Choosing The Best Single Family Home In Dallas

The deciding factor for the single family category is NOT environmental performance. It is clear that each house has energy-efficient, sustainable features; site orientation and xeriscape planning have been considered also. Great green homes.
*****
Lakemont–sensible layout with well-proportioned rooms. Unless 4 bedrooms are needed the first floor bedrooom becomes a flex space. My only problem with the actual floorplan is the garage. Although the artist’s rendering downplays the garage (the architectural detail matches the rest of the exterior) it still dominates the exterior and the front landscape.
*****
Thoughtbarn–the individual rooms by themselves are well-proportioned but the overall organization is fast. The living area on the second floor doesn’t make sense…how will you entertain guests? What if you need something from the kitchen? Guests will have to go through the 2nd floor bedroom to use the bathroom or go to the one downstairs. Also, there is no clear approach to the front entry…one duplex entry is hidden under the carport.
*****
Cube–not your average house, especially the exterior; but there is a discernible front entry separate from the garage. Organization is good, except for the redundant side-by-side living areas on the 1st floor. The 2nd floor sitting room could be flex space. Modest bedrooms, but the laundry seems to be in an awkward space.
*****
I believe the deciding factor is Location, Location, Location:
**Lakemont is not walkable AND is in the FLIGHT PATTERN for Love Field Airport…3 miles by car, under 2 miles as the crow flies. (That would break the deal for me.) Use of an existing lot is great; BUT this neighborhood is old, and unless the developer plans to tear down more houses on the street and build updated homes, this particular house will be out of place. (think property and resale value…it is an unfortunate fact of life for homeowners)
**Thoughtbarn is planned for a lot with an existing house which must be torn down and disposed of. The location (I usually wouldn’t be so blunt) is terrible. The site borders an industrialized area to the north with large warehouses where trucks back up to unload materials. Literally, across from the lot your view consists of 1-story buildings/warehouses with large paved parking lots and chain-linked fences. The neighborhood is old with small 1-story homes and a smattering of small, “dated” apartment buildings. It has the same problem as Lakemont: property and resale values of new, energy-efficient homes in neighborhoods that may never catch up with the times.
**Cube is part of a development that takes advantage of a narrow strip of land with a finite number of lots…a place many developers would not touch. Uniformity of homes means property and resale value will remain intact. The entire neighborhood is sustainable. The house has direct access to White Rock Trail within the neighborhood and is the most walkable of the three.
My choice…Cube House.

Everytime I exit the SenseBuilders web site my FoxFire browser crashes…makes no sense :)

I chose Lakemont. BradW, couldn’t agree more. I think it’s the only one here that really seems to fit the concept. Design has a role to play pushing the boundaries, but the majority of people want the tried and tested. The Lakemont is a Slow version of the tried and true – I think it appeals to the most and best describes what a typical suburban home reconsidered would be like. The other two seem to appeal more to the design savvy and doesn’t provide a good alternative to the typical ‘fast’ house.

Brad and Preston,
I’ll give you the actual house plan. Personally, I believe it is a more inviting FAMILY home. I would probably choose it over the Cube almost 100% of the time, but not on its current planned site. Have you seen the easement for your property? Do you know how close the adjacent houses are? Do you know the surrounding property values…do you know what your house would be worth in that neighborhood. Tell the developer to demo one entire side of that street and start building more houses like that and then I’ll consider living there. Oh, and tell him to move the AIRPORT too.:)

They’re all green, so I went for the house I’d most like to live in. I couldn’t get beyond the separate floors for living room and kitchen in the Thoughtbarn. It wouldn’t work for me. It was a toss-up between the Cube and Lakemont. I voted for the Cube because it feels fresher and more interesting. Lakemont is a bit too predictable despite the facade. Living there would still be living behind the garage, except now it would be more like living in the neighborhood fire station.

Very good points Cat. I went with the Lakemont for similar reasons. I did not like the washroom location for guests in the Thoughtbarn, although having an elevated living area is interesting (and probably improves the view of the surroundings). The Cube house has an unfortunate balcony shape, and the doubled living spaces means that whoever is reading in the one is bothered by the television being watched in the other.

When I think about these projects, I like to find a back story – something beyond just the building or the location that makes the project compelling in the context of Slow Home. For example, the Cube House with its distinguished architect and unusual subdivision where, although all homes are architecturally designed, some are very modest. Or Lakemont making the suburban vernacular home work. In Toronto, at least, this seemed very hard to do. Finally, Thoughtbarn challenges us to think about what we really need to live well and then accomplish that in an affordable and sustainable way. As I stated earlier, I think all are deserving.

This was not easy.
*
Cube
Dislikes- entry is on a lower floor with no rooms just a door and stair. Siting is poor as the big and main windows face south and west and with a slight amount of shading only to one and yes I can see train tracks right near by. only 2 bedrooms for over 2000 square feet in a square tells me duplication is in play and it was with two living spaces, 1/2 bath on the main floor reminds me of one from yesterday as 3 by 7 and you can sit at toilet and wash hands without turning, guest suite has not closet, CAT thank you for bringing up the kitchen… if the stair was open and not enclosed it would have worked,why are they using oak flooring instead of more enviro friendly bamboo or reclaimed oak?

Liked- the outdoor spaces especially that lower one that is carved out of the home, the master bath wet area, I do like we can have two furniture groupings in the living, the dining room looks to have built ins and can handle a great round sized table, the stove hood looks so unique, the green geothermal and you can plant on the roof is wonderful.
*
Lakemont
dislike- the kitchen triangle is too far from sink to refrigerator and the island cuts the path, that upper loft with so much window makes me think it is just wasted space in a hallway and not a place for any furniture, 2 streets away from an airport and one of those streets is at least 2 lanes each way which might be noisy, the front entry seems a bit over the top with two doors, wasted space from entry to the great room (which could be fixed by extending that wall from the bedroom.
Like-
the back deck looks spacious, bedroom sizes are not crazy, the utility is a nice size and that placement works, the first floor bedroom and full bath gives us that flexibility for den or guest, love all those windows in the stairwell, the back faces mainly northeast.
*thoughtbarn
dislike, living on one floor and kitchen on other, entry is not defined, no second entry to the bathroom on the second level though this is where your living is, dining and living should be bigger meanwhile the bedrooms should be a little smaller , location is near homes and industrial looking workspaces.
LIKE
- affordability- in the site the goal was 100 a sq foot and green plus the lot, the roof overhang for shade and the roof on the deck which is a partial wraparound great for living outdoors, most windows look north and east, nice compact and sized kitchen, two entries in the first floor bath, I liked the tucked area for the desk with those two windows, use of carport.
*
So I choose thoughtbarn. An afforable green infill home that is not too small but not too big for its sq footage. This is what we need to see more of.
*
Mid America Mom

To me, the most intriguing project is the Urban Reserve. It’s interesting to contrast it with the Ordos Project (http://www.ordosproject.com/) where architects are also providing the designs to a market housing project. In both cases they are using bespoke design as a marketing feature… The Dallas one is obviously much much more modest, and more ‘sustainable’ – so for that alone it’s a leap above the Ordos 3-ring circus.
In all though, the Cube House with its minor weaknesses (like the separated kitchen, oddly shaped terrace, and iffy orientation) gets my vote. I like that its a found site, is looking for an ambitious LEED rating, maintaining competitive market pricing, making very livable spaces, all in a package that is different and appealing.

Cube!!! Love the progressive form, and equally the rest of the neighbourhood. I can only imagine what interesting people would live in this neighbourhood. I would make one addition to this house, a nice home office / library off of the garage, with some inside / outside feeling to it. And place to sit and read outside. Curl up with a good book, such as “What’s Wrong with this House” Thanks for the book, John, Mathew, Carina! And the beer! Good to put a few faces to the names, and meet some Slow Homers first hand at Mill St.
Cheers

Wait – it’s actually even cheaper – $589, 240! My bad; I don’t know where I got $699,000 from!

William,
Thanks for commenting and welcome to the site. It is great to hear from one of the nominees. We will be tallying up the scores this afternoon and announcing the winners tomorrow.

I was so excited about the Cube plan and the subdivision that I almost forgot to look at the other plans prior to posting my comments. What an neat place this seems to be, open fresh, out-of-the-box funny enough. With the extra ground level terrace I feel maybe space for another bedroom could have been found. Beyond that no major criticisms.

I love the sub-division and the unique grouping of homes. I like it when the homes contrast each other instead of being all the same(cookie cutter). You know, same porch, same windows, same driveway, same roof, same colour, same tree, same dog, same neighbour.

The other two to me actually fit the cookie cutter look and feel. Same old, same old. Come on, is there no free will and sense of expression and individuality left?

Urban Reserve, you rock!!!