Sometimes, the context of a place dictates the specific appropriate architectural style that should influence the design of a building. Unfortunately, the 60 year Great Sprawl Experiment created a pastiche of styles that are no longer authentic, against which a building with historical integrity can look incongruent. At the same time, changes in construction methods and materials, demands for higher energy efficiency, and the reapportionment of funds within construction budgets as a result of changing entitlement procedures mandate a change in aesthetics. Gotham has been working on how to bring these together in a way that can simultaneously respect the long history of architectural design and integrate new technologies. Gotham supports Steve Mouzon’s philosophies of the “Original Green” and “Living Traditions.” These have led Gotham to evolving a synthesis that it has labeled “Modern American Vernacular,” which relies heavily on the same context of place, but interpreted to accommodate 21st Century demands.
