Modern Style Homes

Modern Style Homes in Des Moines, by Des Moines Real Estate Experts RE/MAX Real Estate Concepts

Two modern styles of home building are known as “contemporary” and “shed.”  The styles originated in the 1950’s.  Architects were quite fond of these styles and designed many homes to reflect this.  Contemporary and shed styles break away from the traditional home designs of the past.  Many of these homes were designed by architects.  This quality is appealing to homebuyers in the Des Moines area today.

It is easy to recognize a contemporary style home.  The first thing to notice is the large low-pitched or flat roof.  The eave overhangs are wide and the gables face the front of the home.  In many of the examples seen in Des Moines part of the structure is exposed.  The windows of a contemporary style house are different, and may have unusual shapes.  The placement of the windows is also different from previous architectural styles of the past.  Another giveaway that the house is of the modern style is the lack of ornamentation to the exterior.  However, they are far from plain.  The architectural design makes contemporary houses interesting and unique.

The shed style of building is similar to the contemporary style.  The most obvious difference between these two styles is with the roof line.  They have moderate to high pitched rooflines.  Many of these rooflines are angled in a different direction.  Each of these “pieces” comes together to give the home the look of a geometric sculpture.  The siding material used on shed style homes adds to this geometric modern look.  Predominant architects of this style, Robert Venturi and Charles Moore, used wood-shingle wall cladding on the exterior of their home designs.  Other architects and builders used board siding and brick veneer in place of the wood-shingling.  The material was applied in several different directions including horizontally, diagonally, and of course, vertically.  The windows of shed homes are of different sizes and tend to be small.  The key to a shed home is asymmetry.

There is a lot of free information available to you about buying, selling or investing in Des Moines real estate. For complete information about the Des Moines real estate market including current homes for sale, property values and more please visit the most complete website online dedicated to everything Des Moines real estate at Real Estate with RE/MAX. Please feel free to contact us with any of your real estate or mortgage related questions and we will be more than glad to answer your questions. Call us at 1-800-708-5890 or email us at dsm@realestateconcepts.net.