The Resisting Moment

Part of a design team’s role when creating a building is to make it safe. Nobody really thinks about the floors they stand on - there is an implicit assumption that if we stand on a floor, the floor will support us. To the casual observer, this might seem like a given. For the designers, it is the result of careful planning, analysis, and calculation. If the floor cannot resist the forces placed on it, the results can be catastrophic.

While building the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City in the late 1970s, the builder felt there was a better, easier solution for suspending three walkways across the atrium. According to the records, the builder claimed to call the engineer and receive a verbal go ahead. The engineer denied this; nevertheless, the proposed design revision was stamped as approved by the engineer. The change, doubling the stresses on a critical connection, was incorporated into the construction. At a Tea Dance held in the atrium and attended by over a 1,000 people in July 1981, two of the walkways collapsed. 114 people were killed.

Back in March with this story in mind I planned to write an essay that referenced how the Hyatt tragedy mirrored our federal government’s lack of basic planning to prepare us for the forces of a pandemic. Like any sound government policy put in place to protect its citizens, a critical underpinning of construction is anticipating risk. In turn, the risk is mitigated through careful modeling of the maximum stresses and instituting a system of checks and balances. When things go well, exciting and forward-thinking architecture is a result, such as recent NYC buildings by SHoP Architects and Herzog & de Meuron, structures that deftly combine vision with the unsung behind-the-scenes efforts to resist the forces of gravity and wind. When things don’t go well, foundations crumble, chaos ensues, and people die.

Above image courtesy of SHoP Architects

George Floyd’s murder expanded my inquiry. Compounding his lack of leadership and hope that the virus would just go away, our president doubled down on his callous indifference when he marched across a violently cleared public space for a photo op. Trying to make sense of the turmoil currently destabilizing our country is hard, but when a sociopath is in charge, watch out. It is one thing to brazenly roll back government policies for the sake of a stronger economy, but it is an entirely different matter to undermine our basic moral structure with a blind disregard to our history of racial injustice.

During any struggle, engaged conversation and careful listening are the platform for progress. Social media has upended these norms; with our incessant need to stay connected, we post our views, tag, re-post, share, and like. This is advertisement, not engagement. Watching our culture’s sins unfold on a screen may be well worth our personal indulgences as long as our attention span does not end with a swipe.

My struggle is not hard - I am a white, middle-aged male who, with a little luck and perseverance has succeeded in running an architectural practice. I can walk up to a police officer and not feel threatened. On more than one occasion, the police have helped my family and I believe that law and order should be a cornerstone of civilized society available equally to all. I can afford good healthcare and easily leave town. But I simply do not have an adequate frame of reference for a struggle that exists for people of color. I can say the right things, post support of the Black Lives Matter movement, advocate for social justice, and even make donations. This might make me feel better, but will it change anything? 

As the pandemic and protests continue, I am growing skeptical of the media’s influence and the “Won’t you join me..?” eblasts from our leaders, asking me to sign onto another petition. As an architect and community member, I owe it to myself to dig deep foundationally and figure out where I can help repair or rebuild a ruptured system that does not responsibly serve a country in a crisis. What can I do so that a young black man has enough faith in our institutions to comfortably walk into a police station and ask for help? Where do I turn when our nation is ill-equipped to comprehensively deal with a pandemic? I’m not sure, but while trying to understand the scope of my ignorance, I must resist outsourcing my political views, I must resist my assumptions, and I must resist my temptation to presume what’s best for our society.

Architecture can’t solve all of our problems, though I can think of a lot of my colleagues who would be better presidents. Creating the complex infrastructure required to address racial intolerance and public health crises takes time and stable leadership. It is an exercise of public commitment and requires a lot of dull, repetitive work at the grassroots level. Each day is an opportunity to nudge the conversation forward. It is our responsibility to engage and listen, knowing that while we can’t always find perfect solutions, we should really take a step back, examine the risks, and figure out how to begin to design a better country.

posted by David Briggs