What is luxury home architecture? Luxury is something that is hard to put into words, but you probably know it when you see it. Maybe for you, luxury means grandiose arched roofs and triumphal columns. Or maybe something simpler and more rustic comes to mind. Whatever you think of when you think of luxury, we know it is something very nice.
The different faces of luxury home architecture
Just as luxury can mean different things to different people, it has meant different things at different periods in time. The idea of luxury architecture design has changed over the years, and it will continue to change. Some of what’s considered luxury today could become passe. This week the Clements Clarke architect Brisbane team delve into the history of luxury home architecture, what are its defining characteristics today, and where luxury design trends are headed in the future.
A brief history of luxury design
We begin our look at Australian luxury home architecture with the middle of the 19th century. At that time and for much of the time before that, Australian architects were getting many of their ideas about luxury architecture design from overseas. That’s why the defining luxury architectural style of the mid-19th century was Victorian design. But the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century was the time of the formation of the Federation of Australia. It was a time of great Australian pride, so there was a desire to scatter the landscape with a home design that was much more Australian. This brought about the Federation Homes that you still see today. During the world wars, designs became lean to reflect the scarcity of a lot of building material. After the second world war, the open spaces and clean lines of modernism came to be the dominant style of luxury architecture. And much of that design style remained prevalent up through the end of the 20th century. So where are we today?
Luxury design of today
Due to advances in structural technologies, today you can do just about anything with luxury architecture design. An example of this would be the ability to make larger pieces of glass. That means bigger windows, creating more of a connection with a room and the outside. Bold angles that are not 90 degrees adorn interior and exterior walls. Organic swooping curves are also used as a way to make a strong architectural statement. You see a lot of wood used in luxury design, but concrete is not uncommon as well. You also see a lot of wall-like buttresses perpendicular to many outdoor walls. These buttresses are structural and decorative – little splashes like these signify the luxury design of today. What really defines modern luxury design is the individuality of each design – each being a reflection of the personality of the person who commissioned the design.
What does the future hold for luxury home design?
Nobody can know for certain what the future of luxury design will be. But we can make some pretty good guesses. Luxury Homes will most likely go hand in hand with new technologies and will evolve past the current idea of ‘Smart Homes’. Homes will become more aware of their environments and the people that live in them and be able to adapt accordingly. Homes will be aware of the desires and routines of the inhabitants, automatically adjust alarm clocks for an early meeting you put into your calendar, dim the lights or open the curtains depending on the time of day, detect stress or even your mood and play your favourite song. The technology that will go into luxury homes in the not-so-distant future will revolutionise the way we live.
What do you want from your individual luxury design?
If you’re considering a new home or commercial space, and you want to go luxury, we can help. Clements Clarke is a commercial and residential architect Brisbane homeowners trust. We focus on unique and individualised luxury designs to satisfy the most discerning of clients. If you’d like to find out more about incorporating luxury elements into your home, give us a call on 07 3852 3944 or get in touch via the online form.
