Over the last year or so I've noticed that many new subdivisions in the Halifax area have abruptly rejected the faux-historic and quasi-traditional building styles in favour of unabashedly modern designs. There's a fairly specific new aesthetic that has become dominant here - easier to show than to tell I guess. It's emerged so abruptly that a few subdivisions that had been partially built out over the last couple years are now half old-style, half new-style, which looks a bit odd IMO but is also an interesting, tangible reflection of how quickly tastes (or perceived tastes) can change. I'm wondering if other cities have seen a recent dramatic change in the architecture of their new neighbourhoods or if this is a local thing. Or, if these changes already happened in other cities years ago. I had the chance to drive around a bit today and grabbed some photos from three subdivisions currently under construction. These are all greenfield subdivisions in inner-ring suburbs.
The "old" aesthetic - popular/ubiquitous from the mid '80s (rough estimate) to approximately 2017:
Long Lake Village by
Hali87, on Flickr
(these townhouses were completed within the last year or 2)
Governor's Brook by
Hali87, on Flickr
(these houses are about a year old - took this photo with SignalHillHiker in mind haha)
Knightsridge/Rockingham South by
Hali87, on Flickr
(age unknown, but typical of suburban apartment buildings from the late 20th century until roughly the last 2 years)
The "new":
Long Lake Village - new by
Hali87, on Flickr
Long Lake Village - new by
Hali87, on Flickr
Governor's Brook - new by
Hali87, on Flickr
Governor's Brook - new by
Hali87, on Flickr
Rockingham South - new by
Hali87, on Flickr
Rockingham South - new by
Hali87, on Flickr
An example of a development that changed architectural styles mid-street:
Governor's Brook - new + old by
Hali87, on Flickr
Not in a new subdivision, but a couple infill semis in an otherwise fairly typical midcentury subdivision:
Spryfield infill by
Hali87, on Flickr
Any similar shifts in other cities? There are a few Halifax-area neighbourhoods (notably Clayton Park, Convoy Place, and to some degree Cowie Hill) that experimented with modernist housing designs for a few years in the 70s but that approach didn't seem to last long and, from what I can tell, fell out of fashion by the 80s.