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The latest and greatest building products.
Like most real estate agents these days, Lori McGuire has had to step it up a bit to get buyers to sign a contract. A Realtor in Orange County, Calif., McGuire is working with three different builders in Covenant Hills, a gated community in the master planned development of Ladera Ranch. Prices star...
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Following the great Chicago Fire of 1871, the city adopted stringent ordinances requiring that homes be built with stone or other non-combustible materials. Not being situated on municipal land, however, the community of Lakeview quickly became a boomtown for shoddy, non-regulated construction, popu...
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The assignment wasn't exactly a piece of cake: a postage-stamp–sized lot (measuring 45 by 60 feet) in a flood plain with site requirements for a self-contained septic system and drain field. Some builders would have walked away, but Holbeck Construction teamed with the architects at Pelletier + Scha...
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Five likeable projects prove that not all teardowns warrant a crackdown.
It happens all the time. People drive through downtown Escondido, Calif., on Centre City Parkway and stop for the traffic light at West Second Avenue. Across the street they see City Square, a cluster of four-story, contemporary townhomes painted in brick, mustard, charcoal, sand, and cornflower blu...
Compatible with the maker's electric floor-warming mats, the
Addressing homeowners desires for environmentally friendly products, Maxxon has introduced new green formulations for its underlayment materials. The GreenGuard-certified, low-emissions products contribute minimal levels of indoor pollutants, the maker says. The green product line includes Gyp-Crete...
When Michael Ray and Jay MacDowell, partners in Atlanta-based The Housing Group, built their first neighborhood in East Atlanta in 1999, they were banking on a vision of what the in-town community could be. They envisioned a vibrant village with funky boutiques and a hopping nightlife in place of th...
Emaar signs are everywhere in Dubai, the now legendary city/state of only 1,500-square-miles with roughly 1.4 million people (about the size of San Antonio). Huge plasma displays touting Emaar communities greet visitors at airport customs. Blue-and-yellow flags and billboards carry the company's nam...
IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY, SPRINGFIELD, Mass., earned the nickname “City of Homes” in recognition of its stately Victorian mansions and more humble (but no less architecturally significant) worker cottages. That legacy is one that Leslie Clement takes seriously to this day.
The housing market is hurting everyone, and 2007 will surely go down as the year many builders crashed and burned. But there are a few Teflon ventures that have managed to defy the odds and rack up healthy sales in an otherwise weary landscape. And they aren't necessarily using incentives or gimmick...
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Q: Times are tight. How can we cut back on the number of floor plans we offer without losing curb appeal and creating streetscapes that look monotonous?
Water is a central element in the site plan development of BridgeWater, which was built on reclaimed phosphate-mining land and includes five deep, crystal-clear lakes. As a result, 90 percent of the lots in the community have a lake view. In brainstorming names for the lakes, the sales and marketing...
TOO OFTEN, CITY living means sacrificing space (and privacy) for location. But this Spanish-colonial townhouse, designed by JZMK Partners, allows buyers to have it all, in spite of zero–lot line restrictions. Its first-level garden patio and two second-level decks provide al fresco retreats. And its...
WITH ITS SIMPLE shape and clever economy, this 1,440-square-foot waterfront house updates the classic fishing shack. Its poetic logic is a response to coastal zoning requirements, which placed it close to the street and lifted it 6 feet above the ground. In beachfront tradition, architect James Este...
THESE SIX HEAVY CONCRETE buildings were operating, albeit inefficiently, as cold storage for a wholesale fruit and vegetable market when architect Pappageorge/Haymes purchased them for condo loft conversions. Located in the South Water Market historic district, the 926 units are within financial rea...
“QUIRKY DICK VAN DYKE house with brick floors” is how architect Tom Shafer describes the pre-makeover state of this 7,500-square-foot ranch house built in the 1950s. Contemporary for its time, the original form made extensive use of glass, steel, wood, and brick. The clients especially loved its mod...
THE STONE WALLS OF medieval hill towns were built to protect residents from intruders and the wilds of nature, but on this home site they metaphorically serve the opposite purpose: to defend the natural landscape against the intrusion of buildings. Surrounded by seven acres of protected wetlands, th...
CONCEIVED IN 1791, Pierre L'Enfant's vision for Washington was one of a broad, horizontal skyline, punctuated by steeples and domes, with the Capitol building at its apex. The low-lying nature of the city, which brings light and air to the pedestrian level and allows its most prominent landmarks to ...