Friday, June 22, 2012

Little planes. Big dreams.

I want to fly on this one
Miami, FL
January 2011




















About this photo: Thematic celebrates its 200th this week.It's abstract all the way, and you're invited. Just click here.
You don't see too many model scenes like these anymore. They used to be everywhere, typically in public-facing buildings, put there by architects and developers eager to show off what they had built, or what they might build. Closer to home, there's a model in the lobby of London's largest building showing what the complex would have looked like had the second tower been built. We're still waiting for that second tower to be built, but in the meantime we can always walk past and dream a little.

Which is what my kids did as we checked in for our flight. Like moths to a flame, they were all over this airport model, and interacted with it in ways I doubt they would have had it been reduced to a picture on a Facebook page.

Maybe new media aren't always as effective as the old ones. Maybe there's virtue in things we see in three dimensions, and barring the presence of glass, could actually touch and feel.

Your turn: Where are the folks in the middle-foreground plans going?

1 comment:

Max Sartin said...

I saw your picture and just started to laugh. When I was in high school I took some pictures, a lot like yours, of the expansion model in the main lobby of the Salt Lake International Airport. With the internet and computer generated virtual tours, like you said, you hardly ever see them anymore. There certainly something intriguing about having the physical miniature right in front of you.