The points to make from these tiny towns are probably enough for an hour course themselves, maybe a semester.
These points are from Fuquay's mainstreet alone:
1. What is the role of the individual shop owner? Is there any moral imperative for supporting him? Isn't it better to have the selection, low prices, bulk shipping, accountability that wholesale department stores offer? Is there a compromise option? Is there a Biblical model for the individual retailer, or just an American one?
2. Building elements survey: door, sales window, signage, facade, canopy, parapet (Genesis 1:6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.") What is a canopy really for? What does it do to a storefront?
3. Gas stations: no hiding the gas station in a small town. They become a feature. They are polished and orderly. They fill their site well. They look like elegant modern furniture.
4. "Expect a Miracle Christian Bookstore" What is the nature of explicitly Christian retail? Is it pretending to be something else - this store looks like a country porch? Is that marketing, or a reaction of the hearts at peace inside? Contrast with "Family Bookstore" at the urban mall.
5. Catastrophic signage. How do we respond to the retailer of random goods? There are some moral issues here and isolation, but the change likely has to come from the inside. Who will have the patience to befriend this man?
6. Perfect signage, perfect proportions, detailed brickwork. What, no canopy? How is a storeowner compelled to be so rational in his design? What went right here?
7. Aha! It's his house! That's what went right - personal responsibility and care.
8. The urban courtyard. It may be space for infill, but it adds depth and complexity to a streetfront. Outdoor malls have similar configurations, but the open space is reserved for parking, not for people. Note the picnic table.
9. Rear signage - take responsibility for your backyard - makes the potential for other uses of the service aisles.
10. National retail chains on their day off = empty parking lots and ugly architecture. This Hudson Belk is offensive in its minimalism. If I were to write a letter to the store owner, what could I say? Empty space cannot be ignored. My guess is that its the sin of sloth, maybe adultery.
11. Grace Presbyterian Church. The most beautiful featureless storefront I've ever seen. Maybe the cure for modernism is love.
12. Studies on signage and color and mixed use.
Everything I need to know about Architecture I learned from Fuquay.
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