Thoughts on Local Architecture
Jan. 30th, 2013 08:25 pmI walk by this building almost every day at lunch. I try to get in ten or twenty minutes outside whenever I can, probably because I have a closet for an office which is situated in a tiny hallway with two managers, three typists, and seven other proofreaders. Fresh air is usually in short supply (not to mention my occasional need to escape certain tensions that go along with working that closely with twelve other women).
But this isn't about my job. Walking around the capitol, I often think about architecture, sometimes in an artistic way (because one of these days I'll come back and practice drawing again, damn it) but more often in a passive curiosity about history (because that takes much less energy). I usually walk around and to the side to other buildings, wandering around the State Archives, Supreme Court building, parking garage, and back around to the main legislative building. Just looking at each of these buildings is a testament to its builders, era, and general feel of the times. The oldest of these buildings is the old capitol building, and to me, it is the most elegant by far.
This is an arbitrary distinction, of course. What little I've learned about architecture hasn't stuck in my mind, and the rest of my opinions on the subject are guided by personal aesthetics. I have no idea why I like the natural sandstone adorning the building more than say, the building next to it, which is covered in teal tile and strikes me with an incurably tacky vibe, even if I have no idea when it was built.
The contrast between the two buildings makes me wonder why I think the capitol stands the test of time more so than the teal fantastic next door, and I know I don't have a good reason other than personal preference. I shouldn't be so hard on the teal building. Obviously, architectural trends and building methods change along with the times, and it would be pretty boring if all buildings looked the same. Styles are invented, then come and go only to get mutated and skewed through time; and it's hard to know what of this great mess people will count as good enough to last through the centuries.
Then I have to wonder if I like something only because it has lasted so long rather than appreciating something that hasn't been around as long but may be more innovative in the long run. But this is usually what I end up thinking about when I'm walking in the other direction on weekends and pass by an empty office space for lease that is 100% hopelessly covered in rocks in a way that only the seventies could have loved. Really, who's to say in 100 years if that office building will still be standing? Who's to say someone won't find it much more attractive than anything else in this city, even the old capitol building if it's still around? It's hard to know much of anything about that sort of thing.
I'm not saying any of these thoughts are life altering or unique. They're just some things I think about when I'm not working, which I need since work is about to start sucking up a metric ton of my free time. I don't know. I've got to try to get back into this and lots of other creative outlets I used to love. I don't care if it's boring to everyone else. I miss it.
But this isn't about my job. Walking around the capitol, I often think about architecture, sometimes in an artistic way (because one of these days I'll come back and practice drawing again, damn it) but more often in a passive curiosity about history (because that takes much less energy). I usually walk around and to the side to other buildings, wandering around the State Archives, Supreme Court building, parking garage, and back around to the main legislative building. Just looking at each of these buildings is a testament to its builders, era, and general feel of the times. The oldest of these buildings is the old capitol building, and to me, it is the most elegant by far.
This is an arbitrary distinction, of course. What little I've learned about architecture hasn't stuck in my mind, and the rest of my opinions on the subject are guided by personal aesthetics. I have no idea why I like the natural sandstone adorning the building more than say, the building next to it, which is covered in teal tile and strikes me with an incurably tacky vibe, even if I have no idea when it was built.
The contrast between the two buildings makes me wonder why I think the capitol stands the test of time more so than the teal fantastic next door, and I know I don't have a good reason other than personal preference. I shouldn't be so hard on the teal building. Obviously, architectural trends and building methods change along with the times, and it would be pretty boring if all buildings looked the same. Styles are invented, then come and go only to get mutated and skewed through time; and it's hard to know what of this great mess people will count as good enough to last through the centuries.
Then I have to wonder if I like something only because it has lasted so long rather than appreciating something that hasn't been around as long but may be more innovative in the long run. But this is usually what I end up thinking about when I'm walking in the other direction on weekends and pass by an empty office space for lease that is 100% hopelessly covered in rocks in a way that only the seventies could have loved. Really, who's to say in 100 years if that office building will still be standing? Who's to say someone won't find it much more attractive than anything else in this city, even the old capitol building if it's still around? It's hard to know much of anything about that sort of thing.
I'm not saying any of these thoughts are life altering or unique. They're just some things I think about when I'm not working, which I need since work is about to start sucking up a metric ton of my free time. I don't know. I've got to try to get back into this and lots of other creative outlets I used to love. I don't care if it's boring to everyone else. I miss it.