I know what you are going to say, and I fully agree. The Tuscan style has been used in China a lot, maybe too much.  It doesn’t stand out and feel special in the market any more.  This is partly true, but I see it in a slightly different way.  Good design makes a difference and can be adapted to the market today.

The Tuscan theme is liked around the world and has been for many hundreds of years.  It touches our soul and has a romance that has become the setting for books and movies. Beautiful design inspired by lessons of history has meaning to us in a way that arbitrary forms cannot. So, before we move on and cast aside this style, let’s see if we can evolve it for today’s market.

At one time the high-end market loved Tuscan and it can be found in building types such as housing projects, clubhouses, and gold clubs.  But today, the market wants more refinement and a more formal level of design. A luxury villa can no longer be a farmhouse but needs to be a mansion.

I believe it is possible to have both the romance of this well-loved style and also the formal elegance the market seeks. As Mies van der Rohe said “God is in the Details!”

The rustic stone architecture needs to be upgraded through the use of finer material and careful design of the details.  Warm colored rough stone walls can be combined with a smooth cut limestone to raise the overall quality.  When the rough and smooth stone is a contrasting color it really brings out the shape of the forms and allows the rough stone walls to be surrounded by the elegant smooth stone like a picture in a frame.

All the details are carefully designed and focused on where they have the most impact.  The eave line can be carved into scrolled corbels and the window trim layered in detail recalling a classical language that has stood the test of time.  The corners become especially important and are most successful when detailed with a light colored smooth stone to express strength and refinement.

At WA360 we have experimented with this style over the years and the examples you see here show what is possible when we balance the rustic romance of Tuscan architecture and the fine details the market wants in the luxury market.

-John-