Let the accusations fly!!!!

So work has been interesting… Not too long ago they let another five people go in our office, and since then I have been going like crazy. I guess with the work to do, less people to do it, and many on vacations at this time in the summer makes for a very busy me! I have not written for a while, but something happened this last week that MUST be recorded in the annals of history (or at least until I stop blogging)! I have been officially been accused of being a RACIST!

I am working on a project that is a Sports Center here in the Phoenix metro area. It is a fairly simple building with two large gymnasiums for basketball, volleyball, and indoor soccer. They also have some multipurpose space, offices, service stuff, and seating areas. In all, it is not too large, and fairly straightforward. We are trying to keep it simple, affordable, and still interesting. Our one “big” move was at the entry. We really want to call attention to it. So we were proposing a tall lantern of sorts that will act as a cooling tower, marquee, shade structure, and an homage to the city’s roots. So here is the drama…

As part of understanding this specific Arizona city, I did a lot of research into their history, culture, and what is out there. To be honest, there really is not too much. The city was incorporated in 1946! Most of the history and culture is based on an agricultural background. So we drew on the idea of ranching, farms, sheds, barns, etc. In the end we came up with an idea that our entry lantern would be reminiscent of a barn, shed, and somewhere along the line the term “cotton bin” showed up. We had a great couple of images that really showed what we were talking about which are shown below.

Well, last Thursday just as I was about to send over the presentation that was to be made to the Mayor and City council a few days later and we got a phone call from a frantic Assistant City Manager. The other Assistant City Manager and the mayor (whom are an African-American woman and a Hispanic woman) saw our stuff and freaked out… THAT IS A RACIST BUILDING! WHY DON’T YOU JUST PUT A WOOD SLAVE SHIP UP THERE! I AM SO OFFENDED WITH THIS LACK OF RESPECT!

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How do I respond to people like that?

Well, I ended up spending the rest of that day until 11pm and all morning the next day (which happened to be my 10 Year Anniversary) redesigning the project and the presentation! Of course, because of the short amount of time we had to redo all of our design, and story we were not completely ready for our presentation in front of the mayor and the city council, and it really did not go too well. They were upset with the way the building looked. They did not like that it looks like a prison, or a high school gymnasium… (uh… it IS a gym dumb a’s)! I will tell you one thing; I am learning how it goes with public projects! It is a whole new animal dealing with civic clients!