You see a guy walking down the street in his drab gray suit, with his boring necktie, dark shoes, and probably a white collared shirt... Any first impressions? He gets up, showers, drinks his boring black coffee, reads his black and white newspaper, and drives a dark, faceless car to work, monotonously, every day, listening to boring talk radio. And after work, well, he comes home, takes his shoes off, puts his dark-socked feet up, microwaves his dinner, the same thing he has had the last 4 nights, and watches dumb sitcoms or documentaries, where he laughs through his nose, until his planned bedtime. Verdad?
Negative. This guy gets up in the morning, runs 5-8 miles, showers, looks sadly at his wild, printed ties and bright Chuck Taylors, and puts out his drab gray suit on the bed, because they have a dress code where he works, even on Fridays. But don't let the suit sway your opinion of this book... This guy squeezes fresh juice and makes breakfast in his bright, comic-stripped boxers, while he sits with a sketchpad, doodling away at his dreams, before he slips into his suit and tie and his 1967 Stingray, riding 2x55 with Sultans of Swing playing in the background. And after work, he coaches little league soccer, before heading home to play with his dog...
This is why you can never judge a book by its cover, and this is me getting excited over a piece of architecture. When we first got to the building, I was disappointed. You know, oh yippee, another gray block of offices with windows, designed by someone who does big things in life... I bet it may have a cantilever... and it is probably surrounded by concrete. Sad, I know...
Totally not the case. If I wore socks ever, this building would have blown my socks off, entirely, because once I started walking towards the center plaza of the buildings, I got excited and emotional and passionate about a building. Whoa, wait a second! Step back... yeah, I said that. I was like a little kid in a candy shop, and maybe it was the sugar I already had in my pocket, but maybe it was the experience the designers had wanted to create for people who work here, everyday, all day. This building fools you from the outside. Most people would just pass it by, but give it a chance, take a look inside, and this building's got spunk, just like the people who work here. They might be gray and controlled on the outside, but they probably have a fiery passion for something in their lives, or some sort of emotional use of colors to represent their personality and spunk. And, the use of color in general, meddles with the moods of people, and with this building you have red and green; passionate, but calm. Interesting. I know I'd be a happier person heading to work if the building I worked in changed colors while I walked, or had any involvement of color, whatsoever, that I could play with, like fixing a stray hair in the window while someone's office is on the other side. Kicks and giggles. Color is bueno, and I really enjoyed the approach the designers took when designing this building. And after exploring the architecture in Amsterdam, I have broadened my horizons even more on architecture, and I have decided that colors and intricate, unique patterns and designs are what I really enjoy so far, in my studying of architecture. That little extra ooomph in the thought/designing process is just amazing, and I learned that I couldn't judge a building by its cover either, because it can function just like one of us... Are you sterdam?
No comments:
Post a Comment