Five design features of a modern façade
- Home Designs
The short version
- Five features show up again and again on modern façades: flat roof lines, mixed materials, moody colours, cantilevered upper storeys and a minimalist finish.
- Flat roofs usually mean no eaves, so plan another way to shade your front glass. Good shading blocks up to 90 per cent of the sun's heat coming through a window.
- Mixed cladding looks great but wears differently. Fibre cement is low maintenance and can be rated up to BAL-FZ. Timber weatherboard needs regular repainting.
- Rawson's modern façade comes in two classes, Starter and Enhanced.
Imagine how wonderful it would be to fall in love with the sight of your beautiful new home every time you drive up your driveway?
We know that, in many areas of life, first impressions count, so getting the façade of your new house design just right will ensure your new home design has real impact, absolute street appeal and is ideal for you.
From contrasting materials to sleek lines, there are so many amazing contemporary façade ideas out there to choose from. Here are five design features of a modern façade to inspire your research.
1. Flat roof lines
Sleek lines are a must of any modern façade. The easiest way to get them is a flat roof line, particularly when it's paired with strong vertical lines. Smart, simple, and it gives any modern home instant kerb appeal.
Our range of beautiful modern house facades includes some of the most stylish flat roof lines you've ever seen.
A flat roof usually means no eaves, or very shallow ones, so there's nothing hanging over your windows to keep the sun off the glass. The Australian Government's YourHome guide to shading says effective shading can block up to 90 per cent of the heat from direct sun coming through glass. So if you go flat, shade the front windows another way, such as a hood over the glass or external blinds.
Read more: How to design a facade for your new home
2. Mixed materials
Mixed materials are featured in some of the most on-trend architectural façade designs of the moment. Using a combination of brick, weatherboard, render, timber, stone, concrete, metal, steel and glass can give your home a contemporary and more unique façade.
Traditional brick homes are being put aside in favour of a mix of cladding types and styles, which include unique designs and unusual shapes.
They don't all wear the same, though, so it pays to know what you're signing up for. According to YourHome's guide to cladding systems, fibre cement is durable, low maintenance and can be used right up to a BAL-FZ bushfire rating. Timber weatherboard gives you that warm, natural look, and YourHome notes it needs regular repainting to keep it. Check your block's bushfire rating before you settle on timber.
For example, consider a combination of black blocks paired with white bricks and grey exterior cladding. Or, try horizontal panels with white brick and pops of moody grey through vertical lines.
Windows provide some of this contrast, including the colours of drapes or other furnishings that show behind the glass.
Your aim in a mixed-materials façade design is for each material to contrast with the others, all creating a striking effect that is perfectly modern.
3. Moody colour palette
Grey, black, white, neutral, ash, smoky, monochrome…
A modern façade incorporates a mix of moody colours and tones into its exterior colour palette. We offer façade options in both light and dark options, giving homeowners plenty of variety and flexibility when choosing the exterior design that best suits their style and the surrounding streetscape.
Different textures can help create a moody façade. And, if you want a pop of colour to contrast, brighten and lift all this moodiness, consider a brightly coloured front door.
4. Cantilevered second storeys
Planning a two-storey home gives you more room to play with inside your home. And it gives you a different scope when designing your façade.
Our range of two-storey modern house facades include options for a cantilevered section on the second level. This option makes it more likely you can enjoy the home you truly, badly, desperately dream about.
A cantilevered extension means that you can have an additional room that protrudes from the main house footprint. This extra room can be on the front of the house, as seen in the Huntley home design with Modern façade, or to the side or rear of the property.
Read more: 5 things every dream home has in common
5. Minimalism
The minimalist look is here to stay and nowhere is it done better than in modern home facades. Minimalism is all about simplicity. It uses only the essentials to create an uncluttered look. Decorations can exist but sparingly and only in a mindful way.
Having a minimalist exterior façade is ideal for people who like and want to embrace minimalism as a lifestyle, as well as those who like uncluttered spaces and clean lines inside their home. Keep to one or two materials and a restrained colour palette, and let the clean lines do the work.
Read more about how to choose a façade for your home or contact us today!
