Kensett

Project Details

Project Description

The Norwood has a master bedroom upstairs in a community designed and marketed for active empty-nesters, so we weren't sure about market acceptance. Having the master suite upstairs instead of on the main level opens up the back of the home beautifully to the garden, but the buyers needed to accept the master bedroom up to take advantage of the improvement. We designed this master-up plan with the same footprint size as another master-down plan so that we could mix up or down the number of each unit type to suit the preferences in the market. We also offer an optional elevator in the Norwood. We are pleased that the Norwood is our best-selling home, and that the empty nesters who are buying either accept the elevator or the stairs, and choose the Norwood most often. The openness of the kitchen, living room and family areas, and their direct connection to the private garden is the most popular aspect of the plan; other popular features are the very large dressing rooms, pantry and storage areas, the separate den on the main floor, and the decorated finished basement (mancave). Architecturally we're very pleased with the one and a half story rooflines, with dormers hugging the mass down and bringing the exterior architecture inside in the form of coved ceilings and lower window head heights on the second floor. The exterior detailing is home cooking, with simple flatstock sills and caps, common red brick chimneys and simple window mullion patterns. Other than the brick chimneys, the masonry is all horizontal, with red brick driveways and flagstone paths and patios. The Norwood (and all the homes at Kensett) are designed as stand-alone homes, then married together at the party wall into 2-plexes. This allows for a distinct identity for each home, and the ability to step more easily with the site's topography. It also creates an easy, informal rhythm of roofs, dormers and chimneypots.