Around Town | written by: NEIL HAUCK, AIA, Principal, Neil Hauck Architects
AS A PRACTICING ARCHITECT, people often ask me for my opinion of various buildings while they are still under construction, particularly if they don’t happen to like the way they look. My response is typically that I will withhold judgment until construction has been completed and I can experience all aspects of the design. As important as I find the aesthetic component to be, the reality is that there is sometimes more than just aesthetics at play.
In similar fashion, I have recently received numerous requests for my opinion of the various development projects under construction and/or recently completed in Darien and surrounding communities. Most of these questions are from people who find the new developments either too dense or too large in scale …or both.
My sense is that many of those who criticize are reacting in large part to the change they are witnessing to the townscape they are so familiar with. Change can be difficult to adjust to, but change can be good, particularly if development is thoughtfully designed.
The landscape of Darien today looks nothing like it did back in the mid-1980s when I first came to Darien to work with Bruce Falconer. Back then, the central business district contained a preponderance of antique shops and real estate offices, and very few restaurants, not unlike many downtown areas in the country at the time.
In 1996, a Who’s Who of architects, landscape architects and urban planners gathered in Charleston, South Carolina to evaluate the state of development in America and offer solutions for improving it. The document that came out of that gathering was titled “Charter of the New Urbanism” and espoused things such as:
• walkable towns and cities
• pedestrian access to public transportation to lessen dependence on the automobile
• the creation of physically-defined public spaces with access to natural environments
• greater density in town centers to counteract the suburban sprawl that was littering the landscape with strip malls and endless housing developments (e.g. Levittown).
Many of these ideas have been built into the recent developments in Darien. Furthermore, the increase in the number of apartments serves many segments of the local population, including young people who are not yet able to purchase a home and older residents who no longer want
to maintain one, but want to remain in town.
As a counterpoint, I personally believe it is important for humans to have access to the natural environment and make every effort to keep that in mind when I design. Numerous studies point to the fact that we are healthier and happier as a species when we are able to experience nature, and for a small town, Darien is blessed with many wonderful places to do this. In fact, as I recently reviewed the 2018 Darien Parks & Recreation Master Plan which does a great job summarizing the town’s natural assets and identifying ways to continue improving them, one page really struck me. It contains a map of the town with each of the parks identified (Figure 7.2 on page 62) and shows that there is
a park (sometimes several) within a ½ mile (10-minute walk) of almost everywhere in town. Now that is impressive.
Suffice it to say, I can see lots of positive things about the new developments and the balance those residents, town employees and developers who have contributed to shaping the local townscape have struck between the inexorable march of development and the need to preserve access to the natural environment.
Editor’s Note: Neil Hauck of Darien-based Neil Hauck Architects has been designing homes and commercial and community buildings throughout Fairfield County and beyond since arriving in the area in the mid-1980s as a young architect working for Bruce Falconer. Named to the Forbes inaugural list of top 200 residential architects nationwide in 2025, he also designed the pavilions at the Darien High School Stadium and Weed Beach. We asked him to share his thoughts on the current construction boom in town as a follow up to our spring issue cover story.
