Analyzing Townhomes in Miami

Posted on: June 8th, 2010 | 29 Comments

This is Day 140 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 reviewing the results of our work in Miami and today we will be analyzing the data collected on townhouses.

Today we are continuing our analysis of the data we have collected in the Miami area and we are looking specifically at townhouses. As with apartment/ lofts, the townhouse projects in Miami that we have analyzed are at the bottom of the list in terms of design quality of the four cities that we have analyzed so far – the others being Denver, Dallas and Toronto.

Also, don’t forget about the Miami “Design Challenge”! Your task is to re-design the floor plan of a 1500sq ft, single family home in Miami and then email your submission to john@slowhomestudio.com. The winner will receive a book prize and we will review all the submissions and announce the winner on Friday! We look forward to seeing all your designs. See you tomorrow where we will complete our analysis of the Miami area by looking at single family houses.

  • Murray

    I am wondering why LA has not been a part of the discussion and comparison.
    Did I miss something?

  • Mid America Mom

    I was about to say the same thing Murray…

    We do not have the report from LA to reference either. I will take a look back on the blog.

    Mid America Mom

  • MarisaM

    All I can really say is Miami is lacking in design and thought. The stats are astonishing to say the least. I found some townhomes to be more slow but I thought there was higher percentage than stated.

  • Mid America Mom

    I do not think an analysis has been done yet of LA.

    However here is a link to the townhome slow home winner in LA -
    http://theslowhome.com/award-winners/best-townhouse-design-los-angeles/

    Mid America Mom

  • JessicaD

    I’m rather impressed with Toronto’s performance when compared to other cities. Toronto is scoring substantially higher than the other three cities, and I’m curious as to why? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Toronto is a global city whereas I don’t think we would categorize the other three cities as such. Being a global city brings a lot of information, skills and education, new and emerging trends and money; perhaps this intense flow to and from Toronto can help account for its good quality design.

  • bbhorner

    Jessica D – I really like your thoughts on why Toronto is doing so well compared to the other cities and I think you are pretty bang on.

    As the statistics show Miami really needs to address their housing situation and slow down a bit. It is a pity to because Miami is a beautiful city that a lot of people would probably like to live in and there are limited good homes for these people to purchase.

  • Tara

    I found it interesting that Miami and Dallas were so similar in the townhouse category, but that Dallas scored much better on apartment/lofts than Miami. You would think that with the townhouse scores so similar, it would be expected that a city known for its condos like Miami would score higher while in reality it is quite the opposite.
    I have to say I’m still quite shocked from the apartment/loft analysis as before looking at the floorplans, I would have thought that Miami would have had that category in the bag.

  • PeterB

    Is really believe as John and Matthew had said, location and environmental performance are really key categories and it seems Miami developers and not concerned with either factor. Its one thing to have a building look nice on the outside but its another to have it perform well and efficiently and be convenient for its tentants.

  • autobrad

    I agree with Peter I think the location and environmental scores are really dragging Miami down. If those two variables/criteria were eliminated from the SHT I wonder how they would score? Despite that, it looks like Miami is all about fast design. What is known about the architectual/design process/firms in that city. Is the demand such that the goal is to just get them built as fast as possible or is it an attitude issue with the architects. I would like to see how Las Vegas would score for the same as it is on the top ten list for fastest growing American cities. (although they are not as big on condos/townhomes)

  • autobrad

    or perhaps it is just to hot and the architects would rather chill by the pool with a Mojito than think about design

  • Alison G

    Or perhaps with year-round outdoor living (even more so than LA) residents and designers aren’t as concerned with the quality of indoor living spaces. Miami homes don’t need to function as bastions against the outdoors and inclement weather for eight months of the year. Individuals may spend less time at home and more time out in public spaces, decreasing the demand for well-designed private spaces.

    If I lived in Miami I’d spend my time on the outdoor patio, not in my indoor living space.

    [Not to imply that Miami residents don't deserve slow homes.]

  • Tiffany

    But even if they are spending time on the outdoor patio, they are still going to be cooking dinners, watching TV, and sleeping about the same amount of time as people in the rest of NA, not to mention taking to the indoors went it just gets to hot (that’s why all those units had ACs). Not only that there were many of the homes that we evaluated that did not have good outdoor space, something that I thought Miami would excel at. I really think that the actual floor plans were on par (though often a bit outdated) and it is just that the enviro and location are not really taken into consideration in Miami.

  • Matthew North

    Hi Slow Homers – just in response to Murray’s question – when we did Los Angeles, we were using an earlier version of the Slow Home Test. Before we present the data, we need to make some adjustments to be consistent – we will be working on this in the coming weeks and then the LA data will be added to the mix. Just to let you in on our current goings on…….John and I just finished our second day in Denver and have just wrapped up meeting with all the Slow Home Award winners. We are really excited about the footage and interviews from this City!

  • Cnick

    I think Toronto might be doing better than the other cities due to specifically location and environmental standards like John and Matthew were discussing in the video. The new “greenbelt’ legislation in the city which has protected millions of acres of farmland and greenfields around the city proper has resulted in an increase in higher density development in the city center that would be much more walkable. I also think the environmental standards might be considerably stricter now in Toronto due to the massive smog problem they experience. (Something like 30 days a year have a smog alert). In conclusion, I think government legislation is playing a major indirect role in the quality of Toronto housing.

  • D.Eng

    Thinking more about environmental performance… I was wondering if climate would be a factor in determining environmental performance. A house built in Toronto needs to consider the harsh winter climate whereas Miami is hot and sunny 365 days a year. A winter home needs much more thought about the materials being used than a summer home. Maybe that is why the developers in Miami “slack off”??

  • Hilda

    Hey All!

    Some really surprising stats were presented today, but when you consider how the apartment/loft section did, it should be no surprise. It is also very interesting how well Toronto did, I suppose it is as suggested, the combination of globalization and local government legislation influenced the development within Toronto.
    But that doesn’t really excuse Miami for the lack of slowhomes though, it is almost as if they are trying to force people outside more than staying inside…
    Looking forward to LA’s analysis, since the city too is like Toronto.
    Cheers!

  • Kadoman

    Is there maybe a trend to have Northern homes be better designed than southern homes?

    It seemed that for apartments/lofts and definitely town homes, Toronto and Denver scored relatively close, and Miami and Dallas were fairly similiar. Is this perhaps a trend due to climate?

    Maybe there are some design facets that seem more common sense in a cold climate compared to a warm climate. IE: An entry closet.

  • JPHH

    I agree with JessicaD on her thoughts to why Toronto might be doing better then the other cities. I also noticed the same thing as Kadoman that the two northern cities scored better then the two southern cities.
    I also think that the environmental performance plays a large part into the scores. There wasn’t many in Miami that scored points in the category.

  • Hawerchuk#10

    I will admit that Toronto leading the slow home test results. Some reasons for my surprise (and I will preface the next statement by admitting to never having traveled to any of the cities in the discussion), a bustling metropolis that has many suburbs. So perhaps one would think that location scores might not score high as urban sprawl might have influenced the development of the city. Second the housing boom that occurred in the last five years may lend itself to ‘fast’ home construction with more emphasis on slapping up housing with little regard to thoughtful design.

  • autobrad

    I agree with Deng. I think there is something to the climate arguement as Dallas didn’t fair that well and it has a warm climate. Just a hunch.

    I wonder how Las Vegas, San Diego and Houston would compare. Be interesting to see how Houston compares with Dallas.

    All in all it must be an attitude that becomes viral and spreads amongst the creatives.

  • Allie G

    I couldn’t agree much more with all of you. I’m also very shocked at how poorly Miami is doing across the boards compared to the other cities, especially Toronto.

    I also agree that environmental performance is really dragging Miami down. It’s obviously an issue which has to be addressed in Miami. Well, I think one thing is clear – Miami needs to start taking their designs more seriously or house-buyers will suffer.

  • Dan M

    I am also in agreement with what has been stated. The performance seems to drop as the climate gets warmer… perhaps our need to design for colder weather leads to better environmental performance by necessity.

    I still find some of the ‘accepted’ design practices of Miami are so pervasive (rooms that are caves, entry’s that don’t really exist etc.) and tend to hamper so many plans.

  • Grace Coulter

    I am interested to see how many homes were evaluated in each area. I think perhaps as slowhome followers learn more about the principles of the slow home they may be more critical of designs (I am personally part of this group I am guessing exists out there in slow home land). Toronto may have scored better because it was evaluated early on in the process (this happened before I joined the group of regular critiquers) but I am just guessing. perhaps the design is merely better in more homes up north. I am also wondering how the different building codes or standards of urban design in Canada versus the United States effects the design of homes.
    I think when the LA results come up it is going to be an interesting discussion especially since the city is known for its excessive sprawl.
    Off to work on the design exercise! cheers.

  • SangeetaG

    I also think that the need for better environmental performance grows based on necessity. This might be the reason why Toronto has a better score, people might spend more time indoors than outside, making them more conscious in their design thinking about their surroundings. I’ve only began analyzing homes in Miami, missed out on the compared three. I’m pretty shocked with the results of town home scores across the board. I really thought that since Miami is where most often you find big beautiful homes, underneath all that is a completely different design standard. I hope to see better results for single family homes, especially since each home has more opportunity to consider the environment around them (more land available, more freedom for location) in comparison to townhouses and apartments, that are pretty much stuck beside someone else and subject to unsightly views.

  • Andrew

    D.Eng, you present an interesting idea. Environmental performance is definitely really important in colder climates like in Toronto, Denver, Calgary, etc, and it might not be such a concern in more temperate climates. In colder cities, builders need to be conscious of materials and methods that reduce energy usage. But when the outside temperature is generally pleasant year-round, like in Miami, environmental performance is probably not a high priority.

  • Neogi

    A good point that has already been mentioned as to why Toronto is doing so well is partially because it is a global city and the environmental performance plays a major role in that as-well. whereas in Miami almost none of the plans had mentioned anything about the environmental performance of the homes. I just think Toronto is such a diverse community that lends to the increase in housing standers than the other southern cities. Another factor to consider is that the weather in Miami is a million times better than in Toronto so individuals are demanding better indoor spaces than in Miami. However I’m still curious as to why is Miami scoring so poorly for such a glamorous and popular city.

  • Bell604

    What I think it comes down to is that Miami developers have yet to establish proper environmental factors within their developments. Thats 3 points lost on almost every surveyed plan. Hypothetically, if you were to add three points to even half of the houses observed, I believe that the results would show a much higher minimum design threshold percent.

  • Jessica

    Having seen so many Miami plans, be they condo, townhouse or single family home, there seems to be repeated “tropes” that Miami builders employ. Not only do we see entries that lack adequate storage–which I think John suggested is due perhaps in part to Miami climate–but we also see a great deal of plans with a flair evidently typical of Miami: odd angles/geometry defining rooms and corridors, punched out kitchens, Victorian compartmentalization… etc., etc.

    It’s terrible to say so, but though these plans do not illustrate any kind of intended colour scheme, I’m imagining alot of pink and turquoise. My opinion, ill-informed though it may be, is that Miami’s stuck in the late 80s… though still wading in the colonial… tawdry is a harsh descriptor, but there it is.

  • DJS

    Incredible how the minimum design threshold was only met by 1% of the homes. At least for me almost all homes didn’t get either location or siting so I could never score a home higher than 17.