Architectural Differences
It is amazing to see the differences in architectural forms as you move from region to region. For instance, architectural forms in Phoenix Arizona are quite different from forms in mountain regions such as Vail, Colorado.
One reason for the difference is climate. Architects in Scottsdale Arizona can design a roof without taking into account snow load. This makes it easier to design flat roof houses. Although a flat roof house is possible in the mountain regions, the amount of structure required makes it less feasable. Vail architects have to take into account a massive snow load even for pitched roofs.
The deep roof overhangs typical of arizona homes are to block the sun in the summer months, yet let it in durring winter months. This is not important to mountain homes as the summer months are not as hot.
Single story homes are also much more polular in the desert because it makes it easier to keep the inside temperature comfortable. For summer months it allows vegetation to block the sun and in the winter it uses the earth as thermal mass to help regulate the surrounding temperature.
Single Family Homes in Vail often use two or three stories to maximize their square footage allowance. It is not as important for these homes to hug the ground. In fact it is better to be higher up in the colder months because the heat will rise to the top story.
The styles may be be similar between these locations, however, the forms are heavily dictated by the climate.
This entry was posted on Friday, January 30th, 2009 at 7:43 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.