What Matters to Me
Dear Homeowners, Tenants (that word again!) and Builders of Prospect:
I do care, a lot, about how each of you feels about the design of our community, and it moves me to see the strength of your feeling expressed here. I wouldn't trade this hothouse for the vacuum of a development like Creekside for anything, and neither, I'll bet would any of you. Please believe that Kiki and I are working hard to give form to as many of your hopes and needs and desires as we possibly can.
The challenge that we all face together as Prospect grows larger is how to best accomodate the ever increasing range and variety of those desires. I believe that a healthy community can, indeed must, seek to do so always. It is unavoidable in a plan this dense that some of our needs will manifest themselves in too sudden architectural adjacencies. Although I personally welcome this a sign of vitality, rather than disharmony, I do try to reconcile opposing, adjacent desires as best I can. I hope we can all agree that the most important thing, though, is to not discount any of them.
You, x-man, might not choose to hang your Michelangelo next to your Klee, but how lucky you would be to have both. And were your neighbor equally lucky she might well want to do just that. The Denver Art Museum, which displays its permanent collection thematically, juxtaposes wildly different works on a regular basis. Likewise it's not unusual in established neighborhoods to see distinctly different house types immediately next to each other, to happy effect.
I think that some of the frustration expressed here comes from a failure on my part to adequately explain what Kiki and I are hoping to achieve in Prospect. We are both eager students of many historic building types. Counting townhouses individually, I've actually designed more historic homes here than modern ones, and I look forward to doing some more. We are very concerned, though, that when we do design or review a traditionally styled house that it be excecuted correctly, which is to say its form and details and materials must be convincingly consistent with its intended style. This is quite difficult to pull off, particularly on a spec house budget. Even so, there will always be a significant number of traditional buildings here because there will always be a significant number of people who want to live in them, and can afford the privilege.
It is increaseingly clear though, that there is an equally significant group who are interested in an alternative, and we hope to accomodate them as well. One option is to formulate a more modern type of building, one which utilizes current materials and construction systems and mechanical technologies on their own terms, rather than forcing them to look or work like something they are not. Furthermore, the way we all use our homes has changed profoundly since the 19th century. Why not express this as well?
These are extremely complicated and engaging issues for me and I expect to be pondering them forever. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss them further with any or all of you, in any sort of setting. Our motives in suggesting a symposium are not Machiavellian, Charlene (Albertian, maybe, and come to think of it there are a number of lessons from Renaissance Florence we might apply here). And yes, Keith, I expect it might get a little heated, but as long as we can separate our wives we should all make it home in one piece.
Sincerely,
Mark
Dear Homeowners, Tenants (that word again!) and Builders of Prospect:
I do care, a lot, about how each of you feels about the design of our community, and it moves me to see the strength of your feeling expressed here. I wouldn't trade this hothouse for the vacuum of a development like Creekside for anything, and neither, I'll bet would any of you. Please believe that Kiki and I are working hard to give form to as many of your hopes and needs and desires as we possibly can.
The challenge that we all face together as Prospect grows larger is how to best accomodate the ever increasing range and variety of those desires. I believe that a healthy community can, indeed must, seek to do so always. It is unavoidable in a plan this dense that some of our needs will manifest themselves in too sudden architectural adjacencies. Although I personally welcome this a sign of vitality, rather than disharmony, I do try to reconcile opposing, adjacent desires as best I can. I hope we can all agree that the most important thing, though, is to not discount any of them.
You, x-man, might not choose to hang your Michelangelo next to your Klee, but how lucky you would be to have both. And were your neighbor equally lucky she might well want to do just that. The Denver Art Museum, which displays its permanent collection thematically, juxtaposes wildly different works on a regular basis. Likewise it's not unusual in established neighborhoods to see distinctly different house types immediately next to each other, to happy effect.
I think that some of the frustration expressed here comes from a failure on my part to adequately explain what Kiki and I are hoping to achieve in Prospect. We are both eager students of many historic building types. Counting townhouses individually, I've actually designed more historic homes here than modern ones, and I look forward to doing some more. We are very concerned, though, that when we do design or review a traditionally styled house that it be excecuted correctly, which is to say its form and details and materials must be convincingly consistent with its intended style. This is quite difficult to pull off, particularly on a spec house budget. Even so, there will always be a significant number of traditional buildings here because there will always be a significant number of people who want to live in them, and can afford the privilege.
It is increaseingly clear though, that there is an equally significant group who are interested in an alternative, and we hope to accomodate them as well. One option is to formulate a more modern type of building, one which utilizes current materials and construction systems and mechanical technologies on their own terms, rather than forcing them to look or work like something they are not. Furthermore, the way we all use our homes has changed profoundly since the 19th century. Why not express this as well?
These are extremely complicated and engaging issues for me and I expect to be pondering them forever. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss them further with any or all of you, in any sort of setting. Our motives in suggesting a symposium are not Machiavellian, Charlene (Albertian, maybe, and come to think of it there are a number of lessons from Renaissance Florence we might apply here). And yes, Keith, I expect it might get a little heated, but as long as we can separate our wives we should all make it home in one piece.
Sincerely,
Mark