vacant

i’ve spent a bit of time at the world trade center in downtown los angeles.  it is not grand or the target of terrorism the way its nyc counterparts were.  it’s an insignificant office building with interior accents designed by a tasteless somebody in the 80’s.  it is an indistinguishable block of offices, many of which are vacant.  

when i see the vast, unlit, empty workspaces through dusty, metal blinds, i feel a horrible uneasiness.  i’ve always had a melancholic romance with abandoned houses, imagining the horrors that took place on the other side of those dark windows, wondering what cursed drama caused a family to vacate the place they called home.  but an empty office?  why should i have feelings about something so sterile?

the global financial collapse, combined with the rise in telecommunications conjures in my mind a world filled with abandoned office buildings succombing to the elements.  in the past year, office spaces around the world have seen a significant drop in rates and occupancy.  what is going to happen to these shuffled-off places?  will they become monuments to our adolescence, or torn down to reclaim the land?  or maybe my fantasy is totally off the mark.  maybe there are just too many people in this world to house, so we’ll have to live and work in little grey cubicles, drink sour coffee, and try try try to make things work.