PEOPLE
Architect James Hardy by Gus Jarvis
When architect James Hardy begins a new project, like one he recently started at Greyhead 11 AR1, which was sold by Steve Cieciuch, he knows to do one thing: transform the owner’s dream into a reality. Hardy is Telluride’s contemporary architect who strives to keep architecture “anything but stagnant.” He describes his work as being full of “curves and angles” and says when it comes to designing a house for a client, he believes his first job is simply to listen. “When people come to me, they have their visions and dreams. My job is to see if we can make that dream come true,” says Hardy, which isn’t always an easy task. He once had a client who envisioned a home incorporating the styles of French country, Tuscan, mining and Colorado ranch. “The main key to architecture is to listen and then translate.” Hardy has been designing people’s dreams for over 28 years. He first moved to Aspen in 1979 and then brought his practice to Telluride in 1993. Over the years, Hardy has learned that no project is ever the same. “In reality, every project is different. You have to deal with a different site, a different client and design guidelines that shape what you do,” he says. “One of the things we pride ourselves on [at the firm of James Hardy Architect] is our
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houses don’t ever look alike and we take the time to find out what the owners want in them.” And when clients aren’t quite sure of what they want or need in a house, Hardy is adept at guiding them through the design process. “I had a client years ago who wanted to see what we could do with her lot. So we went out to the site, I brought two sawhorses, a table and a bottle of wine, and sat where the living room was going to be and went from there…” Although Hardy’s first job is to “listen and translate,” he isn’t afraid to steer uncertain clients in a new direction. “Typically on our houses we will have a lot of curves and angles. We are not just square people,” Hardy says. So when he had a client who didn’t like curves and angles – “He was a square person,” in the spatial sense – Hardy gave the standard box a softer edge, much to the client’s delight. “He was totally surprised that he could like something that wasn’t a rectangle or square.”
Today’s architects rely more on computer drafting programs than a sharp pencil and clean sheet of paper. And keeping up with the rapidly changing technology is one of the biggest challenges architects face today, according to Hardy. “As the rest of the world moves forward with technology, to some degree we want our houses to project that technology. But I think you can also take what was unique and great about a period of time and utilize that as well,” he says. As an example, Hardy often incorporates design elements common during Telluride’s mining boom. “I want to make architecture be anything but stagnant. These are not your cookie cutter houses.”
Altogether, Hardy strives to combine contemporary design and technology with a historical touch, if need be, to realize the dreams and aspirations of a client. The end result? An artfully designed home perfectly suited to the owner’s lifestyle. The office of James Hardy Architect is located at 657 W. Colorado Ave., Ste. C-2, in Telluride. for more information visit: jharchitect.com
Hardy also looks to Telluride’s early miners to resolve structural challenges. “At the moment we are using an industrial design that was used in Telluride for many years,” he says. “The miners had tremendous problem-solving skills and that is what every architect hopes to do – solve every problem in a unique way. We have that opportunity to create, and it can be a really fun position.”
4/25/08 3:18:07 PM