Bassenian | Lagoni's Award-Winning New Home Designs Highlight the Hot Buttons for Today’s Buyers

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Feb. 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- So who is the post-recession home buyer and what does he or she want in a new home? Many researchers have collected an abundance of data that architects and builders are using to answer this question. However, few firms are as qualified to weigh in on the matter as Bassenian | Lagoni Architects. In the last 24 months, this Newport Beach, Calif.-based architectural firm has designed more than 20 new-home communities targeting the post-recession home buyer, and all are meeting with market success.

Several of these communities garnered acclaim from juries in two national design competitions sponsored by the National Association of Home Builders: the Best in American Living Awards and The Nationals. Bassenian | Lagoni Architects earned nine awards for architectural excellence, including the prestigious Home of the Year designation. Winning projects cross the country from California to Massachusetts.

What made these projects standouts for the judges are the same attributes that make them attractive to today's buyers: the right combination of design excitement and value. Here we share some of the designs features of the winning projects.

Empty-Nester Appeal

Designed by Bassenian | Lagoni Architects for The Green Company in Plymouth, Mass., Fresco at The Pinehills swept the 2011 awards season, winning nine national awards for architectural excellence, including Home of the Year honors from the Best in American Living Awards for Fresco Plan 2 and the Gold Award from The Nationals for Best Product Design of an Attached Home.

"Not only is this post-recession home reflective of the new living arrangement in size and layout, but it is also environmentally responsible," said one judge. Another commented, "The Home of the Year represents a design risk that really paid off; creating an attached home that is filled with light, maintains privacy and includes a significant outdoor living area."

Fresco represents a new idea in contemporary, carefree living – paired townhomes that combine an indoor/outdoor lifestyle with a commitment to sustainable design. What looks like one home at Fresco is actually two. Each townhome is built around a private courtyard and offers free-flowing floor plans. Three models, ranging from 1,400 to just over 2,300 square feet, illustrate how creative space planning can result in new living arrangements that don't sacrifice lifestyle, yet meet the economic realities of today's marketplace.

Classic Character; Smart, New Space Arrangements

Built by KB Homes in Irvine, Calif., the Silver Award-winning Plan 2 at Coronado appears to be the classic two-story detached home with just-right design details gracing the traditional Spanish-style elevation. Inside, it's a whole new living environment that feels open and expansive. Open kitchens greet family and guests, yet storage and organization abound. The outdoor California Room extends the living space to the outside while filling the interior with natural light. Open on three sides to the outdoors, this covered space functions as a second living area, an outdoor kitchen, a playroom for children – whatever each buyer wants or needs it to be.

Openness is the key design element in the Silver-Award winning Maplewood Model at Crownstone built by McCaffrey Homes in Clovis, Calif. Thoughtful design of this home delivers all the spaces a growing family requires in 2,500 square feet: four bedrooms including a large master suite, two and a half bathrooms, a great room, kitchen with eat-in nook, a formal dining room, and an expanded laundry room and supersized two-car garage to answer every homeowner's need for storage space.

The Silver Award-winning Payton Model at Braden Court, also built by McCaffrey Homes, offers a similar lifestyle in a much smaller package. In 1,883 square feet, innovative space planning results in a home with every essential living space that doesn't compromise lifestyle. A classic and timeless French elevation completes this lovely home.

More House in Less Space

Removing walls and opening one living space to another – kitchen, dining space, great room – creates a larger living home within a smaller footprint. Gone is wasted circulation space and seldom-used formal living rooms. Instead, a large-area open space furnishes perfectly for every day living, yet is flexible enough for entertaining friends and gathering family. Gold Award-winning Santa Rosa, built by Van Daele Development, delivers this lifestyle in an attached living arrangement that combines townhomes and stacked flats. Each home connects its owner to the outdoors with a private balcony or deck.

"With this new collection of homes designed for the post-recession buyer, innovation in space arrangement is matched with design efficiency," says Bassenian | Lagoni Architects president Jeff LaFetra. "This potent combination creates value for the buyer and results in abundant sales success for the builder."

SOURCE Bassenian | Lagoni Architects