Jose & Michele’s House

When first approaching the home from the street, one can see very clearly that the house is contemporary with its back-lit opaque garage door glazings and horizontal siding. There are more flat roofs than sloped. and the part that is sloped is not a traditional slope away from the center of the building; it is the opposite. The metal flashings at the roof adds that special contemporary decor in contrast to the warm wood. When entering the home, we are welcomed by the large open space of the living room/ dinning room. And even though we where not able to enjoy the much larger space created by opening the Nana Walls at the front and rear, I could still see well out to that open space and imagine how it must feel like such a great place for having company over or just opening up the space on a weekend morning enjoying the outdoor air while having a cup of coffee and reading the latest bestseller.

The interior materials where very simple as they should be in a modern home. Hardwood floors, painted gypsum board walls with built-in casework, and vaulted ceilings. There are two cleaver aspects of the reverse-sloped roof: one, it creates two separate vaulted ceilings that helps define the living room area from the dinning room area; And two, that since the higher sides of the slopes are at the perimeters of the building, they give the opportunity to add clerestory windows at the the taller walls.

From what we could see, the kitchen had very solid clean lines as it is indicative of a contemporary home, but the innovation that was noticed is that instead of breaking up the wall of cabinet to add a window, low horizontal windows openings where placed at the section of the wall between the lower and the upper cabinets where one would find the backsplash. This allows for more storage in a kitchen compact but designed to feel open with very little surrounding walls.

The library, is a very special room as it is incorporated into the openness of the already large spaces created by the living room/ dining room and kitchen. Yet this room that has the built-in casework previously mentioned, has a sense of privacy and relaxation. I envision this place being used by the family as a great space for one to seemingly sit quietly and reflecting while reading a classic book like Don Quixote or Moby Dick; all the while the reader’s mind is intrigued as it is filled with the wild adventures of the trusty squire, Sancho Panza, attempting to once again protect his looney master; or of the exhilarating fear that strikes Ishmael at sea as they first approach the great white whale.

In all honesty, without ever having the previous knowledge that this home was manufactured in a factory, I would have always believed that it was a traditionally on-site stick-built home. It looks nothing like the products sold by New Horizons or Fleetwood. Those homes have a quality of hollowness that echoes throughout the designs with its facades that attempt to look like homes traditional homes, but only end up looking like lipstick on a pig made of boxes. All I saw from Jose and Michelle’s house was a home of quality, with a sense of solidity in structure, design, and choice of materials. Because of that, I would say that we are finally removing ourselves one step further away from the realm of sheer profit. We have moved one step further away from the counterfeit boxes that serve only to appease those whom chase a Hollywood-manufactured stages that are supposed to be the American dream. In Jose and Michelle’s home, the American dream is succeeded by their living in the present reality that has taken us all one step closer to doing something good for its own sake.