Concrete Visions Have Dandelions
Look around to understand how your plans will evolve and be more beautiful for it.
The phone was only good for a hand warmer. The battery could heat to steel furnace temperatures but not turn on a screen. No hiding in YouTube. I was confined to wait outside whilst my husband got jabbed in the arts’ centre.
My inspiration was bored. Probably fed too much thinking. Somehow I remembered that studying the detail of my surroundings can entertain it. From the bottom of the receipt filled handbag, I pulled out pen and paper.
And the world opened up again.
I remembered Michael Sorkin 250 Things an Architect Should Know. I found this on the 99percent invisible podcast. Sitting in a designed concrete space which started as a white architect’s model, but was now grey and weathered, I thought of Sorkin’s observations.
85. The smell of concrete after rain.
Sorkin
Number 85 was one of my favourites. It combines “Rainy Night in Georgia”, housing estates, dandelions and hope. So I began playing and compiling my list from the area.
- Where the dandelions grow.
- How moss gathers on tilted, broken paving
- How pebbles appear from chipped concrete
- How ladybirds walk along the lip of bins
- The common texture of purple sage and weathered wooden benches
- Chromatography of damp on a balcony
- How satellite dishes rust.
This area was part of the 1992 Winter Olympics. The organisers had converted the old steel works site to a new broadcasting centre. The written press was in La Lechere, and the International Radio and Television Centre was here in Moutiers. Images from the games were edited and redistributed globally from this bespoke structure.
After the games finished, the space became an arts centre and social housing.
Today, it is a public concrete area with signs of wear and evolution. An illustration of the impermanence of concrete structures which erode to become fertile. The architect knew dandelions would grow.
The Olympic journalists knew technology was changing. Fibre optics and television were evolving. The home satellite dish sunning itself on a balcony above me was cutting edge in the 1980s. Today I would guess it still works, but the top rim is rusting. Even when we build with iron, we know it’s not permanent.
The hall’s stage has been quiet for a year. Its role as a vaccination centre will be temporary. The authorities closed the entertainment but recognised its construction advantages for public service.
It reminds me that rigid frameworks designed with a specific purpose can adapt. We know even during their design that their use will alter.
What impact does this have on me when I design my future?
If the framework is a building, a to-do list, a vision, or a perspective on the world, I know during design that it will evolve.
I also know dandelions sprout in concrete.
A nod to nature in my plans. That there will be erosion and cracks, but that is where the beautiful flower grows. The damp that dripped down the balcony wall produced an ink stain like a child’s folded paper butterfly. The sage spilled over in a story of freedom and abundance.
A moment up from the screen. From distraction and determination. To sit in the warmth, notice, imagine and play.
- Original plan will evolve as the need changes.
- Sometimes the steel factory is torn down, occasionally adapted.
- Rigid plans erode to become fertile.
- Dandelions hang out in concrete.
- Predict this in your plan.
- See the beauty in the transitions.
- Notice, imagine and play.
Maria Sokolowska is a photographer, coach and writer. She playfully explores imagery to challenge perceptions and perspectives. She uses metaphors to help understand some of the ordinary and complex ideas we have about ourselves so that we can feel understood.
Maria is a qualified ACC coach with the International Coaching Federation. The ICF defines coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.
Maria works with creative professionals, coaches, post-graduates, and volunteers with the Uprising UK Charity, which inspires young people from underrepresented backgrounds to move into leadership roles.
You can connect with her on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram or by following her newsletter on Substack.
