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34 / BUILDING DIALOGUE / DECEMBER 2016
A s architects, we find the fundamental na-
ture of slowing down to be innate in the
setting of our current building dialogue.
This proposition forges two distinct responses,
typically those from the design team in favor
and the pro forma side in opposition of the pass-
ing hands of the clock.
But let us argue for the moment that slowness
is not associated with diurnal time, rather with
the phenomenal time tied to the creative process.
“Value added” is an oft-coined phrase that
marks the antithesis of sloppy, quick-na-
tured decision-making, yielding low-quality,
subpar solutions. True architecture, on the
other hand, establishes itself as the thought-
ful response to the conditions manifest within
the task at hand. Tethered only to itself, archi-
tecture establishes freedom from the accepted
status quo. In doing so, it inevitably requires the
time to find the resonant answer reflective of
our time, our people and our place.
Why the sudden rush? More often than not, we
find the current building dialogue around Den-
ver to be one of supply and demand, speed and
profit. These words, while valuable in the market-
place, should not be the defining characteristics of
our creative-decision-making process. If for noth-
ing else, the people living in our cities and our
homes deserve a level of dignity and pride that is
reflective of the pioneering spirit we find tangible
in Denver as it has become our place.
Paramount to this position is that those inhabit-
ing our city demand value, extended from the spir-
it of Denver, in the places they live. There is a draw
to Denver that calls people from all over the world
to migrate to our city and its surrounding land-
scape and, as a result, there exists a high demand to
provide shelter and services for those entering our
city. Unfortunately, the current solution of over-
expedient design and construction is but a short-
term patch to the problem at hand. It’s easy to just
provide, lease and move on. However, the current
residents feel otherwise. These buildings will not
last; their appeal, while already sparse, will fade.
Take a look outside your doors, even for just a
moment, and the obviousness of the situation will
come to light. We are beginning to see the conse-
quences of our actions, as nearly every street corner
could be dubbed “Anytown USA” as the imported
style and aesthetic is evident in our neighborhoods.
We are losing what makes Denver special – not nec-
essarily in the buildings themselves, but the reflec-
tion of our city and its people in those buildings.
Where is the pride or creativity that makes this
place such a unique and desirable destination?
As many of our firmly rooted residents will cor-
roborate, these memorable and sustainable places
are part of not only what is reflective of our time,
but also what has been cultivating this love for our
state. Colorado invests its resources and minds in
an effort to fulfill this population with its highly
intentioned desire for craft, care and quality – de-
scriptors that could be applied not only to our goods
and services but our landscape as well.
Slowness, is then, the art of the appropriate solution.
Building and development, in particular, toe a sim-
ilar yet altered line than that of architecture. One is
defined by providing a need for what is on demand;
the other, in our mind, focuses on supplying that
demand with the necessary means and methods
to create valuable, meaningful and lasting space.
These two approaches, as most likely will be agreed
upon, need not be mutually exclusive, but certainly
requires a change in trajectory – we must all strive
for a holistic, meaningful and memorable solution
to the built world.
The responsibilities lie not on a single party (be it
architects, developers, contractors or city planners),
and, as such, we must neither accelerate to the ve-
locity of those around us nor should we simply
move aside permitting them to pass; we must slow
the collective group. The time required to trans-
form our new ideas to collective thoughts must be
allowed, creating value added along the way. Our
argument is that the value we create need not be
measured solely by monetary means nor be the sole
driver when that discussion revolves around creat-
ing our built environment.
So in this environment of hyper-globalization, what then
are the advantages to slowing down? Rarely in this time
are the words “slow down” met with support and
admiration. To the contrary, we find that slowing
down is exactly what our epoch requires. Not only
are we afforded the physical time to make the ap-
propriate decisions concerning our built world, but
also we are given the necessary means to coordi-
nate, vet and verify the decisions we’ve made. In the
end, providing a product that is not only situated
for our current needs but also is complementary
to our environment and coordinated with those
carrying on the life of the building is nonnegotia-
ble. These lasting decisions provide the user the
demanded respect and pride associated with truly
living within a community, while maintaining the
appeal and value that living here affords.
We will find the alternative – quick, unchecked
and aggressive decision-making – leads to a lack of
quality and character, and little more than fulfill-
ment of product only; bare necessity must not be
our baseline. No professional wants to continue to
remedy the fallout of poor decision-making, creat-
ing additional, avoidable work for the future. In the
built world, that means call backs, warranty claims
and a general distaste for the product being sup-
plied. Getting while the getting is good can lead us
to an oversaturation of nameless, placeless archi-
tecture that merely gives a highly transient popula-
tion even more reason for that transition.
Brian Martin,
LEED BD+C
Architect,
Tomecek
Studio
Architec-
ture
Kevin Sietmann
Project
Manager,
Tomecek
Studio
Architec-
ture
ELEMENTS Built Environment