How to do a good pop top: view 1

Originally uploaded by smomokomorton

if you walk around the historic washington park neighborhood in denver, you will undoubtedly see a plethora of active and healthy young adults enjoying the colorado sun, bouncing around, smiling, laughing, playing with their golden retrievers, and 2.5 children. you start to think you’re in pleasantville or some sort of neighborhood reminiscent of stepford, but you only think that for as long as you focus on the beautiful people bouncing around…when you look beyond the sun-kissed beauties, you are smacked in the face with a dose of reality by the hideous pop-topped houses that scream “hack job”. it’s such a shame to see such charming bungalows built to last in the 1920s having their tops popped (addition of a second floor) where the builders take a plaster box and plop it on top of the original brick first floor with zero study of context, materiality or massing. here is one of the few fantastic examples of a nearly perfect pop top i’ve come across. take a look.