[image courtesy Sony Pictures]

In recognition of the DVD release of Synecdoche New York, the Charlie Kaufman film set in a dream-like warehouse theatre where logic and physics hold no sway, Life Without Buildings held its first ever comment competition. The question: what you would build in an infinite warehouse if space, logic, and money were no issue? From the political to the pop, your answers were nothing less than inspired. Flights of architectural conjecture bombastic enough to make even BLDGBLOG blush. While it’s true that I do enjoy absolute rule over the domain that is lifewithoutbuildings.net, the gamesman in me thought it might be exciting to put the final decision up to a vote. Based on the fictions they conjured in my imagination, I’ve selected my top three entries – no easy task. All entries were fantastically imaginative and I encourage everyone to read through all of them. Now you, dear reader, shall decide the victor. And you, dear victor, shall be the proud winner of a Synecdoche New York Blu-ray disk. Full entries and poll after the jump.

Greg:

I would build a temple around a replica of the Temple of Apollo at Didyma, which is constructed around an earlier Greek Temple to Apollo, which is constructed around the spring of a Pagan oracle. I would then stage an earthquake and leave it abandoned for 2000 years. Upon my return to the site, it would be ruined and densely overgrown. I would begin to excavate and reconstruct the matryoshkian temple in attempt to discover the intentions of its builder.

Brooks Salzwdel:

If I had a large warehouse space I would recreate space in the space. Not “space” like outer space, but “space” like the space that is in the space. I would take all the discarded materials in the space to a new space and remake the materials out of biodegradable materials. Then I would take the new materials that were made in the new space and put them in the old space. Over time, the new materials in the old space would start to deteriorate, grow mold and algae, forcing the new materials to deteriorate more quickly. To further along the process of deterioration I would litter the space with fog machines… many fog machines… hundreds of fog machines. So that the fog machines would fill the space with fog. The fog would fill the entire space from side to side, bottom to top. The light that comes through the windows of the space would then unintentionally make the fog in the space resemble space – “space” like a nebulous in outer space not like the space in the space’s space.

I would then sit on one side of the space have an irreconcilable other sit of the other side of the space. I would want to do this because I want to see what space looks like over time… not “space” like the space what fills an area, or “space” like outer space, but “space” like the space that needs to be put between two people who need space.

kevic:

Imagine one of those huge dirigible hangers from the 30s. That would be my work space, and it would have two entrances. All of the material comes in from the front entrance and the rear entrance is sealed shut (this is important). What I would build: Imagine a giant, series of hot-air balloons. A mishmash of irregularly shaped balloons that heave and hiss. They expand and contract at different intervals and are contained by a patchwork of stretched steel struts. Miles of tubular duct-work, piping and valves link them together… a patchwork of vains and arteries. I would build a giant labarinthian set of spaces inside, filled with hydroponic gardens, smokey bars (with lots of chrome and juke boxes), endless hallways with Victorian era paintings and crownmolding, and small rooms in the flavor of Corbusier’s La Tourrette. Finally, I would populate it with all the lost souls of everyone’s favorite stories — Melville’s Captian Ahab meets Wilder’s Norma Desmond meets X-man’s Gambit. I would have cameras installed at odd angles throughout the station and a mixer that randomly patches different shots of the inhabitents together and then shoots the compilations out as movies via strong broadcasting antennas.

Once I was done, I would open up the other huge door, to reveal that it leads to Venus. The whole thing will float, since the mixture of air we breath is lighter than the air on Venus. A floating, giant mechanized heart that beats against the orange Venusian sky and broadcasts an infinite array of movies that mimic the claustrophic / romantic style of Wong Kar Wei and Christipher Doyle across the galaxy. The fictionalized heart-broken finding true love on Venus. I’m thinking Retro-Ovid here.

I would do it because it would be the coolest reality TV show ever; way better than the Bachelor even.

Poll closes Friday morning. Viva Democracy!

[poll id="1"]

Previous posts on Synecdoche, New York:
· Life Without Giveaways – Synecdoche, New York Blu-ray [LWB]
· Life Without Buildings Interviews Charlie Kaufman [LWB]
· Infinitely Repeating Cities [LWB]