Just so you know up front, I’m not criticizing anyone, and I’m not being condescending. At least I don’t mean to be. I’m just, well, mystified. Or maybe “intrigued” is a better word. Let me explain.
Over at CNN.com, they have this thing, an online gallery of plans for the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site. Most of you have probably already seen it.
Anyway, these plans aren’t generally the work of bona fide architects or engineers, they’re the creations of Average Joes and Janes. Some have obviously been done with drafting software, but most were created using simpler means: Illustrator, Microsoft Paint, or hand drawn with crayons.
What’s interesting to me is the element of fantasy that runs through so many of the drawings. Me, if I’d submitted anything, I’d probably be hauling out the scientific calculator and calling up certain pals to make sure my angles were correct. But many, many people have treated this project the same way a sixth grader might handle the task of designing an biosphere colony on Mars–or the way someone imagined Earth life in 2274 in Logan’s Run.
I guess it’s the power and significance of the space that have led to these visceral designs–designs that would likely prove structural impossibilities, or in other cases, designs so full of cavalier patriotism they’d be embarrassing ten years from now. Designs by adults who have somehow forgotten to be practical. Design as catharsis.
I’m sorry if I’m stating the obvious. It just struck me, the emotional content. It’s wouldn’t even occur to me to work that way.
sturtle [dot] com 