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We are all going to die!

If you drop a lobster into a pot of boiling water, it’s going to freak out, because that water is hot. And, it’s going to know that it’s going to die.

But, put the same lobster into a pot of cold water and slowly heat it up, and the lobster’s just going to sit there, calmly. And, then die.

So, remember that whole economic disaster from a few years ago? Whatever happened with that? That’s all over, right? Things are getting back to normal, right? So, we can all keep going along the same way we’ve always gone along, right? Is it getting warmer in here?

photo from pixthree’s photstream on flickr used under the creative commons license

I’ve had this growing fear lately. I think things may have shifted in that economic earthquake. I think the foundations may be damaged. The old way of building may not work anymore. How long can a project be on hold waiting on financing before we start to realize that it’s just not going to happen? How long are we going to wait for things to “recover” so we can get back to doing things like we used to? Assuming things will “recover”, that recovery could take years. So, what do we build in the meantime? Is it possible that what we were building before, isn’t really needed anymore? Has the ground shifted? Should we refocus? What do we need to build now?

Almost every client I have is waiting for things to get back to “normal”. They’re just waiting. The clients who are building something, are finding a niche market that still allows them to do the same project they’ve always done. But, they’re getting nervous. And, they’re getting more and more conservative with their design. They’re not only doing what they’ve done before, they’re doing the safest, most dumbed down version of it they can.

We’re all sitting in slowing warming water.

Most architects I know are just like those lobsters sitting in that slowly warming pot of water. I’m assuming they’re very stylish in their round glasses and mock turtle-necks, clasping their little adjustable triangles in their little claws. But, I’m here to tell you,

We’re all going to die….

Unless we get out of this f…ing water.

Jody { coffee with an architect }