Can we achieve flexibility with house plans? We sure can. One way to do that is with a restyle.
A restyle is exactly what you'd expect. You take the existing design and give it a new style by modifying the design's components. Columns, windows, doors, trim, and even the roof are fair game.
But but but: a little caution goes a long way here. Architecture has a grammar all its own, and not every design translates well into every other. In fact, some translations are virtually impossible. Complicated roofs and massing won't make a neoclassical home, no matter how hard you try.
To make a restyle work, we need the homebuilding equivalent of a fashion stylist: an experienced architect who has strong opinions about what works and what doesn't. Because (let's face it) the friend who tells us we look good in everything isn't doing us any favors.
Good architects understand a design's "body type" and can modify stock plans in a way that's true to type. At the early stages, they can advise us on what kind of modifications are thinkable for a given set of plans.
The ideal situation in all of this is when the designer builds variants into their construction drawings so the client or the builder begins with options. We have such plans coming soon from Artifex. The drawings you see here (by the talented @thompsonplacemaking) will give you a sneak peek.
Restyling is one way that house plans can be flexible. Tomorrow, I'll talk about another: Use. Stay tuned.
/ Jennifer Krouse