Modern love

Kathy Ball-Toncic loved the open floor plan and ample windows that bathed the Cambridge condominium in sunlight. But she was concerned the building's unusual design would be a turn-off to her husband, an architect with particular tastes.

It turned out he loved the place on Bellis Circle, too. But after the couple moved in last September, they learned some of their new neighbors were not so taken with it.

''One person actually said to me, 'Well, at least you're nice!' " recalled Ball-Toncic.

With its flat roof, sharp angles, and metal protuberances, the Bellis Circle building strikes an aggressive, modernist profile that homeowners seem to either love or hate. Like it or not, such intensely styled houses are making a quiet comeback.

Unlike their early 20th century predecessors, which were often derided as impractical and sterile, even jarring, today's modern homes strive for warmer, softer touches, even going so far as to blend modernist elements with more traditional, familiar, or comforting architectural features.

''If you look at houses in 2006 versus 1906, there is more detailing, wider openings, [and] more integration between the interior and exterior," said Keith Moskow, a Boston architect and designer of modern houses.

In Cohasset, Moskow added contemporary touches to a traditional, 19th century shingled house, and the resulting Rice Island House was honored by the Boston Society of Architects and featured in Fine Homebuilding and Design Times magazines.

The Valentine Houses condominiums in Cambridgeport, designed by John Hong and partner Jinhee Park of Single Speed Design, are an airy, contemporary adaptation of what the architects call the New England ''winterized box" form, and were featured in Dwell magazine. The units have soaring glass atriums and cantilevered balconies with gardens.

No doubt, Colonial-style McMansions are still the order of the day around Boston. But modern, contemporary homes are appealing to those homeowners who want their houses to be more than just a showcase for conspicuous consumption, said David Fixler, a principal at Einhorn Yaffee Prescott Architecture & Engineering PC in Boston.

Contemporary spaces are ''open and democratic, pluralistic," he said. ''There's a lot of that in modernism, which came about in a time of technological progress."

Growing popular interest in contemporary design is making it easier for skeptics to give a second thought to modern homes, according to local architects, and could help spark a renaissance in the sleek, contemporary homes for the first time in almost 40 years.

''Would you rather live in a room with a wall of glass or with two windows in it?" asked Boston architect Charles Rose, who has designed a number of award-winning modern or contemporary structures in recent years.

Conceived as a movement that emphasized functionality in building structures, modern architecture shunned the ornamental flourishes that decorated Victorian, Colonial, and other conservatively styled homes.

Its most celebrated US apostle was Frank Lloyd Wright, whose ''Usonian" homes were simple structures for common people, often made of cinderblock. Locally, the home in Lincoln designed by fellow modernist Walter Gropius has also become a landmark of the movement.

The movement reached its apex in the mid-20th century, championing low-slung buildings, open floor plans, and the liberal use of steel, glass, and concrete in residential design.

However, the often stark outline and ascetic sensibility of such buildings made them appear cold and sterile to many critics. To counter that, Rose said the modern version of modern houses are less boxy, more sculptural.

A home Rose designed on Cape Cod seems to rise out of its surroundings with a multitier layout; jagged, pitched roofline; and dramatic floor-to-ceiling windowed spaces that jut out and pull in the surroundings.

Moreover, double-paned glass, better insulation and building materials, and state-of-the-art heating have solved the problems in earlier generations of thin-skinned, contemporary homes that were often cheaply made and plagued by maintenance issues, he said.

Many homeowners today want features that were prominent design elements of the early modern homes, said Kermit Baker, chief economist at American Institute of Architects in Washington D.C. An AIA quarterly survey of residential architects released last month showed people are looking for more open space and multipurpose spaces within the home, Baker said.

''People want flexibility in using their home, not the traditional style of small rooms with hard partitions and low ceilings," Baker said.

The modern version today melds contemporary layouts with traditional exteriors and flourishes, said Fixler. ''What you get is a modern house wrapped in traditional garb, and it doesn't always work well together," he said. ''People want open, flowing kitchen and living space -- there's nothing traditional about that."

Robert Augustine, the Charlestown architect who designed the Bellis Circle residences, is working on a number of new and rehab projects with a contemporary flair, including a total rehab of a circa 1950s Colonial on Grove Street in Cambridge that has transformed the house into a three-story home with a flat roof, natural red cedar siding, and a winged layout to maximize views of Fresh Pond and downtown Boston.

At Single Speed Design, Hong and Park said their designs blend modern architecture with abstract forms and aesthetics borrowed from Asian cultures, such as a reliance on natural light and integration of natural elements. Customers, Park added, are often looking for smaller spaces with more sunlight and fresh air, for example.

While modern-designed homes aren't cheap, they don't have to cost more than new traditionally styled custom homes, where complicated floor plans and ornate details add to the cost, Rose said; contemporary homes for his clients can range widely in cost, from $124 to $500 a square foot.

They nonetheless remain a tough sell. Keith Moskow said risk-averse developers and buyers worry about the resale value of contemporary homes.

''They want a home that the next schmo will buy. That's why you get all of these cheap, Colonial rip-offs," he said.

Still, Augustine expects modern architecture to continue its resurgence in a state where the home Gropius designed is now a museum to the movement.

''It's about putting a fresh eye to things. Looking at what materials are out there now and how we live, and not trying to go back and live like it was 150 years ago," Augustine said.

PHOTO GALLERY For a slideshow of modern homes, please go to boston.com/realestate