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Architecture in MC

MCMThursday, July 22, 2004
This post is from a version of my blog with inconsistent timestamps: evidently I was very good at defining 'modified' dates, but not 'created' dates. As such, I can't be sure when the content was actually written. Sorry!

I was having a discussion with a friend today about the buildings in Monitor City, and now I'm all fence-sitting. Grr.

The question is this: if the city is built around a series of streets that are big circles, shouldn't the buildings be curved too? He said yes, but I tend to think no.

His point: if the buildings are square, you get sidewalks that are very jaggy and odd, besides which it just isn't as cool as it could be in this city built from scratch to be more efficient.

I don't know --- and correct me if you disagree as well --- but I see MC as having rectangular buildings almost as a metaphor for the way those same inhabitants treat their software: it does it job, and you make it look nice later. This isn't a dis to the Linux community. You have to admit that if you, as a programmer, had the choice of programming the building square and angling it differently instead of carefully crafting a rounded building, you'd opt for the functional version rather than waste hours on rounding the walls.

It just seems to me that the buildings in MC have to be square because it's the ultimate visual cue for function over form. Utility. If MC looks too stylish, it'll be like Steve Jobs built it, and I want it to feel more community-designed.

I have a feeling this is going to come back again later. Next on this front is the question: what are the buildings made of? Brick? Yeesh.

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