A glass half full is the mainstream developing a taste for modernism all over again?

Residential Architect, March, 2004 by S. Claire Conroy

One of my favorite Christmas gilts this year is a set of small wine tumblers. Etched across the midpoint of each glass is a white line with the words "ottimista" above and "pessimista" below. I'm a glass-half-full kind of per son, so I spent the holidays chanting "ottimista" as I hoisted my share of Christmas cheer Well, I'm delighted to report, upon my return from tiffs year's International Builders' Show in Las Vegas and a side trip to Park City, Utah, that I'm even more ottimista than usual.

This is not my typical reaction to the National Association of Home Builders' annual convention. It's an overwhelming experience--a convention center crammed with mass-market building products and 100,000 dazed attendees milling the show floor. It's like shopping in an airport-sized Home Depot Expo with your entire hometown.

Outside the convention center, in parking lots nearby and subdivisions beyond, were the "idea houses." The forces that beget these projects are vast and varied, among them architects, builders, publications, associations, and manufacturers.

Because many must sell after the event to recoup their costs and because they're aimed at mainstream builders, the houses and their ideas rarely surprise. Generally, the houses tweak the middle ground with some clever floor plan ideas and a few product innovations, all swathed in the Traditional style du jour. Perfectly pleasant, perfectly marketable, perfectly boring.

This year was different. There were no wondrous techno-marvels, no Solar Decathlon visions of the future, just several refreshingly well-designed, stylistically unshackled houses. The first came from the most surprising source, the NAHB itself, which is not known for its design risk-taking. (A disclosure: Our sister publication, BUILDER magazine, is media partner for this annual project, but it's driven by the NAHB's National Committee of the Housing Industry.) Designed by a Dutch firm, Food for Buildings, and architect of record Willem Kymmell, the single family house takes its inspiration from the closet Modernism of multifamily loft buildings. It has a restrained, geometric elevation (although I wish they had avoided the pitched roof), unfussy detailing, and an open, changeable floor plan (see the story at www.builderonline.com, under the January issue link).

Similarly, Andersen Windows' "inHOME" idea house in Park City, Utah, departs from the usual builders' pattern book of generic styles. Designed by Michael Plautz, AIA, of RSP Architects, Ltd. (see the story on page 22 of our January-February issue, and www.anderseninhome. com), the house is undeniably Modern, albeit a gentle version with warm woods, natural stone, and other familiar materials. Although it evokes Midwestern Prairie, Sarah Susauka's "Home by Design" show-house (www.homebydesign showhouse.com) also reveals a Modern sensibility, warmed with the woods, tiles, and other rich materials consumers associate with Traditional styles.

These houses do not rep resent what most builders have on their subdivision playlists. But they do signal some hope for the future. Idea houses don't get built if the ideas seem too radical to the players involved. And thus, I believe they're evidence of a growing mainstream acceptance for Modern design. Ottimista!

Comments? Call: 202.736. 3312; write: S. Claire Conroy, residential architect, One Thomas Circle, N.W., Suite 600, Washington, D.C. 20005; or e-mail: cconroy@hanleywood.com.