Columbia - Yale Drive

Hi All,

I thought I would bring X-Man's architecture discussion over the messageboard.

Here's my input:

My wife and I just moved into Prospect a few months ago, so I cannot claim to know the full history or community feeling about the architectual direction of Prospect. Additionally, I'm a first time home-owner, so you can take my comments with whatever sized grain of salt you choose. At the risk of sounding overly optimistic, it seems that we all ought to be able to have a good conversation about the architecture in Prospect that's constructive and civil. All that being said, here's my opinion, which I think is probably in the minority:

In general, I like the modern houses that have been put up so far. Sure, there is a house here or there that isn't particularly to my liking, but frankly, I feel that way about a few of the ''traditional'' houses as well; that's just my taste speaking. Additionally, I don't think the overall ''feeling'' of the Prospect is being hurt by putting in these houses - it still has a great feeling of coherence and flow. And I would hope that any designs that are just too overboard would be rejected by the arhitecture committee. From reading what I have about Prospect, it seems like they have a pretty good handle on this.

My only concern is that Prospect continues its development in such a way that neither the traditional or the contemporary houses start to look out of place. I think that this could happen if, for instance, it was decided to only put traditional houses into Prospect from here on out. Then, I think the contemporary houses would all be in a little ''patch'', and I think that would be weird. So, I guess what I'm saying is that I have full confidence in Kiki and Mark to just keep doing their thing, given that they've done a fantastic job so far.

others opinions


If all want to know....
I must agree with the ''X-man'' that the visitors that I've talked with (both our friends/relatives and many a curious person wandering across the street from a closed sales office to talk to the nearby gardener lady) have expressed amazement as to why the new modern structures in Prospect? Maybe this is because there were none in the first filing; now every third building or so is more ''modern''??

And personally, I must admit that a ''beach'' design theme comes as a surprise compared to the sales pitch we received two years ago when moving to Colorado and investing in the concept of an urban, neo-traditional neighborhood.

Having said that, I think diverse styles are good, as long as the traditional houses can have some modern elements and vise versa so all blend together. Nothing should get too ornate or too simplistic or too wild.

Since we're one of those old-style Victorian houses (yes, people have complained about us too), I'd like to think that Prospect will keep building traditional style homes and subtly mix in the new. (subtly means color combos just as much if not more so than structure styles) If it reverts to all modern in future phases, as has been rumored, our first corner of the development will definitely become isolated from the rest.


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Here's a suggestion....
take it or leave it. Keep track of inquiries at the sales office as to what the preferences really are, and/or track the ease/difficulty in selling various styles. If it's a 50:50 split, then go ahead and build 50:50 of each type.

Most importantly, as Tom said, please don't go 100% either direction or you will isolate people and lose coherency in the neighborhood. We all have different tastes and opinions (thank god) But all will probably agree that a certain level of consistency throughout - rather than abandoning design concepts from one phase to the next - is needed.

New architectural styles

I agree that some diversity creates an interesting neighborhood. That being said, on my first visit to Prospect in November, 1998, I picked up a ''Prospect Quarterly'' newsletter. On page 3 under the headline, Design Guidelines:, is written, ''Rather than trying to create nostalgia or historic architecture, Prospect encourages copying local venacular (sic) from before World War II to try to achieve the good design and proportions that have been lacking ...''. Certainly the beach designs, as well as some of the other styles we're seeing don't fit into the pre WWII category. Hopefully, Prospect will not lose its integrity!

on fencing and unity

I'd also like to add that I think part of the reason some of the coherence seems to be lacking from Phase I to Phase II is not only the difference in architectural styles, but also the position of buildings on the lot and the landscaping.

Now don't get me wrong, not all houses should have traditional picket fences out front! In fact, I personally think the long straight shot of nothing but fence is quite boring. Starting and stopping and jigging and jogging with plant materials and porches in between is VERY nice though. (and having to put a fence in where space is tight can really create a landscape design and maintenance problem unless you simply want to plant rocks.)

As I walk around the neighborhood, I see places where little bits and pieces of some sort of fence in some shade of white could go in. I think this would go quite far in helping to unify the variety of architectural styles. And would add to the appeal of creating more of those little well-designed niches that makes our neighborhood so interesting. But then, there's a landscape design person speaking here....