Appreciation post: The old courthouse renovation downtown made me look at my own work differently

I was walking past the site yesterday and they had some of the original architectural drawings on display in a trailer window. Seeing those hand-drafted elevations next to the new digital plans they're working from... it just hit me how much the core idea stays the same. Anyone else ever get that feeling looking at old blueprints?

3 comments

3 Comments

johnson.ryan10d ago

Totally get what you mean. I had a similar moment looking at old survey maps for a local park. The paper was all yellowed and the handwriting was so careful. It showed the same creek and hills I was looking at on my phone's GPS. Made me see my own sketching as part of a longer chain, you know? It's not about the tools being old or new. The important thing stays trying to get the idea right. That feeling stuck with me for days.

dianab689d ago

Disagree with you there, @johnson.ryan. The tools absolutely change the feeling. Holding that old paper, seeing the ink bleed, it's a different kind of care. My phone's GPS just gives me a line. It's fast and clean but feels empty. The old way connected you to the ground in a way a screen never can. That's the part that matters to me.

seth_green857d ago

Yeah, exactly. I found my grandpa's old fishing maps in the basement last year, all these pencil marks for his secret spots. You could see where he pressed harder on the pencil when he got excited about a place. My fishing app just shows a blue dot on a flat picture. It gets me there faster, but holding his wrinkled map, I felt like I was holding his memory, not just directions. That stuff gets lost with the new tools, even if they work better.