Residential Architecture: How Lifestyle Drives Design

Fred Wilson, AIA

Fred Wilson, AIA
Founding Partner at Award Winning Chicago Architects, Morgante Wilson

Jul 30, 2013 - 5 min read

Residential Architecture: How Lifestyle Drives Design

At Morgante-Wilson Architects, we know there are innumerable nuances to how we all live. My family most certainly has different likes, dislikes, habits, and routines than your family, or your neighbor’s family. Depending on the care you take designing it, your house can either nurture your unique lifestyle or inadvertently complicate it.

That, of course, is just one reason the services of a residential architect can be invaluable. A particularly client-focused architectural firm such as Morgante-Wilson Architects is going to spend a great deal of time learning about – and thinking about – how you like to live, so that we can design a house that enhances, rather than hinders, your particular lifestyle.

For instance: how do you want to come in and out of your house – through
a convenient attached garage, or through a dramatic front entry? What
will you be doing as you come and go? Balancing groceries and dry
cleaning? Grabbing backpacks and library books to return? Wiping muddy
paws? If, for instance, your most often-used entry will be the one you
traverse as you return home from walking the dog, you may want to
consider planning space for a small dog shower right inside that entry.
If you don’t have a dog, you’ll have no interest in such a shower –
unless, perhaps, you have small children who love to play on the sandy
beach that may or may not be just outside that door of yours.

What about entertaining? At Morgante-Wilson Architects, we’ll want to know if you have extended family living nearby, and whether you’d like to be able to host them for regular Sunday night dinners. If your family lives out of town, room for guest accommodations may be more important to you than room for an enormous dining table. And speaking of tables, Morgante-Wilson Architects will also investigate whether you prefer to set a table formally with china and crystal, or if you favor a “grab a plate from the buffet” style of entertaining. Your answers will make a difference not only to the size of your dining room, but also, the storage we plan into it.

Do you have kids? Do they play sports? Where would you ideally like to store their hockey bags and soccer cleats? Are you willing to travel down the basement stairs to retrieve them every time you head to practice or a game? Or does a sports closet built right into your garage sound like an appealing amenity?

At Morgante-Wilson Architects, we believe our most critical job is gaining an understanding of you, your family, and your lifestyle. Only then can we design a house that’s not only beautiful, but just as important, satisfies your needs. We pride ourselves on uncovering the specific lifestyle issues that will make a difference to you. And though we engage in our investigations casually, through easy conversation, there’s nothing random about the process we undertake.

Indeed, we follow a carefully proscribed procedure that takes us through your future home room by room to ask the many questions that will make you love that house more than you ever thought possible. Not only because it will be a beautiful reflection of your family’s lifestyle – but because it will accommodate that lifestyle with an ease you may never have thought possible. Call us to find out more!

Fred Wilson, AIA

Fred Wilson, AIA

Founding Partner at Award Winning Chicago Architects, Morgante Wilson