This follows a design I’ve seen a few times, all on the east side: the very monolithic ground floor with few or no windows. Some of no ground level access except through a garage. Some like this have their access inside the fence line.
I know why they think they need to build like this but I really wonder what it does for the neighborhood in the long term. The benign way to look at it is this is no different than what you see in many places like Mexico or traditional Japan with the fortress exterior around an interior courtyard or private space. The less kind way is that it undermines the social street concept and encourages people to hide indoors away from their community.
I completely agree with your post, and have had my own theory on this odd architectural trend that seems to occur soley on the East side, for some time now. Your term “fortress,” along with “East side” says it all really, I’m surprised they don’t surround them with adobe walls adorned with multi-colored shards of glass (like in Mexico).
Is it the east side REALLY that bad that it requires a fortress approach to home design? I can’t imagine that’s true.
However, I actually like the look of this place IMHO although I do agree it looks fortress-like.
Sorry, I wasn’t trying to say that the East side is “bad,” I really have no idea other than what I read on the city-data forum, and I usually don’t pay a whole heckuva lot of credence to many of the posters on that forum – a LOT of anger/bickering/disinformation on that site, as I don’t live in Austin yet. I just think a lot of the architecture above seems to play up the fear that some folks seem to have of the “scary East side,” and it’s a trend I’ve noticed on my weekly house-hunts in Austin: a proliferation of “Dwell” style mod houses done up in a weird fenced-in “fortress-y” style. Something I’ve yet to see in any other neighborhood in Austin. A curiously weird trend that certainly seems to give off the vibe (to me, anyway) that it is indeed a bad area of sorts. It certainly doesn’t look very scary to me during daylight hours though, just kinda rundown, so, I dunno. Anyone here live on the East side?
I agree completely with your assessment of this architecture style and am happy to hear you talk about the elephant in the room. How is someone ever going to be anything but an interloper in the neighborhood if they close themselves off and show how scared they are in something as basic as their house design? Talk about bad first impressions!
I live on the East side, but south of the River, and our neighborhood is a very diverse, integrated and friendly place full of 60’s and 70’s ranches and split levels. Sure we’ve got some crime, but we work together to show the criminals they aren’t welcome in our hood – by calling the police, not by vigilante justice;). I think that it is deplorable for people to move into what was until recently the barrio and then basically show themselves as scared white people. (If you know the history of Austin, you know that in the early 20th century, people of color were forced by the city to all move to the East side. Now they, rightly, have some reservations about the gentrifiers.) I do not think the (Central) East side is dangerous enough to demand a fortress and the crime statistics bear this out.
I think it is wonderful and inevitable that the East side is evolving and becoming a more diverse mix of races, socioeconomic backgrounds, and singles and families. I just think that architecture that puts this sort of foot forward (which is no foot at all really) does not endear newcomers to the families that have made their homes in the East Side for generations.
/rant
I don’t think it’s racist to think that there are unsafe areas in the east side. I’m not sure if that’s what you’re implying.
I like this style, and unless I was living out in a rural area (and even then maybe) would prefer a house like this. Maybe some people just don’t like people (of any color). Then again, who knows what the intentions are of the people designing these houses.
At a minimum, it’s a schizoid architectural message. The house doesn’t have a street-facing entrance, or even any view to an entrance (thanks to the fencing); but it boldly places a balcony and two glass doors on the second level facing the street. While I’m sure that one can find many other instances of houses with similar characteristics in Austin or elsewhere, this is just carried off very awkwardly. It gives me the impression that, while I’m not willing to be neighborly, I am willing to stand out on my balcony and look down at you. I’d feel that way no matter where this house was sited.
I actually took a look at this place recently. Regardless of the architectural direction, this place is poorly constructed. There were obvious short cuts taken and sloppy workmanship across the board. You get a sense that they selected vanities and light fixtures solely based on what was on sale at home depot.