DECEMBER 2015 \ BUILDING DIALOGUE \
15
Colorado Pulse
and more about self-actualization. Some
75 million square feet of new retail space
is projected over the next decade. Retail is
becoming a new “open space” for young
people – it’s replacing parks and traditional
open space. Seeing and being seen. We’ll be
seeing bars in banks, restaurants in health
care facilities, multimedia stores that sell
an experience vs. a product. Retail will be-
come a series of villages – dense nodes clus-
tered around transit, but we will also have
increased worry about safety and security.
Water will be a huge, expensive issue. We
must loosen up zoning, push for new ur-
banism and let things happen on their
own. Don’t plan every element! Every “happy”
site is different and unique.
George S. Hoover, FAIA
Architect, George Hoover Architect
Architecture is merely an underlying structure that is both
the cause and the effect of the prevailing conditions (e.g., as
relationships break down, we have sprawl). Or, where ambi-
guity is not allowed, architecture is rigid and hierarchical.
Architecture both suppresses and allows for living. It can
both reflect and interpret the human condition, and define
it – for good or for ill. As Winston Churchill once said, “We
shape our buildings and they shape us.” … People don’t live in
developments, they live in rooms.
Nature lives on solar energy with no toxic waste! We must
use nature as a model. How far are we from embracing sus-
tainability as a core value in the state of Colorado? Colorado
is far ahead of the game; we care about the natural envi-
ronment; we have an educated population; and yet we’re 20
years away.
Lawrence Scarpa, FAIA
Founder & Principal, Brooks + Scarpa
There’s a fine line between the peculiar and the beautiful.
We’re interested in where they comingle. A building that
people like is better than a totally efficient building that
people hate.
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Courtesy city of Denver
