Saturday, August 15, 2009

Inauthentic Roof

This roof belongs to a shopping center near me. The whole shopping center was re-done some years ago in this "Americana" style. This is the kind of shopping center architecture you find in the Mid-Atlantic States, where "historic" houses as well as zillions of new houses and mini-mansions have features like this. Dormer windows are meant to let light into attic rooms, but in many of the new houses, they are fake and their windows lead nowhere. These shopping center dormers are also fake. Seems obvious to point it out, I guess. But what if there really were a living space in this imitation attic? Is it un-American to live above a store? I wonder if the white pointy thing at the top has any function. It would be kind of cool to see the space created and inhabited, so that even when the stores were closed, you could see light behind the dormers above them and know that someone is there.

1 comment:

Tristan Alexander said...

Nice idea, but even if the lights were on, no one would be home! The lack of living space in this country for many is criminal but the wasted space is worse.

Oh, I am posting comments now that I am back...retun the favore?