Excellence

 

Each day for some weeks now I have been puzzling over the meaning of redefining excellence. ‘redefining excellence’ is the lowercase slogan of the building company constructing a new dwelling in our neighbourhood. There is time each morning, walking past their sign to the railway station, to unpack the wisdom, if it is wisdom, of this bold claim. Here are some of my breakfast thoughts on this subject, though be warned that from our place to the station is nearly all downhill. To begin with, can we redefine excellence? If something is already excellent, isn’t that enough? Surely excellence is what we strive for, that once achieved does not require further enhancement. If excellence is the aim, the crown, the hilltop of our work then that ought to be it; anything extra may even jeopardise excellence. There are reasons we do not have excellenter or excellentest. Then, do we want to redefine excellence? Yes or no? And how do we go about that? Some would see this as the argument from imitation. Haydn is excellent. Therefore, theoretically, redefining Haydn is how we get Mozart and Beethoven. Is this what the sign means? Maybe. Can the simple and excellent fifties brick dwelling recently demolished on the site be redefined into a two-storey twenties home with granny flat and swimming pool? At a stretch, maybe. Depends on our definition of the word redefine. Because implied in this verb is some notion that something more excellent than excellent is about to be achieved, something no one else could possibly manage. Simply to say that an excellent home is under construction is neither here nor there in a world brimming with superlatives. It is assumed from the ground up that the forthcoming construction will be excellent, of a certainty, because all constructions the length and breadth of the metropolis are excellent. We know that already. The implication is that this is more excellent, as distinct from excellenter, than all other excellent dwellings. To which is added an element of mystery: obviously the building company is across excellence from the start, but redefining excellence is another level again, an expression of excellence hitherto unseen, only what? -- with infinite views across the valley even further than the railway station. This is the kind of excellence we only read about in books. I am offering these thoughts to save you the trouble, because one tentative conclusion of mine is that redefining excellence does your head in. On the one hand it seems hubristic to make claims for excellence that defy the norms of the building industry, or even the history of architecture. While on the other, it could be an objective that is impossible accurately to assess, if excellence is only ever in the eye of the beholder. Much as I am certain that the company will deliver an excellent home, based on its own declared self-belief, I find the criteria lack definition. By now I am ordering coffee from the station barista, my thoughts heading towards the second front carriage of the stopping all stations.