Castles in the Sky
I should be busy with work and much less consumed with searching for the holy grail on the internet, and conceed the fact that Camelot is just a castle in the sky, and resign myself to the beaureaucratic banality I have to endure to create anything worthwhile. If the International Building code is not enough to suck the life out of anything wonderful, surely the New International Fire Code will. If the IFC and UFC combined are not enough to kill a great vision, why then there is always the ADA act and of course the budgetary constraints of bond issues that will do the job.
You want to build an ivory tower? Great! You get to deal with the General Contractors who will end up suing you because you did not specify real ivory and so they used faux ivory, which only has a waranty of about a year, or until they get around the corner, whichever comes first. When you don't agree to pay them for the crap they erect they sue the owner, who in turn sues you for not specifying real (illegal) ivory.
So you avoid designing anything beautiful or extraordinary because every time you do somboby wants to sue you or bring up the fact that it is a waste of taxpayers money and they would rather buy a room full of computers than build anything extraordinary. So everybody just buckles under, unless they happen upon a really visionary (endangered) school board who believes that buildings can teach as much to children as books and computers.
Otherwise its all just more of the same old crap and I am looking forward to 5:00 when I can go run in the park with my twin and our kids and go home and help my kids build a treehouse in the backyard with nobody complaining about the fact that it does not meet code.
And realize that the only castle in the sky is my kid's treehouse, and their wonderful visions of pulleys and laser guns and fooseball tables and firepoles and slides and game systems and zip lines and climbing walls and puching bags and overcoming fears and working out relationships, all of which is wonderful and is totally violates every code ever written.
Oh to be a kid again.....
...........when everything was possible because there were no limits
and you could still believe...
...in anything
8 Comments:
I just wanted to say hi! I happened upon MQ and I saw your link. Sorry I don't post more, too busy.
Miranda aka Bard
Brenda said...
A dad who builds his kids a treehouse is a dad who understands :)
6:51 PM
That is very profound. Thank you, from someone who had to build his own treehouse as a child, where I discovered my most deeply held convictions, in solitude, with my favorite book, which I have maintained throughout my life in one way or another. Thank you for your understanding, empathy and friendship.
You are a singular shining light in the dark woods.
Wow, wish I had a treehouse like that. Fortunately, my dad built one for us. Yes, it would be nice to be able to believe that anything is possible. Alas, it isn't so for most of us.
I can't explain my own addiction to the Internet. It just is, I suppose.
Its depressing how schools and prisons look identical. I once was listening to NPR or watching PBS and an LA architect was bemoaning all the small "a" architecture and how in days past, schools, churches, and municipal buildings reflected vision and aesthetic design. IOW, big "A" architecture. He felt that those buildings anchored the communities they were erected in. I miss beautiful buildings.
I shouldn't sound so down on my profession, its just that I've been feeling like I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. The codes demand a certain level of performance that the budget does not allow. As a result anything that makes the building extrodinary gets left on the editing room floor and you are stuck with buildings or "architecture" instead of Architecture, monuments. You are right, there are very few monuments being created nowdays. The important buildings just look like more of the same old corporate architecture. There is nothing natural or well crafted or creative about them. Even my architectural heros get stuck in that trap from time to time.
Stan -- I read an article in the Atlantic a few years back about all the neat architecture in Paris commissioned by the Mitterreand administration. I hadn't realized Paris had so many cool new buildings. I really like some of those newer buildings in Europe like the Louvre pyramid and the new Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. I even dig the Pompidou Centre. I'd like to see those structures IRL one of these days -- more to see the buildings than the art inside. Have you ever had the funding to do anything nearly so funky?
Unfortunately I have not ever had the opportunity to do anything nearly as high profile as a museum. The highest profile thing I ever worked on was the New Orleans Aquarium. That was pretty cool.
Stan -- I live in New Orleans and I agree that is a very cool aquarium. My kids adore it. I take my younger son there frequently.
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