Sunday 2.21.10

The Color Stone

Vanessa and I met for a second time to write about the NBBJ Color Stone. After a half hour of writing colors (today we wrote red and orange), we worked to distill our ideas into single-sentence answers. I made a few color sheets, painted with patches watercolor. We used these to complete a 3-step process, which yielded wonderful, silly, symbolic fortunes (or indications) based on the colors of the wall. We learned, by observation, that the colors change hourly. They slide from left to right, through the colors of the rainbow. The panels are never one solid color. They are usually a mix of two colors, pulling like a curtain to the side, so while one part is deep red, the other is more rosy and the end pink. If you were to glance at the wall in passing, you would see only one color. For this is the impression they give. But closer inspection says otherwise.

Goodbye Blue Line (Image by Sean Airhart/NBBJ)

I began lifting The Blue Line this morning. While I was waiting for Vanessa, I took up the section in the main lobby. It is sticking in the heavy traffic areas, where it bends around the lobby couches and in at the stairwell. This was to be expected, but slow pulling at an angle helps. I have lots of practice pulling tape from my boat yard days. Once the tape was gone, the area looked bare. The space changed dramatically. It opened up, the temperature dropped and the world felt less defined. I’m sad to see it go. Alas, but change is my name.