83 Middle St | CHOM Affordable Housing | Portland

[mainejeff]

And the people who can help you make something look less hideous on a budget...cost money. Design can be 7-11% of your budget

Come on......colors.....cheap materials.....there are choices.

 

[mainejeff]

They don't care what they look like because they are built to house poor people......let's call a spade a spade.

 

[ctsketch]

They don't care what they look like because they are built to house poor people......let's call a spade a spade.

Yes there are choices, but who aren't you paying to make those choices? Correction, they don't have the budget to care about what cheaper housing looks like. To make the project viable and get financing you need to cut corners somewhere

 

[ctsketch]

They don't care what they look like because they are built to house poor people......let's call a spade a spade.

You vam easily double, triple, the cost of your siding with these choices. There are premium colors for even the same material. I wanted my vinyl siding to be tuxedo black and for the same material and shape I added 20% to its cost. Maybe for the material the blue was cheaper?

 

[mainejeff]

*Sigh*

 

[jklo]

It's not an accident that affordable housing often has cheaper materials and a less inspired design. It's part of the VE

This doesn't look that out of place compared to 800k+ stuff being built in Boston.

 

[ctsketch]

*Sigh*

Look, it's reality. Unless you're doing this in all cash and don't care about recouping your investment this is how you make a project viable, you don't get million dollar finishes and design services on a thousand dollar budget

 

[TC_zoid]

Expensive to have matching colors? I suggest that future architects of low-cost housing in Portland fancy feet over to MECA and ask a second year art student what colors to use. They learn this in the first year.

 

[Dr. StrangeHat]

If they used cheaper materials, which is likely given their budgetary constraints, then that blue will fade over time and won't be as bad as it looks today.

 

[ctsketch]

Expensive to have matching colors? I suggest that future architects of low-cost housing in Portland fancy feet over to MECA and ask a second year art student what colors to use. They learn this in the first year.

Maybe "matching" wasn't the intent. And sometimes you can't eve. Get the same color in different materials. The black tuxedo siding I chose didn't even have super corners in that same shade, and I wasn't going to do white corners, that's for sure. So we had to get a printable vinyl and try and color match it. At first it being off initially didn't look great but now that's its been baking in the sun a few months it looks great

My point is, making things match can also add effort and cost. And sometimes it's easier to contrast or compliment if you

A.) Can't get the color you want because of supply chain
B.) It would be costly to get it
C.) It doesn't exist in that material

 

[TC_zoid]

Maybe "matching" wasn't the intent. And sometimes you can't eve. Get the same color in different materials. The black tuxedo siding I chose didn't even have super corners in that same shade, and I wasn't going to do white corners, that's for sure. So we had to get a printable vinyl and try and color match it. At first it being off initially didn't look great but now that's its been baking in the sun a few months it looks great

My point is, making things match can also add effort and cost. And sometimes it's easier to contrast or compliment if you

A.) Can't get the color you want because of supply chain
B.) It would be costly to get it
C.) It doesn't exist in that material

Correction, complimenting colors. That's what I meant. Blues and browns are not complimentary unless used on groomsmen tuxedos at a tacky wedding. That fits just fine (especially light blue with any shade of brown).

 

[ctsketch]

Correction, complimenting colors. That's what I meant. Blues and browns are not complimentary unless used on groomsmen tuxedos at a tacky wedding. That fits just fine (especially light blue with any shade of brown).

 

[TC_zoid]

Exactly. Not complimentary.

 

[ctsketch]

Exactly. Not complimentary.

Nope. Those all work quite well, especially the top 2

 

[TC_zoid]

Nope. Those all work quite well, especially the top 2

Beautifully.

 

[DanielPWM19]

Beautifully.

View attachment 38377

I'm sure Matt would appreciate the plug with this snazzy pic

 

[TC_zoid]

An example of GREAT architecture in Maine with contrasting and complimenting materials (some blue would ruin it).

 

[PlantArch]

Maybe "matching" wasn't the intent. And sometimes you can't eve. Get the same color in different materials. The black tuxedo siding I chose didn't even have super corners in that same shade, and I wasn't going to do white corners, that's for sure. So we had to get a printable vinyl and try and color match it. At first it being off initially didn't look great but now that's its been baking in the sun a few months it looks great

My point is, making things match can also add effort and cost. And sometimes it's easier to contrast or compliment if you

A.) Can't get the color you want because of supply chain
B.) It would be costly to get it
C.) It doesn't exist in that material

Aaaahhhh ..... first world problems .... I've spent 45 years in the design industry. So many of the remarks on this thread about good design costing more ring hollow.

 

[ctsketch]

Aaaahhhh ..... first world problems .... I've spent 45 years in the design industry. So many of the remarks on this thread about good design costing more ring hollow.

I'm in the industry of building things and project managing them, better materials costing more is not an illusion, certain colors being an upcharge is not an inllusion, and someone who actually knows how to design well charging more is also not an illusion

 

[nomc]

Not sure if this was mentioned elsewhere in the thread, but driving by today it looks like they've named the building Phoenix Flats.