125 lines
No EOL
8.3 KiB
HTML
125 lines
No EOL
8.3 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML>
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<html>
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<head>
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<title>Pablo here</title>
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<meta charset="utf-8">
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<meta viewport="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
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<link rel="stylesheet" href="../styles.css">
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</head>
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<body>
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<main>
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<h1>
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Hi, Pablo here
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</h1>
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<p><a href="../index.html">back to home</a></p>
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<hr>
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<section>
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<h2>Don't hide it, make it beautiful</h2>
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<p>I'm currently living in a flat, and my internet connection physically comes in through my living room. That's where
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my home router is placed. However, my main workspace is not in my living room but in my working room,
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which is a few meters away. I would love to have a wired internet connection for my laptop, but unfortunately, with
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the router being so far away, setting it up would require running a lot of cable through the walls and
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ceilings. I could either leave the cable visible or go through some serious construction work to poke holes through walls and fake ceilings and
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tunnel the cable through there. The latter is out of the table, since I don't even know where would I start.</p>
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<p>The first option being the only available one, there is one fundamental and unavoidable reason I don't do this: aesthetics. My partner is very conscious about
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keeping our home visually pleasing. I care too, though she probably values aesthetics even more than I
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do. She likely doesn't find a wired internet connection to be as essential as I do. So, for now, I have to rely on
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wifi to connect from my workspace to the home router.</p>
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<p>When I was on holiday in Thailand a few years ago, I noticed that Thai homes are far more practical than
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European ones in such matters. In Thailand, plumbing, electrical systems, and other maintenance-requiring
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installations are typically very visible, just out there on the wall. They don't hide these things behind
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fake walls or ceilings. I believe they do this because they highly value the ability to access and work
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on their home's systems themselves. Many Thai people build and maintain their own homes, so they leave
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everything exposed for easy access.</p>
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<p>I sometimes envy this approach. Which is funny because I don't think they do it for pleasure but out of necessity.
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Still, when I saw a Thai homeowner fixing their plumbing outside their house, I thought to myself: "Damn, you're so
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in control of your home". If something bad happens—like a fallen tree damaging the plumbing—they can fix
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it themselves. Meanwhile, if that happened to me, I wouldn't even know where to start. I don't even know
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where my plumbing is because it's all hidden behind walls.</p>
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<p>That makes me wonder: Is there a way to make these essential systems both accessible and aesthetically
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pleasing? Could we have the convenience of exposed infrastructure without it looking ugly? I believe we
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can.</p>
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<p>I find the problem is that we have decided certain things—plumbing, electrical wiring, visible
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infrastructure—are inherently ugly. But they don't have to be. Some household items, like lamps, must be
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visible by their very nature. Since they can't be hidden, we put effort into making them look good. We choose stylish designs
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that complement our home's aesthetics. Why can't we do the same for cables and pipes?</p>
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<p>Imagine if all the wiring in your home was encased in beautifully braided, colorful ropes, arranged in
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elegant geometric patterns. The connections, junction boxes, and fittings could be crafted from
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high-quality materials like metal and wood with artistic designs. Wouldn't that be nice?</p>
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<p>Now, you might think I'm crazy—that these things are just ugly by nature. But they're not. In fact, many
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aspects of modern design have become uglier over time, and we've just accepted it.</p>
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<p>Consider street lamps. In most cities today, they are dull, industrial-looking poles—rusty, ugly,
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and purely functional. Yet, in older parts of my city, we still have beautiful, ornate lamp posts from
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over a hundred years ago. They were designed with care, meant to serve a purpose, to be visually
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appealing, and to last ages. Take a look:</p>
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<figure style="width: 75%; margin: 10px auto;">
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<img width="100%" height="auto" src="../static/streetlamps.png" alt="">
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<figcaption>On the left, your ugly, could-be-anywhere post 1971 streetlamp. On the right, a 19th century bad body from Gaudí.</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p>The same goes for train stations. Modern stations are bleak, sterile spaces—metal, plastic, and harsh
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lighting. They resemble hospital emergency rooms. But look at the older ones, like this one.
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Those stations are masterpieces, designed like grand halls with chandeliers and intricate details.</p>
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<figure style="width: 75%; margin: 10px auto;">
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<img width="100%" height="auto" src="../static/stations.png" alt="">
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<figcaption>On the left, Sants Station, built in 1975. On the right, France Station, built in 1848.</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p>And talking about hospitals, they are also a good example. Most modern hospitals have the same white, cold, spaceship-like
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aesthetic. While cleanliness is important, there's no reason they have to be so uninviting. In my city,
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there's a hospital built over a hundred years ago that's so beautiful people visit it as a tourist
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attraction. On the other hand, the hospitals I visit personally are plain depressing, soviet style
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atrocities.</p>
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<figure style="width: 75%; margin: 10px auto;">
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<img width="100%" height="auto" src="../static/hospitals-outside.png" alt="">
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<figcaption>A random modern clinic in Barcelona vs A small section of the outside of Hospital de Sant Pau. I can skip the left and right thing now, right?</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<figure style="width: 75%; margin: 10px auto;">
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<img width="100%" height="auto" src="../static/hospitals-inside.png" alt="">
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<figcaption> Some random room in that same modern clinic vs Your regular corridor in Sant Pau.</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p>I think we can bring things back, if we care enough.</p>
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<p>Look at computers. Most office desktop cases are dull, gray boxes—uninspired and purely functional.
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Naturally, many of them end up buried inside desks, or if they are small enough, simply hidden behind
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the screen on a VESA mount. But gamers, who deeply care about their PCs, go the extra mile to make their
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setups look amazing. They invest in custom cases, LED lighting, and stylish cooling systems. They turn
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their computers into art. They are testament to the fact that we can make practical things also be
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beautiful if we choose to.</p>
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<figure style="width: 75%; margin: 10px auto;">
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<img width="100%" height="auto" src="../static/computers.png" alt="">
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<figcaption> The all-present ugly office optiplex vs A beautiful case from a passionate man.</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p>If we put the same effort into our homes, we wouldn't need to hide cables and pipes. We could proudly
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display them as part of our interior design. Infrastructure could be both functional and beautiful,
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giving us accessibility without sacrificing aesthetics. </p>
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<p>I guess the point I want to make is... Don't hide it. Instead, make it beautiful.</p>
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<hr>
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<p><a href="../index.html">back to home</a></p>
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</section>
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</main>
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</body>
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</html> |