This is Day 105 of the Slow Home Project, and we need you to join us in our quest to evaluate the design quality of houses in nine North American cities in nine months. This week we are analyzing single family houses in Denver and today we are asking everyone to continue posting housing projects to the site. The more data points we have the better.
Today, we are happy to announce that the first “Slow Home Report” for Toronto is now complete and ready for you to download and read! This report is a statistical analysis of the design quality for all the apartment/lofts, town houses and single family houses that the Slow Homers have collectively reviewed using the “Slow Home Test”. Please take a moment to review the document and let us know what you think of the Report and the data that has been collected. This really is the result of everyone’s hard work on the “Slow Home Project”. We will be releasing more “Slow Home Reports” for Dallas, Denver and Los Angeles in the coming weeks as we compile the data for these cities.
For today’s “Which House Should I Buy” episode, John and Matthew are comparing two single family homes from a development in Lowry Eastpark in Denver, Colorado. These homes are called the “Cottages” and are by “Standard Pacific Homes”.
Lowry is a unique, master planned and sustainable community that is located on a former Air Force base.
This development scored well with location and siting on the “Slow Home Test”.
The first unit to be reviewed is called the “Torino” and is a 3 bedroom and 2.5 bathroom home with a total of 2054 sq ft. Overall, not a bad plan. With the garage located at the back of the home, this frees up a lot of daylight and space along the front of the house. The biggest design issues with this house are that the back entry from the garage is poorly designed and opens right into a main circulation area, and the kitchen has a strange layout with an island as well as an additional back counter. This makes the kitchen feel like it is in a circulation zone.
The second house is the “Milan” and it is 2062 sq ft and also has 3 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. This has a really interesting courtyard design which adds lots of daylight to both levels. The biggest problems in this home are the front entry, which opens right into the principal rooms as well as the master bathroom which has very little storage and an opulently placed bath tub.
So, the question to answer is “Which House Should I Buy”? If you had to choose between these two homes, which do you think is the better real estate choice? Study the plans carefully and then post your opinion onto our site. We look forward to hearing from you!
Join us tomorrow for another “Design Project” where we will be re-working the main floor plan of a three bedroom house in the Denver area!