Designing houses people don't want
Have you ever looked at a new house for sale and just knew the layout just didn't work for you? Maybe you've even wondered how anybody could like it. Perhaps your next thought was to wonder what the architect was thinking. Or what the developer was thinking. The answer is that often times, it wasn't what the architect or developer wanted to do in the first place. In housing, like anything else with a design element, fads sometimes come and go. Sunken living rooms were all the rage in the 1980s, but one would be hard pressed to find new houses with these features today. Although they provided for some added height, they were not perceived well, were costly, and people don't like negotiating the stairs. So for good reason, these fads went away. Diagrammatic plan showing a push-back garage on a 46'x100' lot. Some fads are difficult to shake, even when their time has gone. For instance, one can still find push-back garages on new small lot subdivisions. The...