Avoiding the Cookie-Cutter Look

By AMY GUNDERSON
Published: March 7, 2007

For all the appeal that a gated community holds for a second-home owner — recreational amenities, a sense of security — a planned development can sometimes put a home buyer in the architectural equivalent of a straitjacket.

Building or remodeling a home in such a community can mean going head to head with the development’s architectural review board, which can sometimes literally send an owner back to the drawing board. A new owner must often wade through design guidelines that govern the basic aesthetics and might even dictate total square footage, the size of a second level, the type of landscaping permitted, the amount of exterior stone required, the shape of archways and the maximum roof pitch.

“We have our fair share of gated communities, and they really box you in architecturally,” said Scott Jarson, an agent with Jarson & Jarson Real Estate in Scottsdale, Ariz.

While an architectural board in a gated community has the final word on design, construction doesn’t require resigning yourself to a cookie-cutter home. Architects and designers are quick to say that while such boards can be exceedingly strict, ways can still be found to give your home unique touches and ensure that it won’t be a mirror image of the house next door.

Be Realistic

Want a flat-roofed modernist house in a community of Mediterranean-inspired retreats, or a Cape Cod next to a Southwestern desert pueblo? Think again. On the other hand, a Tuscan-style home can partner well with a Mediterranean.

Gated communities are likely to limit homes to four or five styles, said Mark Candelaria, the owner of Candelaria Design Associates, a Phoenix architecture and design firm that does most of its work in gated communities. But not every development has a strict rulebook. For instance, Bighorn Golf Club in Palm Desert, Calif., a community with two golf courses, has a diverse grouping of homes.

“Bighorn is one of the more flexible clubs to work with in regards to guidelines,” said Kristi Hanson, an architect who has designed more than 40 homes in the development, where three-quarter-acre lots now sell for $2 million. “They really consider those to be a guide rather than rules.”

Tuscan-style houses and desert contemporaries share the community, including one, designed by Ms. Hanson, on which construction is beginning. “It’s very contemporary,” she said of the 18,000-square-foot house. “There is not a straight wall in the place.”

Play With the Layout

The size of the home is dictated in part by setbacks (how close a house can be to the property line) as well as limits placed on height and on the square footage of a second level. But terrain also dictates layout.

Mountainside homes, and even desert homes designed to capture surrounding vistas from a steep slope, can have varied elevations. Capturing those views can inspire an architect.

Mr. Candelaria designed a Scottsdale house that encompassed views of mountains, a golf course and the desert landscape. “The style the house needed to be was rural Mediterranean,” he said, “so we took the idea of a little village and angled one part of the house with another part. In doing that, we created courtyards.”

Since the interior courtyards were beyond the purview of the architectural board — which did regulate exterior landscaping — the owners had free rein on the types of plants they wanted in the courtyards.

Go Big on Custom Details

The way to make a house stand out from its peers lies in the details. After all, your neighbor is unlikely to choose the same features, and yet they may still pass muster with the architectural board. “Bringing in more detail is what ends up setting it apart,” Ms. Hanson said. “I might do intricate ironwork, really interesting light fixtures that you can’t buy out of a catalog, or really beautiful carved columns that are wood or stone.”

Juan Collignon, an architect, has designed homes in Mexico and the Caribbean, including six in Punta Mita, a gated development on Mexico’s Pacific Coast, where home sites start at $1.6 million for a half-acre ocean-view lot. He, too, emphasizes that true uniqueness is in the smallest touches.

While the building aesthetics in Punta Mita, for instance, require owners to put up haciendas or airy Pacific-style houses, handmade features make each house special, Mr. Collignon said.

Everything from the front door to the walkway leading to the house can be wrought by hand, he said. “Not one looks alike,” he said, “even if they were made by the same craftsman.”

A material like stone lends itself to an interpretive approach. “There is such a variety of stone colors, styles, the way the stone is laid, and how much mortar is used,” said Kevin Culhan, an architect-builder in Greenville, S.C., whose company is called Allora. “Clients come in and think they have to look like the other 15 houses they just looked at in the community. We’ve been able to say, here are some alternatives.”

Negotiate, and Compromise

If Mr. Culhan thinks a plan will have trouble getting an architectural review board’s approval, he requests a preliminary meeting with board members and gets ready to negotiate. He has persuaded boards to be flexible on window size and styles, and once helped a client build an Asian-influenced house in the Cliffs, a South Carolina community where homes generally look like mountain cabins. “The owners wanted a bright red trim,” Mr. Culhan said. “We had to compromise on a rusty red to make both parties happy.”

If the real estate market is slow, getting changes approved by a board can be easier. “The market can really force developers to not be so strict,” Mr. Candelaria said. “If the market is soft, they get nervous and let their guard down.”

Focus on the Inside

The reach of a design review board usually doesn’t extend inside. That’s one reason homes can often have two personalities. But at least make sure the exterior and the interior complement each other.

Buying a house with a Spanish-colonial exterior, for instance, and giving it a midcentury-modern interior might be discouraged by a designer, on the ground that the jarring contrast in styles would make resale problematic.

Make Sure It’s What You Want

Before you buy, be certain that the development is right for you. If you bristle at restrictions, and want to have a freer hand, a gated community, even one with a championship golf course outside your door, may not be the right place for you to call home.

“If the concern is security,” said Mr. Jarson, the Arizona-based real estate agent, “we can always incorporate that into private gates.”