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	title of this thread your message When I said markets were unrelated to the architectural merit of a building, what I meant was that a building with brilliant architure can show up most anywhere. The best neighborhoods often do not have the best architecture in USA, anyway. Columbus, Indiana, has the best architecture of ANY small town I've ever been in, because a trust fund was created to subsidize the hiring of some great architects. Beverly Hills, CA, where houses are phenomenally expensive and opulent beyond many persons' imagining generally suck in comparison. There is a reason so much great architecture is built on marginal land. I am thinking here of Luis Barragan, a real estate agent much of the time, because he had a hard time getting hired to design buildings, built his first real subdivision of his homes on a malpai parcel, also known as a lava flow, that no other developer wanted. When land is expensive, and mortgages will be required, then roughly 80% of the market value has to be in the improvements and 20 % in the land, or the bankers won' put either a construction loan, or a take-out permanent loan on the property. Lenders do NOT want super-improvements; i.e., buildings costing vastly more than their lots, only about 4 times what their land costs (after site improvements to make the site buildable). Why? Its all about controlling lending risk with financial rules of thumb. If an architect can design within these rules of thumb, then the lender will consider the risk of doing something new and different. But after considering something new and different, most lenders will then say, "No. Do something like what has already been successful, so that if the market tanks, the I have CYA with my boss." Truly adventuresome architecture in housing often requires a person with deep pockets who can carry the property until it proves itself in the market place without construction financing. associated web images (optional) associated web link (optional) your email your password create a forums account \| you forgot your password?