Why do all new builds look like this now?

Ubbquittious

White walls

Grey windows, Grey doors, Grey slate roof

Feck all soffits

Big massive panes of glass for windows but the front door completely opaque

Rectangular protrusions shticking out (a new take on the 70's kitchen extension out the back with corrugated steel roof?)

Did someone from "the planning crowd" simply invent this look and create an unwritten rule that it would be even harder to get planning permission if house doesn't look like this?

Lewis_Benson

Ugly.

Potential-Monke

Probably the cheapest/easiest way to build, plain colours so people can add their own to it. It also looks like a house that would be well outside of most peoples budget depending on where it was built. A prime example of a soulless for-profit build.

Ubbquittious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120311476#Comment_120311476

Nobody adds their own to it. The only way you'd see one a different colour is if the crowd building it ran out of money before they could buy the white paint

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120311490#Comment_120311490

I saw a blue one.

Potential-Monke

I meant it's plain so people can imagine it in colours they'd prefer. Easier to see a grey/white wall in a different colour than the same wall if it's already painted purple. Might just be me though.

Count Dracula

Never buy a house with no chimney.

You just never know mortals.

Capra

I see what you are saying. My new build extension has elements of that in that it has a mahoosive window and no overhangs. Although it is definitely more distinctive than most. But I kept the overhangs on the old part of the house as I like the character they add. No overhangs looks right on some houses but more often than not it makes the house look bland. I don't really understand why every single modern house seems to be going that way.

Like most professionals who spend years in college, architects all tend to think the same. I thought my architect was coming out with some cool new ideas but then when I started looking at design magazines I saw everything he was designing into my house everywhere. It's all copycat and fashion trends.

Strumms

In fairness with the upsurge in the requirement for housing, the fast and artificially engineered growth in population being the catalyst, the only reason you’ll be refused planning permission now is if it is dangerous or actually illegal somehow.…

the fact that it doesn’t look great ? Government can’t afford to be that picky.

Andrewf20

The lack of soffits really detracts from the look in my view. And there seems to be a tendency to see stains running down the side walls after a few years as a result.

dxhound2005

Most houses from the past also have opaque doors. Mine is made of wood.

Larbre34

Its just a fashion.

Ask yourself why every 1980s build bungalow looks the way it does. Long, low, window-door-window-window-garage, maybe a velux or two.

The more homes built in similar style and finish, the cheaper the supply of common materials and more readily available the building expertise to work with the design.

Leg End Reject

It's the new builds with clear glass in the door that puzzle me. No running downstairs wrapped in a towel to make a cup of coffee unless you're an exhibionist.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120311697#Comment_120311697

You wear a towel?!!

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120311780#Comment_120311780

Yes, and I'm sorry, I can't hear you.

Kincora2017

They’re attempts to design a modern version of a “traditional” or vernacular Irish house. They’re trying to reference the old farmhouses of rural Ireland, but with a modern twist.

traditionally, rural irish houses were of extremely simple form, typically a long rectangle. They were generally rendered and white, did not have projecting eaves, slates finished flush with gables and often had large expanses of blank walls with no windows on them. They looked the way they did because that was the easiest and cheapest way to build a house back in thr day.

The current trend in house designs is using these principles and applying them to new builds. Some are more successful than others and you can see different variations across the country. In my opinion they’re generally a step forward from the bungalows of thr 70s/80/ and the big blocky square houses of the Celtic Tiger.

StupidLikeAFox

I blame Dermot bannon

sydthebeat

This is to blame.

http://corkcocoplans.ie/wp-content/uploads/bsk-pdf-manager/2016/07/Rural-Design-Guide-2nd-Edition-2010.pdf

Before this it was this

https://planahome.ie/

and before that, it was this:

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/bliss-or-blight-the-bungalow-designs-that-changed-the-face-of-ireland-1.3823371

freshpopcorn

I think this is the style of houses of this generation.

Drive around towns in Ireland and you'll see houses from past decades.

Each generation thinking it's new and modern.

The one thing I don't get is when Architects say it's brilliant how these contemporary buildings blend into the scenery/landscape.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120311893#Comment_120311893

The one thing I don't get is when Architects say it's brilliant how these contemporary buildings blend into the scenery/landscape.

They always say it when something sticks out like a sore thumb too. A man-made structure will never blend into the landscape.

One eyed Jack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058286748/why-do-all-new-builds-look-like-this-now

You should see some of the entries in RTE’s “Home of the Year”, some of them you’d swear are just converted corrugated haysheds, open-plan inside, they’re built like a showroom. Literally like something made out of Lego:

https://www.irishexaminer.com/property/homeandgardens/arid-41082463.html

Tell me how

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058286748/why-do-all-new-builds-look-like-this-now

Because 'trends'.

I'm not totally against the above because I kind of like the clean lines and neat appearance. Not my dream design by any stretch but there's always been clear trends that develop for private houses. From the bungalows of the 60's 70's and 80's to the housing estates of the 90's and early 00's there was a hole lot of the 'same' houses being built in each period.

I'd be much more bothered from this estate house from about 10 - 15 years ago.

House itself is fine, but there's 4 different style of window opening construction at play here.

• 4 Inch frame (left of and above door)
• No frame (right of door)
• Flush (above and to right)
• 1 Inch frame (Front Door and at side, but hard to see)

100 odd houses in the estate and every one of them has this mish-mash appearance.

whisky_galore

It still looks better than any Irish McMansion, esp the ones with "busy" roofs, they will date very badly, some say they looked crap from the outset.

screamer

It’s also to do with heating and lighting. Most new houses now which are single builds, are only one room deep for that exact reason. Some of them are built in a h shape same reason. The style is just a modern version of a traditional farmhouse type house, better than the 80s bungalow bliss styles for sure.

McHardcore

I understand that there might be a nod with this design back to the old, unthatched Irish cottage style, but I don’t like it.

The lack of soffits really bothers me. It looks like a shed as a result.

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120312143#Comment_120312143

If you understood the reason soffits exist in the first place, you'd see the trim detail is superior both in function and aesthetic

McHardcore

Please, help us understand how someone cannot have a difference of opinion on the aesthetics of a soffit so.

sydthebeat

I'll put it to you this way, it's like preferring someone wearing a plaster cast, over then without one.

Gumbo

Looks lovely.

Current design trends.

The same way you can look at period properties and say “Georgian” “90’s” etc

mickdw

Planning guidelines have forced this trend by requiring narrow form structures to mimic the old traditional cottage.

Personally, I quite like these style of houses but would have to say that the planning system we have is a joke. The fact that you can drive around the country and date any given house to possibly a 5 year period suggests the worst standard of design management.

Going back to 2000s, it was all narrow window and overhead concrete roof barges, then they started to limit gable width and look for slightly simple detailing and stuff like front facing gables were outlawed. Now its full on cottage proportions with no issues with glazing size. Alot of flat roofing being incorporated also which cannot be a good thing.

SchrodingersCat

Posters in this thread seem surprised that others could have a different view on what a beautiful house looks like.

Better functionality does not necessarily mean better aesthetics. Hell, if we made houses based purely on functionality we would live in waterproof boxes painted white.

DBK1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120312143#Comment_120312143

I’d have to agree on the soffit. Any house I see without it looks horrendous and it’s all you can see when it’s not there.

I happen to like a lot of the more modern house styles, just maybe not the flat roof’s, but no matter what the design is it always looks better with a soffit.

Cluedo Monopoly

Grey does seem to be a popular house colour now for some reason.

riclad

See room to improve, most architects seem to like very large windows ,large glass doors ,the style of buildings seem to change every 10 years, you can tell a house was built in the 70s, or the 80s its cheaper to build every house with large blocks ,every room is a rectangle large or small ,its just the plaster rendering cover ups this ,the houses from home of the year are not average ,eg they are built by people who are very well off ,on a large budget

it probably costs 150k now just to build a generic basic house now if you include the cost of the land.

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120313419#Comment_120313419

Good luck getting a site and building a house for 150k!!!

A modest 1300 sqft house will cost on excess of 180k alone, never mind putting the site cost on top.

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058286748/why-do-all-new-builds-look-like-this-now

That's not really a typical new build, certainly not in a town or surburban context. It's positively nice compared to the tiny shoebox Semi D estates that are being put up now. A1 rated structures but characterised by a number of factors:

• no chimney
• small two storey structures
• grey metal roofing
• clad with solar panels
• gardens that are smaller than the footprint of the small house
• just about parking for one car, if at all.
• Expensive

Lego housing.

fits

Passive principles will often lead to this design. Windows to south but not too many to cause overheating etc.

kneemos

It's contemporary,quite like it.

Blame Bannon for the big windows. Though there is a style of big house you often see in farms that has small windows,looks odd imo and must be dark inside.

SchrodingersCat

Yep. I agree with you @DBK1. I believe homes without a soffit look “off”. The majority of other current trends I’m OK with.

Thelonious Monk

https://mcmansionhell.com/post/157457285986/mcmansion-hell-ireland-edition

This is funny. Some of the yokes you see when driving through Ireland defy belief.

kneemos

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120318996#Comment_120318996

There's a few ostentatious efforts about,but for the most part they're just big houses that look good for the most part imo.

Often wonder where the money comes from.

Quantum Erasure

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120312110#Comment_120312110

I like the McMansion look, although some can be over-the-top, if that zinc cladding in the OP was done in stone it'd look much better...

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120313948#Comment_120313948

Smaller windows are from a time when windows lost a lot of heat. Though not everyone loves living in a goldfish bowl either. I like big windows for sunlight. But not a fan where they are overlooked from the street or another house.

Flinty997

That architects can can produce ugly buildings demonstrates not all of them have better sense of design and aesthetics than the ordinary Joe.

kneemos

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120319430#Comment_120319430

Often see new builds in this style,almost always connected to a farm for some reason. Always think stick a few windows in the blessed thing,the rooms must be huge.

Maybe a legacy of the "big house" or something.

https://images.app.goo.gl/nZ5ijCuscwzqrgAA7