Beauty Without Compromise: Luxury vs. Affordability in Architecture
It’s a gorgeous morning by the ocean. I can see it sparkle from my hotel room in Asilomar, just behind the trees and dunes. The room is slightly aged, but it is beautifully designed. 15 feet high exposed structure cathedral ceilings, intricate and smartly built-in cabinetry. My bed is perfectly aligned with sliding doors framed by two sidelights and the balcony. This space is aging gracefully, and its beauty has a timeless quality.
My restless architect head is spinning with a thought that today, no hotel is done to this level of detail. The higher end hotels will have extra space and luxury wallpaper, but they will not splurge on 15-foot ceilings, or truly custom and smart built-in casework. The developer, driven by their pro forma, will push for adding an extra level and not let the architect spend extra time to lay out the room. The architect will design to price per square foot and not to the “wow” effect, sincere beauty and intelligence.
On the other hand, in the high-end residential market, one will still see amazing designs by skillful architects. There will be a “wow” at the end and contribution towards the arts and the culture. High-end residential architecture can truly be called architecture. In the Bay Area, the construction cost of such architecture is over $1000 per square foot. The cost of most affordable residential construction is over $500 per square foot. The cost to design architecture is up to 15% of the construction numbers and the cost to design low-end affordable building can be as low as $10,000. The hotel industry is somewhere in-between these numbers.
So, can there be affordable space that is all of the above: functional, intelligent and beautiful? Does affordable architecture exist?
If we look at IKEA, I think it surely proves that design can be accessible and affordable. We can further look at fast fashion brands like H&M, ZARA and Banana Republic or bridging luxury brands like Michael Kors and Kate Spade that do provide design to a broader market. A skilled designer can design a product and it can be manufactured at a scale to be accessible for people who want to have a choice of living in style. Fashion is within reach.
Can this be applied to architecture?
Being curious and and optimistic, we answer “ABSOLUTELY!” We are thinking of predesigning plans for small homes and apartments and working closely together with prefabricators. We can expedite the production and improve the quality with factory-built construction, and can slow down the initial design process of a prototype to achieve the beauty without compromise. It’s time to stop being nostalgic about the “aging beauties” and start creating new beautiful places to live and work in for us and our children.
Now back to the numbers - what would the construction cost of these prefabricated beauties be? Initially, it will be on the lower end of custom building, the $500 per square foot ballpark (Bay Area in 2022). The upsides will be faster turnaround, better quality and design. The downside is that it is still too expensive and cannot be called affordable. It is only “more affordable”. With time however, the process will run smoother and prefab players will saturate the market, driving the prices down.
What about repetition? We don’t want to live in buildings that are all the same.
Neither do we, which is why it will be important to have many architects design prototypes and work with several prefab businesses. While the in-house design by prefab companies guarantees repetition, the gems created by various architects around the world will bring in the richness of design and diversity. We will have to say goodbye to the ugly off-white stucco boxes forever!
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