Your life as a building
Have you ever thought of your life as a building before? No? Me neither. But that’s the question I got asked yesterday by Robert Hruzek at Middle Zone Musings. He’s been musing about how we construct things – how much time we spend planning compared to how much effort most of us put into the actual building side of things – anyway these musings took him on to thinking about the structure he’d pick to make a statement about his life.
Not necessarily how things are – but how you’d want them to be.
I liked this way of putting the question – because it leaves room for dreams, goals, possibility, and more than a little bit of nonsense.
Oh and the other point of this challenge was that it was supposed to be a visual way of telling a story about yourself. So I’ll stop the words just now and share a couple of pictures of my statement building:
It’s La Perdrera, a Gaudi designed building in Barcelona, Spain.
(It proved pretty hard to find one good picture of it actually, because it’s so full of wiggles and curves. The first shot is the facade from the street, the second a detail of the statues on the roof.)
And the reasons I’d like this as my life-statement-building?
- It’s unconventional. There are curves and undulations where you’d expect straight lines. (Nothing in my life has been a straight line so far.)
- It’s creative – but can only have been executed with a lot of determination and hard work
- It makes you stop and wonder – about how we normally think about things, and what might be possible
- It’s kind of on the audacious side, don’t you think?
- However fantastical and exuberant – it was still designed as a building to be lived in
That was fun. Okay maybe I enjoyed choosing the words as much as finding the pictures – but it was fun nonetheless, and I learned something about my desire for exuberance from taking part!
I’m tagging Brad Shorr at WordSell Inc, Emma Bird at HowToItaly, Yvonne Russell at Grow Your Writing Business, Laura at Writing Thoughts and Robyn McMaster at Brain Based Biz – but if this has got you thinking about your life-statement-building – please consider that enough of an invitation to join in. There’s no rules beyond stretching your imagination, having fun and linking back to Robert’s original post.
A most amazing building – not to mention a very interesting statement, Joanna! Those statues look like they’re always watching, learning – and they don’t miss a thing…
You have been warned…!
Thanks for a fun challenge – I enjoyed this one a lot.
Joanna
What an interesting post! You’ve inspired me to try to find information about your chosen building.
Mine would probably be just about anything designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. I love the clean lines of his architecture as well as the way he blends his buildings into the surroundings (organic architecture). I especially like Fallingwater, which he designed for the Kaufman family in Pennsylvania. I’ve visited Fallingwater several times, and each time I feel that it is one of the most comfortable places that I’ve ever seen.
Hi Laura, thanks for telling me about Fallingwater.
I went to read a little bit about it on the web and saw some pictures too. I can see why you are attracted to it and why it would speak to you as a life-statement-building.
It’s such a simple exercise isn’t it, yet I feel I have learned something important about you from your building, and about the things that are important to you.
Thanks
Joanna
Speaking of Falling Water, F.L.W. was a master at clearly visualizing the entire finished product in his mind, before he’d ever laid a pencil to the paper.
I saw a documentary about this particular place once, and they said he stood at the site for hours, just looking and observing. Then, he started sketching the view – with the house imposed upon it. I mean, by the time he was ready to draw, he had already seen the completed house in his mind. All he had to do was put it down on paper. It was like taking dictation!
Now THERE’S a guy who could communicate with clarity! Awesome!
Robert, that’s really interesting. I have to confess I don’t know too much about FLW other than from the Simon and Garfunkel song (multi-layered confession there!)
When you described the way he visualised the whole house I thought – I wonder if he was dyslexic. It seems that he was.
The gift you are describing is very common amongst people who have dyslexia. It’s probably why there are many architects who are also dyslexics. It’s one of the things I learned about dyslexia earlier this year when I was doing some training around it. One of the things that struck me the most is what a limited and partial view we have of ‘intelligence’ – favouring some over others and ignoring the full range of intelligences.
Actually it was doing some research on multiple intelligences that took me to Robyn McMaster’s site – she describes, highlights and promotes the multiple intelligences in such a clear and compelling way.
Anyway, I digress, but it’s interesting stuff, don’t you think?
Joanna
Hi Joanna. I accepted your tag and have responded. Thanks so much because I played with ideas to think of the perfect building to suit moi.
I enjoy your notion of being unconventional. The building you chose is just that. Really fits you!
Thought I responded earlier, but do not see the post.
Hi Robyn, I thought you might enjoy this particular challenge (hats off to Robert for the idea).
I loved your choice of building – and what it tells me about you.
I’m definitely going to use this one again – it seems like it allows us to tap into a powerful way of expressing ourselves
Joanna
Sorry Joanna. Whooops. I totally missed this one. I came across it via another blog and saw I’d been tagged.
This is open to you and Robert – am I too late to do this? I’d quite to blog about it on HowToItaly, too.
Emma
Emma – just go for it! There are no meme police after all (well Robert seemed to get away with it last time he said that…)
I’ll look forward to reading what you come up with
Joanna