Architects, Community Guidelines Vs. Design Vision

Step by step guide to being a designer on a new construction project in Santa Fe

This is Step 2- Working with architects and community guidelines

Review with the architect and clients. This is for the home in the Santa Fe north side subdivision with multiple homeowner’s association guidelines to meet. We try to review client selections with the architect soon after we make initial decisions to see if there are questions or concerns. Whether we have strong objections or positive responses, either way will affect further choices we’ll be making. In this case we have the base color but still have two concrete colors to narrow down to one. The clients want to take them to the site on their own and think about it.

What we are doing at this meeting is discussing what accent color we might use, and most importantly where do we want to use it. Overuse of an accent color is a mistake, as it dilutes the point of having an accent at all, and makes a project look choppy or “polka-dotty,” not good things visually. You may notice this on lots of projects, but we try not to do it.

One big plus is that we can use accent colors that the homeowner’s association might nix from a street view, if we use it on a private outdoor space wall that is hidden from the street, but is seen through living room glass that surrounds a fireplace.

Another option is to use either a dramatic darker accent, or an appreciably lighter one, on the “links” — passageways between larger masses — between the garage and the main living area, for example, at B. And between the main living area and the private bedroom suites at C. This would emphasize the architectural feature and we all like the idea.

Here, shaded in red, are the minimal areas we are discussing…optimally, I’d go wild as these are small accents, relatively speaking, but we are not sure they will appreciate that. Stay tuned..it is a process, and this is where I can begin to have fun.

One note, we are hoping to do glass panels on the three garage doors. The space will be used partially as a workspace, and the northern light would be awesome if the doors are opaque glass.