Antisocial Architecture
After 20 years of Great Rooms and open floor plans, home builders are now walling people off.
“We call this the ultimate home for families who don’t want anything to do with one another,” says Mike McGee of Los Angeles.
Families–particularly “blended” families– now want escape rooms, and secluded alcoves on different sides of the house. The Wall Street Journal Online (PDF & subscription only) reports that the “Ultimate Family Home” at the International Builders Show in Las Vegas hardly had a family room. Smart-ass urbanist, James Kunstler, probably best sums up the evolution of the upscale suburban home: “Privacy is the ultimate luxury.”