David Small Designs
  • About UsWe believe that transformative design involves a well-considered, practical use of space. Learn more about our design philosophy, our team and our award-winning projects.
  • Architectural Design ServicesTo us, a home is a platform for dreams and ambitions. We specialize in designing custom homes and realizing dynamic renovations that perfectly reflect our clients’ lifestyle aspirations.
  • Interior Design ServicesA home’s interior should interact seamlessly with its architectural façade and natural surroundings, while being the perfect space for a family to live and thrive.
  • Our PortfolioExplore our modern, transitional and traditional home designs—and experience the Natural Modern design aesthetic in its many forms.
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Lifestyle-friendly Modern—a Primer

April 27, 2021/in News, Custom Home Design /by Jack Shepherd

David Small Designs has gained notoriety for a design approach called Natural Modern—an original school that reimagines post-modern architecture, creating distinctive custom homes that blend seamlessly with their surrounding environment. When asked to elaborate, we often explain our style as being ‘lifestyle-friendly modern.’

Mississauga modern home with natural stone, metal cladding and flagstone walkway.

Why? A lifestyle-friendly modern home is personalized and aesthetically pleasing, while being comforting and precise in its composition. The term is a nod to the fact that modern design can (and should) be adapted to a home’s occupants, rather than being proscriptive in dictating how those occupants should use the modern space itself. Your home, in other words, should work for you. Not the other way around.

Mere mention of modern architecture in home design evokes a strong emotional reaction from almost everyone. The style tends to either be loved or loathed by homeowners. But it needn’t be polarizing. Modern architecture can prioritize function over form and trust in building materials to define a space, yet still be warm and inviting.

Divergent views of modern

Devotees of modern will point to the classic minimalist creations of Mies van der Rohe (think Farnsworth House) or Philip Johnson (designer of the iconic Glass House), as being near the pinnacle of modern residential design.

In these homes, industrial materials and precise geometry interplay with light and carefully balanced proportions to create a structure remarkable for its lack of ornamentation, yet striking in its reliance on the context of the surrounding landscape for texture—seamlessly connecting outside and in.

Covered entry with floor to ceiling window and stone siding.

Johnson’s Glass House was a major inspiration for The Last House design

And for those very same reasons, modern residential design is rejected by so many who feel it lacks heart. A modern home is indicative of an owner’s identity (or an architect’s vision), but the common critique is that houses in this vein are stark and cold. They may look dramatic in an architecture magazine, but have no place in a family photo album.

To some, modern evokes thoughts of the unapologetically concrete, institutional brutalist structures that were in vogue among some in the architectural elite from the late 1960s through the early 1980s. Many of the buildings aged poorly and were roundly unloved. Some, like Paul Rudolph’s Burroughs Wellcome & Company building in North Carolina, have fallen prey to the wrecking ball. The criticism is not always fair, but it is prevalent—especially when distilled and applied in the context of the family home.

Modern and livable

Among others, Natural Modern draws from several schools including the sleek mid-century modern of Eero Saarinen and Pierre Koenig, and the Prairie School movement made so famous by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

The Prairie School’s embrace of angularity, hanging rooftops and geometric patterning—which came to define many a downtown core and some of North America’s fast-growing suburbs through the early to mid-20th century—were a reaction to the prevailing neoclassicism of the time. But it also reminded contemporary architects that modern homes needn’t surrender their sense of warmth. It was possible to embrace many of the modern movement’s core objectives without compromising a dwelling’s livability and appeal.

As design styles progressed and taste shifted, modern architectural designers began reframing their efforts to place a greater emphasis on the needs of the homeowner. They determined that a modern home should aspire to being more than a functional museum piece. It should be a place to build relationships and memories.

The best of all worlds

In that sense, lifestyle-friendly modern is both cozy and ideally suited to families of all sizes and structures. It’s open, airy and welcoming. It’s defined by clean lines and decluttered spaces. It has space for work, play and reflection, while usually being open-concept and filled with natural light—a beloved modern feature that has been adopted by architects across a wide spectrum of stylistic leanings.

Whether our team is creating custom homes in traditional, transitional and modern styles, our work is anchored by a simple question: How can we produce a design that is beautiful and functions as efficiently and effectively as possible for the family that will eventually occupy it? How do they interact on a daily basis, and what experience do they want their home to deliver? Just as importantly, how can we ensure that the home interacts with its environment so the family can love their time both outside and inside the house, moving from one space to the other and finding enjoyment in both?

By answering those questions and working with clients to clarify their vision before we begin work, it’s possible to create a distinctive design that suits their needs—to build a lifestyle-friendly modern home where they can grow and thrive as a family.

The David Small Design Team

https://www.dsdamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/award-thumb-davids-house-05.jpg 350 500 Jack Shepherd https://www.dsdamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/David-Small-Designs-Logo.svg Jack Shepherd2021-04-27 09:00:142021-08-11 16:45:06Lifestyle-friendly Modern—a Primer

Unpacking the Custom Home Experience

April 20, 2021/in News, Custom Home Design /by Jack Shepherd

There are many components to personal identity. From our professions to our family structures—and dozens of characteristics in between—we define who we are by what we do and believe, but also where we live. The process of imagining and building a dream home is the ultimate expression of that individual identity. More than a structure, a home represents our ambitions and stylistic preferences. It’s as much an expression of who we are as what we strive to be. But the custom home experience—the process of taking an idea and turning it into a structure—is one that’s not always fully understood.

That’s likely because, when done right, it should be completely customized; it’s difficult to articulate because it’s always changing. In our view, the custom home experience should be highly personal and tailored to your needs. Building a dream home starts by understanding you, your family and your daily rhythms.

Modern home with black trim, large windows and inground planters.

The Last House

Your home, your way

That means analyzing the way you live and what your home should aspire to achieve.

Consider the most important aspects of how your home should look and flow: Open concept or more compartmentalized. Modern or traditional. Spacious and elegant or smaller but with a highly functional design. A formal dining area or a more casual eating space that better suits your busy lifestyle. If you have young children, for example, wide-open spaces for play may well trump the desire for more formal eating or living areas. Perhaps a design that creates seamless integration between exterior and interior spaces for the summer months is your preference.

Covered deck with brick wall, floor to ceiling window and stone fireplace.

Town and Country

Your vision will not only be dictated by where you are in life today, but future considerations, such as grandchildren on the horizon or a potential home down-sizing in the near future. In the latter case, design decisions could be dictated by their ability to enhance the home’s eventual resale value. These are only a handful of the many points to weigh. Ultimately, the decisions will require a balance between your architectural ambitions and practical lifestyle considerations. Another key factor are the unique characteristics of your property.

A home in harmony with the surrounding landscape

All too often—especially in tightly-packed urban areas—the design of a custom home can be ill-suited to the property that it occupies. The design may be incongruent with the neighbourhood’s dominant architectural aesthetic, for example, or the home may be too large for the lot size, detracting from its overall design appeal. Sightlines, topography, existing foliage and landscaping should all be incorporated into the design discussion at the early planning stages.

The Lake House

Contemporary home with flat roof, stone columns and wall sconce.

Mid Century Upgrade

Then there’s what we call the “approvability” factor. In short, it speaks to the ability to get a design plan approved by the local municipality. While top architectural design firms will always push limits to meet client expectations, the good ones are quick to remind that sometimes design ambitions need tempering to satisfy local building regulations. Height and setback restrictions, sightlines, environmental considerations—especially if the property is located within a conservation area, as is the case with many cottage or ravine lots—are all considerations that factor into the administrative balancing act that determines the exact shape and exterior appearance of your dream home.

Dream big, but don’t fret the details

A common perception is that building a home involves arriving at an architectural designer’s door with a fully-formed idea for your future home’s layout. That’s not the case—or at least it shouldn’t be.

Setting yourself up for success in the custom home design journey means not having every decision made in advance. It means being willing to explore options and allowing your architectural designer to bring their creativity to the table. Thinking about your room requirements and preferred features is enough. It’s a designer’s job to understand which questions to ask as they work to learn about you, before translating those insights into the drawings that will eventually become your custom home.

What is essential is an exploration of design styles. At David Small Designs, for example, we ask our clients to find visuals of homes they love. Platforms such as Houzz, publications that deal with architecture and design such as Dezeen or Architectural Digest—among many others—and both Instagram and Pinterest, are a great place to start. By exploring visuals and narrowing in on details and features you’re drawn to, you can set the guide rails that steer your designer in the right direction.

The good news is that this is one of the most exciting and engaging aspects of the custom home experience. Immersing yourself in a new world, then entrusting your architectural designer to put their experience and expertise to work, is what makes the journey both worthwhile and fulfilling.

The David Small Design Team

https://www.dsdamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/gallery-the-last-house-28.jpg 1100 1800 Jack Shepherd https://www.dsdamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/David-Small-Designs-Logo.svg Jack Shepherd2021-04-20 15:59:082021-08-11 16:45:06Unpacking the Custom Home Experience

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