roseembolism (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
roseembolism) wrote2008-08-25 11:18 am
roseembolism) wrote2008-08-25 11:18 am
Entry tags:
Deserted yet not Abandoned
I'm beginning to think that if there's one architectural element that defines our age, it will be the business park: that group of anonymous boxlike buildings, configured to hold any business with little fuss, surrounded by parking lots and landscaping.
On my morning walks, one thing I've noticed is that there are a lot of empty business parks, probably a lingering effect of past hard times in Silicon Valley. The way to ID a vacant office building or complex is by seeing if there's any people about, especially cars in the parking lot. Otherwise it's tricky to tell, since completely empty buildings are perfectly maintained, the bushes trimmed, the grass mowed, new flowers planted as old ones die. It's an odd feeling of presence to see completely empty office parks, kept in pristine condition, waiting for new tenants that may never come.
I can see architects puzzling over these remnants millennia from now, sorting though layers of non-habitation, wondering about the function of these empty spaces, which were carefully abandoned, and then kept up. Undoubtedly they will conclude they had a ritual function.
On my morning walks, one thing I've noticed is that there are a lot of empty business parks, probably a lingering effect of past hard times in Silicon Valley. The way to ID a vacant office building or complex is by seeing if there's any people about, especially cars in the parking lot. Otherwise it's tricky to tell, since completely empty buildings are perfectly maintained, the bushes trimmed, the grass mowed, new flowers planted as old ones die. It's an odd feeling of presence to see completely empty office parks, kept in pristine condition, waiting for new tenants that may never come.
I can see architects puzzling over these remnants millennia from now, sorting though layers of non-habitation, wondering about the function of these empty spaces, which were carefully abandoned, and then kept up. Undoubtedly they will conclude they had a ritual function.