Call it passion, cubed

Jason Busto wants to change the world -- starting with one house, in one city.

It's not a McMansion, bungalow, ranch or condo, but something else entirely that reflects his progressive thinking and longing for good, alternative architecture.

"In spirit and soul it's a villa," he says.

"Villa San Miguel," to be exact. He considers it "a little Europe in Sunset Park."

And no wonder.

At 32, he holds a master's degree from the London School of Economics. He's lived in Hong Kong, Moscow and Madrid. He speaks three languages. He's also a fifth-generation "Tampeno," who casually refers to himself "half-Latin, half Cracker."

He works as chief operating officer for his family's business, Busto Plumbing Service. He's a voracious reader who has banished the TV from his house. His favorite movie is Sunshine State.

He's a guy with ideas.

He mourns the kind of building that has proliferated his beloved Florida: strip malls and massive cookie cutter developments, where style long ago supplanted substance.

Take a look at his Web site: www.bustodevelopment.com.

The house at 4825 San Miguel St. comes with "a narrative" about its philosophy. Those who helped make the project a reality, from the bank to local craftsmen, are listed as "participants."

He's aiming his arrow at a new generation of creative people he sees as divergent from the traditional American family with 2.5 children and a dog. These home buyers are both coupled and single, straight and gay. Some with deep pockets. Others live on modest salaries. But they are discerning. They want more choices.

"This house is symptomatic of the past and future," he says.

The 2,300-square-foot, three-bedroom, three-bath house is his first crack at home building. It's full of natural light and tall windows that invite a view of his favorite things: voluptuous, ever-changing Florida clouds, the poetic curve of tree branches.

"Imagine," he says, "looking out these windows when a storm comes."

It took a year to build.

He designed it with architectural firm of Abell Garcia. The pediments and door frames were made by sculptor Alexander Calder's godson, who lives in the Tampa Bay area, the carpentry by a woman who holds a bachelor's degree in woodworking. It is a perfect cube, "dimensionally perfect."

Words that describe it: Austere. Plain. Understated. European.

"It doesn't need to be gussied up," he says. "It weds the best classical features with the best modernity has to offer."

The price tag? $575,000.

It's been on the market for three weeks.

"You could get a house maybe three times the size in Brandon." But you wouldn't get the 8-foot solid birch doors, Brazilian granite countertops, crema marfil marble and crawl space almost big enough to stand up in.

His idea was to "make the architecture a contribution to the community."

Of course, a little family expertise didn't hurt.

"We did the plumbing right," he says.

He's hoping for a discerning buyer. On a Wednesday afternoon, he gets a nibble. Just looking, says Mike Ortiz. He is 42, so is his wife. They moved back to Tampa two years ago from Connecticut and live in Avila.

They're toying with the idea of something a little closer to downtown.

"For somebody my age with no kids," Ortiz muses, "this works for me."

Busto shows him the upstairs and down, the closet that could easily be converted to a study, the view of the tree canopy from the windows. Later he explains his reasons for building a detached carport. He's thumbing his nose at an automobile society that valued cars to the point that two-car garages became the architectural focal point of many mid 20th century homes.

The car has "messed everything up" and the garage is in its rightful place. We need more pedestrian communities, green spaces and public meeting places that aren't malls. Enlightened development, that's all Busto asks.

"Architecture is vital to understanding ourselves," he says. "Tampa deserves a beautiful city."

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