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Visiting architect says don't abandon Sandy Hook Elementary School
This past weekend I was a guest of friends in the New Haven area. While there I happened to read in your newspaper (Feb. 25, 2013) of the several options that Newtown is now considering as to the disposition of Sandy Hook Elementary School in the aftermath of the tragic events of December.
Quite frankly, I was astonished that a town would collectively consider such a drastic move as to abandon or demolish so vital and viable a building as an elementary school. So, too, the economic folly of such a move, even in these trying economic times, is nevertheless last on my list of reasons.
Firstly, as horrific as the tragedy was, those involved should learn to confront and eventually move beyond the nightmare, rather than burying it which is really just denial. Psychiatric professionals know this. To do otherwise will simply be sowing the seeds for life-long phobias, particularly as regards the children.
One hundred and one years ago the Titanic sank and shocked the world. The Titanic had a virtually identical sister ship. No one ever pushed to scrap the nearly-new ship, which continued to successfully sail for another 22 years.
Secondly, to do away with the school would serve to memorialize the perpetrator, not his victims. I am sure that Adam Lanza, in his warped desire to make history, would be highly satisfied in the knowledge that his deranged behavior had resulted in such a drastic move.
Thirdly, in my 40 years in my profession I have been involved with the design and construction of many buildings including schools, one of which was in Connecticut. In all of these years, I can safely state that I have never seen a building that possessed a heart, soul or brain, no matter how highly I thought of it.
The Sandy Hook Elementary School building has done nothing wrong. As an inanimate object it is, of course, incapable of such horrors. Therefore, I urge the people of Newtown, despite the heartbreak and trauma wrought upon their town by a deranged madman, to seize control of their emotions and show their children by example how to deal with tragedy rather than simply hiding from it. This in turn will rightly memorialize the victims and not the perpetrator and by doing so will not encourage undeserved aggrandizement in the minds of future psychopaths.
Andrew J. Cannata
AIA - Architect
Boston, Mass.
Quite frankly, I was astonished that a town would collectively consider such a drastic move as to abandon or demolish so vital and viable a building as an elementary school. So, too, the economic folly of such a move, even in these trying economic times, is nevertheless last on my list of reasons.
Firstly, as horrific as the tragedy was, those involved should learn to confront and eventually move beyond the nightmare, rather than burying it which is really just denial. Psychiatric professionals know this. To do otherwise will simply be sowing the seeds for life-long phobias, particularly as regards the children.
One hundred and one years ago the Titanic sank and shocked the world. The Titanic had a virtually identical sister ship. No one ever pushed to scrap the nearly-new ship, which continued to successfully sail for another 22 years.
Secondly, to do away with the school would serve to memorialize the perpetrator, not his victims. I am sure that Adam Lanza, in his warped desire to make history, would be highly satisfied in the knowledge that his deranged behavior had resulted in such a drastic move.
Thirdly, in my 40 years in my profession I have been involved with the design and construction of many buildings including schools, one of which was in Connecticut. In all of these years, I can safely state that I have never seen a building that possessed a heart, soul or brain, no matter how highly I thought of it.
The Sandy Hook Elementary School building has done nothing wrong. As an inanimate object it is, of course, incapable of such horrors. Therefore, I urge the people of Newtown, despite the heartbreak and trauma wrought upon their town by a deranged madman, to seize control of their emotions and show their children by example how to deal with tragedy rather than simply hiding from it. This in turn will rightly memorialize the victims and not the perpetrator and by doing so will not encourage undeserved aggrandizement in the minds of future psychopaths.
Andrew J. Cannata
AIA - Architect
Boston, Mass.
posted by Matt DeRienzo at
12:25 PM
1 Comments:
Knock it down. How could anyone send their kids to learn in that classroom? How could anyone teach in that classroom? Sit in that classroom every day? Absurd!
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