one. New homes must be built, however, and advancements in technology allow today’s Modern homes to operate more sustainably than their twentieth-century antecedents. We select top-quality materials that are not only beautiful but also weathertight and durable, increasing the energy efficiency of each home: examples of such materials include triple-pane windows, thermally modified wood, and engineered lumber. Illustrating our approach to sustainability, Desert House in Palm Springs, California, uses readily available technology, such as a photovoltaic system and all-electric systems and appliances, together with passive solar design principles, to achieve a net-zero energy, fossil fuel-free home.
Most importantly, we embrace the Modern principle of thoughtful, considered use of space. Contrary to today’s over-scaled new “modern farmhouses” and McMansions, each Turkel Design home lives larger than its floor area.
Design for Your Lifestyle
All Turkel Design homes are custom homes. Each project begins with a thorough discovery process designed to understand how the homeowner wants to live. This is followed by an interactive design process that allows the homeowner to see and explore exactly what their home will look and feel like, through every design iteration. The result is a home that maintains the understated elegance of classic Modern architecture but is customized and built for better living today.
Get in Touch
If your goal of living in a midcentury Modern home is out of reach, consider honoring its architectural legacy in one of this century’s Modern homes, designed just for you.
Contact us today to discuss how you want to live.
