159 Juice
159_Juice
I have no idea to the truth of these tails, but English Apple Juice is old, ancient, bitter, pale, crisp and cold. Old history pales into insignificance, when life moves at such a fast pace, significantly – by way of technology. What is old seems obscene to the next generation growing up in fair England, like the sex of our generation. An apple surmises Isaac Newton’s theory of gravity, as he was perched under an old apple tree and one fell towards him, to discover gravity. Gravity = 10 Kg, m/s2, i.e.: Gravity = 10Newtons approximately, but exactly, Gravity = 9.80665N.
Old history seems so dusty and redundant, we subordinate as a new powerful generation, that I/we cannot accept it. When we have powerful long-term goals of changing the face of the planet. But both symbolically and as what exists, we cannot deny its value to us all, when seen in love. It reminds us of a better and better past, when life was shorter but more liberal in its safeness. So, many today subsist in a competitive market. Not antiques! Although the repair shop shows delightful results to many an antique item, (The Repair Shop, TV Series, BBC2).
Have we lost the drive for romance about the old? Not for each other, but history? I would say: really, it is a generational idea to be in love with history, the older you are, often the more appreciation, but the modern always surpasses the old, and maybe the new insertions are enough to balance the world, alongside renovation. We would be appalled if the Taj Mahal were turned into a pizza parlour, for instance.
We can be selective about what apples we use for our old English apple juice, maybe a modern fusion, like Innocent drinks. Thank God for that bite of apple juice, but reality hurts. Why are old buildings so pokey and circumstantial, this awkward space is not what I aspire to as an architect. We have maybe done this to ourselves, by way of pastiche, of an era when colonialism was seen as fashionable, and many a museum across the world establishes a mock, modern/traditional façade to embrace the proportions of the past and keep extensions within the realm of history. It is a bit, bitty, a bit of a composition error, when glass, and transparency, timber, and steel would be better, but maybe that is only personal opinion, I am fairly unfettered by either. But I know the modern switches my mind into a more positive framework if done well.
Originally a descendant of the Malus sieversii family and initially grown in Central Asia, from the rose family: Rosaceae, it became a favourite for its vitality, and biblical fame. All varieties derive from this one family, and so does the crab apple. Ranked one of the most highly cultivated fruits around the world. Apples contain protein, vitamins, dietary fibre, antioxidants, and minerals. It keeps you full and hydrated, and on-going through the late shift, better than coffee. So let us try some crisp, pale, frothy apple juice at once, what a discovery! An ancient drink itself.
In historical terms old apple trees, still produce ripe new fruit, and so, that is how we should see old history, for everything is relative. The modern is still fresh but influenced by the old, the beginning of building. Old history is not only symbolic, but what exists, sometimes as an iconoclastic, prosaic, system of bad township. But when we build next to it, there is a kind of harmony between the old and the new. If there were a way to balance the historical and modern, we can build scale to our cities, and be ever present in their energy, just think what that old building has seen, its experience is priceless, in comparison to the slickness of advancement, still a benefit to today’s style of living though. In the continuum of time, it is about, ‘the love of history, and the history of love’.
One day we could have, many more amorphous forms, of steel mesh and fabric, the monocast building (TS 2000) the way a fuselage is built on an aeroplane. Am I ahead in terms of complexity, we are already showing signs of this form of architecture? We have come from, pastiche, to system, to modern refinement, refining the archetypal building, to flat-roof, cuboids, with stunning horizon views. Now will the morphing of form and the human body play a part? Who knows? Neil Spiller, (UCL), one of the instigators of this new movement was talking about it in the 90’s, but technology lags behind, maybe this is the beginning of the renaissance. However, like man-made apple juice, nothing ever really changes drastically, but in pockets, and I am not sure where this leads us to but following the contours of the landscape and city amorphisms. A liveable, breathable city sounds good. We will see.
The future right now is English Apple Juice, what a discovery!
Love AB x
