This winter the UW College of Architecture and Urban Planning, which also houses Construction Management, changed their name to the College of Built Environments. I admit, I scoffed a little at first--built environments? Academic semantics. But I like their reasoning--the new title is more inclusive. And they're not just about buildings, you know. There are also transportation systems, gardens, entire cities to be planned and built and studied...
Anyway, it turns out the College of Built Environments is in lovely skylit building--lots of concrete, primary colors, and retro schoolrooms, with a terrace and an excellent view of the University Bridge and Portage Bay. And on that terrace, they host a happy hour every other week. Jaclyn, an Urban Planner, invited us to their Cinco de Drinko, where I took almost no photos, not even of the view. I guess those Environment Builders made me shy.
* Build it, then, of sticks and flowers in a jar, and sprigs of dill volunteering alongside the house. Build it of bikes, too many bikes, stacked in the hallway. Of dustbunnies and compost. Of soap and laundry and ink and paperclips. Books stacked on books. Electrical cords and junkmail. Lentils, oatmeal, grapefruit.
It is surprising how the loss of a single building changes the feeling of an entire block, but in the past month they've torn down two square blocks in our neighborhood. The adjacent park feels more desolate now. It smells a little dusty and mildewed when you walk by these piles of rubble and I find that I'm holding my breath.
Nicole's friend Marissa visited from New York and we rented canoes.
I must admit, TS and I were a pretty good paddling team.
We paddled under the 520 Bridge, which I often drive across on my way to work. Now I have seen it from most angles. Often Lake Washington is choppy on one side of the bridge and smooth on the other.
In June, Jerritt will begin classes at University of Puget Sound. He's going to be a math and science teacher. So he and TS are moving to Tacoma--probably into this very house...
This winter the UW College of Architecture and Urban Planning, which also houses Construction Management, changed their name to the College of Built Environments. I admit, I scoffed a little at first--built environments? Academic semantics. But I like their reasoning--the new title is more inclusive. And they're not just about buildings, you know. There are also transportation systems, gardens, entire cities to be planned and built and studied...
