ORDINARY BUILDING 2

For many people of our ilk, the brakes on our cars sure get a workout.  We know the routine.  We are driving along, typically trying to get someplace on time.  And then there is something that we absolutely have to take a picture of.  The form might be interesting.  Or the light is distinctive.  And at typical speeds of 55 MPH on a country road, whatever it is that interested us we pass by in an instant.  So it is decision time.  Was that so great that it warrants turning around?  Since typically the answer is yes, then is is brake time.  Retrace our route.  Turn the car around again at the object of interest.  This is hard on cars.

Yet it must be done if we are to assemble a set of photographs that we will draw from later.  The drawing above is of a small irrigation building in rural Turkey.  When you have a rental car, as we did, then there really is no question when it is time to slam on the brakes.  They are not yours and you won’t be paying to replace them.  That, to me at least, is the essence of rental cars.

I took the photo below of this irrigation building.  I had to do the whole turnaround thing.  What was instantly interesting was the two simple rectangles.  One for humans.  Another for water.  I took this photo from the side of the road after I got out of the car.  Although we have discussed in these pages the advantages of taking multiple photos from the front, sides and back, there is the important issue of trespassing.  More on that specific topic later.  Yet because of the simplicity of the two forms, I felt that a single photo provided sufficient information for me to draw from to at least capture the essence of the building.

And what a great building!  Two almost identical forms.  Subtle adjustments in proportion and height based on the function wildly different functions.  You rarely find a building this pure.  If this building would have been designed by, say, Peter Zumthor, it would be hailed from the highest laudatory plateaus as an absolutely brilliant and eloquent constructor statement.  Try to keep your radar set on the widest bandwidth.  And keep slamming on your brakes.