Supercession of home designs

joeygbh · Apr 19, 2008 12:27 pm

Eager

What they've done is increased the size of the family room at the expense of the alfresco, which is now so small that they call it a verandah! No doubt this will compel customers to either go for a costly alfresco extension, or look at other (more expensive) designs.

I think they did this to avoid paying royalties to PD.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/ ... 17357.html

Eager · Apr 19, 2008 10:01 pm

Interesting article Joey, good research! I was aware of some sort of legal proceedings between M and PD but hadn't read that article before.

Personally I think it's a load of codswallop though. Compare it to this: Can anyone tell me who was the first builder to come up with the idea of having the front of the house comprise of a centrally located entry with a garage on one side and the master bedroom on the other?????? Everyone does it!

joeygbh · Apr 19, 2008 10:32 pm

Eager

Interesting article Joey, good research! I was aware of some sort of legal proceedings between M and PD but hadn't read that article before.

Personally I think it's a load of codswallop though. Compare it to this: Can anyone tell me who was the first builder to come up with the idea of having the front of the house comprise of a centrally located entry with a garage on one side and the master bedroom on the other?????? Everyone does it!

If PD was a person you could call me a stalker.. hehe Too bad I didn't study building and construction or else I would have applied for a job...

I'm personally with you on the issue... I don't think that the Alfresco quadrant is differentiated enough to claim ownership over it. Some of PDs new designs don't have it now. Personally I would use that extra space to make an enclosed room - foldable doors if you really wanted an outdoor space.

Paula · Apr 20, 2008 10:01 am

Quote:

Some of PDs new designs don't have it now. Personally I would use that extra space to make an enclosed room - foldable doors if you really wanted an outdoor space.

Does this mean that alfresco's are on the way out??

I wonder what the next trend will be.

HomeReview · Apr 20, 2008 3:53 pm

Looks like Metricon have removed all of the copied "alfresco quadrant' designs from their website. Quite funny, since they only recently opened some new display homes based on the old "alfresco quadrant" style designs.

http://www.middletons.com.au/news/news.asp?id=107

http://www.middletons.com/news/news.asp?id=87

http://www.realestatesource.com.au/Nati ... Davis.html

http://www.dilanchian.com.au/dispute-re ... tural.html

The final link is the most interesting. It discussed in detail the need for builders to show how plans were developed from early sketches to a final design.

HomeReview · Apr 20, 2008 4:26 pm

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/ ... /1509.html

The judgement in full can be read here.

http://www.lawfont.com/2008/04/07/givin ... -concepts/

Some more commentary.

joeygbh · Apr 20, 2008 9:46 pm

Paula

Does this mean that alfresco's are on the way out??

I wonder what the next trend will be.

For doubles it will be the enclosed terraces I reckon... with shuttered windows to turn it into an indoors room (seen in a lot of M designs). I know what my first extension to the house will be when I have some money...