Some friends of mine went to Thailand years ago to do an urban study of a small regional airport. “What the hell does an airport have to do with urbanism?” you might ask. Well, through the years, the locals have come to know the flight patterns of the planes quite well. So well, infact, that the second the runway is finished being used by either a takeoff or a landing, they roll out their goods and the strip becomes an outdoor market place (somehow this is allowed to happen).
The professor my friends were supervised by during that semester abroad was Barry Bell BES, BArch, MPhil, PhD, OAA (ret), RAIC (I also had the fortune of taking an amazing Architectural Theory and Philosophy course with Barry who received his Masters in Philosophy from Cambridge; sadly, however, Barry passed away from a head injury in 2007, but his memory, life’s work, and amazing spirit will live on forever in the hearts of those who were fortunate enough to have known him). Barry spent several years going back and forth from Canada to Thailand to study the fascinating urban and architectural gems that abound in this incredible Eastern country. You can read more about the airport phenomenon that fascinated Barry so deeply in this Google Reader excerpt from his book Bangkok: Angelic Illusions by CLICKING HERE (there is also a link inside to purchase the book as well). In my entire life I have never met anyone with a more profound intellectual capacity than him. Not only was he a genius of philosophy and architecture, but he was also an astoundning teacher, and every time he opened his mouth I felt secretly compelled to record every single word that came out of his mouth.
When I came across this amazing video below of a train barreling through an unidentified outdoor market place I immediately thought of how much Barry would have gotten a kick out of it. We miss you buddy.
Source: Perez Hilton
