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Editor's Page
Letters to the Editor
Made Easy
By Elisa
Garcia, Editor
Last
month, AIAOC issued the brand new “e-zine”
format of OC Architect. We hope you
enjoyed the crisper graphics, and the integration
with the AIAOC website. OC Architect
thanks everyone who volunteered feedback,
and encourages your comments on either the
format or the content. We hope that members
utilize this electronic forum to exchange
ideas. It is easier than ever to contribute
letters to the Editor, articles, press releases,
or “On-The-Board” sketches by
clicking on the “E-Mail the Editor”
button at the bottom of the cover page. Here’s
one letter we received last month. |
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Dear
Editor:
I am responding to the article in the current
OC Architect titled "Icon Envy
- I want my EMP" by Daniel Gehman, AIA.
I found the article whimsical and interesting,
but burdened with pot-shots and low level
attempts at humor at the expense of structures
(icons?) that have very likely done nothing
of their own accord to insult the author.
Orange County certainly is a place in need
of a signature landmark or two, but slamming
one of our truly authentic buildings because
it has experienced some difficult history
is a little too much for me to ignore. The
offending comment, copied here, is as follows:
“The charming Richardsonian original
courthouse sits a stone’s throw away;
but since it’s already been abandoned
once, I don’t think we would really
be able to mount much of a defense for it
as our beloved image.”
The old courthouse may not at first glance
address Orange County's professed progressive,
contemporary attitude, but it does represent
a significant connection to the foundation
upon which this slowly congealing metropolis
is built. More to the point, the fact that
a building may have once been abandoned in
no way indicates that the same fate will befall
it again. Presently the old courthouse is
the home of a dynamic, creative, cutting edge
advertising and graphic arts firm, and this
firm has done much to restore the building
to its former glory. What type of operation,
I ask the author, is more representative of
the current Orange County culture than such
a company? I hold forth the idea that such
adaptive reuses in our large urbanizing core
areas may present a far more progressive and
creative concept of what could and should
happen in Orange County than another new,
corporate, indistinct edifice along a freeway.
Therefore, I disagree with the premise that
the old courthouse is inappropriate as a prime
symbol of Orange County.
Sincerely,
Ken Parsons AIA
Ken Parsons & Associates Architects
Fullerton / Idyllwild
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