I wouldn't worry so much about the left side, you can't see the right when you are looking at it. The perspective of the elevations is a bit misleading as well. If you are standing by the house you will see much more of the eaves and overhang of the second floor which apears to have the wood cladding as well. My first reaction was to want to see what it looks like with a deeper roof overhang. First to increase the presence of the wood but also for thermal shading of the windows. Maybe it doesn't work, but one of the best things our architect did was show us multiple options for things to let us get ideas and see options. Also, I don't see the same wood eaves on the upper gables....maybe that is a way to bring a little more in?

Btw, I love the wall of horizontal windows on the left side. And is that a second story balcony at the back? What about cladding that wall?

If you have neighbors so close to you, do you really want so many windows on the sides?

Context is everything. Impossible to comment on these perspectives without seeing the house in its proper context. Which is the front elevation? And how does one find their way to the front door?

I'm guessing the "left" is the front, facing the street? Do you have neighbours on both sides? I have an infill, with a neighbour 8' on one side and a side street on the other. I only have 1 window facing the neighbour, and it was a waste of money. NO light comes in that window. And it's a clerestory, for light only, because the view is of the neighbour's stucco.

Also, I wouldn't have put an expensive siding on the side facing the neighbour. And longboard is $$$$$. I went with real mahogany because it was significantly cheaper.

And I know it's not what you asked, but assuming the short side is the front, I really don't like the hipped roof. I think a gabled end would suit the scale and style of the house better. With windows that follow the shape of the roof line. This would also give you more head room on the 3rd floor.

I agree with Virgil that out of context is about impossible to tell but to me it looks kind odd that it is that tall and so narrow. Very odd in my opinion. And if you have neighbors 8 - 12' away definitely too many windows, that looks more like a waterfront type of window layout not a tight neighborhood.

Running to take my kids to school but I'll quickly clarify.
Lot size is 33x120, long and narrow. We are building to code.
Front
of the house is the narrow side. Sorry I don't have a better rendering.
The front door is hard to see, but it is on the right of the front
facade.
Windows seem silly but are a must. We are working with an
interior designer regarding window treatments. They won't be covered all
day, but will give us the privacy we need at night.
Driveway is to the right with a side door towards the back of the house for packages, etc.

Not an expert here, just an amateur, but to me the roof does not look modern, it looks like an old style roof on a more modern body and does not fit. I usually like the appearance of modern architecture but am not feeling it on this one.

I wish we could have done a flat roof, but our climate won't allow it. We are in NY.

Yes but there's no reason to do a hipped roof. Even a gable roof would look better.

This is why you don't want so many windows on the left side of the house, looking at it from the front. This is 8 feet from house to house. Don't worry about window treatment until the neighbours windows line up with yours because the view will be a wall, and no light will be coming in. Save your money and get rid of at least half the windows on this side.

Not only is it a waste of money, it's a waste of space. The more windows you have, the less wall space for bookshelves or other furniture. And space is a premium in inner city houses.

I realize your tall wall of windows is the stairwell, which is cool, but has anyone looked at the details of how this is going to be built? My architect designed something similar. And then we got quotes of $125 THOUSAND for our stairs because there was no wall to support them in. You've got a wall on the inside, which I guess can be structural. But then why put all those windows in the stairwell where you'll never see them?

And going back to space, your main floor layout needs work. You have more space devoted to hallway than to living space.

Oh, and if you look at modern exteriors on houzz, you'll see lots of options other than flat roofs.

I too think a gable would look a lot better, simpler and more modern.

I associate gable roof with modern NE coast style and low hip roof with modern NW coast style.

Leaving home this morning, I noticed there are actually a lot of hipped roofs on modern homes. But they are a lower pitch than what you've planned here. More prairie style, similar to robo's second pic.

And going back to the original question, since the spot where the longboard is will be your driveway, it won't be completely invisible. But it kind of strikes me as the cheap tract builds where they put fancy stone on the front, and cheap siding on the sides and back. Longboard is NOT cheap. So I think you're going to spend a lot of money to look like you're cutting corners. I'd add more around the front door to highlight that. And maybe skip the side altogether.

thank you for all your thoughts! I'm going to discuss with my husband. We didn't want to go too modern due to feel of the rest of the neighborhood (most built in the 1920s).

@amberm145 feel free to contact me anytime should you need to talk. You are not bossy, just voicing your opinion -- which I asked for lol

My house is almost done. We're living in it. So at this point, it's more a case of being able to give advice based on experience.

Are houses from the 1920s staying? Our original neighbours are from the 50s, and most are being knocked down. But they are small houses from the 50s. If you've got old buildings still big enough for families by todays' standards, then they're likely to stick around.

KnollHaugen · More Info

I love the bottom of your house design. And even if you leave it I'm sure it'll be great.

have fun!

Oh, and the thoughts I had earlier before I was rudely interrupted by those who pay me ;) is that by keeping the high sloped hipped roof and then adding the gable at the back, you're adding unnecessary expense. Gables aren't free. So if you made the back of the house gabled you'd simplify the roof significantly, making it more modern and save money. As opposed to the hipped roof with a gable almost the full width of the back of the house. Mirroring that at the front of the house will create a more pleasing facade, AND give you some useable space at the front.

If you wanted to keep the hip style, but raised up the walls and reduced the pitch of the roof, you'd gain space inside and possibly be able to get rid of ALL the gables, which would save even more money.

Agree with Virgil about context being everything, so without that, there's lots of guessing. We also have a house on a narrow lot (vintage 1919) and houses nearby, though not as close as in one of the photos above.

We did take into account which windows line up with which of our neighbors. On one side, we used obscured glass in the bathroom window and the other window has a cellular shade that is always down. It still brings in a wonderful soft light. the other side of our house is downhill and we leave the dining room window shades halfway down to obscure the roof of the one-story house, but open up the view to the sky. My point is that you just want to make sure you've thought all that through so you are not surprised or disappointed. Our house is very light for this climate, but it might look odd on a floor plan to see where the windows are placed.

I would like to see some sketches of your house with a gabled roof, though.

Just chiming in as another modern house lover (and owner of). We didn't have your space constraints - we have no neighbors yet. But we have big overhangs with lovely wooden soffits that I love to view from the inside of our home.

Our desires for a modern design were constrained by the climate and the more-traditional viewpoints of our local design review board, and cost of course - it's always something.

We have great views from our bathroom windows, but they start at about shoulder height, so don't reveal anything that we don't want to. And all windows have some light-reducing substance on them (I knew what it was called at the time).

Enjoy your house - we love ours. We are in a wooded location, facing north, so have very little direct light. But with all of our windows, it too is a very light-filled house for its climate

I just realized that in my last comment, I used the word gable in several instances where I meant dormer. I hope it wasn't too confusing.

The house may appear "modern" but to me it has a dull old-world medieval quality and the seemingly random placement of special windows and other features doesn't result in much architectural personality. Its difficult to imagine whether or not putting it on a narrow lot between two tall houses would help without seeing the other houses.

It would help to put a person in the 3D rendering since the scale of the building is difficult to judge.