20110918

design flaws

I had a dream tonight.

A building plan keeps circulating amongst my colleagues at the architectural firm. Nobody claims it for their own and the sensible among us ignore it--they call it a hoax, mostly, or otherwise not worth their time. But some of us looked them over. Some of us did it casually, others more thoroughly.

The building was enticingly impossible. That is to say, impossible in just such a way that an enterprising architect might find himself thinking he could find a way to make it work--but no, the math was always wrong, even if only just. And even among those of us who weren't sensible, most eventually put it down, dismissed it as a waste of time, a puzzle not worth solving.

But I couldn't give up. I put in long hours at the office, putting more time into the plans each evening. Some nights I wouldn't even bother going home. And unlike any of my predecessors, I did more than just trying to make the designs work. I did research.

I came no closer to learning the origins of the plans, but they have been around for far longer than I have. And others have tried and failed to work on them--this was the most important discovery, because now I'm getting closer than ever. In a few weeks I'll be ready for the groundbreaking. I will construct the impossible, and set foot in halls no mortal man was meant to tread.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey... I don't get it. that is I'm assuming there's something deeper the impossible design plan portrays, the design plan for life maybe?

Anonymous said...

This reminds me of House of Mystery: Room and Boredom. The main character, a girl, starts being able to talk to houses, and starts dreaming about this absurd house in her dreams, that keeps changing and has the craziest mix of the most outdated and outre styles no supposedly self-respecting architect would touch with a ten foot pole. Then she takes architecture, fails most of her subjects, but still works on the plans of the house until it's finished, but if I remember right, it still can't be built in the real world, maybe also something about the math.

rs said...

Not familiar with that one, but perhaps I'll have to check it out. Sounds like my kind of story, probably.

Anonymous said...

Looks like you can download the first issue, which is all I have. http://www.dccomics.com/vertigo/graphic_novels/?gn=10788