Whenever I head out to most suburbs in the evening I have a heck of a time finding the correct house. Part of it is the mess of winding curving streets and that everything is named Park Place, Park Drive, Park Circle, Park Lane, etc. However the real kicker is that it’s dark out so it’s harder to see the house number.
Many suburban homes address the street with the garage and that is where the house number is. (If that is a pun it wasn’t intentional.) The problem is that at each side of the garage there will be a wall sconce, the house number is in the middle.
Many people turn on their exterior lights when expecting company. This helps find guests find the correct house. However, many people who are not expecting guests also leave their exterior lights on for some or all of the night. When the lights on the garage are on, a shadow is cast towards the middle and obscures the house number. In addition the bright points of light from the fixtures make it even harder to see what is in that shadow.
What I normally end up of doing is looking for a house with lots of cars out front, or try to look in windows to see if I recognize anyone.
The little design thing here is to place the house number adjacent to a light so that the number is illuminated and not obscured by that light. It’s those little things that can really make it worth it hiring an architect. Sure we know building codes and fancy words like “escutcheon” but we also have experience in know what little tricks really make a home shine.
