The centerpiece of the old ranch will be re-interpreted throughout our new villages.

Lots of communities have community centers. We want our community centers to feel like the community — built on the latest planning ideas and flavored by history.

So, we're calling our community centers Ranch Houses. Instead of being huge, monolithic, institutional structures, the Ranch Houses will have a more human scale. In fact, they may remind you of the kind of big, rambling home that you would have found on a big, rambling cattle ranch.

These new Ranch Houses will be named after their particular village. (For example, the Ranch House for Northtree Village is called Northtree Ranch House.) And they will have features that meet the needs of their particular village. These could include swimming and splash pools, meeting rooms, fitness rooms and lounge areas.

Many of the Ranch Houses are planned to be near a neighborhood school — so parents could walk their kids to class, then head to the Ranch House for some exercise. Or kids could go directly from their classrooms to after-school programs. Connections like these will make the Ranch House what it's supposed to be: the heart of the village.