Houses come in a stunning variety of styles, materials, colours, and overall façade composition. In creating a new estate, how can we achieve interesting and beautiful houses that work harmoniously with each other and collectively create attractive streets? A simple and effective tool for estate developers are design standards, the main ingredient of a design code. (Design codes are also known as design guidelines and design requirements.) Design standards won’t give you eye candy, but they do set a bottom bar, eliminating the poorest quality development. How can design standards, which are generally quantitative, achieve interest and beauty, which are qualitative?
Houses can come in a stunning variety of forms, heights, materials, and colours.
Visual clutter can be a problem, but more often, proposed houses are simply too plain, too boring. Walls, and whole facades, especially those facing the street, may need more visual interest than provided by doors, windows, and the shape of the house. A purely functional house wall, on one plane and with large blank areas, will probably look boring! A two-storey high side wall composed of seemingly randomly placed different sized windows may look ill-considered. As the estate developer, if that wall faces a neighbour, you may have a small problem. However, if the wall is on a corner lot and faces a street, you have a bigger problem.
Design standards can be used to help achieve visual interest for particular conditions. Below are some examples.
Blank walls: “A wall facing a street or park must have no blank surface wider than 4 m for a single storey wall, and 3 m for a higher wall.” (Atticus, Woodstock VIC)
Facades facing a secondary street: “Dwellings constructed on corner lots must present attractive facades to both street frontages, especially at the corner itself. Wrap-around elements, verandahs and feature windows are encouraged.” (The Maples, Greenvale VIC)
Lots in prominent positions: “Lots in key locations must include a column supported verandah at least 1.8 m deep and at least 3.5 m wide.” (Broadstead, Kilmore VIC)
Articulating elements add depth and interest to a façade. They can include large balconies, verandahs, entry porches, horizontal and vertical steps, and elements that cast a changing shadow over the course of the day.
Many design codes contain one or more design standards requiring some articulation of the front façade. This avoids a house presenting to the street as a simple box. Looking along a street, one sees a complex geometry with light and shade changing the view throughout the day, instead of seeing two rows of flat walls. Below is a typical example of a design standard to address this issue.
"House facades must be articulated using different architectural elements, i.e. a combination of projections, recesses, eave overhangs and deep window reveals.” (Taylors Quarter, Taylors Lakes VIC)
This porch adds excellent articulation to this façade, with its generous size and elevated roof. The stone and timber also add visual interest.
Identical or very similar houses next to each other on a street can also be a problem. As well as creating unwanted repetition, the owner of the first house constructed might complain about a clone appearing next door. A line of identical houses can deaden a streetscape. The design standard below is typical of how many design codes deal with this issue.
“Houses with identical facades, or facades that are very similar in form, materials and colours, must be separated by a minimum of two lots in either direction on the same side of the street.”
(Atticus, Woodstock VIC)
Front gardens can make an immediate impact, both in providing visual interest and in distinguishing one lot from another. Trees in the front yard have a longer term effect, making a big difference to the streetscape as they mature.
“At least one tree must be planted in the front yard with a minimum height of 1.5 m at time of planting, and with root barriers installed.”
(Taylors Quarter, Taylors Lakes VIC)
The Design Review Group provides advisory notes to help applicants for developer approval achieve a fully compliant proposal on the first lodgement. Our note “Adding visual interest to a house exterior” lists over twenty techniques suitable for single and multi-story detached houses.
