Once There Was a Neighborhood in Dallas …

A quartet of homes shows how contemporary aesthetic can be both affordable and buildable.

There’s a small neighborhood in Dallas that stands out as a fine reply to, “Can a contemporary-style home be affordably built using traditional building methods?”

Four three-bedroom homes on an otherwise ordinary Dallas cul-de-sac offers an emphatic yes.

Part experiment, part smart market play to Millennial buyers, the housing quartet serves as an object lesson in the art of buildability and applied aesthetics. For a fraction of the cost of high-end, signature contemporary homes, home buyers can now dream of low-slope roofs, cantilevered massing, multi-story corner window treatments, and even contrasting cladding materials and colors.

Style with Affordability
The homes clearly do not carry the cachet and iconic design sense of homes by Rudolph Michael Schindler, Walter Gropius, Gerrit Rietveld, or Charles and Ray Eames, but they are proof positive a contemporary aesthetic can be profitably delivered to a mass-market buyer.

To help achieve a crisp, clean aesthetic, the builder deployed a variety of cost-saving measures. One subtle but notable one is the use of extruded aluminum trim to carry the exterior architectural facade.

One person who remembers the project special clarity is Ian Daniels, director of architectural products for Tamlyn, a family-owned building products manufacturer based in Stafford, Texas. Tamlyn supplied the trim components for all four homes in the Dallas development.

Uncommon Style, Common Materials
“The customer was a tract builder looking to do something different without going crazy with new materials,” Daniels says. “They had worked with fiber cement panels and tongue-and-groove cedar before, so they were confident they could do something new with exterior detailing.”

The challenge was replicating a consistent trim aesthetic across two very different cladding materials, a “three-quarters product versus a five-sixteenths product,” Daniels says. The idea was to avoid big trim pieces and rely instead on small-profile trim to preserve the aesthetic. The corners were particularly tricky. “Normally, a builder would put a 3.5-inch trim there. By going with metal, the size is only an inch-and-a-half. It’s a more delicate, sophisticated design option.”

Buildability
Daniels recalls the other big challenge: Buildability. Could the cladding be installed through ordinary means and methods without special tools or training? “The installers were a little worried. They weren’t used to cutting extruded metal trim. Once they realized the same blade they always use works great with extruded, they were rolling. It was easier than they thought,” Daniels says.

The use of metal trim also supported the builder in other ways. “Metal allows you the flexibility to paint it, even have it fade along with the fiber cement panels it frames, so coloring remain consistent. On top of that is the durability of metal. Compare that to risk wood or vinyl trim presents. I’ve seen metal trim last 20 years and more. Metal trim is usually made from up to 100 percent post-industrial and post-consumer scrap. It’s very LEED-friendly,” he adds.

Continuing Appeal
The allure of a contemporary aesthetic is a powerful one, especially for Millennial home buyers that revere simple, modern styling. The good news for custom, semi-custom, and even production builders, it is a design style that can be delivered on a surprisingly affordable basis using common building materials. To learn more about the ways extruded aluminum trim offers proven style, function, and affordability, visit tamlyn.com.