Subscribe to our eNewsletter!
|
/ Home
/
Articles /
Trends /
06/01/2007
|
| [Vacation Life] |
|
| My sister, who lives in London, did what most sun-deprived Brits do. |
|
My sister, who lives in London,
did what most sun-deprived Brits do. She bought a vacation home in the south of
Spain in a nice development on the coast between Gibraltar and Malaga. She
didn’t specify a "front line" duplex with an ocean view because she assumed the
developer would prevent anyone from building directly in front of his project.
She was wrong. When she went to the site on one of her periodic visits, she
discovered that what was once an unobstructed ocean view was now an ocean view
if you went up to the roof deck and stood on your toes.
I stayed at a deluxe resort north of Miami earlier this year
and was staggered by the number of 50-story high-rises lining the shore. I am
used to mile-high buildings clogging the sky in cities, but seeing row upon row
in a sunny resort left me stumped. Except for the fortunate few who live in one
of the front units, everyone else is left looking at a building’s behind.
 Architect Richard Meier’s first project in Miami
is the 12-story, 101-unit Beach House. Photograph by Dbox. (Click image to enlarge)
And that somehow seemed downright undemocratic.
But then I moderated a panel recently on "Green Chic:
EcoDesign for the Luxury Home," mainly to start a dialogue between the growing
"green" movement and the affluent home market. One of the panelists, Michael
Palladino, a partner in Richard Meier & Partners, Architects, made a good
point: A condominium tower is actually much greener than a swath of
single-family homes because you are using a smaller footprint to build on the
land. And the overall energy systems and waste management are more efficient
when confined to one building.
Which means that there are no right or wrong solutions. With
the price of land skyrocketing and waterfront views becoming a dwindling
resource, any property that offers an unobstructed water view will remain one of
the most valuable, and the most appealing, ownership options. We cover the gamut
of waterfront construction in this issue, from single-family homes to high-rise
condos. Each offers a different homeownership option, but they share one thing
in common—direct waterfront access.
It is no longer enough to just have a room with a view. Now you need to
ensure that nothing can possibly get between you and a good sunset.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
