Everything Changes

The first rule of innovation is ‘everything changes.’ A block of ice becomes water and later rises up as vapor in the unlimited sky. Air and water and ice are essentially the same. Let us consider the changing nature of life. Should furniture and living space change as a child grows from babyhood to a teenager? The height of beds, the handles of cupboards and doors should take into account the eye level and hand level of the growing child. Barrier free spaces in public places will be needed by the physically challenged as well as the changing demography of rapidly aging populations. A more human approach is architecture for the blind, where sensory signals can be felt with the bare feet or hands, like you feel typewriter keys with your fingers, is essential. A paraplegic once reminded me that I was a TAB – Temporarily Abled! Anytime, any place, can signal the first time we become physically disabled. Michelangelo was once asked how he created all those wonderful statues. He said, “I have never created a statue in my life. I just stand in reverence before a block of marble, when it arrives from the quarries of Cararra. For I know within every block of marble, there lies a statue waiting to be liberated by the touch of the Master’s hand.” So too, within every space, lies the possibility of a masterpiece, emerging with the touch of an artist’s imagination.