TRUTH AND BEAUTY: THE NARRATIVE OF A FLORIDA HOME This house was built in 1964 in Gainesville Florida, USA. The site is gently sloping from rear to front with a magnificent oak tree reported to be over 500 years old. This tree had great branches that reach out in all directions and form a canopy of over 20 meters in diameter. The shadow of this giant tree shields the sun from the southwest façade of the building thus keeping the glass enclosed two-story living space cool in the summer. This is a good example of the free work of nature as the tree has saved my client, over the past fifty years, about Rupees Eighteen thousand ($300) per year in air conditioning costs, or a total of about Rupees 9,00,000 ($15,000). This is a very valuable tree both aesthetically and economically. The existing houses in the neighborhood were copies of traditional architecture that grew from historic periods of America. These styles were mostly drawn from the colonial, Georgian, and “ranch” styles that have been popular over the years in Florida. Of course, these styles emerged decades, or even more than a century, after these styles were copied or adapted from British fashions. Their facades have nothing to do with their inner spaces and the materials used in their construction are expensive on the street side and cheap on the sides and rear of the buildings. In other words, they were phony “stage sets,” and an abomination to me, and my client. The occupants of these dreary homes think they are beautiful; however, truth is superior to beauty. Truth may appear elusive and some notions of truth change over time, but most real truths are eternal; however the search for beauty for beauty’s sake is a fruitless quest as beauty is capricious and changes with each generation. Real beauty can only be found in the search for truth. Let me take a moment to explain to you my distaste for architects that copy traditional architectural styles. I have a great respect and love for the architecture done by our forefathers with the technology, materials and the craftsmanship of their time; indeed, architecture is the mark of the progress of civilizations that have lived throughout the centuries; the pyramids, the great work of the Mayans, the Greeks, the wonderful Gothic cathedrals, the beautiful buildings of India, and many other significant works of man. I consider their work honest and sacred and to copy it during our present time, to me, is plagiarism. Once can call this house “honest” because one can see the structural system; one can see the natural materials; one can observe how the house shades the glass panels; and, how the house relates to the context of the site! The structure, the materials, the spaces, the visual connections, the functions, the use of natural light and the natural tree are all facts of the house, and not fake appliques. All of these are integrated within one another and become a single, holistic statement. All good architects of our present time should have the courage to leave his or her own work as a mark of our time, with our modern technology and materials and the great skills of our craftsmen. To do less is the mark of a third rate architect that mimics the great architects of the past just to get a cosmetic acceptance from his unknowing clients. Architects should lead, not follow. Now that I have stated my distaste for architectural plagiarism, back to my house in Gainesville, Florida. Because of the dreadful architecture of the neighborhood I decided to place a two-meter high wall around the house to block the view of the surrounding houses and to create a spatial enclosure of the great oak tree with the natural space, surrounding the tree, joining the social space of the rear courtyard. This space continuum is visual through the living room, which has glass from floor to ceiling on both its sides. The house itself has the bedrooms on the upper floor with the master bedroom overlooking the living room space below from a balcony with shutters that can be closed to provide privacy. The kitchen is located at the rear of the house to serve the dining area (adjacent to the living space) and the family room, (adjacent to the garage) and to serve social functions in the rear courtyard. The house is now 50 years old and will be nominated for a Historic Preservation Award, as 50 years is the minimum time a building must exist to become eligible for this recognition. If the award is granted, it will be the first such award given in the Gainesville area to a modern house. This is important because the banks have been reluctant to make adequate loans on modern houses in the past as they thought copies of traditional architecture is what the public wanted, and the resale value would be assured. This is becoming less and less true as Gainesville has more and better architects and the banks have now taken notice. The house has been evaluated at almost twice the value of the surrounding neighboring houses of the same size and construction cost and I now take comfort (and a little revenge) for the honest evaluation of the work of our good modern architects and the ancient tree! Harry Merritt - Architect
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 13:56:00 +0000
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