WYSIWYG

I remember the first architect I apprenticed with in California (Jim had stature in the profession) showing him some publication of probably a Richard Meier project and his reaction was one of complete disinterest, "It really does nothing for me..." Man, how could that be? Not long after he had me hunting down redwood gutters which even back then, they had discontinued milling. Now, he was neither religious to "The Seven Lamps of Architecture" or a luddite, but he was comfortable exploring his personal regional understanding of Architecture. This at the time when panels and glass were still breaking away from concrete, Johnson was proposing the furniture skyscraper and Grave's birthday cakes were being baked. How was Jim comfortable to know not to notice?

What has this to do with a Dove conscience promotion? Well, its another variation on perception and reality. I think the Dove piece is explaining the social over focus of personal beauty as self esteem and how it manipulates our own self being or worth. In my profession, communities over focus on architectural characteristics (or design review) become methods developers and architects manipulate the tone of community character. The problems lie in that the self esteem of architects and developers sell... well... sound better than their worth and the public receives "what you see is what you get"... Jim taught me that.