A bit of good news, by golly.I’ve always been curious/furious about the way Wal-Mart and their big-box ilk have irresponsibly built and abandoned stores all over this country for years, like giant hermit crabs outgrowing their older smaller shells and seeking larger ones (only these are REALLY large, ugly shells to begin with). Knew I wasn't alone thinking about this phenomenon, and here a new book on the subject: Big Box Reuse (M.I.T. Press) by Julia Christensen an artist and professor at Oberlin College in Ohio.
NPR story is here.
Amazing the uses to which these buildings have been put...libraries, churches, go-kart tracks. Even two museums, one dedicated to Route 66 and the other to Spam (yes Spam!). This is the innovation that made this country great. And i’m not being facetious...this is amazing. Might be better if the monstrous things had never been built to begin with, but we all know they aren’t vanishing in a perfumed puff of smoke, leaving only flowers and unicorns, when the WalMart leaves town or morphs into a Super-Mega-Ultra-WalMart.
