RC3D Architectural Styles
 RC3D Commercial and Residential Design are award winning residential and townhome designers who provide cost-savings, design efficiencies and value-add for builders, developers, & homeowners. With over 30 years combined residential and townhome design experience in Texas, we understand which features of good design sell.
RC3D Commercial and Residential Design works closely with each client on an individual basis to identify the project and project needs, and to develop customized solutions - delivered timely and on budget.
Contemporary Style
RC3D Commercial and Residential Design's Contemporary house designs appeal to those who appreciate modern design and living. These homes range from futuristic designs to contemporary building materials.
RC3D Commercial and Residential Design's Contemporary designs emphasize flexible space and flexible usage. Glass, concrete, brick, vinyl and wood are often used in an unusual mixture. Contemporary houses are often characterized by exposed beams and an abundance of natural light. These home designs are for the adventurous owner.
Contemporary Style Architectural Features:
- Open, flexible floor space
- Lack of decorative elements
- Extensive use of modern materials
- Pushes at the boundaries of materials, technology and geometry
- Incorporate the surrounding landscape into overall look
- Flat-roof design or gabled design
- Abundance of natural light
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French Country Style
Also known as French Provincial, RC3D Commercial and Residential Design's French Country designs are inspired by the rustic manors of southern France. Particularly impressive on large properties, RC3D Commercial and Residential Design's French Country style designs also fit well into upscale suburban enclaves where their fine pedigree and handsome lines make them an outstanding choice for those who seek a residence with style and elegance. RC3D Commercial and Residential Design's French Country designs range from modest designs to estate-like chateaus which all exude rustic warmth through a variety of Old World influences including arches, soft lines, stonework, wood beams, plaster walls and stone floors. The designs bring together such eclectic elements as quoins, Palladian windows, turrets, and dormers which give the home a touch of sophistication.
Common elements include tall, thin windows, often with slat-board shutters, steep roofs, gables, and arches. Stucco and stone are frequently used, trimmed with painted timbers, windows boxes, wrought iron railings and brick highlights around windows and doors.
French Country Style Architectural Features:
- Steep roofs
- Stone or stucco façade with tall, thin windows
- Gables and arches
- Architectural details including quoins, turrets
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English Style
RC3D Commercial and Residential Design's Tudor Revival and English Cottage style designs derive from early English sources. Steeply-pitched roofs, decorative half-timbering and casement windows are commonly found. Chimneys are very large and commonly decorated with ornate chimney pots.
Several different siding treatments are common including brick, stucco, stone, and wood shingle or clapboard. Brick is particularly popular and various wall combinations are commonly seen. Interiors are frequently dark with stained trim, wainscotings, and doors.
Windows are often casement types opening out as well as double-hung windows. Multiple windows are arranged in ribbons across the façade.
The hardware and lighting fixtures are often wrought or simulated wrought iron.
English Style Architectural Features:
- One to two stories asymmetrical designs
- Cross-gabled, medium to steeply pitched roof, sometimes with clipped gables
- Half-timbering and cozy, irregularly-shaped rooms
- Arrangements of tall, narrow windows in bands
- Over scaled chimneys with decorative brickwork and chimney pots
- Steeply gabled, enclosed entry
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French Style
RC3D Commercial and Residential Design's French style designs are symmetrical, asymmetrical, or what is termed as the towered design. Symmetrical designs have massive hip roofs with the main entry door centered. The front is usually formal like the orginal french manors of France. Wing walls are often added to the sides of the main building.
Asymmetrical designs are more common and includes examples of french chateau, french farmhouses, and french country designs with an off centered main entry. Towered designs are easily identified by the round tower with the high pitched conical roof. The main entry is usually found at the tower. Half timbering is a common feature and it is sometimes refered to as a Norman cottage.
French Style Architectural Features:
- Tall steep hipped roofs, with flared eaves
- Stone, brick, or stucco façade
- Rounded Norman towers
- Gables or dormers with their own roofs
- Multiple roof elements
- Massive chimneys
- Architectural details including quoins, pediments, pilasters
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Hill Country Style
You won't find Texas Hill Country homes anywhere else but Texas. RC3D Commercial and Residential Design's Hill Country style, in its purest form, is a cross between Greek revival and Victorian architecture. The first Hill Country homes were modestly simple, and before home sizes were increased, there was typically a room for eating and a room for sleeping, separated by a central hallway. When the Victorian era began to influence Texas, houses adopted Victorian accents such as posts and porches, with elaborate mill work.
RC3D Commercial and Residential Design's Hill Country home designs use native materials readily available such as cedar, cypress wood, and limestone.
Hill Country Style Architectural Features:
- Uses native materials
- Large porches
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Mediterranean Style
RC3D Commercial and Residential Design's Mediterranean style refers to one-story floor plan and design elements found in Italian villas, Spanish Revival and Mission Revival homes to create an elegant look and feel. Also referred to as the Tuscan style, it has a trademark stucco masonry-veneered exterior walls and low-pitched tile roof. Courtyards and open arches allow for breezes to flow freely through the house and verandas.
Other features include full-length first-story windows with radius top, wide overhanging eaves supported by decorative brackets, upper story windows usually smaller and less elaborate than the windows on the main level. Common decorative details include quoins, pedimented windows, classical door surrounds, molded cornices, and belt courses.
RC3D Commercial and Residential Design's Mediterranean designs echo the relaxed, outdoor lifestyle of the region that gives them their name.
Mediterranean Style Architectural Features:
- Typically two stories with low-pitched tile roofs
- Stucco exterior walls
- Asymmetrical layouts
- Archways and exposed wooden beams frame the rooms
- Full-length first-story windows
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Craftsman Prairie Style
Frank Lloyd Wright originated the Prairie Style, which was part of the American Arts and Crafts movement.
RC3D Commercial and Residential Design's Craftsman Prairie houses are designed to blend in with the flat, prairie landscape. RC3D Commercial and Residential Design's Craftsman Prairie houses are designed for simplicity, function and craftsmanship, with many shapes: from square to pinwheel-shaped. The Craftsman Prairie Style makes subtle use of Japanese architecture.
A vernacular variant, is the so-called American Foursquare, or "Prairie Box". These are simplified Prairie houses, named "Foursquare" due to its characteristic boxy shape. They are typically two-and-a-half stories with a large, central dormer. The designs often includes a full-width front porch and use of natural materials.
Craftsman Prairie Style Architectural Features:
- Low-pitched roof
- Broad overhanging eaves
- Horizontal lines
- Central chimney
- Open floor plan and simple layout
- Clerestory windows, grouped in horizontal bands
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American Architectural Styles
Exterior styles, building forms and floor plans are a product of cultural tastes and values that reflect a particular place, time, and population. Styles come and go over time, and sometimes return. Certain architectural styles remained in vogue for long periods of time, and often revealed a regional identity. From the Victorian Era of the mid-to-late nineteenth century, multiple styles became popular throughout the United States. Now, Americans had their choice of numerous Architectural Styles. This continued until the Great Depression. Little building construction took place between 1929 and 1945.
After World War II America saw another national building boom. Architects looked to the future with design innovations that were optimistic and influenced by international trends. At the same time, they continued to draw inspiration from the past and those traditional American styles that had become established in various regions. During this period, architects and builders frequently borrowed stylistic elements from various periods. In some respects it’s difficult to assign many homes any single style. As a result, all this stylistic freewheeling is accurately called American Eclectic. Changes were brewing by the 1970s, however, leading America to react against modern architecture and planning practices. Historic styles became gradually popular once again, coinciding with the historic preservation movement. Colonial Revival elements adorned otherwise modern ranch houses, and by the 1990s a vague "postmodern era" was in full swing.
Postmodern architecture is generally characterized by an unrelated and exaggerated use of historical styles, or imitated reproductions of older buildings. This coincided with a revived interest in traditional town planning practices known as "neotraditional" development, or the New Urbanism. Hundreds of neotraditional neighborhoods are under construction or already completed, with designs that emphasize walking, mass transit, mixed uses, community livability, public space, and affordability. |
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