Peter's Perspective
Day 1. The City of Lights Just Doesn't Compare
at the barnes and noble bookstore in honolulu, chanced upon a terrific book of satellite photos of the earth. turned upon the night time images of earth and saw all the lights. was amazed at the brightest most concentrated patch of white light in the planet. none other than the left coast of the japanese islands. paris, the so called "city of lights" or any other metro area in the world just doesn't compare. how appropo i thought as we prepared to leave for the airport to journey to the land of the rising sun and the islands of lights.
First Impressions: Overbuilt and Bento Boxes
as we swooped into the coast and into view of the osaka metropolis the sight elicited immediate one word responses from my mind: overbuilt, it's trantor!, natural coastlines are gone!! for those not steeped in asimovian science fiction, trantor is the homeworld of the galactic empire where every square inch of the planet had been paved over by concrete or metal and all living systems had become artificial and regulated, like one giant city in a bubble. huge revetments of concrete crisscrossed the coastline as if they had been anticipating a huge tsunami would be coming. no naturally shaped curving coastlines could be seen. all were straight or perfectly angled and concreted. a geometrist's version of heaven on earth.
kansai airport is another crowning example of technology and human will over nature. an artificial island built up right out of the ocean a few miles from the mainland. then there was the awe inspiring airport terminal. awesome in the sense of its excess that is. for a person like me who has spent a lot of research and time trying to learn to design human artifacts, like buildings and everyday items, out of very little materials and with the emphasis on sustainability and cultural, and geographical sensitivity, kansai air terminal demolishes those principles with gusto.
i mean do you really need a whole lot of 2 feet diameter metal posts holding up a thin walled and thin roofed structure? each supporting pole is further buttressed on its side by another pole leaning into it from the outside. and each pole and butress system is adjacent to another set just a mere 15 to 20 feet away. the amount of energy needed to extract these materials from the earth, and turn them into these posts must have been huge. this is just one example. there are many more but one must see it for himself.
suffice it to say, kansai airport is a perfect example of man defying nature, and excess wealth wasted on grandiose monuments to power and sheer will.
Day 1. The City of Lights Just Doesn't Compare
at the barnes and noble bookstore in honolulu, chanced upon a terrific book of satellite photos of the earth. turned upon the night time images of earth and saw all the lights. was amazed at the brightest most concentrated patch of white light in the planet. none other than the left coast of the japanese islands. paris, the so called "city of lights" or any other metro area in the world just doesn't compare. how appropo i thought as we prepared to leave for the airport to journey to the land of the rising sun and the islands of lights.
First Impressions: Overbuilt and Bento Boxes
as we swooped into the coast and into view of the osaka metropolis the sight elicited immediate one word responses from my mind: overbuilt, it's trantor!, natural coastlines are gone!! for those not steeped in asimovian science fiction, trantor is the homeworld of the galactic empire where every square inch of the planet had been paved over by concrete or metal and all living systems had become artificial and regulated, like one giant city in a bubble. huge revetments of concrete crisscrossed the coastline as if they had been anticipating a huge tsunami would be coming. no naturally shaped curving coastlines could be seen. all were straight or perfectly angled and concreted. a geometrist's version of heaven on earth.
kansai airport is another crowning example of technology and human will over nature. an artificial island built up right out of the ocean a few miles from the mainland. then there was the awe inspiring airport terminal. awesome in the sense of its excess that is. for a person like me who has spent a lot of research and time trying to learn to design human artifacts, like buildings and everyday items, out of very little materials and with the emphasis on sustainability and cultural, and geographical sensitivity, kansai air terminal demolishes those principles with gusto.
i mean do you really need a whole lot of 2 feet diameter metal posts holding up a thin walled and thin roofed structure? each supporting pole is further buttressed on its side by another pole leaning into it from the outside. and each pole and butress system is adjacent to another set just a mere 15 to 20 feet away. the amount of energy needed to extract these materials from the earth, and turn them into these posts must have been huge. this is just one example. there are many more but one must see it for himself.
suffice it to say, kansai airport is a perfect example of man defying nature, and excess wealth wasted on grandiose monuments to power and sheer will.
posted by Mimi | 12:53 PM
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