Page 18 - THE FIRE STATION
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He gets excited. “Obligations. As a child, you can; as an adult, you must ... you owe
it to yourself! Once you know things, you have to do things. But I
“Down with perfection!The Galva flowers on perforated steel experimented a lot, constantly looking for new things, questioning
sheets have a taste of the Mysteries of Jade. everything.
I also hate featureless architecture.These sleights of hand, this Coherency through incoherency.There’s nothing more paralysing
rush for appearance rather than real life .... Nothing but whims than forced coherency right from the start.
of fashion.The shading is important, it gives a building character,
while at the same time fulfilling a technical need for protection: I consequently dread those smug engineers, those “lying” engi-
a doorstep, a sill, an overhanging roof to protect the walls .... neers who’re so certain that everything they do is right, who think
and reflection is also important.” themselves above all criticism because nobody else understands
what they’re on about.”
He turns to the window.
He answers his telephone.
“But we’ve got to be fair. I made a mistake here.The window
openings are too high.The fascination of a proportion! But the “Beauty! Beauty? My heart is more in search of poetry than
maximum size for any sash is 2 m2, though things are obviously beauty! All of those dualities: poetry and beauty; tenderness
different for fixed panels!” and strength; hesitation and power; ephemeral and long-lasting
... Beauty should not be complicated, should not be expensive;
On the other side of the opened window, the fountain in the Poetry should not be expensive, but it’s more complicated!”
middle of the old farm’s patio starts up. Its music has a soothing
effect on our conversation. He gets up and goes over to one of his colleagues to discuss
a problem for a few minutes.
“Strict adherence to details, precision, ethics!Those are the rules
of our still ‘liberal’ profession! But unfortunately things are chan- He comes back.
ging. In these times of globalisation, maybe architects will end up
being nothing more than salesmen. No more of that “Monsieur “The Charleroi fire station, that’s our last project without Revit.
l’architecte” you used to hear back in the 1950’s.” Revit (published by Autodesk) is a CAO software package for buil-
ding information modelling (BIM). It a very versatile software tar-
He puffs at his pipe. geting BTP professionals (architects, engineers, technical staff and
developers).
He talks of the undertaking given by young engineers belonging
to Canada’s Corporation of the Seven Wardens, where the ‘Ritual Charleroi fire station involves an awful lot of intense collaboration.
of the Calling of an Engineer’ was created by Rudyard Kipling in 63 blueprints, 208 detailed drawings, more than 1700 emails – and
1925 in Montreal.They give the following pledge – a true ethical the work’s still not finished. 2 years spent on the design, working
commitment vis-à-vis the world! – in the ritual Iron Ring ceremony closely with S.M.Thomas & Piron Bâtiment - CIT Blaton and their
admitting them to the Corporation: subcontractors. And that’s why you need to keep to a strict metho-
dology, allowing you to keep track of everything (documents, tech-
“I, ____________, in the presence of these my betters and my nical drawings, etc.).”
equals in my calling, bind myself upon my honour and cold iron,
that, to the best of my knowledge and power, I will not hence- Charleroi fire station, such a great investment in human resources.”
forward suffer or pass, or be privy to the passing of, bad work-
manship or faulty material in aught that concerns my works before He gets up and says ‘good-bye, drop by some other Friday!’
mankind as an engineer, or in my dealings with my own soul
before my Maker.”
He gets up and pours us yet another coffee.
