EDDT_231 Design Working Together

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Heritage and modern styles working as one.

Welcome to my blog.
I will be viewing how modern style homes can work together within a heritage style community without decreasing the aesthetics of the neighborhood. My area of research is going to be down-town West End of Kamloops.

Thesis Statement
How can modernist homes in Kamloops bring diversity to the west-end, while maintaining the heritage aesthetics of the neighborhood.

Revised Thesis Statement
How can Modernist style homes be introduced to the west-end of Kamloops, while respecting the heritage character of the neighborhood.

Abstract

Modern styles of homes became popular in 1920’s and 30’s, with a plan style generally consisting of very simplistic and modern geometrical designs. Modern homes usually stay away from multiple design elements. The Heritage style of homes on the other hand uses a completely different design, with great gabled roofs, and many details on their exteriors. Now the question is, is how can Modernist style homes be introduced into the west-end of Kamloops, while respecting the heritage character of the neighbourhood.

Without any certain designations for the area, it makes it so people coming in can put whatever house design they please on a lot. They can even come and tear down one of the old historic homes and build a generic home where it once stood. When this happens it reduces the appeal of the community, and makes it like every other area in town. Even though there are no designations on what kind of homes can be built in the west-end of Kamloops, there are some guidelines that should be followed. There needs to be ways in which to preserve the architectural and cultural history of the west-end. There have been many feudal attempts that have been taken to accomplish this, such as a Heritage Conservation Plan. This plan would make it so that all the homes have the same characteristics within a certain area, but many find that this would not be very appealing. With this in place, the new homes coming in would have to look like the heritage homes, which would reduce the history of the community. If there is diversity within the neighbourhood, it would make the new homes stand out, and keep the heritage character of the older homes. But no matter how many rules and regulations you put on the community it really comes down to personal taste and design of each building.

By placing well designed modernist homes into downtown west-end, you create a focal point of the neighbourhood, while emphasising the heritage design around. By taking certain characteristics from the heritage homes and incorporating them into the new homes, you are respecting the heritage area, but you can still have the modernist design. So all in all it is possible to build modern homes into this neighbourhood, and respect the heritage character, if the homes are carefully design, and not just thrown into the lot.

Project Outline

Project: Fitting new homes into Kamloops West-End heritage style neighbourhood.

Method: To find information on how to suite the needs of the homeowners in a mixed home-style neighbourhood, and build on the community.

Community affect: Find out the effects on the community and the residents of the different design schemes for the neighbourhood. Determine what building styles and building techniques are allowed for the city. What do the members of the neighbourhood really want?

Conflict/Comparison: Determine the conflicts between the new homes and the heritage homes. Find out which design is more sustainable for the community.

Proposed solutions: What are some of the community’s, and the city’s proposed solutions to this problem, that will make the two styles of homes to work together, and make the residents happy.

Special Problems:

Is there enough to research on this project?

Everyone in the community will have different tastes and views on the problem. This will cause problems and make it so not everyone in the neighbourhood is happy.

Some of the proposed solutions might not meet the needs of the residents, and the new solutions may decrease the community’s appeal.