A typical Modern house. 
An Art-Deco house
A Late-Victorian house sketch
Last blog we just learnt a little bit about the three styles, Late-Victorian, Art-Deco and Modern. Now this blog we find out which style I would choose to do a unit development in, and why. However, there is much more than just personal preference, in fact, taste in a certain should be the last thing that crosses your mind when deciding upon a style. Items such as streetscape, clients, your market and such play a much bigger factor than what you like.
Clients - If someone came to you asking for you to design them 3 units, well what they want is very important. They could be a fan of a certain style, or maybe they want to create a certain atmosphere of the development. However, if it your development, you have all the say, but there is still a couple more things to consider.
Market - This is big, as your target market will differ from different demographics. If you wanted to create a somewhat "retiree" development, where the older market will settle, then Art-Deco or Late-Victorian may be the choice. Let's be honest, old people have a lot of old, uhh i mean antique, stuff which would suit the style of Late-Victorian or Art-Deco. Maybe you're appealing to mid-age families, in which Modern may be the way to go as it will allow larger, more open living spaces, and the families could be looking to upgrade. First-time buyers may not be able to afford a brand new Modern home, so they may want an Art-Deco. Do your research, decide what market you want to appeal to, then move on to the next item of business.
Streetscape - Streetscape I believe should be the biggest influence on deciding a style, as it can affect your overall appearance of the development. This should be a no-brainer but if you bought a block of land and around you are beautiful Victorian homes, some looked-after bungalows, and just the older styles, it would be stupid to do a Modern development, or even Art-Deco. Reason being, you are taking away the charm of the street by slapping these buildings in. One may argue it is about progress and the future, but you should be complimenting the area by building Late-Victorian homes. Flip it around and if you are in a new estate where all modern houses are being built, for the same reason as before you wouldn't build a Late-Victorian or Art-Deco, as you should be helping the streetscape. So what if the street is filled with old, worn, horrible homes in which no particular style is evident? This is where you, as the designer, step in and make your mark on the future of the street. You want to pave the way for future development, so where the street is full of worn houses, the overall community may be old-timing so you might want to say 'Let's restore this street, so let's build Late-Victorians and let others follow' Or the community could be a mixture, in that case, do as you please. You may want the street to have some history, character and a look of modern, so you decide upon Art-Deco. Perhaps you just want a very modern street in the future, so you design the units in the Modern style.
I believe them three key items are the main factor in choosing the style, and streetscape is something that is probably the most important. If a developer bought a giant block of land, subdivide the land, and he ends up with two streets with about 20 blocks of land ok. He then goes out and builds a mixture of styles, so one block he has Mid-Victorian, then a couple Modern houses, some Late-Victorians with a bunglow in the middle, a couple Moderns, a few Art-Deco and so on, the streets would have no appeal, no character and just look like Frankenstein. Towards the end of the last term of TAFE, I finally realised how important streetscape is. At times I have driven around the areas, then I see an empty block of land and I look around the street and have a think about what would fit in the area.
Now I better give an actual answer to the question, what style would I do the development in? If there was no evidence of a particular style, and I did not factor in the market, and basically I had free control over the whole design, I would choose......... Drum roll please........... [insert drum roll noise here] Modern! If I had a blank canvas, I wouldn't be going back into the past, I would be thinking about the future. I would be wanting to make my mark in architecture, and very rarely you can do that by designing a house in a style that was popular over a hundred years ago.
From The One They Call Anthony, This Is The Life & Times
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