There is a hilarious article in the current issue (dated March 7) of The Chronicle of Higher Education. It asks readers to sketch their ideas for the forthcoming George W. Bush Presidential Library. All modern presidents have one, and evidently Bush’s will be at Southern Methodist University.
The only criterion for submitting an entry was that it had to be drawn on the back of an envelope. I see this as leveling the playing field, so that architects don’t have an edge. And, according to the Chronicle, “About 120 people sent in sketches that were good, bad, serious, humorous, abstract, or really angry.” That pretty much describes the electorate at this time.
One such entry revealed a couple small buildings above ground with an immense complex underneath. The key to galleries and exhibits included “The WMD Stockpile of Manufactured Evidence Library,” “The Big Oil Hall,” “The Telecommunications /Listening Surveillance Lounge, and the “The ‘We Don’t Torture’ Torture Viewing Theatre.” That’s certainly a lot to get on the back of an envelope.
Another entry took inspiration from various Egyptian temples with the apex of the complex designed to face toward Crawford, Texas, for perpetuity. This creation also included the Fema Garden Awaiting Attention, an orchard of trees dedicated to the children not left behind, and the Well of the Axis of Evil. Then there was the complex designed in the shape of a W, the non-library library, and the Colt 45 emerging from a baseball which doubles as a revolving restaurant.
My favorite submission was fashioned after an amusement park with the WMD Sky Ride, the U.S. Economy Roller Coaster, and the Katrina Water Follies. It was dubbed the Library and Fun Ranch, which makes me wonder if the creator thought libraries were not fun.
While these pokes at the president are in jest, the current proposed cost on the real thing, which apparently will be designed by Robert A. M. Stern, is in the neighborhood of $500 million dollars. Truth be told, I don’t think that’s funny at all.
Leave a Reply