“The Remodern Movement” - Are we reaching a tipping point?

Greg La Vardera had a great post last week on his LamiDesign Modern House Plan Blog about whether or not modern home design is reaching the tipping point of breaking into the mainstream of American housing. Greg observes that over the past few years we have seen a surge in modern design publications like dwell, modern prefab projects as well as new development companies specializing in modern and green design. He then asks, “Will modern houses break into the mainstream, finally? Will this be the time when everything changes, and anybody who wants to buy a house, build a house, will have modern as one of their legitimate choices?”

This question got me thinking over the past week. I have certainly noticed the same indicators of modern home design’s growth in recent years that Greg talks about and agree it is a growing movement gaining more and more media coverage each month. I want to believe that we are reaching a tipping point but sometimes I feel my viewpoint is skewed from living in an urban environment. More and more people are moving back to cities, including Philly, and modern architecture has always been prevalent in our cities.

Maybe this is simply a matter of the balance of population shifting in America from rural areas to cities. If the majority of the population will be living in cities withing the next decade and modern design becomes the mainstream in our cities, does that mean modern has passed the tipping point?

For modern to reach the mainstream, though, the vast amount of homes being put up by the major builders of the county in the suburbs must be effected. This seems like a harder audience to influence. One thing that gives me hope is many of the new modern developers that have set up shop around the country in recent years. When I read about home builders in the Philadelphia Inqurier’s weekly New Homes section many of them have been in business for around 10 - 15 years and they are working on communities of homes in the low to mid hundreds of units. Many of the modern developers are approaching their 3rd, 4th and 5th anniversaries in business. While they may have started with just a few homes they are now planning larger and larger communities of modern homes. It won’t be long before some are breaking the 100 home development mark and not only challenging the way homes are designed but also how communities are designed.

I don’t know the answers to Greg’s questions but I plan to meet his challenge to be a “connector” for the remodern movement. Thanks for the stimulating post Greg and keep up the great work!

Also check out John’s thoughts on Greg’s post at another of my favorite blogs -  Future House Now - better living in modern green homes.