Architecture: Contextual Modern Design in Santa Fe
May 1—Part 1
A lush new coffee table book on Santa Fe style has landed at our local book and home stores. The book, Santa Fe Sense of Place, by Jane Smith, features 18 distinctive homes. Jane's book reminds us of why we will never tire of the classic Santa Fe style. The earthiness, the use of wood, the connection to our senses through fireplaces and portals, all come to life through the photographs in this book.
Yet, in the past ten years, there has been a shift to very modern design in Santa Fe, which can be seen all over town, from the Railyard up into all the neighborhoods surrounding downtown.
If you have looked at some of the contemporary homes lately in Santa Fe, you might say, "That home looks so Scottsdale." And while some people might like that look, others desire a home that is a bit more "Santa Fe."
So, how to mix the best of the classic Santa Fe style with the best of modern design? You keep the best of both.
The concept of "Contextual Modern Design" was the approach that Tierra Concepts developed as a way to answer two important questions surfacing around the evolution of architecture here. How do we bridge classic Santa Fe design with contemporary trends in architecture? And how do we embrace the future, while keeping the best of the past?
Contextualism in architecture is defined by Wikipedia as "a philosophical approach in architectural theory that refers to the designing of a structure in response to the literal and abstract characteristics of the environment in which it is built." When Tierra Concepts started using the term Contextual Modern about 15 years ago, we saw it as a way to describe how we were designing more modern homes but rooting them firmly in the rich vernacular of historical Santa Fe design.
In our Contextual Modern homes you will often see floor plans that are associated with modern design, with clean lines and distinctive geometry. But you will also see the use of traditional hand-hewn beams or hand-planed doors. Or you may see traditional hard-troweled plaster walls but with sharp exterior corners rather than the big rounded corners so often associated with traditional adobe homes. You may also see over-grouted, primitively textured stone walls, but the walls might be large, monolithic and more abstract in form, often bisecting a part of the home and revealing itself both inside and out.
Homes with a mix of traditional and modern attributes offer the rich and authentic hand-made textures that are so admired in Santa Fe style, but in more modern forms. When you walk into one of these homes you will feel the inspiration of modern design but you will also know immediately that you are not in Scottsdale.
Home Building: Mixing the "best" of two styles
