Careful Thought to All Exterior Details

At AV Architects + Builders, we stay ahead of design trends and opportunities so that we can offer our clients the highest quality features and materials for their Vacation Style Living™ home. When we find an opportunity to innovate in our homes, we research, investigate and carefully consider the option, and if we determine that the development will work, we include it in our design. Our exteriors need to demonstrate our minimalist, modern aesthetic, and we have made it a point to look in some innovative places to offer our clients materials that fit the look, but also reflect our commitment to being environmentally conscientious and offer low-maintenance Vacation Style Living.

Finding Inspiration

If something is working, the conservative approach is to keep doing the same thing. While we don’t disagree, we also don’t limit ourselves to this wisdom. We look around the world to see what innovations prove effective. And, closer to home, we look to commercial construction to see if any materials and installations used in that space can be adapted for residential use. The result is that we have the latest and best technologies to offer our clients.

Working With the Right Partners

Often, we partner with experts in particular construction aspects to make sure the installation matches the superior quality of the material. One of our favorite partners is Exterior Medics, Northern Virginia experts in roofing, siding, and other exterior aspects of construction. Owner, Mark Watson, took on some of our specialized projects. “I like how AV Architects + Builders think outside the box when it comes to materials. It’s nice working with people with imagination,” he says. For us, it’s nice working with people who will go the extra mile to get specific training on installation techniques for some of the more unique products.

Some of Our Favorite Exterior Details

To achieve our modern, custom homes, we rely on materials that adapt to the aesthetic and minimalist lines that our customers love. Here are some of the products we use:

• Nichiha: Instead of cheap siding or materials like wood that require frequent cleaning and maintenance, we like to use Nichiha Architectural Panels. Offering a tremendous variety of colors, textures, looks and feel, Nichiha panels are a high-quality solution that outlasts many other options. With wood, steel, stone and slate options, according to Mark, “Not only do the panels have a unique look, they are installed with a superior water drainage system that helps them last longer.”
• TPO Roofing: For low slope roofing that has a flat look, shingles don’t work, so we have turned to the thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO) single-ply membrane, used in commercial construction. The wide sheets and long rolls of membrane are heat welded at the seams to offer a single, continuous installation. We select light colors that reflect the light, which is environmentally friendly and better at maintaining the internal temperature of the home.
• Box gutters: Why go to the trouble of creating smooth, minimal lines only to interrupt them with rounded, angled K-style gutters? Instead, we use box gutters to keep an aesthetic consistency.
• Rain chain: instead of an obtrusive down spout at the entry or covered deck, we use rain chains, which are chains that carry rain from the roof to a water containment system for reuse in the garden.
  

The Architect House, Great Falls, Virginia, AV Architects + Builders, Photography by Maxwell Mackenzie

Of course, there are other options and details that we include in our designs to make each home unique and special. From metal roofs for a modern farmhouse style to engineered stone ledge veneers and custom oversize windows, every aspect of our exteriors fits within the overall plan to deliver each client the home of their dreams.