WITH TIME

 

The architectural rendering is a medium of public relations; it both inspires and communicates the spirit architectural projects. Glossed in high colours and lighting effects, a design proposal is visualized on opening day. Perfect and new, the suggestions of weathering and aging are not apparent. But architecture was never about perfection; thoughtful and artful imperfection are qualities that make space intrinsically affable. An inefficient long corridor agitates suspense, a small half-wall creates a nook for keys and accessories, the uninsulated room stores food, and the uninviting crawlspace beneath the porch hides bins... imperfections may be seen as a defect on opening day, but to the end users, these may become the irrational reasons to love a space. People can come to love the littlest of niches that makes the old home uniquely inconvenient but uniquely special. In a larger comparison, architecture does not appear in an instance either; it lives through time. It is subjected to change, growth, deterioration, and all the imperfections of reality that makes architecture believable and affable.

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When the engineers designed the twin towers in 1962, they accounted for the building's integrity against even the airliner impacts. However, the duration of such impact was unaccounted for. 56 minutes and 2 seconds of incredible heat compromised the structural integrity of steel. In the end, the World Trade Center may have stood tall in the third dimension, but fell in the realms of the fourth dimension.