Contemporary Exterior Home Ideas
Fivedot
This single family home in the Greenlake neighborhood of Seattle is a modern home with a strong emphasis on sustainability. The house includes a rainwater harvesting system that supplies the toilets and laundry with water. On-site storm water treatment, native and low maintenance plants reduce the site impact of this project. This project emphasizes the relationship between site and building by creating indoor and outdoor spaces that respond to the surrounding environment and change throughout the seasons.
ODS Architecture
Atherton has many large substantial homes - our clients purchased an existing home on a one acre flag-shaped lot and asked us to design a new dream home for them. The result is a new 7,000 square foot four-building complex consisting of the main house, six-car garage with two car lifts, pool house with a full one bedroom residence inside, and a separate home office /work out gym studio building. A fifty-foot swimming pool was also created with fully landscaped yards.
Given the rectangular shape of the lot, it was decided to angle the house to incoming visitors slightly so as to more dramatically present itself. The house became a classic u-shaped home but Feng Shui design principals were employed directing the placement of the pool house to better contain the energy flow on the site. The main house entry door is then aligned with a special Japanese red maple at the end of a long visual axis at the rear of the site. These angles and alignments set up everything else about the house design and layout, and views from various rooms allow you to see into virtually every space tracking movements of others in the home.
The residence is simply divided into two wings of public use, kitchen and family room, and the other wing of bedrooms, connected by the living and dining great room. Function drove the exterior form of windows and solid walls with a line of clerestory windows which bring light into the middle of the large home. Extensive sun shadow studies with 3D tree modeling led to the unorthodox placement of the pool to the north of the home, but tree shadow tracking showed this to be the sunniest area during the entire year.
Sustainable measures included a full 7.1kW solar photovoltaic array technically making the house off the grid, and arranged so that no panels are visible from the property. A large 16,000 gallon rainwater catchment system consisting of tanks buried below grade was installed. The home is California GreenPoint rated and also features sealed roof soffits and a sealed crawlspace without the usual venting. A whole house computer automation system with server room was installed as well. Heating and cooling utilize hot water radiant heated concrete and wood floors supplemented by heat pump generated heating and cooling.
A compound of buildings created to form balanced relationships between each other, this home is about circulation, light and a balance of form and function. Photo by Philip Liang Photography.
Mark Brand Architecture
We were approached by a San Francisco firefighter to design a place for him and his girlfriend to live while also creating additional units he could sell to finance the project. He grew up in the house that was built on this site in approximately 1886. It had been remodeled repeatedly since it was first built so that there was only one window remaining that showed any sign of its Victorian heritage. The house had become so dilapidated over the years that it was a legitimate candidate for demolition. Furthermore, the house straddled two legal parcels, so there was an opportunity to build several new units in its place. At our client’s suggestion, we developed the left building as a duplex of which they could occupy the larger, upper unit and the right building as a large single-family residence. In addition to design, we handled permitting, including gathering support by reaching out to the surrounding neighbors and shepherding the project through the Planning Commission Discretionary Review process. The Planning Department insisted that we develop the two buildings so they had different characters and could not be mistaken for an apartment complex. The duplex design was inspired by Albert Frey’s Palm Springs modernism but clad in fibre cement panels and the house design was to be clad in wood. Because the site was steeply upsloping, the design required tall, thick retaining walls that we incorporated into the design creating sunken patios in the rear yards. All floors feature generous 10 foot ceilings and large windows with the upper, bedroom floors featuring 11 and 12 foot ceilings. Open plans are complemented by sleek, modern finishes throughout.
Melton Design Build
This patio space is perfect for entertaining many guests with a warm and expansive ambiance. Many windows along the back of the house allow for ample natural daylight while also keeping privacy in mind.
FORM Design + Build
Example of a trendy multicolored two-story exterior home design in San Luis Obispo
Carlton Edwards
Inspiration for a mid-sized contemporary blue two-story metal exterior home remodel in Other with a metal roof
Domiteaux Garza Architecture
Charles Smith Photography
Inspiration for a contemporary two-story exterior home remodel in Dallas
Inspiration for a contemporary two-story exterior home remodel in Dallas
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Casa Bella Luna Exterior, Steve Simonsen Photography
Large trendy white three-story mixed siding exterior home photo in Other
Large trendy white three-story mixed siding exterior home photo in Other
PB Built
Contemporary Style
Architectural Photography - Ron Rosenzweig
Inspiration for a large contemporary gray one-story stucco exterior home remodel in Miami with a hip roof
Inspiration for a large contemporary gray one-story stucco exterior home remodel in Miami with a hip roof
Berglund Architects
Ric Stovall
Example of a mid-sized trendy three-story wood exterior home design in Denver with a shed roof
Example of a mid-sized trendy three-story wood exterior home design in Denver with a shed roof
Stelle Lomont Rouhani Architects
House By The Pond
The overall design of the house was a direct response to an array of environmental regulations, site constraints, solar orientation and specific programmatic requirements.
The strategy was to locate a two story volume that contained all of the bedrooms and baths, running north/south, along the western side of the site. An open, lofty, single story pavilion, separated by an interstitial space comprised of two large glass pivot doors, was located parallel to the street. This lower scale street front pavilion was conceived as a breezeway. It connects the light and activity of the yard and pool area to the south with the view and wildlife of the pond to the north.
The exterior materials consist of anodized aluminum doors, windows and trim, cedar and cement board siding. They were selected for their low maintenance, modest cost, long-term durability, and sustainable nature. These materials were carefully detailed and installed to support these parameters. Overhangs and sunshades limit the need for summer air conditioning while allowing solar heat gain in the winter.
Specific zoning, an efficient geothermal heating and cooling system, highly energy efficient glazing and an advanced building insulation system resulted in a structure that exceeded the requirements of the energy star rating system.
Photo Credit: Matthew Carbone and Frank Oudeman
Griffin Fence
Example of a mid-sized trendy white one-story brick exterior home design in Houston with a hip roof
Mosaic Architects SF
Jim Bartsch
Inspiration for a contemporary stone exterior home remodel in San Francisco
Inspiration for a contemporary stone exterior home remodel in San Francisco
3rd Street Custom Homes
Inspiration for a contemporary gray two-story stucco exterior home remodel in Dallas with a metal roof
Creative Homes
Inspiration for a large contemporary blue two-story exterior home remodel in Minneapolis
Contemporary Exterior Home Ideas
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