I can't "see" a bunch of patients dancing and living it up here. What I see in my minds eye are a bunch of half-alive patients being wheeled out to this pavillion by a well-meaning staff member, and then spending the evening staring blankly off into the distance as the band plays on.
To me this is the most profound and saddest picture I've seen on this site.
Back in college (mid '80's) I had a job working in a group home for autistic people. One of the by-products, or symptoms, of autism is self-mutilation, and we had a patient who frequently banged his head against the walls.
One day he discovered that the *corners* of the walls produced much better results....
You know.....I've been thinking about giving this urbex thing a try. I have some friends that do it, and I hear about some of the places they've been to and the things they've seen...
But it's pictures like this, and comments from some of you that have actually "been there, done that" that have made me think twice about it.
Ok, I just posted a few pix back about the construction methods "then" vs "now". Note the way the floors are attached to the wall (I think this is called "balloon construction"). There is NO WAY buildings are built like this today.
I wouldn't go so far as to say that. From some of the previous pix it appears that the flooring was NOT attached as rigidly as it is done today. Or rather, the construction methods used today in regards to the joints bewteen floors and walls is vastly superior to what was used "years ago".
However (and sadly), most current designs are architecturally sterile and bland, and it's a shame that designers and architects can't seem to take the best of the past and utilize it with todays technology.
(Hmmm.....maybe I should have posted this in the Forum area of this site instead. I've yet to do that...)
And BTW, nice site, Mr. Motts. Very much appreciated!
Ok, since I'm not a photographer I have to ask- How the heck do the colors "work" at night? I understand about long exposure times to allow more light (I think), but the colors.....
I can't "see" a bunch of patients dancing and living it up here. What I see in my minds eye are a bunch of half-alive patients being wheeled out to this pavillion by a well-meaning staff member, and then spending the evening staring blankly off into the distance as the band plays on.
To me this is the most profound and saddest picture I've seen on this site.