May 12, 2008

Stationary and Stationery

Just the difference of one letter & yet these two words occupy two different extremes in the vast world of Architecture.

STATIONARY-
unable to move, being fixed.

Being stationary in architectural terms refers to being mentally stationary, which causes the minds to freeze.

It is the frustration, when someone, expecting to be blown over by your creative mind, thrusts a seemingly scopeful proposition or even a simple question, but your mind is stationary and all that you can see in your mind is a crisp white sheet. This is a state of being mentally stationary.

It also refers to a more serious disease that takes more than time to cure. The disease that makes your mind so solidly fixed onto one set of ideas that in order to create something new and unique, you would have to jump over the hurdle of normalcy.

But it is the ease by which you overcome being stationary that defines you as an architect.

STATIONERY- writing material.

One change in the word and you are plunged into the molten core of Architecture!

The butter sheets, pencils, cartridge sheets, Rotring pens, paint, set squares, stumping powder… The list is endless!

Even though AutoCAD, 3Dmax and the rest of their software siblings bask in the limelight of being the backbones of Architecture, it is the pencils shavings, crusty paint palates, and the wad of crumpled butter sheets with undecipherable scribbles, without which ideas would remain ideas.

Can you keep track of the time and money spent at the stationery shop? Have you ever wished that someone would give you a bundle of handmade sheets as a birthday present? Have you ever thought about how many erasers you use in a year? The answers to these questions will prove how important stationery is to you.

So how do I bring together two outwardly similar words- one a mental disease and the other a primary necessity? I’ll leave that to you. But, have you ever imagined how stationary you would be without your stationery? :)


(wrote for Ramaiah archi magazine)




2 comments:

Anonymous said...

hiya


just signed up and wanted to say hello while I read through the posts


hopefully this is just what im looking for looks like i have a lot to read.

Anonymous said...

Excellent blog! I actually love how it is easy on my eyes and also the facts are well written. I am wondering how I may be notified whenever a new post has been made. I have subscribed to your rss feed which must do the trick! Have a nice day!