This article in the WSJ caught my eye. Apparently the very large house, formerly known as McMansion, has been rebranded as Megamansion. What exactly qualifies a house for this distinction? Features, square footage, price? With developers’ egos in mind, maybe hubris house is a more apt designation. The most mega of the featured mansions was a 100,000 square foot, single- family residence, costing $500 million- a mere $5,000 a square foot.
The other mega-contenders in the story were a bit less pricy and capacious, but still over the top by any rational measure. Crocodile skin-lined elevators, helipads, jellyfish aquariums, 40 seat movie theatres, candy walls (whatever those are)… veritable “monuments to excess”. I’ll say! These “modern-day palaces” stand in stark contrast to the little jewel box of a home which starred in my earlier essay, Perfection.
The notion of enough is the soundtrack in my head. It informs my decision-making. It’s my North Star. We’re all entitled to our own measure of “enough”, so I’ll not try and change the minds of these megamansion developers. To think I could do so would be arrogant. But I will remind you of the words of two great thinkers.
“Small dwellings discipline the mind. Large ones weaken it.” Da Vinci
“Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to take away.” Antoine de St. Exupery.