Delight is a good word for it...
Delight is a good word for it, joy, I don't know - at the very least, it seems to me one important component for the lasting success of a design, is that it promotes a consciousness and engages the user in a way that he or she realizes an impact that goes beyond obvious and clear utility, so much so that, long after the factory closes down, it may somehow still embody the user, a metaphor for delight, if you will. The Studebaker, while probably not in certain terms the most efficient of automobiles ever produced, was an interesting vehicle within that context.
Which Studebaker
model(s) are the ones that give you that feeling ?
My favorite example of human-oriented, body/mind-friendly design is also automotive. Of the fourteen or so cars I have owned (mostly purchased used) the 1969 FIAT 124 Sport Spider I bought in 1972 or 3 is the only one that truly felt like it was designed to provide pleasure and support to the job and the joy of driving. It was only after a couple of weeks of driving that I fully recognized this. Everything from the seating position to the steering to the gearshift to the shape of the choke knob (!), with many other aspects as well, seemed to have been selected to provide pleasure -- a sort of invisible respect for the driver.
Hello SDR, can't add anything...
Hello SDR, can't add anything specific about the Studebaker. I was just using it as a point of reference in regard to the Gerald Stern poem to try to talk about one factor I find fascinating in regard to design; that being, the human interface, relationship, or history of the user with said object. My lack of computer skills won't allow me to link anything here, or I would try to attach the Stern poem - it's posted on the net if anyone cares to read it - just type in 'Gerald Stern Studebaker'. And any attempt on my part at paraphrasing, which I tried to do, is limited severely by my inability to do such things very well. With regard to the Studebaker per se, Stern mentions the Lark and the Wagonaire from the mid 60s, if I remember correct, and a lever one could flip on the seat to make it into a bed. All I seem to remember is my uncle had one of these - I came of age a bit too late to remember them well - and it had a retractable roof that leaked every time it rained.
SDR....
regarding the draw bridge, its a smashing good drawbridge as it is. But were I to have been given the assignment (and sufficient budget) I would have taken it as a challenge to try design a draw bridge that morphs into something that allows both the boat to pass and the people to cross also. And yes, Koen, I was thinking of escalators. Its the American in me I guess. 🙂 I've always loved escalators and now my son loves them, too. So: I can't think of anything more wonderful (or specatacular) feeling in that situation than rising up and over a passing barge or what have you. I've lived in cities with draw bridges off and on in my life and its just something I've always wanted to see done. Since Koen says there isn't much foot traffic at this particular basin, my idea might be overkill, but...the scale of this particular site and basin just seemed right for my idea.
Koen...
It is good to hear you say things like you would like to ride it as it carries you up and over the river. The boy in you survives, as surely as Huck did in Samuel Clemens. I am going to go to sleep tonight with the image of you being lifted up and over the basin. Something archetypal there, but I'm not sure exactly what.
Huck would want I think to...
Huck would want I think to see a tree there, with a rope within reach tied to a sturdy limb, and I'm not certain he would have cared whether or not he could swing all the way across. But I bet too, thinking about it just now, that he would have been delighted by the rolling bridge.
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