Tall tales

Residential Architect, May, 2004 by James Horner, Peter Burr

I would like to thank you for publishing my letter in your August 2003 issue ("An Edge to Grind," page 15). I have received a number of supportive--and some critical--responses to the letter, and I was even contacted by a few former classmates I had not heard from since attending architecture school.

Although you courageously decided to print the letter in its entirety, a key point about the stairs got lost in the translation. It was actually the spiral stair that I described as being "both gratuitous and dangerous."

Nonetheless, I very much appreciate having been extended the privilege to express my viewpoint.

James Horner

James Homer and Associates

New York City

I am responding to James Homer's scathing rebuke of the Tower House ("An Edge to Grind," August 2003, page 15). For one who uses such nonsensical doublespeak as "the application of abstraction initiates form which is modulated by environment and purpose" on his firm's home page, Mr. Homer is highly critical of the comments of the jury. Perhaps Mr. Homer could use a lesson in semantics himself.

As a young architectural intern I continually struggle to decipher the language of this profession. I know that most people are somewhat at a loss when it comes to describing architecture in words. And I know that the sense of place and the feelings evoked by a building can never adequately be put into words, especially by a competition jury. To me, the Tower House evokes many feelings, none of which is the feeling that the building lacks craftsmanship.

I hold this house up as a successful example of the "less is more" philosophy and a good example of minimalist design. It is ideally suited to the occupant who does not need an extra 2,000 square feet of space in which to put his belongings, sees an extra water closet as wasteful, and (hard as it is to believe) is willing and physically able to climb a flight of stairs to get to the bathroom. You'll do more climbing on the stair machine in a single visit to the gym than you will by living in this house for a week.

It will always be "clever" to live within your means and consume less than you contribute in society. Perhaps Mr. Homer cannot tell from the floor plan that the travel distance to walk down two flights of stairs in the Tower House is less than the distance from the breakfast nook to the four-car garage in the majority of obscenely over scaled homes produced today.

I tore out the picture of the Tower House and taped it up on the wall next to my desk. This is a house I would live in. Isn't that, ultimately, the key criterion in a jury member's decision?

Peter Burr

Architectural Intern Yergensen, Obering & Whittaker Architects

Colorado Springs, Colo.