Gold v. Oil

Gold is so ‘90s, eh…I guess I will already have to start defending my thesis…

I like the reference to shale and oil, because it speaks directly to the issue that I am really trying to address: how and to what capacity do we value our land. The type of architecture we build speaks to this. The leaching of oil and pollutants is so ‘90s; I do not wish to simply make people see the damage we have done via maps (although I did draw one) or are doing. Rather, I think designing an architecture that is about coming to terms with our land is more progressive. Oil is deader than dead; anyone who believes there is a long-term future is envisioning a future I don’t want to see. But gold—its capacity as a capacitor gives it great promise in our digital milieu. Not the yellow wedding bands or dental grills, but in the purple Intel Core 2 Duo microchips and satellite transistors soon to be space-junk. All farmed here in Central Valley.

Purple is the new gold. It represents a new way of valuing the land. It is about building with the processes of the land that sustains our needs for processors. It is an attitude, reflected in the architecture, one that binds the architecture to the history and potential of the land, rather than expedient greed.