5.29.11
This is an Archival Site
There is now a new Rogovoy Report home
5.18.11
Weekend Preview May 19-24
Bob Dylan tributes, Deborah Voigt, Tom Paxton, Bill Kirchen, John Kirk and Trish Miller
5.18.11
Celebrating Bob Dylan's 70th Birthday in Style
Paying tribute to the greatest rock songwriter ever
5.17.11
FILM REVIEW: In a Better World and Of Gods and Men
Review by Seth Rogovoy
5.17.11
'LIKE' The Rogovoy Report on Facebook
Click 'LIKE' to Receive Facebook feeds from The Rogovoy Report
5.12.11
Deborah Voigt Headlines Mahaiwe Gala
Opera star to sing arias, show tunes on Saturday, May 21
5.15.11
Famed Spiritual Teacher to Speak on Nonviolence
Mother Maya in free talk at Sruti Yoga in Great Barrington, Mass., on Friday May 20 at 7pm
5.12.11
Special Effects Wizard to Be Honored by Film Festival
Doug Trumbull to be Feted by BIFF
5.11.11
Weekend Preview May 12-16
Cultural Highlights of the Berkshire Weekend
6.4.09
Talk about a small world
Elaine and I grew up together, but only just recently met....
5.8.11
Berkshire Living to Cease Publication
A Farewell from Publisher Michael Zivyak
5.8.11
twiGs Branches Out
Lenox boutique launches new e-tail site
5.8.11
[MUSIC REVIEW] Avalon Quartet in Close Encounters at Mahaiwe
Review by Seth Rogovoy
5.8.11
[MUSIC REVIEW] Avalon Quartet in Close Encounters at Mahaiwe
Review by Seth Rogovoy
5.7.11
[FILM REVIEW] Bill Cunningham New York
Review by Seth Rogovoy
5.7.11
[FILM REVIEW] Bill Cunningham New York
Review by Seth Rogovoy
|
Booking a three-story hotel
2.5.06
In the debate over whether or not to allow a Marriott Courtyard hotel in Lenox, Mass., the term "three-story hotel" is often bandied about as if it is naturally a slur, or as if it goes without saying that "three stories" equals "bad."
Forget for a moment or two all the other issues surrounding this debate, and just focus for one moment of the issue of how tall the hotel should be.
When did our perception of "big" become so totally biased against height and in favor of width? When did we lose our appreciation for the beauty of building up in favor of the ugliness of building out? Has the suburbanization and strip mall-ization of our landscape become such a baseline aesthetic that it is now instinctive to dislike "tall," even if building up means a smaller footprint?
Which is more attractive: The three-story Curtis Hotel building in downtown Lenox, or the Price Chopper on the Pittsfield-Lenox Road?
Why are churches typically the tallest buildings in town?
Why are Victorian-era houses, with their soaring turrets and gables, so naturally attractive and pleasing to the eye?
Why do trees grow tall?
There may be many reasons to oppose the Marriott (although I have yet to come across any convincing ones), but opposing it because the plans call for a three-story building is not only short-sighted as well as architecturally, aesthetically and environmentally misguided -- it may very well result in eventually allowing the construction of a shorter (read: uglier) building with a LARGER footprint.
|
...sites that work