~e; powersears

[bc <human@electronetwork.org>]

  [one thing that is very difficult to get to (via bicycle or mass
  transit) is the far-away powerstations. luckily, someone has
  got photographed one from a Sears building, that i think was
  save from the demolition implosion. in any case, a few thoughts:

  the first image looks very much like a church with the stack/
  steam chimney as the spire. and the outer shell is somewhat in
  keeping with a non-buttressed church exterior. high windows,
  the embedded columns, etc. this metaphor is not without pre-
  cedent, in that in the earliest days, electricity was imbued (if
  that is an accurate word) with spiritual/paranormal guesswork,
  from Edison's hearing of ghosts in the phonograph to the Virgin
  and the Dynamo essay by H.Adams, with electricity as godhead.

  was contemplating today, prior to seeing this, trying to document
  the different styles of wireless repeaters and installations that
  are occupying rooftops of businesses, in part. and went by one
  of the high schools (school before college/university level) and
  noticed it too had a smokestack. then remembered my old school
  had a smokestack, incinerator i thought it was. but it may have
  also been power generation. in any case, like this Sears & Robuck
  building, a lot of early industrial companies (such as Ford, for
  example) had their own powerplants, and had mines connected
  to these, to manage the production to the most minute detail.
  and so, this smokestack of steam or heat or whatnot could be
  for power, for burning waste, for many things, at schools and
  such. i am not sure, nor if it is universal. yet, it is consistent
  in their designs, and an emergency power system is usually in
  the design of such buildings in the case of power failure, or
  worse. all of this is to say that the other day took photos of
  what is likely not a powerhouse per se, in itself, but a steam-
  plant, which is for cogeneration for the University nearby. it
  has about 5 or more smokestacks. yet, to get close and get a
  photo of such important/central buildings is now proving to be
  more difficult as the hours pass. will put some images online
  to see a varient on this theme, to be more explicit with ideas...]

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Sears & Roebuck Merchandise Complex Powerhouse (Philadelphia, PA: 1920s).

http://www.quondam.com/01/0049.htm

from: www.quondam.com
a virtual museum of architecture


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