Monday, February 20, 2012

Centex development in Kent, WA


An old drive in complex and farm land border this area.
House fronts are standardized from a half dozen plans. Any decorative flourishes and faux finishes are spent on the front of the house. This is the image that sells and which the homeowner sees when entering their home.  Sides and backs of the home are reduced to a simple box form.
Yards are fenced off.
  Houses are simple boxes, maximizing square footage, bed and bath numbers space to lot size.
These new play structures have been showing up all over the county. Such a jarring contrast to the rest of the development.
 Concrete sound barrier.
 Front lawn redefined.
 Every house is painted one of four colors, all in the same value.
Ducks swimming in a water retention pond. These are standard code for housing developments and help take in all the water which a giant swath of concrete and roofs displaces. Developers have taken to using them as water features, even though they are fenced off and empty most of the year.