“I have often maintained that the best poet is he who prepares our daily bread: the nearest baker who does not imagine himself to be a god. He does his majestic and unpretentious work of kneading the dough, consigning it to the oven, baking it in golden colors and handing us our daily bread as a duty of fellowship. And, if the poet succeeds in achieving this simple consciousness, this too will be transformed into an element in an immense activity, in a simple or complicated structure which constitutes the building of community, the changing of conditions which surround mankind, the handing over of mankind’s products: bread, truth, wine, dreams”
Pablo Neruda
Jeffrey Place is a sustainable community designed and built by a collaborative of craftspeople bonded by the guild principles of applying socially developed best practices to a living organism, a community. Everyday life is imbued with poetry, and though there is much more to Jeffrey Place than bricks and mortar, plants and solar arrays, streets and rooftops, it is the best expression of each of these small elements that makes a quiet and unpretentious poetry.
The craftspeople who have worked so dutifully on the design and construction of Jeffrey Place are bonded by the duty of fellowship. It started with an open design process, a public charette where the blank slate of a brownfield site was placed in front of the entire community with the simple question: what could become of this? Shared dreams were placed in the crucible of economics, the environment, and the test of equity - can it be done? is it proper? is it fair? These three questions inform every decision at Jeffrey Place. The result is that the best is demanded of and delivered by every craftsperson who has worked on and in the community.
Like any guild practice, inspiration has been drawn from history and innovation born of dreams. The walkable street grid is as ancient as the Romans; the state-of-the-art energy management systems and building processes are so innovative they are being patented. Our community has many firsts, from our LEED neighborhood Platinum certification submission to the first urban New Community Authority and our 200 art easements, which embed art as infrastructure. We are the only new urban community in the region with master deed restrictions, an urban subdivision, and a complete formal public realm. Our team doesn’t see these as accomplishments. Instead, they are illustrations of craftspeople achieving a simple consciousness. Can it be done? Is it proper? Is it fair? Design thinking applied empathetically to the end user creates a wonderful chemistry.
The most exciting chemistry of all is yet to come. Today our design collaborative is oriented with you at the center. With the single family homes, lofts, and townhomes, the extraordinary and unique expression of each customer’s aesthetic - his or her poetry - will be manifested in the same guild setting. We have created an attractive and sound foundation for design. The next poet is you. Welcome to the community.
